Weekend Round-Up: Full Swing

It took some effort to make this into a restful weekend. I’ve been feeling stretched pretty thin, especially with the business trips to Tampa and Portland last weekend, and generally stressed out – so I was desperate for a break.

On Friday, Rob and I took advantage of the warm weather with our favorite “beer pier” tradition.  Deli sandwiches for dinner, cold drinks and world-class views of the bustling bay from our free seats on Pier 14.

Back at home, we watched Goon – a surprisingly great hockey film, with an operatic score.  To bed early, to prepare for our busy days. Rob participated in the Seven Hells of San Francisco ride on Saturday while I hosted an all-day filmmaking workshop at work.  It’s an awesome event – but I was feeling so drained.  Rob came home with sore muscles after an successful day of climbing and I was nursing a pretty wicked headache. We spent the rest of the night in our pajamas with Chinese delivery.

Sunday morning!  Finally a chance to relax. Rob and I were up early to watch the final stage of the Tour de France. Then, we packed up our beach gear, walked to the car…and discovered a big old flat tire. Ugh. The wheel was pretty jammed on there, but we eventually managed to get it off, put on the spare, find the only tire store open on Sunday and go in for a patch.  We grabbed breakfast at a Mediterranean restaurant around the corner while waiting.

Finally, at noon, it felt like this weekend started in earnest.  We pulled up at Stinson Beach, unpacked our gear and spent a couple hours on the sand.  It was so nice to sit, reading the paper, with the waves crashing. You can’t tell from this photo – but the beach was the only pocket of sun along miles of foggy coastline. Even with being delayed three hours, we managed to beat the crazy rush.

We stopped to pick up Margaret in Russian Hill on our way back in to the city. Quick visit to Farmer’s Market – which had incredible deals. Super ripe tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, plums all at about $0.90/pound.  I bought way too much stone fruit and a couple pounds of cucumbers.All this for about $9:

Margaret and I spent the rest of the afternoon making batches of pickles while snacking on cold Chinese food (is there anything better?) and drinking white nectarine spritzers.  At 6:30, we sat down with Rob to a light dinner of bruschetta with warm Acme bread. So good!

Margaret and I played video games for an hour before she took the bus home. Even though I only got about a quarter of a full weekend – I’m feeling rested and ready for the week ahead.