It's Here!

Although I know this isn't true at all, I feel like I'm as excited about this weekend as Laura. No way, I know. BUT, I am super excited. Over the past year we've talked about so much stuff – from colors to food to invitations to DJs, I can't wait to see how it all comes together. It'll be perfect - I know.

I'm always excited to go back to Austin to visit the girls, and this time will be extra fun because of all of the awesome out-of-towners who'll be coming in. I got to meet a bunch of them at the bachelorette party, and I feel confident that there'll be no lack of fun for this group. Can't wait! I mean, honestly. How cute are they?

Shattered Window, Almost Shattered Bank Account

Yes, I’ve already posted three times about San Francisco, but the follow-up to the window incident is epic, so I have to finish the story. Basically, in the few days following our return, I was on the phone with the people at the hotel accepting fault, working out payment, etc. As I mentioned in the previous post, we were told as we were leaving San Francisco that it would probably cost around $600 to repair the window. And that really stunk. But not nearly as badly as what the actual cost turned out to be. Scratch $600. Let’s talk about $1400. Um yeah. $1454 to be exact. Let’s just say that when I opened that e-mail words were said in my office that are probably a notch below professional. 

So I panicked. I mean, $600 is no small thing, but $1400 for a freak accident really is not cool. Not cool at all. As I'm freaking out, I'm also brainstorming how to get out of this mess. I'll call my brother – surely he has some lawyerly advice, right? Like, maybe since they said $600 and then went ahead and did it for $1400 without getting a second estimate, I don’t have to pay. Right? Something? Anything? Please!!! But when I called, Mike was busy so I moved to plan B – USAA.

I have USAA car insurance and renter’s insurance, and although there’s absolutely nothing about either of those related to me karate chopping a window, I was desperate, and USAA is awesome, so I gave it a go. First, I talked with some young(ish) guy who said that although he wasn’t the person who could tell me for sure, he didn’t see anything that said my $9/month renter’s insurance WOULDN’T cover it. Flash forward about 35 minutes later, when I get a call from Heather. Saint Heather, from USAA, to be exact. For WHATEVER reason, the window is covered under my renter’s policy. Turns out, the policy is basically personal liability insurance, so window bashing is covered. Oh, and my deductible? Nada. That's right, NADA! I mean, you should have seen me after receiving this news. Sarai and I had already started brainstorming what kind of donation parties and bake sales we could host to support the window fund. But, no need. Because USAA rocks the hizouse. I told Heather that I loved her and that I was a USAA customer for life. True story. And with that, I’d like to write a few more words about USAA:


USAA you are so great,
USAA there’s not a thing about you that I hate.

Such a nice little gesture to pick up the tab,
even when I know it’s cuz we were acting bad.

USAA, so sweet you are,
to cover things so unrelated to my apartment or car.

San Francisco (Part 3 of 3)

Who else thinks the San Francisco three-parter is a little overkill? That’s what I thought. But I’m going to finish, so settle in.

Sunday

We’d heard from several people that the Alcatraz tour was actually pretty cool, but that it often sells out, so we went ahead and booked tickets on Saturday for a 10:30am meeting time and 11am ferry departure on Sunday. That meant waking up around 9am to clean up, pack bags, etc. I can’t say we were all super chipper at 9am after our eventful night, but we managed. We were careful to clean our room and dispose of all trash ourselves (what wine bottles?) in hopes that our little window encounter might go unnoticed. (Disclaimer: I never intended to lie about going Kerri Strug on the window, I just figured that if nobody happened to notice, nobody happened to notice.) After getting all packed, we left our suitcases with the concierge (yes, we are – apparently – this stupid), stopped at a lovely local restaurant called Subway for some grub and fluids, then were off to Alcatraz.

At the pier, Sarai got a fabulous never-ending churro (which Juli and I both reaped the benefits of), then we secured our places on the ferry and were off to hang with the criminals. Just as we’d been told, Alcatraz was very cool. It also – in true San Francisco fashion – involved some serious uphill climbing, which I think we had all pretty much had enough of by then. The audio tour was narrated by former security guards and inmates and really got into a lot of cool detail about the lives of the people who worked and were imprisoned there. After the tour we got back on the ferry and headed back.

Being the healthy growing girls (cough) that we are, we were ready for some food again by the time we got back. So we walked to the nearby Wharf and found a fun little seafood restaurant where we ate outside one last time. Then we headed back to the hotel to get our bags and be on our way. 

Not so fast. Without getting into all of the squirrely little details, when we arrived at the hotel to claim our bags, hotel management was ready to have a little chit chat about our window – Who, us?! What window!? Long story short, we opted NOT to have a full police investigation (heartburn, hello), but instead handed over my credit card for what they estimated to be SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS of damages. Just what anyone would want after a lovely little vacation.

I'd like to pause here for a little aside. The credit card that I regularly use (as regularly as I use a credit, anyway) is with Capital One. And the past four or so times I’ve travelled for work, my card has gotten flagged because they think it has been stolen. I sort of appreciate the protection, but come on people! A credit card that doesn’t work when you need to check into an out-of-town hotel is not really all that helpful. So when I gave the hotel my credit card for the window replacement, the card was rejected and I had to call Capital One. Which leads us to me standing in the security line at the San Francisco airport, my two good-for-nothing friends laughing the entire time, and me confirming to the lady over the phone that yes, it was me who attempted to hold $2,500 at a place called….Blazing Saddles. And yes, a $600 charge from The Orchard Garden Hotel is (unfortunately) legit. Goodness goodness.

Now, the window story ended up continuing for a few more days, but before I get into that, I’ll wrap up the San Francisco trip. It was great. Great weather. Great to spend three days with Sarai and Juli. Great to get to explore a new city. Great memories. Great all around. Love you Sarai and Juli!! 

San Francisco (Part 2 of 3)

On Saturday morning we hit Starbucks for a jolt of energy then let loose on H&M...again. After recharging at a Thai restaurant for lunch, we decided to head back to the hotel, put our things down, then ride a trolley to Lombard Street. I think this is where the trouble began.

After stopping to buy a couple bottles of wine, we attempted to catch the trolley. It took not one, not two, not three or four or five, but six tries. Apparently Texas girls don’t do trolleys. Juli (who likes to jump on moving trolleys), specifically, does not do trolleys. But number six was ours and we were on our way. After a few minutes we were able to snag the money spots where you can hang off the side. F-U-N. At the end of our little joy ride, we walked (uphill, mind you, legs still burning from Friday’s bike ride) until we found Lombard Street, took the cliché tourist pictures, then continued our uphill hike until we found a cab.

A girl I work with suggested checking out Fillmore/Pacific Heights, and since we were nearby, we did. We found a Marc Jacobs store where we bought matching Latin-inscribed rings (yes, girls our age are still allowed to buy friendship jewelry), then discovered a bar my same friend from work said was fun. The weather was great so we hunkered down on the patio with a couple fruity cocktails and the best veggie quesadillas ever. At some point we figured we’d better head home if we were going to get cleaned up and go out for a “proper” night in San Francisco. But then we realized we could still make happy hour at the Mexican restaurant across the street from our hotel and the"proper" night in San Francisco plan was out the door.


Which leads us back to The Orchard Garden Hotel, where we hosted the Olympic Trials 2K10 for gymnastics. Long story short, maturity was out the door, jumping and flipping on beds was in, and the middle pane of our window was – subsequently – out. Not ones to let a little window breakage spoil the night, nurse-in-training Juli wrapped up my bleeding foot, we got pertied up, and were off to a little bar called Wish – another recommendation from my work friend. From there we wandered off to one other club where we found a podium and got our dance on. Or in Sarai’s case her dance and fall, dance and fall. One more stop – this time for chicken nuggets – and we were headed home. The night was a little on the short side, but still plenty long. And full ‘o fun. With just a touch of destruction.  

Happy Mother's Day!

San Francisco (Part 1 of 3)

Sarai, Juli, and I have been talking about going on a trip together for the past couple years, and we finally did it!  Since we were a tiny bit late picking the location (like, not until two weeks before we left), our plans – aside from having fun – were pretty loose. Fortunately the no-plans-plan worked great. Here's the play-by-play in a special (get excited) 3-part series:

Friday

A 9am flight out of DFW makes for an early morning, especially when the evening before is spent packing ‘til 1am. (Shout out to Mom for being our cheerful taxi cab driver both ways.) After a long flight in the last row of the plane, we arrived and caught a cab, with a very informative cab driver, to The Orchard Garden Hotel*.

After putting our bags away, we grabbed lunch and our first glass of wine at a café nearby. Then, much to our delight, we found our first H&M. A couple of shopping bags later, we decided to be touristy and rent bikes to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. Upon arriving at Blazing Saddles** – our bike rental company of choice – we spotted a 3-person tandem. Obviously, it was meant to be ours. After the guys who worked there asked about our biking expertise and discouraged us from taking the tandem, Juli put a $2,500 hold on her credit card (I guess in case we stole/broke it), and we were on our way. On our way for a test run, actually. In the store. A 20-second, scream-filled test run. And that's when we decided it was probably best for each of us to have our own bike. Holy meatballs.

Thus begins the tale of the bike ride. But, just like at that time, I don’t really have the energy for it all. So I’ll stick with the abbreviated story. Basically our expectations were to rent bikes, take a quick jaunt across the 1.7 mile Golden Gate Bridge, ride a bit longer to the neighboring town of Sausalito, and be done. Fast forward 3.5 hours later, to some very, very tired, apparently terribly out-of-shape, wind-blown girls, ready for a cocktail. Which (thank God) we found in Sausalito. All three of them, in fact. All three of them in the last 30 minutes of happy hour, to be super precise. Classy, I know. That's how we roll. 

From that point on, the night was a mish-mash of riding the ferry back to San Francisco (we asked the captain to take our picture and when he said he was busy driving we "ppssstted" some poor guy downstairs until he came up); riding through town to return our bikes (in retrospect, probably not the smartest decision), stopping at a chill bar for an Irish Crème, popping into Ghiradelli Square where we ordered a sundae to split and scored a second one for free, popping into a 30 birthday party (and quickly back out), stopping at a club long enough to decide we didn't like it, then one final stop at a bar just down the street from our hotel. Whew. Long, long, fun-filled day!

*The Orchard Garden Hotel becomes an interesting little part of this story (see parts 2 and 3). Just wait.

**This also becomes a funny little party of the story (see part 3).