My friend Julia invited my fella and I over for Thanksgiving dinner.
No big deal, right? We’ve had hundreds of meals together.
Well, this particular dinner was to be hosted all the way over in California.
But you know me, I can’t say no to a good meal! We packed up our bags,
and said goodbye to a very frosty London.
Shearling jacket // Poloneck // Prada tote
Wheelie suitcase (glides like a dream, for lazies like me) (on sale here!)
By the afternoon we were in San Francisco and really rather hungry! Julia and her husband Thomas took us out to a casual supper and we treated ourselves to an early night.
Staying at The Four Seasons right in the heart of the city meant waking up to the most glorious views.
The only silver lining of jet lag comes from enjoying beautiful sunrises.
Seeing as we were up early anyway, we joined Julia to run a few errands.
Starting at The Flower Market.
Warehouses stuffed to bursting with fresh flowers, trees and berries.
Just the ticket to decorate the house for Thanksgiving.
Acres of every type of rose imaginable, with a few varieties I’ve never even seen before.
We both gravitated towards the huge, open ones, filled with the most glorious scent, like a fresh and delicate perfume.
Filling our arms full, and then some!
Julia’s outfit:
Knitted jumper // Jeans // Leopard print boots (on sale!)
Mine:
Blanket cape //Poloneck (on sale!) // Bib necklace
Skinny jeans // OTK boots // Lanvin Jiji bag
After picking up a few more necessities, we fuelled up at Philz.
Braving the queues to get our mint mojito iced lattes.
I know, I know, it sounds wrong!
But they’re delicious! A little sweet, but really refreshing. Try one if you get the chance.
Don’t get the gingerbread one; awful.
Caffeinated to the max, it was time for doughnuts.
And as everyone knows, when you want doughnuts in San Francisco, you pay a visit to Mr Holmes.
Here they serve up all manner of wickeness.
Layers of flakey pastry, crumbly cookies, tarts, muffins and…. *drum roll*… cruffins.
What exactly are cruffins I hear you cry?
They’re the (evil) genius combination of a muffin and a croissant, fried, rolled in cinnamon sugar and stuffed with custard.
Magically calorie free!
(If you close your eyes. Calories don’t count if you’re not looking.)
There’s a spot to take a seat and slurp your coffee between cruffins, just incase you need a breather.
We headed back to Julia’s place to set up the flowers and unpack groceries.
Later in the afternoon we popped up to see The Painted Ladies.
And snap our signature tourist snap!
Along with a few other, sophisticated poses.
^ This was me about to do a jump, which of course collapsed upon landing, leaving us in a pile of giggles on the floor.
We took the opportunity to sit back and enjoy the view.
I’ll take the blue one, please.
As the sun began to set, we moved down to the water to watch.
We tried our best to take a nice picture, but kept cracking each other up; much to the boys’ great amusement.
The Golden Gate Bridge lived up to its name, and glowed in the evening light.
A breeze whipped along the water, bringing the salty scent of the ocean with it.
I terrified Jules by sitting on the edge.
But convinced her that if this guy could manage it…
We could too.
Though when nerves got the better of us, we retreated to the shore to watch the last of the light disappear.
And there we stayed until the very last drop of San Franciscan sunshine leaked away, leaving us in twinkling twilight.
A pretty special first day in The Bay.
