Fun in the SF sun!

We had quite the weekend and it was wonderful! One of the many things we're enjoying the most in our new city is the endless outdoor activity. The weather is beautiful most of the time, so the city heads outdoors on the weekends. Mike looked into the San Francisco Bay Area Aggie Club and we lucked out because their kick-off to the upcoming football season was Saturday! We joined about 30 other Aggies at Crissy Field (near the Golden Gate Bridge) and enjoyed chatting with fellow transplants, eating BBQ and talking about College Station. Surprisingly, two other couples moved to San Francisco from Texas the same time we did...five weeks ago. We took a group photo, but it hasn't been posted to our Aggie group page yet. When it posts, I'll be sure to share on the blog.

While at the Aggie BBQ, Mike and I met his friend from high school and his fiance. They asked us to join them at the Giants baseball game the following day and we did! Here are some pictures from the afternoon at AT&T Park. Can you tell what a beautiful day it was? Don't let the pictures fool you though...it was a bit chilly in the 60s. But, the Giants won!

Such a pretty baseball field. I'm not really into baseball, but this stadium was pretty great.

Saturday was themed "The Dog Days of Summer" and people could bring their pups to the game with them. I about died when I saw this bulldog sporting a Giants jersey and baseball cap. He was completely chill and let people take photos of him left and right. I guess he's used to the papparazzi!

Certainly not our last visit to the AT&T Stadium. If you visit us next spring/summer, we'll be sure to take you to a Giants game.

Baseball? What, we're here to watch baseball? I kept watching the boats pass by.

Sneak Peak #2: Our bathroom. Not too exciting, huh? Luckily, Mike stays up late and I wake up early, so it never has to be shared.

This is what I, Erin, have to deal with as I get ready for work every morning. I have a system down, but seriously this counter (can you call it a counter?) is a lil' hard to maneuver with rollers, make-up and various other things.

I can't let my babies go without a shout-out in today's blog update. Toby and Bella say "hello" to all. Even though it's cooler in San Francisco, they still love to sunbathe every chance they get. Look...they are almost holding paws!!!

Wings Over Wine Country

To say that Mike is obsessed with planes is an understatement. When I learned of the Wings Over Wine Country Air Show, I knew we'd be headed there. It was such a beautiful day (sunny and low 70s)...not only did we enjoy the show, but the ride home was fun too!


Showing off my "wings" shirt...worn in the spirit of the air show.


Hitchin' a ride in an F-14 calleded "Buckeye Blitz"...the type of plane filmed in "Top Gun". (That tells you about my extensive knowledge in aircraft....I kept asking Mike if all of the planes were in "Top Gun").


Gig' 'em Aggies....displaying a lil' bit of Fightin' Texas Aggie pride! We are excited football season is just around the corner.

Mike was so excited to eat a turkey leg. Check out the ladies in the background...they thought it was so funny that I was taking a picture of Mike holding his pride and joy.

Sneak Peak

DINING ROOM
I never show anything until it's a finished product. With that said, one room in our apartment is complete and that is the dining room. I'll show you our other rooms as we finish unpacking them. We ran into a dilemna as to what to do with all of our china and crystal. Our Houston apartment had white shelves built into the wall to store everything, but our SF apartment has absolutely no storage whatsoever. It's also our philosophy to not spend big money on furniture until we are in a home, so I turned to Craigslist in search of a china cabinet. What you see is what we found for $110!!! I'd prefer it to be white and look a little more "beachy", but for $110 I'll take it as it is!


Here it is! Too bad we never eat in the dining room.

This is a painting we purchased on our recent trip to Maui. I just love it!

FARMER'S MARKET
Rather than spend another weekend unpacking, we decided to make Saturday a fun day. We started out at the Farmer's Market (at the Ferry Pier) near downtown. We did not have anything specific in mind to purchase (except for kettle corn), so we wandered around and bought a few things that looked yummy. Then, we ended up at an annual festival in Japantown.

I do not eat peppers, but thought they looked so pretty that I took this photo.


Mike found spinach and other not-so-yummy "green" foods. Doesn't his expression just scream excitement?

We were super excited to come across cheese! And all sorts of cheese! We ended up purchasing four different kinds.

I found my kettle corn popcorn! This just made my day!! And yes, I can polish off an entire bag by myself. :)

Painting and Unpacking x 1,000!!!

Mike, Toby, Bella and myself have lived in our new home for 8 days. We've certainly made progress in the apartment....painted the kitchen, the dining and living rooms, and our bedroom. And, we've unpacked an unreal amount of boxes for our tiny 2-bedroom place. We wanted to share some pictures of us from this past week. I promise to post pictures of the "finished product" sometime in the near future. Since we both work full-time, it limits our time to unpack...but we're getting there!

What's going on???


And the painting begins....changing the bedroom color from beige to surf blue.

Cheese.....this is fun!


All of this painting is so exhausting....

Attempting to unpack the living room.

The super, tiny kitchen covered in packing paper. The narly white board on the wall behind me is now gone!

We've officially been in SF for one week!

It is hard to believe that Mike and I have been in our new city for one week. We toured the Bay Area while Davy was in town and took a Mr. Toad tour today to obtain a better feel for the city. Here are some highlights of our sightseeing adventures. Mike and I hope these pictures make you want to hop on a plane and visit us!

Muir Woods

Muir Beach...north of San Francisco.


What a view! Possibly our Christmas card photo?


We drove through Muir Forest which contains incredibly large trees, beautiful views, winding roads, and beautiful lakes like the one pictured above.

Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz is a neat beach town. It has the longest pier I've ever seen. Davy and I are pictured on the pier with a shot of the beach/boardwalk in the background.


Sleepy sealion. :)


Santa Cruz was by far the coldest beach I've ever visited. 60 degree weather on the coast in July??!!??!! Guess I better get used to staying fully clothed on the Nor Cal beaches.

Mr. Toad's Tour of San Francisco

Chinatown....what an awesome neighborhood of the city. We ate wonderful Chinese dishes and learned many interesting tidbits about this area. For example, the locals shop for fresh produce/meat twice a day...before lunch and dinner.


The woman pictured above is making fortune cookies. It was a small factory, but smelled wonderful! We purchased an entire bag of them.


Mike really enjoyed his cookies!


Do you recognize these homes? Look familiar? These homes, known as the "painted ladies", are the opening scene of Full House. These beautiful homes cost about $3 million a piece.

So, I hope these pictures have provided you with a lil' taste of our new city. Both Mike and I have been busy working (I started my new job last Monday), but plan to take advantage of every free evening/weekend to explore our new home. Y'all come down and visit now!

The Halls Invade California!

After 2 1/2 days on the road, we made it to San Francisco! Davy joined us and helped drive, plus it was nice to have someone to talk to in the car.

DAY 1

We started our journey at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday and traveled across Texas to El Paso. Remember the good ol' Junction Boys? Well, we passed through Junction (not much to see) and the wind farms in west Texas.

Junction, Texas


West Texas Wind Farm

Pretty West Texas Landscape


Random mariachi band at the Taco Cabana in El Paso. The view on the patio of the restaurant was Juarez, Mexico. We even saw the border wall as we were leaving our hotel the next morning.

DAY 2

We decided to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to get an early start on the road. Mission was to arrive in Los Angeles by 4:00 p.m. Goal was accomplished! Mike's cousin, Matt, lives in LA and was kind enough to take us to dinner and show us the sights of the City of Angels. Matt's girlfriend, Molly, was also a great host/guide...what a fun city!

Beautiful sunrise in New Mexico.


Bella was wide awake and decided to take a peek at the sun's rays.

Beautiful New Mexico landscape.

Thank goodness we didn't experience a dust storm; however, we did drive through some pretty narly storms.

One of the few times Toby was happy during the ride. For the most part, he was sedated.

Arizona!

Not really sure how this sleeping arrangement happened?!

We made it.....hooray for Hollywood!

The traveling trio take a break to eat dinner.

DAY 3

On the road again....

On I-5 through the rolling hills of Cali.

We made it!!!! After 2 1/2 days in the car, we finally made it to our new city, San Francisco. I promise to post more pictures of our weekend adventures soon. You are welcome to visit us any time!

Packing Day

It is hard to believe that our apartment is packed and everything is on a truck headed to beautiful San Francisco. Toby and Bella were quite the help...see below.

Picture perfect!

Isn't this bath mat a great napping spot?


Houston has been experiencing thunderstorms...Toby hates thunder. Between the thunder and the movers, Toby turned to his "pacifier" and walked around the house for 45 minutes with it. He was quite upset, poor thing.

The truck with all of our things inside. Hope it has safe travels out west!

Last time in our first apartment together...this was our home for three years. Goodbye Houston, Hello San Francisco!