For the last 3 years I lived in the Bay Area. I wish I could say that I loved it but the truth is the weather depressed the heck out of me up there. I think they call that SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) but there's not really a definitive test for it so I guess I'll never know. Best believe I won't be signing up to live in Seattle anytime soon. It probably took me 2 years to get adjusted to the cold, overcast-ness and gather a small group of friends (most of them co-workers). So really I just enjoyed that last year and the food.
Last weekend, one of my friends (Bex, short for Rebecca) came down here (San Diego) because a friend of hers was relocated temporarily for work. The funny thing is Bex is a San Franciscan (born & raised) through and through. Even though I lived just over the bridge in Emeryville I only managed to see her a handful of times. Most of those times involved Dim Sum. I see her more now that I live in the opposite part of the state from her. Ooh should tell you that I met Bex all the way back in 2004 when I was living in San Francisco and going to Culinary School. We were pretty inseparable. I saw her everyday! Usually she followed me home because she was still living at home. I miss my little apartment in the Haight sometimes.
Anyhoo, Bex has this huge group of friends that she goes everywhere with. I finally got to meet about 10 of them. They were so so nice. Do you ever meet someone and it just feels like you've talked to them a million times before? Well that's how this went. Ooh and they are all so stylish. Wish I was petite and Chinese so I could borrow all of their clothes and more importantly their minuscule sized shoes. I met them in the Gaslamp and we went out to this really horrible bar called, The Fleetwood. I say horrible because it was so, so hot in there. It felt like you were going to melt. I even welcomed escaping with Bex on the smoke deck. For anyone who has never met me I have a serious dislike of anything that involves smoke. I'm usually that one annoying non-smoker friend you have that tries to get you to quit every 5 seconds and reminds you that you are killing yourself (politely of course). Oh and some of the shot/wine glasses they gave us were warm. But regardless I had a great time with the old bestie!
I wasn't a fan of Chicago. I'll chop it up to the very short stay, unbearable humidity and rude people I encountered. But that dog was delicious. I got two!
None of my CA friends got why I was so excited about "The Bean". You can see the skyline in the reflection!
On the way we had an hour to kill before our host got home from work. So we yelped "Swimming Hole" and ended up in Michigan City, IN at Lake Michigan.
We got our make-up done at Fred Segal. Her lipgloss is by Tarte.
Central Park
Outside of MOMA was this incredible jewelry vendor that makes these necklaces from leather & suede. They're $50 a pop but Jasmine wore hers for the rest of the trip. I begged her to start selling on Etsy.com
