i owe this to you

okay, i'm super bored at work so i am finally going to write about my san francisco trip. i'm a slacker. i apologize. (not like anyone really cares.) this may be tough since it was already a month ago but i shall try to remember the fun deets. i had an early ass flight out of austin which i barely slept for. i had a 2 hour layover in phoenix where i limitedly browsed the internet on my phone (i chose to leave my laptop at home) and freaked out about all the birds flying around in terminal d. seriously, sky harbor? ugh. upon landing in san francisco i scooped up my suitcase from the baggage claim and headed outside to wait for josh. he took me to the marin headlands and twin peaks to take some scenic pictures of the city. it was a little hazy but not too bad. i was still able to get some pretty cool shots. after being touristy we headed to the house and i vegged around while josh did some work. the rest of the afternoon/evening was pretty tame as i was completely exhausted. i enjoyed a lovely dinner with kerry and josh and then went to bed around 9:00 pm. lame-o. on saturday i woke up around 7:30 which was actually good because meghan and matt landed about 15 minutes later. after josh picked them up kerry, josh, and meghan went to the farmer's market while matt and i watched 90210 and talked for a long time. i had never spent much time with matt so it was really nice to just sit around and talk. he's hilarious and awesome, but we all know that already. the rest of the day was full of bread, butter (the best butter on the planet, to be exact) and michael clayton naps. after some showers, eyeshadow borrowing, and bangs styling we were ready to go out for the night. we called a cab, and then another. the first one arrived pretty promptly and kerry and i volunteered to wait for the next. i suppose since it was the weekend of the nike women's marathon cabs were in high demand. we waited for quite a while for one to finally arrive. kerry and i were both pretty sure that it was actually the same cabbie that had dropped off josh, meghan, and matt but he said he wasn't. hmmm. we had a tasty, inexpensive meal at thai spice then headed over to the red devil lounge to see buddy and ian (did you think i wouldn't mention them?). the red devil lounge is a cozy (read: warm) little venue with terrible sight lines, bad ventilation, and reasonably priced drinks. oh, and far too few toilets. buddy played first and absolutely nailed it. they are such an extremely talented group of musicians. i can't wait until their new album is finished so i can hear a studio version of armed and dangerous. i'm sure it's not quite as invigorating as it is live but i bet it's still fantastic. the crowd seemed very receptive to the performance. ian came on a short while later and knocked out a few gomez songs (old and new) and then some stuff off his solo album that came out last year. i was already a few drinks in and my attention span was that of a fruit fly. i'm sure it was a great set though. we concluded the night with a loaf of bread and lots more of that yummy butter. sunday morning came too soon. i think everyone got off to a bit of a slow start but we all finally managed to shower and dress ourselves to hit the road to healdsburg. we somehow failed to eat anything for breakfast though which led to a hangry meghan on the road. we stopped to eat a meal that we are not proud of and have vowed not to speak of to anyone. we had a wee bit of trouble locating the winery with our google map directions. perhaps it was the map, perhaps it was the navigator (me). we'll never know. the atmosphere upon arriving at c. donatiello was a little bit off. it was definitely something i had never experienced before. but once the band got set up and took the stage, i wasn't so worried about the weird vibe. the "winery versions" of buddy's songs were quite enjoyable. then, buddy did something that i doubt i'll ever forget. percy, holly, will, and al left the stage leaving just buddy and fil up there. they proceeded to play a tear-inducing version of salt point, complete with harmonica (my favorite instrument!). i had over-sized sunglasses on so it wasn't apparent that i had tears in my eyes but kerry, meghan and i later confessed to each other that we all had some waterworks during that song. ian played another solid set except this time there were no gomez songs. it was his birthday, as well as his 5 year wedding anniversary, so there was lots of celebrating. ian decided that it would be a fun idea to invite the entire crowd up on stage to sing along with his last song, failure. we all obliged but first sang 'happy birthday' to him at the suggestion of elisa. it was a very unique experience and something that i'm glad i was there for. after some freshening up at the hotel we headed to a gathering at the house that kerry and josh were renting with the balls. it was a nice way to wind down from the weekend and still get to spend some quality time with (almost) everyone (meghan and matt were only there for about 30 minutes before they had to head back to san francisco to fly home). everything about the weekend was practically perfect and i'm so, so glad i decided to participate. it was definitely worth the money, the time, and the sleep deprivation. and in case some of you haven't seen my pictures from that weekend, here they are on flickr.