ONE LIFE IN STILLS: nye 2012 in the city by the bay

I was lucky enough to spend the start of 2012 in San Francisco, one of my favorite cities, with some of my best girlfriends. The weather couldn't have been any better for winter in San Fran so days were spent mostly lounging around Fort Mason, walking around Polk or Chesnut, or over the bridge at Elizas families beach house in Stinson. The photographs I took captured my time up there, but they definitely don't do us justice with how much fun we all had together. I feel really blessed to have such a supportive and solid core group of girls in my life and I can't wait to spend yet another year traveling back and forth from San Francisco to see them. Hope you enjoy some of the highlights from my New Years in a very special city :)

My new years weekend celebration in San Francisco didn't start out quite as planned. My flight was delayed three hours thanks to the very prevalent and thick SF fog. After three hours of being held hostage in LAX next to icky smells of Micky D's and aggressive coughing baby sounds, we finally boarded the plane. Seeing as how I'm a glass half full kind of gal, there was a bright side to the rather bleak and boring start of my trip - the flight attendants bought everyone drinks!

Soy latte from The Grove on Chestnut in the Marina. The weather couldn't have been more perfect- crisp yet sunny :)

Bloody Mary's for breakfast? I think yes. Emily and I enjoying some on the outdoor patio at The Grove.

After "breakfast," (we really only had bloody mary's and coffee :/ ) we wanted to soak up more beautiful sun so we walked over to Fort Mason Green and sat in the park. There might have been a little Jameson and Ginger soda involved ;) Hey!...I'm on vacation!

After lounging in the park it was time to get ready for the countdown to 2012! Alec, pretty blonde in the middle below, threw a little get together slash hors d'oeuvres and cocktail party at her house before hitting up the bars in North Beach. I'd like to mention how on point our group looked Saturday night with our varying colors and textures! Love my girls!

[l to r: Caitlin, Nicole, Eliza, Alec, Emily, Me]

[gold, silver, and white balloon covered ceiling inside Fiddler's]

After Alec's, we ended up at Fiddler's Irish Pub in North Beach. The scene was great! Downstairs was more mellow with the acoustic sounds of Mumford and Sons and Journey while upstairs was a little more rowdy with the DJ and a massive dance floor. We spent most of our time upstairs dancing away the last hours of 2011. What better way to spend the last hours of my year than dancing my face off??!

The original "714 Third Street, Santa Cruz, CA" girls flashing up our 7-1-4 addy!

New Years Day, despite a surprisingly small headache and tired eyes, Eliza, Emily, and I ventured across the Golden Gate Bridge to Eliza's Stinson beach house. I've been to Stinson with Eliza many times since knowing her and I am absolutely in love with the little beach community just northwest of San Francisco. Stinson is cozy, with only one four-way stop and their beach is long and wide and SANDY! - a characteristic uncommon in Northern California. Reminds me a bit of Southern California beaches, but the charm, the fog hugging the coastline, somehow makes this one that much better.

[decorated tree outside Eliza's home. I spy Mr. Goodman!]

This year I want to try as many new things as possible. So what did I do New Years day? I went paddle boarding for the first time! It was a piece of cake too! I was tempted to do a yoga inversion on the board, but was too nervous I'd fall off and I didn't have a change of clothes with me haha.

[l to r: Eiza, her sister Audrey, Emily on the deck; view off the deck; Eliza and Audrey; playing Bananagrams]

Before dinner we walked over to the beach to take sunset pictures. Audrey captured this rad photo of me in Trikonasana.

["2012," I shall write you in the sand]

The twenty sum year olds were in charge of making dinner for the cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. We made pasta with garlicky spinach, broccoli, and shitake mushrooms and a butter lettuce and fruit salad. Eliza made the dressing from scratch which was the jam!

om henna :)

Spotted these little guys while walking down Polk street Monday. I love the yellow and blue ducks in the front.

New Years day marked the end of me being a true vegan. I am now a "Seagan," as they like to call it, which is a modified vegan who also eats seafood. I still abstain from eating dairy, eggs, and any meet that lives on land and smiles. Seagan is the new 2012 me - see my previous post about it here!