a week of friends

I never really meant for it to happen, but somehow I became so religious about T's routine that we haven't done anything too exciting lately. It took a few friends coming into town to knock me out of the   The Child Must Nap rut, and oh am I grateful.

Our dear friends Taylor and Tally and their precious baby Sam came to visit us last week for two days. We met at the Ferry Building in the city for lunch at the Cowgirl Creamery and macarons at Miette (macarons would become a common theme during their stay). We wandered around in the unusually warm and clear San Francisco sunshine. We found our way to Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square. We were then fooled by said beautiful and clear day and made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge only to find this:

It felt like being in a dark cave and holding your hand in front of your face, only not being able to see it. We knew the bridge was right there, but you'd never know it. Oh this beautiful city and its fickle fog!

Mine.

We finished the evening with dinner at our friends Mark and Jamie's place in Sunnyvale. The night mostly consisted of eating too much pizza and watching the kids run around, coveting their energy and enthusiasm.

The next day we headed to Half Moon Bay. I don't think I've ever seen the sun shine at Half Moon Bay; it's almost always cold and cloudy. Still definitely worth visiting since it's so beautiful, but never too inviting weather-wise. Well, we got lucky again and had 70 degree weather without a cloud in the sky. We couldn't have picked a more perfect day. T had never really played in sand before, and he was mesmerized by it. He'd stumble around trying to figure out why the ground wasn't hard, and just pick up handful after handful, letting it fall through his fingers, giggling. It made my heart burst to see him so happy and curious.

We ate some delicious sandwiches from Garden Deli, then headed back to Palo Alto. Tay and Tally wanted to see Stanford's campus, which was another reminder to me to make visting Stanford a priority several times a week. It's just so beautiful, guys. I feel lucky to get to frequent it whenever I want without having to take a single exam. Although I would love to take a class or two.

Being Valentine's Day, we naturally had to go on a triple date. So we got a babysitter (second paid babysitter in T's 17 months of life!) and went to the least conventional restaurant we could think of -- Zeni, an Ethiopian place in San Jose. People, please go find an Ethiopian restaurant in your town. The food is so remarkably delicious. We all ate far more than we intended.

Everyone came back to our place for a little while for a macaron tasting. The contestants were Miette, La Boulange and Chantal Guillon. The results varied depending on who you ask, but my favorite were from Chantal Guillon. They were the perfect combination of melt-in-your-mouth with just the right amount of flaky crunch, without being the least bit cakey or cookie-ish. Just writing about it makes me want to go buy another [expensive] dozen (okay, maybe I did after everyone left). Mmm... sugar.

The next day we met up in the city again with my old School of Music friend and former roommate Steph and her husband McKay. We enjoyed a few hours together of picking their brilliant brains (these two are fascinating geniuses), eating pizza and gelato, and talking about Brazil and San Francisco (they just moved back from São Paulo where, no joke, they lived in the same apartment complex that I did almost 20 years ago). We can't wait for them to get settled in the city so we can hang out more frequently.

Take home message: The child will survive just fine without his 2 or 3 hour-long naps. Really.*
Common theme: Good friends, good food, city adventures = happy girl.


*This post was written a matter of hours before the fall-out of the napless week. Let's just say it caught up to him.