Wow, time flies!!! The Honeymoon Story (Finally)

SO obviously putting the honeymoon story up took a lot longer than I thought. I have been so insanely busy trying to go to school, work, be a good wife (not succeeding on this) and get thank you cards written (not succeeding on this either). So here it goes....the honeymoon story:

We flew to San Francisco at about noon on Monday. Once we got there, we headed to our hotel. We took the BART train because it was much cheaper than paying for a cab. We checked into the hotel then we decided to find a place to buy tickets for the trolley and street cars. We found them and we bought a City Pass which was 7 days on the trains and 6 different tickets for admission, plus other coupons. That night we went down to the water and walked around. We tried to get Alcatraz tickets but they were all sold out the entire week. We then headed to Ghirardelli Square. When we got there we decided to find a place to eat dinner before we had a Ghirardelli ice cream sundae. We walked up to the next street and we found this little hole in the wall pizza place. The pizza was delicious! Then we bought some stuff from the Ghirardelli store and bought and ice cream sundae to share - AMAZING!!! Then we headed back to the hotel. The next day we called the concierge and asked if they had tickets to Alcatraz. They said we could go wait in line for standby so if some people didn't show up we could get on the boat. So we headed down to the Wharf early and asked if they had a standby line and they said they didn't do that. We were like ok. So we ended up walking around and going to a Farmer's Market. Then we walked to China Town. We had so much fun at China Town. They have tons and tons of shops. We bought a sake set, some chopsticks, and these cute bowls for our apartment. We also bought a gift for my grandmother. We had lunch in China Town. Now that it has been 3 months, I can't remember everything we did during each day. We spent most of our days out of the hotel though. We went on a cruise of the bay, we went to several art museums, we went to a flower garden, two different aquariums, and a science and math center. We mostly ate and little restaurants in the area. I loved eating at Boudin's and wish they had places here because I love their sourdough bread. We got to take a tour of the Boudin bakery and it was really neat. We actually went back a second time because we realized we had free tickets in our packet after we had paid to go in the first time. All in all we had a great time. Out hotel room was nice...Thanks Dad and we were on the concierge floor so we had breakfast every morning, free drinks all day long, and they had appetizers and dessert in the evening. I definitely want to go back! I want to go to Alcatraz, walk around more, go back to China Town, go on a Trolley Car and other things. I hope that Rod and I can get back there again soon. I think he had a great time as well. By the end of the trip my feet were killing me, but I wouldn't have changed it for the world. When went back to LA on Friday. On Saturday early morning, we left for Arizona. My mom and my sister went with us. We went to visit Rod's mom's house. We had a great time there. We went to some great restaurants, hung out in the pool, and went to Taliesin West which is a Frank Lloyd Wright house. That was awesome! At one point our guide talked about Wayfarers Chapel where we got married at the week before so everyone clapped for us. We had so much fun visiting Rod's mom. I love spending time with her and seeing her puppies :) After a few days, we went back to CA. Then Rod headed home and I stayed for a week and a half longer. I stayed to go to my grandparents' timeshare. This was the first year without my grandfather. It was actually ok. It was really nice because most of the week it was just my mom, my grandmother, and I. It was very relaxing and fun. Our next door neighbors' daughters, both of them, had just had babies so the new babies were at the beach too. We had a great time. I was not ready to come home when we did. Then we came back to VA for our VA reception. My grandmother flew back with us. She was such a big help leading up to the reception. The night before, Rod's mom, aunt, and my grandmother were such big helps trying to get everything ready. The day of the reception was beautiful. It was 80 degrees outside with a slight breeze. It was the best day of the week. We had a great time at the reception. It was nice to see everyone and celebrate. Rod's mom got to meet some of the people he works with and lots of our friends and family came to celebrate. Rod's grandmother, great aunt, uncle and aunt and cousin came to the reception. Some of them we hadn't seen in years. On Sunday we hung out with Rod's family. After all the wedding stuff was over, my grandmother stayed for a few more days. Then she headed home. Then life went back to normal for us. I went back to school and work.

Now life is so busy. I work full time, go to school, try to get to some professional development seminars when I can, try to be a good wife (however my clean skills have not improved and I never feel like doing it even though I know it frustrates Rod and I at how disgusting our apartment looks because of me), try to spend time with my family and friends, and TRY to finish thank you cards. I finally finished the California thank you cards at about 3 months. I haven't even begun to start on the Virginia thank you cards. This is my big project for the next few weeks. I really need to get them done so they aren't looming over my head. This is my life right now. I'm just extremely busy :) Hope all is well with everyone else!!!