#13 Visit New York

For my 30th birthday I decided that enough was enough and it was time for me to see the East Coast. Yup, up until the ripe old age of 30 (whaaa??!??), I had never been to the East Coast of the US until last month. Crazy town. I was trying to hit up as many places as possible in a week and the first one was New York. As soon as she heard the words 'New York' my mom was in! My aunt lives on the East Coast and was willing to be our tour guide as she does work in NY all the time. It was awesome! I loved NY- way more than I thought I would and now I totally want to go back since we just got a small taste of it. We stuck mainly to Manhattan and tried to fit in as much as humanly possible- in addition to cabs and the subway, I made my mom and aunt walk 26 miles all around the city. Basically if I ever start a walking tour group company, I can only accept marathoners. They kept up like champs, even my aunt who had recently fractured her hip- ouch!

Summertime fun

So we've already covered where I went in May and in June so now it's onto July. Lucky for me that meant I had two awesome long weekends ahead of me.  First up was Ashley's bachelorette trip to Palm Springs. We got there a little early so I dragged some of the girls on a 105 degree excursion to check out some of the cool Palm Spring architecture. Then it was a weekend spent drinking (pint glass whiskey gingers like whaaaat), hanging out by the pool, dancing and just generally having an awesome time celebrating Ashley's upcoming wedding with all the girls. I've decided I'm NOT a Vegas girl however I love me some Palm Springs- you can convince me to head down there for a visit any time.

#42 Celebrate the 4th of July

It took awhile but I finally crossed another item off the list! Yup I got all dolled up in my 'Merican finest and celebrated Independence day at my parent's house. Please note the use of my USA beer mitt- best purchase ever! I love my parent's house and affectionately refer to it as my 'summer home'- anytime its foggy in SF its usually super hot and sunny where they're at so its worth the trip over every time (plus seeing my parents is cool too). It was over 100 degrees so I spent most of the day in the pool- mainly lounging with a beer...relaxation at its best.

Father's Day 2013

As an early Father's Day present, I took my dad on a tour of the Anchor Steam Brewery. So much fun! The tour is free (super classy present I know) and you just have to book way in advance. After a brutal week at work it was the perfect way to spend a Friday afternoon. The tour starts off with a little history of Anchor Steam and micro breweries in general and then we headed out for the tour of the facility.

Mother's Day 2013

Meant to write this one awhile ago but better late than never! We lucked out with amazing weather for Mother's Day so we met my mom at the Ferry Building to load up on some caffeine before walking to the Dogpatch for our Mother's Day festivities. I also gave my mom her Rickshaw Golden Gate tote present which came in handy as we picked up stuff along the way.

Happy Birthday Dad!

My Dad celebrated a big birthday this month and we surprised him with a big party! My favorite part- besides getting to see family and friends- was going through all the old family photos. I think its no surprise to the people who know me that I like taking pictures - currently have a space issue on my computer (ugh REALLY don't want to deal with that)- and this is exactly why! Its so much fun to look back and see what people were up to at different stages of their lives. For example, looks like my Dad's love of all things bike related started at an early age: