Hello!
It's the last Saturday of my summer break. On Tuesday, I'll be back on the morning train, probably regretting how late I'd stayed up the night before as I ache for another latte. It hasn't quite hit me yet that classes are resuming so soon, especially because I've just had the loveliest week with my friend Audrey.
Most of the week was spent showing her around San Francisco. I've been spending a lot of time indoors lately -- hiding from the obscenely hot weather, mostly -- so it was nice to wander around and show her some of my favorite places. Apologies, this post is a bit of a mess.
We hit several stops on Monday (8/18). We started with lunch at Onigilly and Plentea, which are conveniently located right next to each other. Every time I pass by it there's always a line at both, but the wait is definitely worth it. Plus, there's a cozy seating area on the second floor of Plentea where you can escape the crowd on the first floor. (There are also outlets so you can charge your now-dying phone because you were refreshing Twitter incessantly in line.)
Afterwards we took the bus over to Japantown. We stopped by one of my favorite cafes in the city (if not my favorite so far), YakiniQ Cafe. I haven't been in there in ages and it's still the same, homey place I remembered it to be. Following our caffeine pick-me-up we strolled through the malls across the street, and headed over to Pika Pika to take pictures together. Both YakiniQ and Pika Pika are musts when you visit Japantown, so bring your friends next time you're stopping by!
I picked up yet another box of Palty hair dye while we were there -- it definitely lightened my hair (I suppose the third time's the charm -- or was it the fourth?) although it's still not the color I want. Oh well. Maybe next time? I'm so close to achieving my dream hair!
We ended the trip with some delicious takoyaki over at Cafe Hana.
The next day I showed her around Berkeley (around Shattuck and Telegraph). Audrey and I had lunch at Paris Baguette before we browsed some thrift stores and record shops. I got some journals over at Moe's Books -- I'm trying to get back into the habit of writing in a handwritten journal again. I don't know. Something about it feels right at the moment.
On Wednesday it was back to San Francisco. Audrey was curious about Sushirrito -- yes, it's exactly what you think it is, and yes, it is delicious -- so we stopped by to have lunch there before we popped in and out of shops on Haight Street.
^ There was this lovely collared dress I tried on over at Wasteland. In the end, I didn't buy it -- actually, I can no longer remember why, but I'm sure I had a good reason. Something about saving money for the upcoming semester...yeah, something like that.
The rest of the week progressed calmly. After spending three days straight walking around the city we decided to rest a bit. On Thursday we spent most of the day having coffee and flipping through magazines at Barnes & Noble, and then had dinner at my favorite sushi place ever. On Friday we spent the evening reading creepy stories and playing some horror games. I've been in the mood for some good horror lately...I just can't seem to find any piece of media that'll satisfy the particular craving.
Audrey left this morning around noon. I returned home to some gifts she left behind -- some perfume from Lush, along with a lovely letter that made the space she left behind all the more harder to ignore.
But there's no use in being sad, really -- goodbyes suck, but we talk and make each other laugh every day across various internet platforms, so in a way, it's like she never left!
That's one of the best things about getting to meet and spend time with friends you made online: after you say your farewells, board your flights, and return to your own corner, you're never really alone -- all you have to do is pull up their name on a screen, and you can pick up right where you left off.
