I Heart SF! - Part 1

  It's been a few weeks since my visit to San Francisco - and we've been so busy, I haven't had a chance to share some of the great shopping and sites!
- Shopping - check!
- Eating - double check!
- President Obama was in town - it's true!
+ a tour of Chronicle Books HQ! So cool!

  Here is Part 1 of my San Fran trip highlights!

Walking *down the steep hills wasn't so bad.....it was the walking up that just about did me in.
For real: I almost died

The Painted Ladies!! The most famous row of houses ever!

LOVED all the San Fran Style homes - even this Barn roof style home was quirky and fun!
 PLUS! My favorite part = the sweet whale weather vane!

So much good food - including a quick lunch at Elsy's - a Salvadorian restaurant where I had my first Pupusa!
( a thick, hand-made corn biscuit-like flat bread that is stuffed with good stuff - Mine included carnitas + cheese!)

We grabbed some late night ice cream from Smitten  in Hayes Valley - an ice cream shop within a huge cargo-shipping container. The owner developed this great technology they call "kelvin" to make the BEST ice cream in 5 minutes. They keep it simple: only 3 flavors available at a time - I had Salted Carmel - YUM! - and it was packed with people! But the great part is, it's not a long wait, and you get to watch them concoct your batch right before your eyes! Only 3 - 6 ingredients total (depending on the flavor) and ALL locally sourced.

Random I know. In one shop, there was a little back room gallery space where I found this great needle-point sushi artwork. It made me smile :)

I picked these out for Kevin! A seemingly ordinary stool from the front & side - but Storm Trooper business in the back!

and I opened up a health spa - no. that's not true at all - but it's funny to see my name out there. I can't even find it on a souvenir shop key chain - so I take what I can get!

I did a lot of shopping while in SF - look for my I Heart SF! Part 2 and Part 3 posts soon!