Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Annual Shopping in San Francisco trip...with Dad!

Every year, the girls and I always head to San Francisco the Monday before Thanksgiving to spend a day Christmas shopping together. We actually didn't have a lot of Christmas shopping to do this year but the focus of our attention was going to be on finding "the perfect" WinterBall dress for Ashley. Dad expressed some interest in this quest for a dress and suggested that we wait until Tuesday afternoon, when he would be off from work so that he could join us! Dad, being the expert shopper that he is, most certainly was more than welcome and we were confident in his ability to find the "perfect" WinterBall dress for Ashley!

After we arrived and parked (that's a whole 'nother story...too long for this post...parking in the city is always an adventure!) We headed straight for the Jessica McClintock store. After Allie, Dad, Brooke and Mom made a number of suggestions of possible choices for dresses, Ashley, announced, "Well, I kinda feel like, if you get a dress from the Jessica McClintock store, that for sure there will be someone else at the dance with the same dress." To which Dad, who was dazed and confused, replied, "Then why are we at this store?" We tried to explain to dad that even if you have no intention of buying something at a store, does not mean that you don't need to go into the store and just look! It's all part of the process and experience of WinterBall dress shopping. At that, he put back all the dresses that he had gathered for Ashley to try on and we walked out of the Jessica McClintock store empty handed.

We crossed the street and made our way over to Macy's, took the escalator to the 5th floor, found a number of darling dresses for Ashley to try on and sent her to the dressing room. She came out and modeled the first dress and it was gorgeous and she looked stunning in it! We all agreed that she didn't have to try anymore dresses on, this was "the perfect" WinterBall dress and we were done looking. It was just too easy!! Allie, of course, had to complain about how there are much cuter modest dresses now than when she was in high school and then she reminded us of all the homely dresses that she wore to every dance and we giggled and laughed. I hope she isn't too scarred because of it:)!!! But it is true, there are a lot more options out there right now and I love it!! I don't know if it was because dad was there to help shop or what, but finding a cute, but modest dress for Ashley and Brooke this year was much less painful than ever! Yeah!

The girls in front of Macy's,
as we begin our shopping adventure!

Dad and his girls are all smiles,
after we found "the perfect" dress!

Caffe Sport

After our successful shopping experience, we drove over to North Beach to Caffe Sport, one of our favorite italian restaurants when dad and I were in dental school! Favorite means that we actually only went there 2 times because we really couldn't afford to eat there. We went once with our friends, the Anderson's, who introduced us to the place and then we went with our parents after graduation.

The five of us after an incredible authentic Italian dinner!
It was truly, as good as I remember it, 22 years ago!

Allie serving herself some yummy pasta,
with a portrait of a creepy man on the wall behind her!

The girls got all giggly and silly after dinner...
it happens everytime these 3 get together!

The same exact decor that covered
the walls and ceiling 22 years ago!
It hasn't changed a bit!

Allie, helping advertise for Happy Hour
at the Columbus cafe next door.
That Allie is always so willing to lend a helping hand!

2 comments:

Jenna{Mommy in Manhattan} said...

Oh you are making me miss San Fran! What a fun shopping trip! Ashley's trip to NY looked super fun. Kimber's lay outs are so cute!

Brad & Cindi Pearce Family said...

Of course you can use the pictures. That is too bad that you guys had that conflict with the game last week! It was so awesome! And we LOVE tyler, it is so nice to have someone so good for Josh to admire, he is so cute with all of my kids.