vacation in San Francisco

Over Memorial Day weekend, Mr. M and I escaped to my version of “the city” (Mr. M’s “city” will always be NYC) for a jam-packed wedding weekend. I think that I can officially call this my first “vacation” in San Francisco, since my whole life I’ve lived too close to ever stay in a hotel overnight for multiple nights in a row. But for this weekend, it was nice staying put and enjoying everything around us.

We started off the weekend with tickets to the Saturday matinee baseball game at AT&T Park. It was Mr. M’s first time at the stadium after 6 years in NorCal… which is funny only because he took me to my first Dodgers game after I had lived in LA for 7 years.

He refrained from yelling “GO DODGER BLUE!” throughout the game, and even bought an overpriced sweatshirt to commemorate his visit. You can tell we’re die-hard baseball fans, right?

Thanks to holiday weekend traffic, we arrived at the bottom of the 4th inning, but as a bonus we got to park steps away from the stadium! It didn’t matter… because the excitement of the game came in the bottom of the 10th inning from Angel Pagan. 

A walk-off IN THE PARK home run!!! There’s nothing better about baseball game then having it be an incredibly memorable one in the stats book!

And we were there with our superfan friend Rob, who was also in town for the wedding, who soaked up that moment for all it was worth!

Our next stop of the day was the Rehearsal Dinner, hosted at the R&G Lounge in Chinatown.

The spot was a favorite for the couple and the groom’s family, so they treated us to a ridiculously huge Chinese banquet.

My fortune cookie told me I was going to gain 5 lbs. over the weekend, and I’m pretty certain that mean fortune came true.

After dinner, we coaxed the groom to venture out to Mr. M’s favorite late night haunt in San Francisco, Bix, for a nightcap. Some live jazz & ridiculously good old-fashioned cocktails ended our first night in exactly the right way.

Sunday morning, we ran off to do some errands (I went to get a makeup refill at Bobbi Brown, Mr. M went in search of a barbershop open on a Sunday in downtown SF and failed), then went to catch the shuttles to the wedding.

Because while everyone was staying in SF for the weekend, the actual wedding was nestled in the redwood groves about 60 minutes south… at Nestledown in the Santa Cruz mountains.

This particular wedding venue is just plain stunning and beautiful. Peaceful, calm and just lovely everywhere you looked.

After dinner, we went wandering over to the edge of the property and watched the deer and cottontail rabbits frolic at dusk. There are no photos because my ability to scare wildlife from 50 yards away is impeccable, but trust me.

Bunnies. Fawns. Deer. Frolic!!!

Then, it was time to dance of course! In a barn with a (“serious regular paid gig”) band!

(photo from the wedding by Kate Harrison Photography)

On the ride back to SF, Mr. M and I started playing Heads Up! (the infectious game from ELLEN for your iPhone) and got our shuttle full of wedding guests into the fun. It woke us up enough to join the newlyweds out for one more drink on the town before retreating for the night.

The final wedding event of the weekend was a farewell brunch… which, is truly the best “thank you” gift to anyone staying from out of town. And it definitely confirmed the gain of those 5 lbs.

Then… by random circumstance and reasons to spend Memorial Day weekend in the bay area, we kidnapped this insanely cute little boy for 10 minutes before running back to see our little lady.

Another great weekend with friends in the book… now to schedule that vacation where we actually relax and sleep?