weekend visitors + ventures.

james played in a softball tournament this past weekend, and at the last minute his friend howie decided to come play too. so sarah and i got to do a little exploring and hanging out while the boys did their activities. on saturday, we wandered up to yountville and st. helena. i've been wanting to stop by bouchon bakery to see what all of the hype is about. while we were waiting in line, a lady was talking it up and saying how there is always a line and whatnot. but really, i think it's just that the place is teeny tiny. i mean there are probably only four or five customers in there at one time. the line moves pretty quickly though. we each got some bread and treats. i loved my banana nut muffin... perfect breakfast. :]
one day i would like to try the restaurant... but i doubt it will happen any time soon.
we stopped in downtown st. helena to go to one of sarah's favorite consignment stores, then we made our way to her favorite winery, seen below. it different than any of the wineries i've been too... it was much more cozy and less commercialized. i liked it. i even sampled the wine and found it almost tolerable. i still don't think i'll be a wine drinker any time soon. ha!
on the way back home, we decided to stop into dean & deluca, another place i've been wanting to visit just to evaluate all the hype.
it's actually pretty cute inside, but my oh my... the prices are outrageous. they do sell acme bread [the same bread place that is in the ferry building] and pretty much the only other thing i found that i felt was priced reasonably enough to consider buying was their cheese selection. but now that i type that... i'm realizing that since moving here, i have probably become a bit skewed in what i view as reasonably priced cheese. but since i don't drink wine, and thus don't spend money on it... i feel like it's ok to splurge on this. :] [and yes. i think i have used that same rationale for cupcakes... so i'll probably need to think of something else soon... ha!]
that evening, we met up with the boys for korean bbq in oakland again. howie and sarah had never been, and i'm pretty sure they loved it. we decided to get a different combination with more meats this time, but i still stuck to my usual bulgogi for the most part. i did try the korean bacon [i prefer calling it that instead of pork belly. ew. ha!] and the chicken, which were actually pretty good too.

we topped the night off with boba tea from sweetheart, which i am already craving again.

on sunday we made a big breakfast... i nearly went into a food coma from it! the boys went golfing in napa, so sarah and i ventured to berkeley for a little window shopping. after walking around for a while, we grabbed a slice of pizza to share when we saw people eating it on the sidewalk, and it was sooo good. i need to find out the name of the place to see if they have more locations because i definitely want to go back for more. :] [and when i do, i'll actually remember to take a picture!]

i also had to find some time to write and submit my candidate statement for an office i am running for next year. i gave my candidate speech on monday, and i was sooo nervous. usually i can sort of calm down after 30 seconds or so, but i could not manage to calm down this time. ahh. i will find out the results on thursday, and i can barely wait. i am still super nervous when i think about it. ack.

ok. we have a quiz tomorrow, so i better get back to my notes! i hope everyone had a great weekend!

&& happy march! i'm sad that february is over, but that's the way it goes... all in all, it was a pretty good month. :]