It’s Friday afternoon, and this weekend is going to be awesome – I can just feel it!  This afternoon, we are having our very belated office x-mas party.  We are going to be doing a walking tour of Northbeach, complete with restaurant tours and tastings, bar “tastings” and I’m sure a canolli or two snuck in there somewhere.  More updates on this next week!

Tomorrow, I am taking my best friend Taryn out for a much anticipated birthday celebration.  I haven’t seen her since last summer since we live several hours apart, and I cannot wait to see her lovely face.

Also on the itinerary this weekend, I will be wrapping up the bedroom furniture.  I am in the home stretch now since the hard part is done.  I’ve completed several rounds of spackling and sanding the drawers, so the fronts are perfectly smooth.  I just need to wipe them down, and prep for paint!

After a very long week, there is a collective sigh of relief in the office! Have a happy weekend!

Unfortunately, the answer to that question, is no, but isn’t that french tutor across the street from my apartment just gorgeous?

It’s feeling a lot like spring in San Francisco, and I’ve been keeping track of the seasonal changes based on the gorgeous cherry blossom tree across the street from our apartment.  Look at all those blooms – in one week, the tree went from a few pink tinges to a full blown cloud of cotton candy.  Anyways, every day when I leave for work, I pass by this house, and for a split second, I get to pretend that I’m trotting down the street in Paris… Bonjoir!

xoxo

Photo Courtesy of Pixdaus
Isn’t this the most haunting but beautiful photo?  The empty bridge and the still creeping fog… this must be how it looked this morning as the sun rose above the thick blanket of clouds that has covered this city

This winter has been one of the mildest winters I can remember – the weather has been so incredibly beautiful, its hard to remember what bad weather is like (ask me in June, I will be singing a different tune).

This weekend was no exception to the gorgeous weather!  I spent most of my time outside, lunching with friends, and hanging out at the park.  Sunday, Kris and I headed to the beach, and I sunned myself in the sunny 70 degree weather, while he and some buddies surfed.  I snagged his fancy-pants camera, and was able to get some amazing pictures of him surfing.  Unfortunately, I have not yet uploaded them – professional shots to come, but just look at how lucky we are to live in California.

To my friends on the east coast, be jealous… be very very jealous!

Today, our lovely partners at Collective media took our agency out for lunch – not only did they invite the entire agency team, but they rented out Gary Danko – one of the most premier restaurants in San Francisco.  They arranged to open the restaurant for our group, selected a phenomenal menu, and we spent a glorious 3 hours there this afternoon indulging over food, fabulous company, and wine pairings.

We started with this incredible butternut squash soup with apple compote and aged balsamic (I WISH I could make that), and moved on to scallops.  Then we moved on to filet mignon with risotto, and finally dessert.  What I wouldn’t give if unbuttoning the top button on your jeans was socially acceptable!

Yet another over-the-top fabulous meal – with all of this holiday indulgence, I won’t fit into my pants soon!

I like to consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world, because part of my job requires a certain amount of wining and dining.  This means that at the ripe age of 27, I have eaten at some of the finest restaurants in San Francisco, and being an adventurous eater and a total foodie myself, I consider this an amazing treat!

Last night, we went to one of my all time favorites – Quince.  It is tucked into this cute little neighborhood – not quite downtown, not quite North Beach – and it reminds me of New York.  Lots of old original brick buildings, and leafy tree lined streets.  Not many people know about it since there are a lot of art galleries, and design studios located in these three blocks, but it really feels like you are in a different city.

In terms of fanciness, this place takes the cake – no suit required for men, but its fancy enough that there is a chauffeur to escort you to the bathroom – that kind of fancy 🙂

In my humble opinion, Quince is the best restaurant in this city – better than Gary Danko’s by a long-shot, and maybe a hair better than Michael Minna.  Perhaps its the service and ambiance that put it over the top.  As you can see from my sweet pics below (that I subtly snapped on my new iPhone) the food is incredible, and if you go, you MUST get the cheese cart!  You smell it before you even know it has rolled up, there are over 30 cheeses to choose from, and it is just to DIE for!!

Also – wine pairings – it’s a bit pricey, but honestly the food is just good food without it… the wine pairings bring out all the best flavors and subtle hints that you just wouldn’t fully appreciate otherwise.  Also, hearing the sommelier explain how they work together really changes the experience of savoring your food, and tasting each flavor.

And my cheese selection – from the left, a bleu cheese from Ireland, then a creamy goat from Sonoma, then a fennel encrusted and infused cow’s milk cheese from another cool place, and finally the triple creme from France.  Poor guy got cut off in the picture, but it was literally like butter… but better.