Japantown, Domo Arigato

This weekend we hit Japantown. Hard. It’s just 3 blocks from our apartment, but we rarely visit. Friday night we went down and had a “bento” dinner, and today we went back to the Cherry Blossom Festival. It was horrible. No good vendors, the band was on break (which may have been a blessing in disguise), and the lines for food so long we ended up getting pizza on Fillmore street. So, there you go. We did walk along this little portion of Bush Street we’d never walked on before, and found a Mini Park. Who knew my car had it’s own park?

Last Day…

My technical last day was Friday at Galleria Park. I say technical as I will be splitting my time between our home office and the hotel for the next few weeks as the transition occurs. My team just made me feel like a princess on Friday, taking me out for drinks and snacks at Le Colonial (and beyond…). The absolute best part of the day was coming in to my office to see this piece of art they had created for me. Actually, our sales coordinator is an artist and this was his brainchild! And I simply adore it. They took one of the old, typical hotel prints you find in any 80’s hotel (pre-renovation, obviously); painted the entire thing black and then pasted in this piece of wallpaper that was uncovered during the renovation. I guess it was about 5 layers down, so could be from the 30’s or 40’s. I was just so touched. It is such a thoughtful and wonderful gift. And a beautiful memory of the renovation. I still haven’t read the back – they all signed a note, but I was already crying when I saw the art, I just couldn’t do it right then!

Last Year...

A year ago last weekend we were engaged, and it was also the “anniversary” of our first date (7 years ago!). We headed North, and stayed for the night at one of our hotels, Acqua, which is in Mill Valley on this little inlet. While the weather was predictably foggy and cold, we enjoyed our balcony and there was a fireplace in the room. The staff took amazing care of us, and we felt so welcome. On Saturday, we tooled around San Anselmo, this small town just North of Mill Valley for a while. Cute place, and neither of us had ever been.

Made it to the hotel just in time to enjoy wine hour. Here is Keith enjoying his merlot in the cool lobby, very zen. You can see the water wall to the left, indoor grass and the fireplace.

On Sunday we hit one of the many malls in suburbia-ville, and had brunch at Cheesecake Factory. I am constantly amazed at the portion size that restaurant offers. I ordered French toast and there must have been at least ½ a loaf of brioche on a plate the size of Rhode Island. No, I didn’t eat it all!