YOLO

You Only Live Once, so it's necessary to take advantage of carefree weekends away with friends while you can.  Ian made the trip up to the bay to spend a few days of fine wine, good food, and even better views with us ladies.  

The others were forced to spend Friday living vicariously through Ian and me as we spent a relaxing day together in Napa County, predominately at Stags' Leap Winery, where Brittany's mom, Faith, leads tasting tours.  She did such a fantastic job bringing to life the manor house's history, telling of long summers spent relaxing by the manor's first-in-California in-ground swimming pool, or of the American Indians' legend of the elusive and mystical leaping stag, or of prohibition times when the basement was turned into a boisterous speakeasy frequented by all the local officials. 

We had a fantastic time exploring the estate, sipping on wine, and hanging out with Faith in that glorious house.  I told her that the property reminded me a lot of the villa in which I lived in Tuscany, not just because of its lush view and remarkable structure, but also because of the eeriness evoked when there alone.  

I felt like Faith and I were keeping a secret from all the others on the tour, because she addressed us as if we'd never met before.  Little did our fellow wine enthusiasts know, she remembers when I was in kindergarten.  Thanks again to Faith for such a lovely day!

Much of the next 24 hours was dominated by tasty treats, whether it be Peruvian cuisine at Limón, quirky coffee, a long wait for much-appreciated soup and sandwiches at Outerlands, or Gio's butternut squash risotto.

Saturday afternoon we ventured out to the Sutro Baths, where there are stunning views of the water, the Golden Gate, and most notably the sunset.  A two-hour photo shoot ensued.  The weather was stunning, and we enjoyed the time sitting and soaking up the sun as much as we did exploring the site. 

I felt like I needed to pinch myself, the view was so incredible.  And not only that, but I was enjoying it with such great friends.  Take a gander for yourself:

That night, after dinner, cards, and Icelandic digestives at Gio's in the Presidio, we headed downtown and split our time between the classy Burritt Room and the hip Rickshaw.  In the following picture, I feel the need to say that my height was altered by the fact that I'm seated on a barstool, but it's possible that I would have appeared that short even standing.

Since Ian left the next day out of Sacramento, we only had a few more hours to spend in the city, and we chose to spend them down by the wharf.  We stumbled upon Hyde St. Pier, another place I can't recall ever visiting, and drank in the nostalgia of the old boats, especially the ferry originally used to transport people from Sausalito to San Fran before the erection of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

All in all, another beautiful weekend spent in San Francisco.  Did it take me 12 hours of sleep last night to recover from it?  Maybe.