Legends of the Summer Tour

I apologize for not being a better blogger lately....so sue me. Work has sucked and life has been busy, so I haven't made time to blog. But...

YOU GUYS.....I saw the Legends of the Summer Tour with Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake! This show was utterly AMAZABALLS! LIKE AMAZING! Its been a while since I've been to a big concert. As in YEARS where I haven't sit on the lawn and couldn't see it. Jay-Z killed it and Justin was pretty good. I thought Jay was better than JT, which made my heart cry a little.

Oh hello luvvvaaaahhhh

OMGeeeeeeeeee it was SO GOOD!

Hannah and I met up to take the train up to Baltimore. Who needs traffic when you can take the train? It was the first time I've ridden the MARC, hello $7 ticket, goodbye $30 ticket! Now, this will be even better when they finally have MARC service on the weekends like they promised!

On the train to Baltimore

All the gang hanging out at "Ball So Hard University", yes, there was a place on FourSquare close by to Gus's place with that name. Of course I checked in!

When we knew this concert was coming into town, we all freaked and signed up to get really good seats! I've never been to a football field (they played at the Raven's field), but our seats were SO GOOD. We could see the stage completely and we were on the first level so we weren't on the field. We all drove to Baltimore and stayed at Gus's place. He was living in a weird Craigslist place while he waited for Erin to be able to move to be with him. It was great to be able to have a place to stay!

There was a HUGE storm about an hour before the show. Luckily it down poured while we drank a few brewskies. It stopped for us to walk to the show and enjoy most of it. A light sprinkling happened, which totally helped cool down the air. It was getting pretty sticky with humidity. 

The Ravens Stadium where the concert was located

Baltimore Penn Station glass ceilings on the way out.

We had SUCH a good time at this concert!!

Ted's Bulletin

I'm taking a break from San Fran posts to catch up on other things!

I FINALLY got to try Ted's Bulletin! I've always wanted to go to the Eastern Market location, but its a schelp to get there AND its always busy! When my friend Clayton asked me if I was free for brunch one Saturday, I JUMPED ON IT! He got tickets through a friend to go to the early release of the new 14th Street location. COUNT ME IN! I mean, COME ON, they've got adult milkshakes!!!! And brunch ALL.DAY.LONG!

I had the dirty girl scout.....MMMMM!!!!!!!! I also got the Mark on an Off Day (below). MMMMMMMMMM. I also got one of their amazing (looking) pop-tarts. Granted I was so stuffed I didn't eat it there, but MAN was I disappointed. Ugh. I will never make that mistake again. I'll go for a donut next time!

 WOW! Great breakfast!

Cooks A Cookin! 

 One eating area

Some yummy treats! 

 Check out those oatmeal cream pies!!!

DONUTS!! 

 The front bar

The yummy looking but down right GROSS poptarts!

Lombard Street

Second stop was a VERY steep walk up the famous Lombard street. Cars often wait hours just to be able to drive down this steep and curvy street (its got 8 hairpin turns!) And it must be some weird lighting, because my arms are NOT that skinny!

According to Wikipedia:

Lombard Street is best known for the one-way section on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, in which the roadway has eight sharp turns (or switchbacks) that have earned the street the distinction of being the crookedest (most winding) street in the world. 

Man, I swear I'm in good shape, but DAMN that was a STEEP hill! I totally felt this sign below, "Eat Shit and Die". Perhaps it was a parody of what you eat makes you feel like shit? Ooorrrrr, it was just saying to eat shit and die bitch.

 Anyways, here is the street!

Well, the view from the top was really nice!!

Ghirardelli Square

First stop on the trip was to Ghirardelli Square! Totally unplanned, we just happened to walk by and I said you can't refuse me a trip there! In San Francisco's normal nature, it was cloudy...this picture would be amazing if it was sunny!  But who doesn't love a little Ghirardelli?

From Wikipedia:

Ghirardelli Square is a landmark with shops and restaurants in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco, California. A portion of the area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Pioneer Woolen Mills and D. Ghirardelli Company. Ghirardelli Square once featured over 40 specialty shops and restaurants. Some of the original shops and restaurants still occupy the square. 

Ghirardelli Square is undergoing an extensive renovation. Many of the specialty shops have closed or moved to other locations (inside or outside the square). In the main plaza there are new shops and restaurants.  

In 1893, Domingo Ghirardelli purchased the entire city block in order to make it into the headquarters of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. In the early 1960s, the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company was bought by the Golden Grain Macaroni Company which moved the headquarters off-site to San Leandro and put the square up for sale.

Anyways, it was fun to walk around the area and eat CHOCOLATE!!!!! I got a scoop of chocolate ice cream and two free squares!  The area hosts a lot of events, including wine tastings, chocolate festivals, and more!

Just one shelf in one out of three stores!

Mmmmm...this is my scoop of heaven!

Me in front of one of the stores

The Bay Area Visit

I must say that the weather in San Fran is TO.DIE.FOR! I left the heat and humidity and 90 degrees in DC and landed in 60 degree weather. It was quite a shock at first and the day I arrived it was pretty cold and damp. However, the day continued on and warmed up! Honestly, I couldn't have asked for better weather the whole time I was there! Because the weather is so amazing, you saw so many people out and about being active, whether running, biking, or swimming.  I did so many things that I'll probably break up the trip into several posts. 

Thankfully I had a direct flight, that was a LONG 6 hours smushed in between two people in the middle seat. United makes you pay pretty much for any seat selection, and I stated that I wanted aisle or window, but still got the middle. Womp womp.  

I scooped up Buster and we made our way into the city center on the BART, SF's version of the metro.  We stayed around Embarcadero, near the financial district. Embarcadero derives its name from the Spanish verb embracar, meaning "to embark". He doesn't have a place yet, so we stayed at a hotel near the water.  

In case we forgot where we were staying, here is what was on the hotel wall:

I didn't come with many expectations or places I really wanted to see, I thought it would be more fun to just walk around and see SF as a non-tourist.

So much food was consumed while on this trip! I wouldn't have been able to keep up with it, but I used Four Square to check in everywhere I went! I'm going to break this trip into a few posts, so STAY TUNED!