Oh Christmas Tree

For the last few years we have gotten our Christmas Tree at the Delancey Street lot at Pier 32. We have found them very helpful and convenient. We got the tree last week on the 12th and it had been sitting undecorated for the past week, but we got it all spruced up this last weekend.

This year we used the pictures we took at the lot for our Christmas card.

And here are some of the other pictures we took.

We let AM run around the pier.
Saturday morning we decorated the tree. I suckered Jamie in stringing the lights, while I supervised and ensured that AM didn't destroy any of the ornaments. AM was actually very delicate with the ornaments and picked out her favorites. One is this green ball that opens and is like a music box and her baby's first Christmas ornament, that has a little baby sleeping in a bassinet. She asks to see them at least a hundred times a day.

All done!
Some of my favorite ornaments are the ones Jamie and I got back in Germany, this coo-coo clock is one of them. I mean, the Germans did invent Christmas. I kid, bad inside joke. At night.
Kissing the baby.

A Giants Game and Our Hood Part II

On Saturday Jamie and I headed out to the Giants game. Jamie is a HUGE Giants fan. HUGE. Like I have said before, the fact that we live approximately a mile from where they play is like a childhood dream come true for him. It’s a 15 or 20 min walk to the ball park or you can hop on muni (the T) to get there. Jamie has great tickets (right between home plate and 3rd base) with a pool of guys and gets about 8 games a year. I usually go to 2 or 3 of those games. I enjoy going to the games, but often spend more time people watching than anything. And Jamie limited my use of the iPhone. I got one picture out of him and then he told me to put it away. He’s just jealous he doesn’t have one.


We got to the game early to honor the 20 year anniversary of the 89 NL pennant and earth-quake shattering World Series. It was cool and even I remember some of the players from back when I use to go to games at Candlestick with my family. Humm baby.


We walked home after the game and I snapped some pictures of places in our hood.

Moshi Moshi – I think we probably get food from this place every other week if not every week. We either dine in or get take out.
Yield wine bar. A bit pricey, but good wine and snacks. Dogpatch Saloon, this place scares me. This is a bar bar.
Just for You Café. Awesome breakfast place, you should see the line of people outside this place on the weekends.

Just recently Men's Journal ran a cool article about our hood - see here. They mentioned some of the places in this very post. Very cool.

Oh and by the way, the Giants won on Saturday, good game! Nana babysat.

Also, Jamie is working on his epic blog post about the Dipsea race on Sunday, stay tuned!

Our Hood - Part I

I'm setting out to document our neighborhood - Potrero Hill.
We have lived here for almost 7 seven years and we absolutely love it. Portero Hill is located on the east side of the city and has a very laid back feel to it. It has all the benefits of the city, but you feel almost separate. Parking is typically easy to come by and during the summer months when most of the city is covered in fog, P Hill is sunny.

On Saturday we set out for a walk and started taking pictures. I realized that it will probably take a few walks in order to try and get everything and there will probably still be things I miss.

One of P Hill's most infamous former residents (not that you could tell form this pic) was this dirt bag - O.J Simpson. On Connecticut St., you can find the above and below graffiti. As you can see people of the hood are not very fond of our past murderer resident.
One of P Hill's more notable and historic features is the Anchor Steam Brewery located on De Haro St. Many years ago Jamie and I had the good fortune to attend a Christmas party at the brewery and it is a beautiful building. We were able to see some of the brewing process and also partake in good food, beer and spirits. The brewery does offer tours of its facilities, for more information visit here.


I think between Anchor and the fact we live about a mile from AT&T park sold Jamie on the neighborhood.
This is a dive biker bar that I have yet to step foot into.
Connecticut Yankee - out of all the eateries located in our hood this is probably our most frequented place. It's just good bar food. They make a good hamburger and philly cheese steak and they also have a great black bean soup. The Yankee is known for their New England fans, so when the Red Sox's or Patriot's are playing they tend to draw a large crowd. We have spent a good deal of time at this place.

We have shared good times and bad times with The Yankee. When we moved here in 2002 and we were without cable, we went to The Yankee to watch the World Series. Well, we were there when the Giants blew game 6 (thanks Dusty) and...crushed...Jamie almost refused to ever return. Jamie didn't speak for days (well, maybe just one day).
Oh yes, they also have good cold beer. During our walk we made sure we stopped for one. Annmarie just had oyster crackers.
The streets of P Hill are primarily state streets. And I just found out that the streets were named after US Navy battle ships constructed at the nearby shipyards. I love wikipedia. I just liked the Tacos and Tortas sign.
Here is the view at the top of Connecticut and 18th. Lot's of hills!
Just random. Another nice thing about P Hill is it is conveniently located near the freeway and the bay bridge.
Goat Hill Pizza - Great pizza and fortunately they deliver. We had Annmarie's first birthday party here.
The view of the city form the 18th street overpass.
Esprit Park - As a young teenager growing up in the 80's, Esprit was like the coolest thing ever. It was a huge deal to come into the city and go to the outlet. Well, Esprit's old corporate headquarters and outlet use to be located in P Hill. Now you can find a small dog park and high-end condos.
Flats
We use to live in this building. Love the red bricks.
Piccino Cafe - great coffee - great soy latte's!
This is what AM thought of our walk.
We covered pretty good ground on our walk, but there is still a lot more I want to document. We are thinking we are not going to be able to stay in P Hill forever. It saddens me to think of us leaving the city and our neighborhood. But we are quickly seeing that there are others things we want out of a home and community. Stay tuned for Part II.