The New Year

We decided to have a quiet New Years eve at home, watching videos. It was actually fun. We saw Heath Ledger in Dark Knight, an incredible performance, and we watched another man's movie. I figured I'd let my husband pick the movies. New Years Day was really busy getting ready to get our of town and setting the house up for guests. We're having a lot of company this month starting Sunday.

Last night we came into San Francisco and met up with my brother and his girlfriend. We had a wonderful Italian dinner and a great visit. Today we wandered through the markets at the Ferry Building and had so much fun. They have incredible fruits, vegetables, cheeses, sausages, oysters, caviar, chocolate, bread, etc. An amazing assortment with artful displays. It was a beautiful day out, just cold. I picked up some cute fleece outfits for my grandson & grandniece, and a hat for me from some outside vendors. Then we walked downtown. We shopped a little, and wandered around. Within one block we saw Chinese lion dancers, a guy in a PINK full body lycra suit on a unicycle, and a protest to save the Palestinians with full police on standby. Feels just like home! I miss the diversity and energy of the city so it's good to come over sometimes. Then we went to Japantown to 2 of my favorite stores - the Kinokuniya Bookstore, and a candy store that has wonderful sweets from Japan. I bought 2 books in english and some mango candy. Tonight we'll have some Japanese food for dinner of course!

Tomorrow we're going to meet my niece and her boyfriend at the Palace Hotel for their extremely decadent Sunday brunch. Yum!

I'm jealous of my brother for getting to move back to San Francisco. Everyone in our family moved away over the years, but he's back. My other 2 brothers live on the Oregon coast in a wonderful town. Some day we'll be able to live somewhere else. Until then, it's nice to be in driving distance of a place I dearly love. It's fun playing tourist in your own home town!