Oh the things I would have bought this past Sunday at the Alameda Point Antiques Faire … IF only I had a big truck to drive it all home in! But, alas, I had but one suitcase – and a dinky carry-on at that. That sort of size limit turns you into a very discerning buyer!  Here is what I came home with…

A couple of lovely vintage skeleton keys.

A pair of outboard motor cuff links. The one on the left still has the little propeller that spins  The cost of these cuties? A whopping $1.00!  They are to be a future gift for a very good friend with a motorboat.

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I really don’t need an excuse to visit my daughter, Marissa, in San Francisco. I’d be happy to go anytime and as often as she’d have me.

But this visit was scheduled around the once monthly Alameda Point Antiques Faire held across the bay and over the Oakland-Bay Bridge on Navy Way in Alameda.  The first Sunday of each month brings more than 800 vendors and over 10,000 shoppers to the huge sale.  I first learned of the Faire through my favorite blog, Vignette Design. Interior designer and blogger extraordinaire, Delores, loves the Faire and has written of it often. Her favorite vendor is Big Daddy’s Antiques, so naturally that would be our first stop.

crated demijohn, industrial cart, and so much more!

I was beside myself with anticipation when we arrived at about 7:30 AM (the gates open at 6:00).  We made a beeline for the Big Daddy booths in aisles J & K. (the aisles run from A – Z).  I was delighted by every item in the Big Daddy booth, but also heartsick that there was not even one thing that was small enough to fit in my suitcase. The photo above and the next 7 photos were taken in the Big Daddy booths.

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I love San Francisco!

Saturday morning bakery breakfast…

… and market trip.

A cute fellow shopper.

Next stop – Coit Tower.

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I honestly don’t know how some people do it. How they are able to eat out more than once or twice a week. When I come home from vacation, the first thing I crave is a home-cooked meal and the absolute last thing I want for a week or two is to go out to eat. I know of people who dine in restaurants, carry-out, or have delivery more than 7 or 8 times a week. That, to me, is the definition of insanity for multiple reasons: it is expensive, what is in the food and how it is prepared is out of your control, and it is expensive… oh I already mentioned that… but it is!

That said, the three restaurants we dined at in San Francisco were amazing! But I did say “San Francisco”, so what else would you expect… but amazing? I am no restaurant critic. I don’t critique the decor, the location, or even the wait-staff.  I just know if I am “comfortable” in a space, I’m with people I want to be with, and if I have delicious food – well, then I‘m happy and I’ve had a good dining experience. So this won’t be a critique of the three restaurants, just glowing praise and my personal recommendation to go to one, or all three, if you have the chance, and the money; they’re all on the pricey side.

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As I mentioned yesterday, the final couple hours of the road trip were the most challenging. The endless lines of traffic getting onto the Bay Bridge was brutal, especially when you don’t have the “lane changing” abilities you’re used to, while you are in a U-Haul and pulling a trailer. I’m just thankful that I was the passenger and not the driver. Dave has abounding patience and I have… none!

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Our journey to deliver Marissa’s belongings to San Francisco began around noon on Friday, July 29th and ended when we finally arrived at her new home on Saturday July 30th around 4:30 PM.

Most of our 14 hours of drive-time were spent on either I-10 between Phoenix and Los Angeles or on the I-5 between LA and San Francisco.  The remaining couple hours were spent on the slow crawl to get onto and then across the Bay Bridge; at least it felt like 2 hours!

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Last day of July! Hard to believe, summer is almost over, at least in most of America. In Arizona it will last another 2 1/2 months, but here in San Francisco, it feels like autumn. Heaven!  Here is Marissa on the beach, which is less than a mile from her new home. Yes, she is in her new HOME! So exciting, and it is so cute, and big!

Oh, and if you want to watch the Train video “Save Me, San Francisco” CLICK HERE

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It’s been 5 weeks and 1 day since I put my 23 year old daughter on a plane to San Francisco to begin a new job in a new city, without a place to live. What a wonderful and caring mother I am! She has been homeless ever since. OK, not living on the street-homeless, thank God! But sleeping on a friend’s couch for what will end up being 6-weeks-homeless. I also thank God for her very good and kind friend, Amanda, who’s couch she sleeps on! xoxoxoxo Amanda, can’t wait to meet you.

And I will meet Amanda next weekend when Dave and I pull up in the rented U-Haul, pulling Marissa’s VW bug behind, to her new home. Marissa, Amanda, and a new friend, Jessica, found a place to live together. This was the plan all along; it’s just taken all this time to find the place and wait for it to be ready. Sleeping on a couch for 6 weeks, wasn’t part of the original plan, but I’m forever grateful that it was an option.

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Today is Phase 2 of Marissa moving away from me! Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy for her, so thrilled for this new and exciting chapter in her life!  This is what you wish for; for your children to be independent, on their own, living their lives, chasing their dreams! But I’m going to miss her! She is a perfect daughter and a gorgeous, caring, smart, and amazing woman and I am proud.  I shall be putting her on a plane to San Francisco today at 3:30.  When she arrives there, she has a place to stay for the next three nights, and then… not 100% sure. On Sunday she has an appointment to go see an apartment that hopefully (more like praying to God!) she will be able to sublease, beginning on the forth day.  If that doesn’t go through, oh I can’t even begin to think about that! And on Monday morning, she starts her new job.

When I get home from the airport I think I’ll just get on the internet and start planning my trip to visit her, to see her in her new wonderful home by the bay.  Either that or sit down and have a good cry!  Honestly, I am so excited. I am so very proud. And mostly, I am exceedingly blessed! Blessed and honored to be her mom.  Marissa, I love you!

I promised you a recipe today and a great recipe you shall get … not only am I a proud mom, I am also a carnivore.  I am not a vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, or any other such noble person.  I am more of a Big Night,  Like Water For Chocolate, Babette’s Feast, or Mostly Martha sort of movie girl rather than a Food, Inc., Fast Food Nation, Forks Over Knives, or Earthlings movie girl.  I like to live with my head buried deeply in the carnivore sand.

That said, I don’t think I’ll ever make a beef, chicken, or pork taco again!  Obviously, not because I have anything against beef, chicken, or pork… but because these red lentil tacos are so much better.  Really they are!  If you make them and you don’t agree, I’ll give you your money back.  Honestly, every penny you’ve ever spent coming to my free blog, I shall refund to you, in full, if you don’t think these are the best tacos ever!!!  Now that’s a money back guarantee if ever there was one. xoxo

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I’ve had this cute little picture on my desktop, copied from somewhere that now I can’t recall, for months and have been waiting for a time to slap it into a post. Today is just the day, because I have no time to put up anything other than an explanation on why I’m not putting up anything.

It is 5:35 AM and we (Dave, Marissa, my dad, and I) are heading off to Marissa’s storage unit to empty it and put all her furniture in our garage.  Hopefully it’ll only be there for a month or so, just until she can find a permanent place to live in her new home…. San Francisco!

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