Poshdeluxe

out of all of the days on the trip (which were few, i know), saturday seemed destined to be my favorite.

it began with a cup of coffee brewed by j. and that is good, cos j. makes excellent coffee (it comes from ritual of course). here’s j. with his morning smoke and mug of coffee:

i took a picture of the little figurines on the fireplace mantel, cos i did not want to forget them.

aren’t they charming? i wish they would all come and visit me.

on our walk to brunch, we passed by a church that is now a buddhist temple. if you look inside the glass doors, you’ll see a giant, grinning buddha, which is not really what you expect to see on the inside of a building like this:

but that’s just the fun of discovering a city’s secrets, isn’t it?

also, i love the name of this place (which i think is a chain):

we be sushi! sarah be hungry!

j.’s roommate, annie, came with us to brunch. she hadn’t had a mimosa in about three years, which is UNBELIEVABLE. seriously. i kiiiinda wondered if she was lying. regardless, we corrected this travesty immediately.

i can’t remember the name of this restaurant, which is a bummer, cos this was probably my favorite meal of the ENTIRE trip. definitely one of my top brunches of all time! which reminds me. i need to make stickers that restaurants can put in their window, sort of like zagat but they will say: “posh d thinks we are the PANTS!” or something.

anyway

we began by sharing some french toast with bananas and lavender caramel sauce, which was DIVINE!!!!!!

totes the best french toast i have EVER had, no question.

oh and actually we started with some gorgonzola-stuffed dates, but those went too fast for me to take a picture.

for my main course, i ordered poached eggs with thinly sliced ham on fresh grilled bread. obvs i am a genius, cos this was ABSOLUTELY the best option i could have chosen.

SERIOUSLY. TASTY. BUSINESS.

i can’t even handle looking at that picture, to be honest. because it means i would need to jump on a plane to enjoy that dish again, and frankly, i just don’t have the time right now.

since j. is a regular (weekly) customer at this place, he gets lots of special treatment. including free dessert!!!!

i love eating dessert at brunch. it feels so SINFUL and wrong. especially this dish, which was a light lemon pudding with some kind of gingerbread in it. NOM NOM NOM.

after brunch, we headed over to ritual to meet up with julie, ye olde powersuite member (college roomie) and her archi husband, jared. but i actually saw them on the street first, so i got to shriek and hug julie in front of even MORE people. IT FELT SO GOOD TO SEE THEM!!!!!!!!

i realized that i haven’t seen the fishers since they got married, which was over two and a half years ago. i hate that it’s been that long. can’t we all just, you know, rent a big resort somewhere and invite everyone we know (correction: like) and just have group vacations every summer that involve lots of conversations and dancing and firefly catching and eating? i mean, how hard could it be?

as we strolled through the mission, we popped into a few stores. i really liked this one, which reminded me of that junk yard in the heights on 19th street except a lot cleaner and nicer and probably more snake-free.

i even got to pose for a photograph! well, i wasn’t actually the *object* of the photograph. the owner of the store asked me to stand next to this huge ship light so that the size would be to scale. i think it’s online somewhere… if i find it, i will let you know. cos this could totally be the chance i’ve been waiting for– an opportunity to make the leap from internet security modeling to object scale modeling!!!! holla!

here is a guy painting inside a store window. me and the backpack dude watched him.

and here’s a purple house! yay!

taking advantage of the lack of actual rain, we strolled to dolores park to enjoy the view. and oh, it was lovely!

this building (below) is really a high school. it reminds me of the schools in movies, when you think, “there is no way that is actually a high school” (see “10 things i hate about you,” RIP heath). but this is ACTUALLY a high school.

it really is a glorious park. i wish i could go there every day and maybe play with a baby or a dog and then roll down the hill and recklessly accrue grass stains.

henri agreed.

ok just one more shot of the view, cos i can’t help myself.

i mean, WOW, right?! also, big wow to the MOAT around the playground. yiiikes.

as we walked to julie and jared’s car, we passed by my all time favorite sign in san francisco: the glittering cocktail on the 500 club!!!!

note: they painted a “not” in front of the “open 6:00 AM” sign. crafty!

here’s a close-up of the sparkles:

if i could put that sign in my front yard, i would.

since henri and i hadn’t gotten to explore much beyond the mission, we decided to play tourist and check out fisherman’s wharf. i’d seen it before but never actually experienced it.

and ooooh MAN, it is TOURISTY. i knew cos the first store we passed had personalized license plates!!!!!!

as previously discussed on this blog, personalized license plates (signs, keychains, etc.) are the ultimate indicator that you are in Tourist Country.

in the name of “getting in the tourist spirit,” i asked jared to take a super cheesy picture. since jared is nice, he obliged.

i can’t decide if jared is the evil that the monkeys are trying to avoid or if he’s so pure that he doesn’t need to actually cover anything to avoid temptation.

i love all of the old businesses around the wharf, especially their signs:

we walked out to the edge of the pier to get a better view of the bay. note the “forbes island” lighthouse on the right of this picture:

it’s actually a boat, disguised as an island!! apparently you board and then the boat heads out onto the water and you get to eat while sitting on a fake island. I LOVE IT. next time, i am SO hitting up the forbes.

here’s alcatraz with some sailboats:

i think it’s funny how alcatraz has become this big tourist thing. i mean, sure, it’s fascinating, but when stores are selling prison stripe baby onesies, you gotta wonder.

henri was reeeally into learning about tides.

here’s julie and jared, on top of the world! er, well, san francisco.

gah i love them so much. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

and, since henri and i are completely ridiculous, we couldn’t just take a normal picture. oh no. we had to make it totally dumb.

as evening began to fall, julie and jared graciously agreed to drive henri and me to oakland to visit some of his high school friends. even though we spent some wonderful hours together, it honestly wasn’t nearly enough to make up for two and a half years of missing my dear friend julie. do you ever feel like you miss people MORE after you’ve seen them? cos that’s exactly how i felt (and still feel) after saturday.

but it did my heart good to see juliana banana, even for a brief time. she and jared are still the same, wonderful, whimsical, warm-hearted people, and yet, they seem a little bit older, like they’ve gained a stillness, a peace in their spirits. it’s the best feeling in the world to see someone you love and know that they are well, they are happy, they are living their lives fully and fruitfully.

julie is moving forward with hope and light, and even as she presses ahead on her own path, our hearts stay close. i am so thankful for that, especially when i look back and see how far we’ve come since painting our ceiling with glitter and dancing to the beastie boys at 3 AM.

on the way out of the city, we drove through downtown, where i’ve stayed on my past san fran visits. here’s a shot through the car back window:

we arrived in oakland to visit with henri’s high school friend alli, her husband, and two other classmates, anne and kristin. ok that is lie. HENRI came to see those people. *I* came to meet jonah, aly’s little baby boy.

meet jonah, in mid-surprise and mid-carrot stain. actually, the best expression he makes is AFTER the flash bulb has died down– his eyes go from shocked to disapproving. seriously, i have never seen a baby glower like that before.

it was nice to hang out at the house and watch the baby and get to know some people from henri’s past. meeting high school friends always fits a unique piece into the puzzle of a person, don’t you think?

ok enough about that. here’s more pictures of jonah:

alli gave him a bath and put him in his footed jimjams. and then i took a video, cos i couldn’t help myself:

apparently, jonah likes to sit in what his parents call “the office”:

“the office” is where jonah gets his big business done, and by that i mean, he likes to poop in there. i am not kidding. watch this video and listen to his parents give away his business secrets:

i can’t really fault jonah, cos pooping really is the most important thing that babies do (ok, besides eating).

here’s kevin, jonah’s dad, experiencing domestic bliss (complete with a cat).

after a lovely visit, kristin gave henri and i a ride back to the city. we had reservations to eat at firefly with j. and his friend chris, so we met up at j.’s apartment and walked (in the rain, but i had an umbrella, so it was ok) to the restaurant. on the way, j. pointed out a realtor’s office which doubles as a right wing propaganda machine:

reagan! and eagles! and english! FINALLY!

randy, you should meet my dad there. you guys would be in heaven.

it was fun to see firefly in full-on bustling form after observing its calm the day before. we sat at the EXACT same table where meredith, matt and i sat for NYE 2005-6, and we, of course, enjoyed some tasty tasty food. and j. even got a massage, which is not on the menu.

i didn’t take pictures of the food, cos it was dark and, well, cos i was HUNGRY. but it was delicious delicious. and it was fun to get special attention from all of j.’s co-workers, including these lovely ladies:

we headed home with full tummies, and i fell asleep right away (as i tend to do).

even though i was sad about the thought of leaving the next morning, the prospect of heading home seemed quite nice, actually. which is a sure fire sign that you’ve had a good trip.

and also, that you’ve been sleeping on an air mattress.