Fake Tales of San Francisco

Work sent me to San Francisco for a multi-purpose trip. While it's always great to get facetime with the SF office, where most of the tech team is based, and where most of the people on my current project are based, this trip also involved a training day. The training course was focused on finance, contracts, and budgeting - all useful for my day to day operations when it comes to event management. I was also able to squeeze in a site visit to the venue where we will hold our next event.

I was there for the training over Valentine's Day. As much as I would have loved to spend a Hallmark holiday with Steven and Dottie, it was a day well spent with colleagues. We attended the training all day, and my coworkers sweet dog was able to join us at the training. Her pup laid at my feet the entire training course. She must have sensed that I could use the extra doggie attention.

We celebrated Valentines Day together as colleagues, and after a successful training course (we all passed the test!) we sought an early dinner. I had heard about SF's seafood and noodles scene. I threw the idea out there to enjoy some dungeness crab over garlic noodles, and so we ventured to the beach and enjoyed the classic Thanh Long. The crab was delicious and never ending (we each got our own) and the garlic noodles were oddly addicting. It was well worth the hype.

We were able to catch the sunset on the beach, another romantic touch to a Valentines Day spent with coworkers. In the infamous words of Lauren Conrad, "homeboy wore combat boots to the beach." And I did. The mountains in the distance were really gorgeous. I say it constantly, but the only thing missing from Chicago is mountains. If there were mountains nearby, I would never leave.

We, of course, rounded out our Valentines Day colleagues-date with a trip to Fishermans Warf where we popped into Ghirardelli Square, the original. It was so cute, with market lights stung up and chocolate everywhere. I didn't buy any chocolate, but my coworkers (whose wife is pregnant with twins) purchased some chocolate souvenirs to bring home - rightfully so.

The end to the night was at Boudin bakery, which is known for their sourdough. They were sold out of their heart-shaped sourdough bread by that late in the evening. But that's okay, it was there gorgeous olive loaf and the walnut bread that stole my heart. I bought both and was able to fit them into my suitcase to bring a belated Valentines Day gift home to Steven and Dottie.

The last update I have... after months of attempting to treat a disease and him not responding to treatment, we had to say goodbye to Morty. It's been a month without him, and I still cry. Our home doesn't feel like home without him. I'm thankful for every moment, every memory, every day we had with him. But I can't help but be sad that his time on this earth with us was too short. I love him, and miss him every day.