STLWorkingMom

I flew to San Francisco on Monday.

Monday night I had to myself to get caught up on work and wander the streets of downtown.

I windowshopped. Menswear is in fashion. For women, that is. Also, very high platform heels. At least if you believe the shop windows.

My hotel was very European. I didn’t have one of the economy rooms with the restroom down the hall, but I did have this lovely little space-saving triangle sink.

This is my sushi chef at Hana Zen. I had, as you can see, the rainbow roll. I also had a cosmo made with sake.

Being that I was on my own, I was totally down with embarrasing myself by playing the role of dorky tourist.

I was convincing.

After I ate I walked for miles and miles so I would collapse and fall asleep back at the hotel.

It was a good strategy.

The next morning I was up super early. I donned my corporate attire and spent the next three days with clients at a conference.

Check it out: a suit! makeup! I say that like I don’t dress up often, but I do.

Things I didn’t do in San Francisco:

Go to Alcatraz

Walk the Golden Gate bridge

Buy a Prada bag

I did have a good time and while away saw floods of e-mails about people working from home due to snow and sleet. Schools were closed in both St. Louis and Charlottesville so if I had been in either of my two usual places, I would have had bad weather. But, since I was in the land of the governator, I had sunny and sixties. I’ll take it.

While I was away:

The boy turned 19 years old. (I sent him a collection of fake mustaches.)

The girl made her dad dinner. (A minor disaster when a pot pie went kersplat inside the oven, upsidedown.)

At this writing, I’ve been on my way home since 6:30am Pacific and it’s looking like I’ll be home around midnight, Eastern. That’s a long trip. I’ll be glad to be home.

On a Sunday afternoon I called my parents for our weekly chat. My dad talked about driving out from Illinois to visit us in Virginia. I thought, sometime . . .  he means sometime, like spring, or possibly summer.

Later that evening, my mom called to say they were getting in the car at 6am the next morning and would be to our house by Tuesday afternoon. They  were coming to visit!

My parents took their first long road trip in more than 20 years in the middle of January. They drove 700 miles over two days to get to Charlottesville and did just fine by taking lots of breaks and getting lucky with clear (although cold) weather.

We had a good time while they were here — I had to work a bit due to their visit occuring in the middle of the week, but they were pretty understanding about that. I took them downtown to The Nook for lunch and mom and I shopped at The Needle Lady. We also browsed the bookstores. They got to see the boy, who was still home from college for the holidays, one of the reasons for the timing of their visit, and got to watch the girl’s basketball practice on Wednesday night.

It was fun to see them and take them around Charlottesville. It was only their second visit to our town since we moved here three years ago so I was happy to have them out and proud of them for making the long drive. It may be awhile before they do it again!