recap: kayt visits

Goodness gracious, am I ever behind! Tourist season is in full swing and I can officially say that this summer has been insane, but in a really great way. Last weekend Kayt, my friend from babyhood came out to visit. A little extra estrogen is good medicine, and no--I'm not talking about birth control. Twenty buck manis+pedis, eating delicious meals out, some retail therapy, wine tasting, and lots of chocolate indulgences were exactly what I needed!Thursday 8.7 :
Picked Kayt up from SFO at 1pm
Lunch at Specialtys, one of my absolute favorite San Francisco cafes
A walk through the Ferry Building, but not without a stop at Miette
Back to the apartment to regroup
Happy hour at California Wine Merchant with Jeff's coworkers (before their big softball game!)
A little shopping + cheap manis/pedis on Chestnut Street. Discovering the allure of Sweet dish, the candy store dreams are made of (above), was just the icing on the cake!
Then home again for Mahi Mahi tacos, watermelon margaritas, and watch Into the Wild.

Friday 8.8 :
Woke up early to drag Kayt along to VBS at church. (I'd tried to help out with crafts a few of the days last week). Friday's story was David & Goliath, and so during craft time we asked the kids to create a life-size Goliath out of paper & tin foil. I promised Kayt it would be worth her while at the end of the morning--we lined up the kids in the parking lot to get a chance to "play David." Each kid got to launch water balloons from a slingshot at a giant Goliath! The kids loved it and amazingly, everyone stayed dry!
In the afternoon we headed to the Great Mall in San Jose for lunch and more shopping. I'd never been there, so I was curious to check it out. Let's just say I'm not in a hurry to go back.
Back in the city, we headed to Houston's for supper to visit Jeff--he was working. Everything is so so yummy! I always love an excuse to eat there. Since we wanted to sit in Jeff's section, we braved the cold and sat out on the patio (gotta love San Francisco summers). On the bright side, Kayt had a great excuse to wear her adorable new yellow coat.
Back home to warm up, curl up on the couch, and tune into the Olympics' Opening Ceremony.
Saturday 8.9:
I was a lucky girl and got the day off of work! And good thing: we had a gorgeous, gorgeous day in Napa visiting these wineries:

Cakebread: I love this winery's name, its elegant labels, and oh yeah, its wines. :) We had to make an appointment for their tour/tasting, but they were very accomodating and got us in right away when we arrived 30 minutes early. For $10 we tasted 6 of their wines and got to keep the glasses. Our guide was very conversational and knowledgable. We had an awesome time.

Silver Oak: Complete disappointment for such famous Cabernets. We were turned off by the flooded port-o-potties and crowded tasting room that was temporarily moved to a trailer during their estate's major construction project. The wines were great, but came with a bit of a price tag: $10 to taste just 2. All is not lost, I'm willing to give it another shot in a year or two once their main building is open again.

V. Sattui: We definitely saved the best for last! Their wines are sold exclusively at the winery, and it's just $5 to taste 6 of their wines. That's just the beginning: They also have a deli, gorgeous picnic area, and a gourmet barbeque outside on weekends. So you do your tasting, get a bottle of your favorite, and enjoy a beautiful picnic lunch hot off their grill of from their mozzarella bar. It's completely unpretentious and family friendly. We had such a great time--the only thing missing was live music!

After our splendid afternoon of wine tasting, we headed to Sausalito to meet our friends Stephanie & Meghan for supper. We ate at a little cafe and sat outside by the harbor. It was the perfect ending to a much-needed girls' weekend!