San Francisco

I just spent 48 hours in San Francisco with Terry, my lovely sister in law. The weather was not promising: they predicted the first two winter storms of the season back to back. It did rain quite a bit, but we got lucky with breaks of bright blue sky and sun. We stayed at the beautiful Omni Hotel near Union Square. The magic and comfort of staying at a hotel was enough of a treat, but we had to take it further. One of the many activities we planned was dining at delicious bistros, and the first one we visited was "Citizen Cakes". Terry had researched it and reserved it for a Saturday lunch. It is located in Hayes Valley neighborhood, an unknown territory to me.


I was impressed by the displayed baked goods as we entered. But what blew me away was their donut balls. Literally the best bites of donuts I have ever had. Warm and soft and deceptively light, the donut balls came with a side of vanilla frosting and strawberry jam. Every bite was a taste of heaven. I think Terry would agree with me on this one.


Before Citizen Cakes, we visited the Titanic Exhibition at the Matreon. The simple story of an unsinkable ship that sunk was actually told in an interesting and captivating way. The artifacts from the shipwreck were quite impressive. Some pieces were in perfect condition after almost 100 years on the ocean floors.

Of course being a girls' weekend get away, we needed to shop and watch sappy movies. And that's just what we did! The Devil Wears Prada and The Holiday were the perfect movies for the weekend.


So, we did at lot. We slept a lot. We exercised a lot. We talked a lot. We shopped a lot. And none of that would have meant anything had I done it with anybody else. Terry was the perfect person to spend my 48 hours with in San Francisco this weekend. The memories that we shared will always stay with me.

What will always stay with me, too, is the faces of my children when they saw me as they woke up from their nap. I wonder if they thought they were still dreaming. "Mommy!" they said, with the sweetest smiles I have ever seen. "You are back, Mommy!" Though I must say I just spent the best 48 hours in a long time, coming back to my family was equally the best feeling I have felt in a long time, too. In this case, everybody wins.