Such great natural light in our place!

Since I've had the chance to be home during the day a bit, I've gotten to witness the great natural light our place receives, particularly through our big main window in the living room. You can tell I was home during the 4 o'clock hour because of who is on the TV screen :)

Downtown Walking Adventure

So, in the mornings the last several weekdays, I have been coming to a coffee shop right down the hill from our place to work on final wedding planning, job searching, etc. With the weather being so nice yesterday, I decided to devote my afternoon to exploring in downtown San Francisco. I took the bus to Paul's office and set out on foot through Chinatown, to Coit Tower, down to Pier 39 to say hello to the sea lions, all the way down the Embarcadero to the Ferry Terminal and all the way up Market Street to Paul's office, a 3-hour endeavor with a few short breaks. Along the way I took a few pictures, including one above which looks like a group of flying to-go boxes (upon a closer look, actually books). I treated myself to a Starbucks treat on my way back up Market Street and was looking forward to stopping back by Paul's office to grab the coffee maker we recently received from our registry and head home on the bus. Well, that wasn't exactly what was in store for me. There was a big accident on Market Street involving a bus (don't think anyone was hurt) that kept the buses backed up for over an hour. I had already picked up the coffee maker when I realized the bus was not coming, and, since I really wanted to get home, I tried looking at my transit map to find an alternate way home and ended up walking through kind of a rough neighborhood. It's ok during the day, so I was fine, but I know never to go there at night!! To avoid looking like a tourist in that rough area, I didn't pull my map out again for quite some time, so my coffee maker and I ended up way north of my intended destination and had to cut several blocks south once I figured out where I was. I to tried and catch the bus again near city hall, but still no bus scheduled for a long time, so back several blocks north and homeward before a bus finally came, whew!! Made it home in time to give away my backing boxes to a girl who is moving to our neighborhood and then cleaned up for dinner in Noe Valley with my friend Suz. Definitely earned that big guacamole burger after walking for 4 hours!! At least it was nice weather :)

Dinner at author Michael Pollan's House!

The one thing we did do over the weekend besides unpack boxes was go to a dinner with a group of Paul's grad school friends. His friends Megan and Andy occasionally house sit for their neighbor in Berkeley, who happens to be author Michael Pollan. He wrote Omnivore's Dilemma, Food 101, etc., and has an awesome house with incredible views!! See Paul above in Michael's office by his fancy Mac. It was great to catch up with some of Paul's friends I had met before and to meet some new people. We also got to play with the new Apple iPad. I had to wipe the drool off Paul's face!! :)

My stuff has arrived!!

This past week was pretty uneventful except for the fact that we retrieved all of my belongings from an ABF shipping facility in Oakland. Paul arranged for several of his friends to help us out, which was great!! His friend Michael went with us to Oakland in a U-Haul truck and we unloaded everything assembly-line style from the shipping container into the truck, dropped Michael off at his house in Oakland, then fought a bit of traffic to get back to our apartment in time to meet 3 other guys. One guy was like 6'4" and named Magnus, what an appropriate name! When he was behind me on the stairs, I felt obligated to take the steps two at a time. Big mistake, was super sore on Saturday. Anyway, it only took about 45 minutes for us to unload everything out of the truck and up 40+ stairs, not bad! 10 of those minutes were spent trying to get my box spring up to our place. Near our apartment, the ceiling drops and the stairs are real narrow, which created a bit of a problem. The guys were ready to give up, but Paul wasn't. After about 4 different angles, multiple shoves and a bit of paint off the wall, we finally managed to get it up the stairs, whew!!

Well, you saw the before picture, and above is the after picture!! Lots of boxes. Also a picture of Paul playing with (trying to consolidate) my packing paper. We actually managed to unpack almost everything over the weekend due to the fact that it rained a lot and neither Paul or I are good at sitting still. Such a relief and accomplishment!

Ultimate, not Frisbee

I was a bit hesitant about trying it at first since I have never played in an organized game before, but decided to go for it. I played in my first ultimate game last night and had a really good time other than the fact that it was freezing outside and I was ill prepared (need to get some more athletic pants). Paul plays on another c0-ed team, but you know what, the league is supposed to be for beginners and I think I should report him :) He was playing on another field, so it was me and my new friends on Field 2 last night at Golden Gate Park. We had about 4 girls and 5 guys, which was good because you need 7 to play and that allowed me to sit out at first so I could learn some of the lingo from one of my teammates. He was very quick to correct me about calling the game Frisbee. Evidently, like Kleenex, Frisbee is a brand name for the disc and is often incorrectly used to refer to the game of Ultimate. I am to call the game Ultimate from now on, not Frisbee or Ultimate Frisbee, if I want to be respected. Another take away from the evening was that I need to sprint more to build up my cardio (elliptical machine is just not going to cut it anymore). My team lauded me for doing well in my first game (really just ran around, not a lot of disc action) and for being a relatively fast runner, but man, was I hurting on the inside! My teammates are super nice and welcoming, so I look forward to playing more and getting better! Paul said he would help me, pray for his patience as I try to learn to throw different ways. . .

The apartment, before Catherine's stuff arrives. . .

Paul did a really good job cleaning up our place and preparing it for my arrival, but we definitely have more bikes and plants than we have furniture (Paul loves, I mean loves plants, there is even one in the bathroom already!), and when we watch TV, one of us is in a lawn chair and the other in a stadium chair :) Paul also loves hooks, which is great when it comes to maximizing space in our small kitchen. Our mattress is on the floor currently, and one real mark of Paul's bachelorhood is the Schweppes shelves he is currently using in our bedroom to store some of his clothes (those shelves will mysteriously disappear very soon). I have posted a few pictures above, including one of the now blank wall that will soon have all of my boxes lined up on it!

Presidio and Nicest Starbucks Ever!

I went to the Presidio today for a job interview and wow, what a piece of Paradise here in the city!! A brief bit of history from the Presidio website: "The Presidio of San Francisco is a 1,491-acre national park site and is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Presidio was in continuous use as a military post from 1776 to 1994, spanning the Spanish, Mexican, and United States periods."

So, I had a bit of time to kill before my interview, and lucky for me, I saw a sign that said a Starbucks was close by, so of course I had to check it out (love coffee). Well, it wasn't just any Starbucks, it was the nicest one I had ever been in!! It has superior furniture, including a chaise lounge chair, and floor to ceiling windows with an incredible view of part of the Presidio leading down to the water. I was in heaven!!