SURPRISE!!! Happy Birthday to ME!

So I am reminded that I have the absolute best sister in the WORLD yet again this week. Today is my 29th birthday (still edging towards 3-0 but not there YET!) and on Friday night Dave and I were at dinner with a friend when Jon calls to tell us that Lindsay was arriving at 9:00pm from San Diego for a surprise visit! It was perfect timing and the best birthday gift I could possibly ask for. We had a wonderful time together and I'm pretty sure we walked the concrete right off the sidewalk with the amount of shopping we did. Here's a quick rundown:
Saturday morning: 7 mile run to Golden Gate Bridge! We took the camera with us this time and it was really fun!

Saturday afternoon: Trip to Ferry Building Farmer's Market - PHENOMENAL! It was a very thorough farmer's market with anything from fresh (organic of course) fruits & vegetables to delicious sausages (chicken-apple AND the real kind, which I devoured) to dried lavender (my closet thanks you, lavender-vendor-whose-delivery-truck-runs-on-vegetable-oil). The grand finale was Cowgirl Creamery where we sampled the BEST cottage cheese I've ever put in my mouth and went home with a chunk of "Drunken Goat" cabernet encrusted cheese and a cup of fresh chevre goat cheese which we made into an hors d'oeuvre that night. We toasted french bread slices in the oven (once we finally figured out how to turn the pilot light on in the oven - 20 minutes later), spread the warm bread with the chevre, added an apricot on top and drizzled with olive oil. Delicious!


Sunday: Shop Until We Dropped! We walked down Polk Street, along Union and Chestnut Streets, up Fillmore Street and beyond. I can't imagine there was even one shop that we missed! We did meet Dave for lunch and considered the option of coupling every store visit with a bar visit (1:1 ratio...you know, to keep things fair), but I decided I'd be asleep before 2pm if we went that direction. Alas, I bought a new pair of jeans with my birthday money (thanks, Mom!) and a few fun items for the apartment.

Monday: Lindsay's future mother-in-law came in town from Sacramento and we went wedding dress shopping for her in Union Square. It was a fun, relaxing day and wonderful to spend more time with Jon's mom. The perfect finale to an already perfect weekend!