the first of many (I hope) visitors.

Moving to San Francisco puts me about 2000 miles closer to home (Seattle). Therefore when I first solidified my move, my parents bought tickets down here within a week. It does help that they love San Francisco and grew up in the bay area. It's always amazing to spend time with them although it never seems like it's enough; I'm happy to say that a ticket home for Thanksgiving was purchased this week, the first in seven years. I could go on and on about this so I'll start from the beginning of the week.

One of my first Boston roommates (she now lives is New York) happened to be in town for work this week. It was so great catching up and I got to show off my new place for the first time (even though I'm still sleeping on an air mattress). Jill is an explorer type like me so we walked a bit then found a cool wine bar to grab a drink and some food. I took her down to Polk Street for another drink and dessert - there are so many places, it seems like it will be impossible to ever get to all of them. It sounds like she might be a regular visitor to SF for work starting in the winter - I'm crossing my fingers that will happen.

On Wednesday I went to see The Lion King in 3D at this awesome theater in Pacific Heights where there are tables and can order food and drinks. Unfortunately the projector was broken so we didn't see it there, BUT we hightailed it downtown on the bus to catch a showing at another theater. Just picture eight mid-twenty year old girls making every effort possible to see The Lion King. It seems sad thinking about it, but I wouldn't have changed a thing. I am almost embarrassed to admit how many of the songs and dialogue I know, but equally proud. Four words: The Circle of Life.

I could barely contain my excitement for Saturday morning when my parents arrived. They love the apartment and my mom had a bag of tricks ready for me (these tricks included pillow cases, lamps, curtains, a comforter - the things I now get excited about). We spent all day looking for apartment furniture. We went to Goodwill, thrift stores, consignment shops, boutiques, etc. Very few finds until the last stop at a little store in the Mission. Couch - purchased. Side table - purchased. Bed - purchased (although that was at Mattress Discounters a few hours prior). Do you ever get the Mattress Discounters jingle stuck in your head? Well, I couldn't stop singing it in the store and I'm pretty sure the sales guy wanted to politely ask me to leave.

Today we did some more shopping around. Filing cabinet acting as a dresser - purchased. Lamp shade - purchased. Desk chair - purchased. Great finds! Oh, and lunch two days in a row at Nook - that place is going to get addicting. I wish I could talk all about the Polk Street Blues Festival, but we only were able to walk by it (although probably more than five times) so we just heard snippets.

HOWEVER, we did get to hear some great music tonight! There's a jazz club in SF and Oakland called Yoshi's that my uncle used to go to all the time. My parents had been to the Oakland location a couple of times, but never the one in SF. Brandford Marsalis (Whinton's brother) was playing with a quartet and it was something my dad couldn't pass up. So off we went for sushi and jazz, a much better combination than you'd think.

Recap of the week in bulleted form:

• Cafe Meuse - wine bar that Jill and I went to. Very small, unassuming. Good food, not too expensive. In Nob Hill.
• La Folie - on Polk street. Kind of loungy, but in a good way. The dessert there was great - fresh fruit with chocolate and biscotti.
• Kabuki Theater - the movie theater we almost saw The Lion King. Went in May during my visit - looking forward to going back.
• Embarcadero - I've run a couple of times outside now (not very successfully) but my run at night along a stretch of the Embarcadero was beautiful on Thursday. Absolutely gorgeous.
• Yoshi's - premier jazz club. Great vibe and amazing food. I'm such a sucker for sushi. I definitely could not afford this solo, but looking forward to a next time I can go back.
• Lower Haight - cool neighborhood that we went to for used furniture shopping. I could see myself back there hanging out at some point, but it's a little far.

Tomorrow is going to be equally eventful with some more family time and another night time activity. This post is incredibly random because I have so much to say, but feel like I've already gone overboard and have gone into information overload territory. You can expect future posts to be more intentional, I hope.

My. body. is. le. tired. I must sleep.