the very best days of the week

the very best days of the week...

are the friday, saturday + sunday ones!

last weekend was full of wonderful:

first up, a visit from matt's parents to mark his dad's birthday

which gave matt and i time to go out on not one but TWO dates!

we headed into san francisco on friday night to a spot where matt has been wanting to go,

tosca cafe in north beach.

it was a beautiful evening, just perfect to walk through the streets of san francisco. lovely light, balmy bay area weather but without the city's fog, and lots of people out an about. we stumbled into a great art supply store on our walk from parking to the restaurant, so i stocked up on some painting supplies! (my kryptonite: paint. paper. pens. pencils. ok, any art supplies.) that's my kind of date- one that includes buying new oil paint.

we got there early enough that it wasn't very sceney yet- but the time the sun set and the waves of young and moneyed city crowd came in we were finishing up our dinner that we ate at the bar. tips if you ever go: the food was pretty heavy so keep that in mind. my favorite was one of the most simple things we had- a cheese prosciutto panini that we ate as a starter. it was delicious! we got an oder of meatballs but no joke, matt's meatballs (from the a16 cookbook) are exceptional, and far better than these. in the future i might just go for drinks and a starter. but who can complain about sharing pretty good food with one's favorite person?

saturday morning we headed to monrovia's school's bike day, which i think is one of the most fun family events they do every year. kids can get their bike fixed for free, decorate or bling their bike out with craft supplies, ride an obstacle course, learn how to ride a bike, borrow a bike and helmet for free, make smoothies by riding a bike with a blender attached, race to see who could go the slowest without losing balance and do follow the leader with bikes. super fun community building time!

next monrovia went off to celebrate her papa's birthday by accompanying him and her aunt chrissy to a cal bears game (his alma mater and very close to his heart team!) i'm sure you'll be surprised to know that she was slightly obsessed with the route of the cotton candy man. my girls never miss an opportunity to get snacks! 

at one point when she was actually watching the game, papa says she was mad at the ref's call.

meanwhile, ruby went to the discovery museum with her grandma, so matt and i went on date #2!

first we went to the new show at the oakland museum, fertile ground. it was kind of a look at my artistic lineage, as some of the artistic communities portrayed were students or professors at uc davis and san francisco art institute,  my undergraduate and graduate schools. 

then off to one of my favorite restaurants in the hopes we could slip in and find a spot at the bar. happily we got a table! and of course as usual the food was insanely good. 

dear woodtavern, will you go to the dance with me? xoxo, me

holy burrata and tomato situation. so so good.

matt's family celebrated my dad-in-law's birthday saturday night with food and pinata action over at my sister-in-law's, but i had a date with deaf moms on the books already, so over the bridge i went to meet up with old friends. how amazing the sky was as i crossed the bridge!

i always love catching up with other moms who have kids with hearing loss. they are my extended tribe, and we get where we've been and the struggles and triumphs we have now. for the record, i ate a massive meal at lunch so i didn't need to eat a single thing, and yet a massive and filled with creatures-of-the-sea (which i don't love) and other assorted chinese delicacies was spinning by me on the lazy susan all night long.

sunday morning i rocked the flock by singing with my mom playing piano (did you know i did that sometimes? why yes, it's true.) then it was baby shower time! my dear friend kendra hosted a pretty shower for our friends peter and connie, who are expecting a baby boy at the beginning of november! you really can't go wrong with feting new babies, friends, itty bitty cute baby things, bubbly, treats, good food (mashed potatoes and flank steak? yes please), and pretty decorations! (plus kendra is an amazing hostess, so her parties are always fun.)

i made a four layer yellow ombre cake with cream cheese frosting and lemon curd between the layers and the cutest root beer float cupcakes in a jar! (peter loves root beer floats so they were in honor of him.)

peter is famous for knowing celebrity trash (see what i did there?), so i also made up a celebrity baby match game which isn't cute, but was fun! how many can you get right?

such a fun weekend full of celebrations big and small, so now that i'm back in the routine of a regular ole week it makes me happy that somehow tomorrow is friday again!

oh, also? i am trying to blog more often here and over at my website. for glimpses into my studio, my paintings or current freelance projects or a dash of creativity, hop over to my other blog! for now the working title is: Art is Doing 

happy almost friday to you!