overdue

I haven't updated in weeks, but I have an excuse! (finals week, San Francisco, work, craziness)

Life has been so great lately and sometimes I wonder how/why I am so lucky.

I finished my semester with good grades and my sanity. I finished the layout of the athletics department manual which will serve as a guide for their new hires of mentors and tutors. It ended up being 63 or so pages.

San Francisco was fantastic. Mike and I arrived late on a Thursday evening to our funky hotel downtown literally across the street from the entrance to Chinatown. We ate a great late-night Italian dinner and experienced the amazing fog that is not uncommon for the city. On Friday, Katelyn and Jordan arrived and we spent the day around Fisherman's wharf- explored, got a great view of Alcatraz, ate at In-n-Out Burger, got free chocolate at Ghirardelli Square, saw great street performers, looked at local art, walked up Hyde Street (the steepest hill of my life) to Lombard Street, walked down Lombard Street, got back in time for wine hour at the hotel and then ate an amazing Italian dinner in North Beach. Saturday was also amazing- woke up early and got picked up by our awesome tour guide, drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and took pictures, went to Muir Woods and Muir Beach, drove to Sonoma and passed San Quentin on the way, went to a great winery the ate lunch in beautiful downtown Sonoma, drove to Napa for two more wineries, stopped in Yuerba Buena on the way back for pictures of the Bay Bridge and the city, passed Berkeley on the way, got back to the hotel and got dressed up to go to the Mission District which is the last place in the world you'd need to dress up, at an amazing meal at a tapas place when I fell in love with the perfect cocktail called "Lucha Lubre" which had serrano peppers in it and was absolutely DELICIOUS, went to a local bar for a beer before we called it a night. Sunday was Jordan and Mike's last day so we kept it low key and explored Chinatown where I made some great purchases (including a cute knockoff Dooney purse) and had a HUGE family-style meal. One Mike and Jordan left Katelyn and I went to Haight-Ashbury and saw all the crazies coming back for the Bay to Breakers run all dressed up in crazy outfits and completely drunk. We walked to Golden Gate Park and saw the weirdos in the park, drum circles and the Japanese Tea Garden then got Crepes before our journey home. Ended the night in Union Square with cocktails and some of the best Sushi I've ever had. The place looked totally sketchy but locals recommended it and we were so glad they did because we'd never have gone down into the scary basement (which turned out to be a hip spot for young professionals) otherwise!
The rest of the visit was not as exciting but still fun- we visited 6 agencies: Euro RSCG, BBDO, Goodby Silverstein and Partners, Y&R, DDB, and Eleven. I liked some more than others. In fact, I absolutely fell in love with two which was exciting.

And now I'm getting ready to leave for my summer in the big city. I'm really going to miss my Austin life but am so excited for the adventure.

I'm ready to conquer the world!