an amazing weekend

While I'm not keen on the way we Americans so often wish our days away awaiting the weekend, I am in love with the weekend we just had. Even though I'm working during the week, I usually spend my weekends wishing my husband was here. Occasionally I have a full weekend planned, with friends who pick up Rowan and I to whisk us away from the house. I really do love you guys; thank you. 

Since S was home this Saturday, we asked my aunt to babysit for the first time. This is probably good for all of us. Since S + I didn't have much time, we decided to forgo driving across the bridge into San Francisco. We hopped over to Berkeley, and started out with brunch at La Note, a French cafe. We sat in the garden with bright blue and yellow tables on uncomfortable weathered wooden chairs. Everything about the cafe screamed Frenchness, right down to our French waitress and the men speaking French next to us.

{pathway to the ethereal garden}

Let's be clear: I am not a francophile. I am not an anything-o-phile. But I do love colorful tables in pretty garden settings with delicious food. I've never studied a lick of French, so all I know about it is that aurally it's sophisticated and assured; visually, there seem to be a lot of extra letters. So... ordering in French could be a little daunting, but it was so much fun. Our waitress correctly repeated everything back to us--even espresso--in such a dreamy way. It was her matter-of-fact, not-friendly-not-unfriendly manner, which might annoy some people. For me, it just added to the Parisian charm. I giggled, I loved it.

{inside the garden :: i wish we had more pictures + that i wasn't in all of them--

we forgot the camera and played around with a mini outdoor video camera}

They served my cafe creme in a bowl, and it was the most delicious latte I've ever sipped. I ordered gloriously glorified French toast (pain perdue): cinnamon brioche, soaked in orange water batter and topped with lavender honey. I haven't stopped talking about it since. It was the last piece (lucky me!), and it moseyed me to heaven.

Then we bought R a couple of board books (Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?), and we browsed the hippie stalls on Telegraph. Vendors told us how in love we look. Before I could swig down a flute of champagne, it was already time for us to go back and pick up our panda bear.

If that was the only thing that happened this weekend, I would still be glowing. But we also took Rowan on his first camping trip near the American River, where S works. It was a little too hot in the 100s, but R loved it and so did I. It'd been way too long since I've been away from the populated bustle. I needed to get out. If only we could get our act together enough to do it regularly.

{setting up camp}

Last night we managed to get back to town in time to meet up with my family for their fireworks show. R fell asleep on the way home and slept for an almost-six-hour stretch, till about 3.30 a.m. This morning, after a decent night's sleep, we cleaned up the house and ate pancakes. Tomorrow I start working again. I also have a surprise that I'm really excited about.

How was your weekend?

Hope you all have a wonderful week!