Weekend of Favorite Things

Sometimes it takes a friend coming into town for me to realize how amazing my life really is. On Thursday I got a call from a girl that I grew up with saying that she was moving to San Fran and needed a place to stay for a bit. She arrived on Friday and being around someone who is really seeing San Francisco for the first time has been super refreshing. Little did I know it would be a weekend of some of my favorite things:
On Friday, Roommate, Uzi, Natalie, and I went to Palo Alto for the Gallon Challenge which was actually a lot of fun. We visited, laughed, and played games. My friend Natalie repeatedly mentioned how nice everyone is. I agree; I do have nice friends. Spending time with friends in Palo Alto is indeed one of my favorite things. Eating oreos and milk with Uzi & Silvia is an added bonus as well.
Saturday morning Matt and I went to breakfast in Sausalito which was really nice. The weather was fantastic! After eating we went up to the Humane Society to look into adopting a dog for Matt. It didn't quite work out like we hoped it would, but playing with Mikey the chihuahua for a little while was great!
I should have gotten some pictures while he wasn't in the kennel...but I didn't for whatever reason. We also went for a little nature hike at a community college back by my aunt's house in Novato. It is one of my favorite places on earth (aside from my Gram's porch). It must have been over 90 degrees out there; I was even breaking a sweat! Seriously...a beautiful place. Here's a little slide show for you:

Saturday night a group of us went to go see my old roommate Laura in her senior recital at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Not only was I impressed by her incredible voice but by her ability to memorize an hour and a half of music/words in multiple languages such as German, Italian, Spanish, and French. Oh. And English. Don't forget about those songs in English.Afterwards some of us got together at my place and played a rowdy version of "Name That Tune" with our i-Pods. So for Saturday...breakfast with a close friend (an all-time favorite), walking a dog (another favorite), hiking in Novato (love it), hearing Laura sing (also love it), and spending time with Dan, Buck, and Uzi when it involves music AND the couch(does it get any better?!).
On Sunday, church was good and afterwards, we went over to the ever lovely 42 Steiner apartment to eat dinner. Everything was sooo yummy. Uzi and I made a great Brie & Artichoke Heart dip, Juliann & Joy made some great chicken with barbeque sauce & cranberries, and Rebecca & Natalie made a spinach, strawberry, gorgonzola, and walnut salad that was to die for. To top it all off, after dinner a group of us went to the secret slides. I even had to promise that I wouldn't disclose the location of said slides here on my blog...so if you want to know where they are, you'd better be really nice to me. I haven't seen any of the pictures of us yet, but here is one that I stole from Juliann.