SF Getaway

Luke had the opportunity to attend a National Special Education conference in San Francisco last week (with a bunch of school psychologists) and OF COURSE I had to take advantage of the time and join him.
Thank goodness we have Grandma and Grandpa Hogue who live relatively close (60 minutes) and are kind enough to tackle the chore of the Hogue tag-team and Petunia.

Monday was a school holiday for Luke and the boys and he flew out of Burbank before noon. My plan was to drive up Wednesday and we'd drive home together Friday after the conference ended.
I have been looking forward to this little getaway ever since Luke found out about it in October! I love having a trip to look forward to...especially if it involves some time alone with Luke. :)

The first 48 hours apart were agonizing. (ok...I am being a little dramatic and "needy") I just really dislike being apart from Luke for more than 24 hours.
He helps me out (...or should I say I help him out) a lot at home....and he is my teammate. When he isn't around it isn't just me who misses him, but all the kids...which makes me feel good.

I couldn't wait to see Luke on Wednesday!
Luke called Tuesday and Wednesday morning EARLY in the morning, which was a surprise because I thought for sure he'd sleep in and enjoy not having to get kids ready for school. But it was so nice to hear his voice...it almost made the morning seem normal as I hustled and bustled to get all of us ready and out the door by 6:40am the first morning he was gone. Wednesday morning I took the kids to school and spent a little quiet time with Petunia before leaving her with Grandma.
I left the house around 9:30am and made pretty good time. I arrived at the hotel an hour before Luke had a 3-hour session to go to.
After he left the hotel I tried to take a nap but eventually gave up after 30 minutes. I was hesitant to go walk the town by myself but I knew there was some good shopping closeby. (The conference was held at the Hilton Hotel in Union Square so it was the perfect location for SHOPPING and people watching.)

First item on my agenda was to find the closest Origins store.
I had a birthday coupon and lucky for me, it was only a 5 minute walk from the hotel. The gal who helped me offered me a free mini-facial.
I looked at my watch and realized Luke was busy for another hour and I had no kids to tug on me or whine so I said, "SURE!"
She spent about 20 minutes and even reapplied make-up.....and it was so nice. I had to take pictures of the process to send to Luke so he could see what a fun time his wife was having all ready. :)

After he got out of his session he met me at Cheesecake Factory so we could get our traditional raspberry lemonades, fried macaroni and cheese appetizer and chicken stuffed tortilla. I swear...I could eat there every stinkin' night if it wasn't so darn expensive. After dinner we walked around a bit and people watched. All of the "homeless" people make for an interesting show. We sat inside a Starbucks on the corner and had a great view while sipping on the worst hot chocolate ever! I think some of these "homeless" people have day jobs and come out at night and make a killing! Really.
Its crazy.
There was a husband/wife out front of Starbucks and the husband had on hunting gear that looked expensive and his wife would come in/out of Starbucks, sit in the corner to get out of the cold and charge her cell phone. But everyone was stopping to give them money because they had three large dogs....with nice shiny coats. Not only did the husband look well fed, but so did the dogs.

Thursday morning we ate at Dottie's which we were told was delicious. The little cafe only holds 40 customers at a time so the wait was about 45 minutes. We almost said forget it, but stuck it out. The best part of breakfast was the cinnamon coffee cake and the blackberry crumb cake.
Soooooo good! I'd go back for these! They were both warm with fresh sauce/creme on top. If you are ever in Union Square I would try it out!
http://www.menukarma.com/menus/menu-for-dotties-true-blue-cafe-in-san-francisco

Next up....cupcakes. Lucky for me this joint was only a 3 minute walk from the hotel.
The cupcakes all looked good, but the clear winner was the strawberry cheesecake! (The empty slot was where my cheesecake cupcake was previously residing) :)

Graham cracker crust on bottom. Mmmmmmm!

The only downfall of the trip was the weather.(ok...maybe I missed the kids a little bit) Cold winds and rain off/on all day Thursday meant that walking/sightseeing needed to be within a 1-2 mile radius.

Shoe shopping in Union Square. (Luke is a very good shoe-shopping companion and was very diligent about helping me find just the right shoe...in the right color.)
I couldn't resist giving my cheesiest/corniest grin after finding two perfect shoes....for 25% off!

Thursday night we roamed around looking for trinkets the boys would like. Inside Urban Outfitters we found a metal head massager. We took turns on each other and it felt so good. We had to buy it for $6.

I did have some nail envy when we stopped into the new Banana Republic accessory store. This DUDE had on a cute little black/white outfit...and his nails were to die for. They were nicely groomed and polished. I asked him what color he had on and he enthusiastically replied, "Black!" It didn't look like black, but whatever. They were all filed and the same length. How can a dude have nicer nails than me? The world just doesn't make sense anymore!

Friday morning I did a little more shoe shopping before Luke went to his conference. Another successful trip!! :) I also made sure I made one more stop at the "Cako" bakery for cupcakes!

Goodbye San Francisco!