Fun in the Bay Area

I spent a week visiting family and friends in the Bay Area. It rained almost every day, but when the skies cleared up, I snapped up some memories to share with you.
Enjoy!

My first stop was to visit my grandparents in the beautiful Berkeley hills.
Unfortunately, my grandmother "Gigi" hurt her back the week before I arrived, so I was happy to sit and chat and lend a helping hand. My grandmother has a wonderful blog and you can read it HERE!
My Grandfather Otto.
Well, I suppose if you must sit in bed with a back injury, this is not a bad view to look out at!

The front door that greeted me since I was just a little sack of sugar.
On Wednesday, I met up with my mom in Emeryville for some power shopping, tasty food and a little jaunt over to the Marin Headlands to photograph my most favorite San Francisco landmark, The Golden Gate Bridge. The light was amazing!



Do you see the little orange starfish?
My cute mom with her nifty new camera!
A couple days later, I met up with my pals, Patty and Romy, and we had a super fun girls day out. We started with a yummy breakfast at The Sunny Side Cafe and then headed over to Azul Spa in Berkeley. It was soooo relaxing. Well, except for the part when "Ilana" tortured me during a facial. ;-) But other than that it was wonderful.
Here's where we spent most of the afternoon...
Ladies of leisure...(doesn't Patty looks like she's going to kill me for taking this picture?)

Romy has the most awesome space imaginable in Emeryville. She's a very talented artist and photographer and has a super cool old camera collection.Meet one of her cats, Pepe. This character was trying to escape in my camera bag.
Romy had a beautiful fresh flower arrangement in her hallway.
Here's Bucci, Romy's second cat, who thought he was part panther.
My pals.
When we were growing up, Emeryville was a trashy industrial town, and not a place to visit. It's had a fabulous makeover since and is now home to Pixar (the geniuses behind some of the best movies ever like The Incredibles, Toy Story, & Monsters Inc.), great shopping and good eats. I snapped this photo on my way to visit my brother in Danville on Friday evening. Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe is another cool spot in Emeryville. My brother and I heard a rumor that it was owned by Mike from Green Day and so we had to eat breakfast here on Saturday morning. (Yo, Mike, get some real maple syrup!)
Urban art in Emeryville. I have no clue what this means. Any ideas?
Here's K.D., my brother and sister-in-law's feisty and funny little dog!On Sunday, my brother, sister-in-law and I took a trip over to Sausalito to visit our dad and step-mom at their house boat. This is the dock that leads to their place.
Fun things along the way...
I love the view from their houseboat.
My brother, Loren, sister-in-law, Terri, and K.D. the super dog. I have to take a moment to brag about Terri. In 2007 she took the honor of Teacher of the Year in California AND recently nabbed the title for the entire Southwest. She is now up for the national award. Very exciting!! Hooray for Terri!!!
Terri snapped this photos of me and my brother.
Me and my dad, Darrow, and my step-mom, Marnie. My dad is growing his hair long for peace. Not sure how that works, but he has always had a different spin on life.

The end.