Wednesday, December 28, 2005

our first christmas in san francisco!

My Momma joined me out here this year, and I'm so glad she did!!! After growing up in Colorado, and spending almost every single Christmas there (xcept for last year) in freezing cold and snow, I *LOVE* that this year I didn't have to travel anywhere and my Mom got to join me out here where there's sunshine and green grass & trees. It was such a relaxing little vacation together!!

So I already blogged about Friday night, but here's a few photos:

Mom & I downtown, after a *yummy* dinner @ Fly Trap and drinks at Kate O'Brien's!

On Saturday we went to see Polar Express on IMAX 3D and it was *SO AWESOME*!!! When was the last time, if ever, you saw a 3-D movie on IMAX!?!?! Holy sh*t, all I have to say is: I am going to see every single IMAX 3D movie from now on!! It's incredible!!! I hope I get to see "MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION: WALKING ON THE MOON 3D" because I have always thought it would be SO AMAZING to be in outer space, and seriously, for the low low price of $15 you can feel like you are! :p That one might not be showing here, or may have passed already, but in the trailers we saw a really cool IMAX 3D movie coming out called IMAX DEEP SEA 3D and I'm SO THERE, too! It's like going diving!

So anyway - that was so fun and my Mom & I came out of the movie just high on life. Everything was brighter and we were feelin' the Christmas spirit. :) We did a little shopping till all the stores started closing (since it was Christmas Eve), and came home to rest. But we realized after chillin on the couch for awhile, we were too beat to go out to dinner, so we stayed in & I fixed my mom up my specialty: stir fry with brown rice! I put in Bottle Rocket, but I don't think my Mom got the humor :p as she ended up falling asleep while I watched the rest of it. I love that movie!

Unfortunately because we failed to go to the grocery store the day before, we woke up on Christmas morning to realize we didn't have the fixin's we wanted to have to make a nice breakfast here, and so we set out to see if there were any places open and quickly found that hardly any were! In hindsite, we should have just stopped at a corner store for some eggs and been satisfied with that, but we ended up finding ourselves at Mel's diner and my Mom actually totally LOVED their eggs benedict, so that worked out! I'm easy, so I was just happy she was happy & that we were together.

After breakfast we came back here, packed up & headed up to Napa! I'd made us reservations to stay at the Villagio Inn & Spa in Yountville and massage appointments, too! We were running late, so we rescheduled our massages & settled into our room drinking the bottle of wine they gave us before getting ready to go out for our nice Christmas dinner. While my Mom got ready, I texted people Merry Christmas wishes :) considering I was too swamped this year to do Christmas cards (sorry peeps!). Texting Christmas notes is such a sign of 2005, eh? But it's a great way to tell people you're thinking of them, without interrupting their relaxing day. It was really fun to hear back from friends & I even got a few sweet phone calls, too. I've been so damn stressed & overworked this last month or so, that Christmas was a painful stress on top of it all. Many of my friends won't get gifts from me until 2006. :)

Our Christmas dinner was at none other than the luxurious Auberge du Soleil and it was AMAAAZINGLY GOOD!!! It was a pre-fix and every single course was absolutely breathtaking and mouthwatering!! You know a meal is good when you're at the end of it & your mouth is still waterin thinking about the first course! I highly, highly recommend it!!

My Mom & I had a ton of fun at dinner and went back to our 5-star room (with fireplace!) satisfied and ready to watch a movie! :) We watched Must Love Dogs, but it was just 'OK'. My Momma called it when she remarked that it seemed like they were rushing the plot too much & therefore the acting seemed really bad. I totally agree! It wasn't as good as I would have hoped, especially being that I heart John Cusack so much... but oh well.

The next morning we woke up to have a quick bite in the hotel lobby (their champagne breakfast), and then we were ready for our massages!! They were wonderful & we even spent some time in the steam room afterwards. Aaaahhh, steam rooms are so awesome! It's like a facial for your whole body.

We spent the rest of the day driving around Napa, doing a wine tasting, and SHOPPING (yes, some more... it's what we do best!! :) My Mom got me a new towel set (that I have so desperately been needing), a new bathroom cabinet (Just from Target, but it was inexpensive and is nicer than the stacked crates I've been using! :p), and a floor rug (for soaking up the rainy/muddy shoes that walk through my door!). I bought myself a few new clothes I'm stoked on, too!

Overall it was a VERY relaxing and nice Christmas with my Momma. She teaches me so much all the time about being patient, loving and kind. I'm very lucky to have her!! xoxox

View all the photos from my Mom's Christmas Visit