So, since it’s been confirmed that it was in fact ME who purchased Pearls, I’ll go ahead and show the pictures.

This is probably the 5th or 6th time that I’ve been to The Pearl Factory. I found it for the first time when I was traveling for my first job out of college. For those of you who don’t know – you basically get to pick your oyster out of the bucket and then go from there.

The oyster is opened in front of you and you get what you get – you can have it set, or not, but where they hard sell you and make their money is in the settings.

Based on the great Pearl debacle of 2008, I was determined not to go overboard.

As we walked in I told Melissa, ONE pearl – that was it. So, we go through the hoops, and I pick my oyster. (Hint – go for the hairy ones – they are definitely the ugliest, but trust me, it works). Low and behold, when she opens it up there sits a nice blue/black pearl. Holy crud. Melissa can’t believe it. She opened no less than 6 oysters last year in Hawai’i before she got one.

So, I had that set in a pendant (of course, not as an expensive one as the lady would have liked, but still nice none the less).

While she still was holding the pendant hostage she insisted that I pick another oyster for free. I told her no to begin with, but she insisted. I told her fine, but I would NOT be having it set. So, we go through the hoops – I pick my (hairy) oyster and she opens it. Damnit. Are you kidding me? Seriously. Yep. There it is. Another blue/black pearl. This time with a pink/purple luster to it. Damnit. This time I looked at the sterling silver settings and have it set it a simple ring.

All in all, it was a fairly successful trip – and not horrible expensive really. Plus I came out with two new pearls to boot!

Last night (Monday) we took the Cable Car to Union Square and met our friend Brenda for dinner at Lori’s Diner. I coudn’t believe how few people were actually in there to begin with considering how many people were out and about but we had a really nice time visiting with Brenda!

We then walked up the next blockto Union Square and saw the Christmas Tree that was there all lit up!

After that we hopped back on the Cable car and rode it all the way back with drop off service right at our front door. It was pretty sweet! We also rode in the very back this time so got some great views!

Yesterday was a fairly uneventful day. We hung out for the most part but did adventure out as far as the Safeway which is about 4 blocks and 2 long hills away. By the time we got home, weighed down with 2 sacks of groceries and Starbucks it was dark. We pretty much watched TV, stitched and hung out the rest of the evening.

This morning we did get up and get out. Our goal was to go to Boudin’s for Clam Chowder in Sourdough bowls for Lunch. We headed North down Hyde Street from our Condo and our first stop (1 block down) was the Trolley Car stop/start point to check out rates, etc.

From there we got a great view on of the Bridge:

From there we walked down the Hyde Street Pier. You could a great view looking back up Hyde Street! Our Condo is on the corner of the level where the Streetcar is sitting in this picture.

As we left the Pier to find Boudin’s there may or may not have been a stop made at the Pearl Factory where someone may or may not have gotten two, yes I said TWO, black pearls just randomly. Again, like I said, that may or may not have happened. It is not confirmed. I repeat – NOT confirmed.

After we had Boudin’s we decided to walk down to Pier 39. On our way we had a great view of Alcatraz.

On our walk down the Wharf we noticed we were seeing A LOT of people in Football Jersey’s! Imagine our surprise when we figured out that Monday Night Football is in SF tonight – 49ers against the Cardinals!! And we don’t have tickets! Bummer!

But here’s proof that yes indeed, MNF IS in SF this week:

Coors Light is INDEED the best beer (if you like Beer I guess – they didn’t ask me).

And finally, when we got all the way down to Pier 39 we saw the beatufiul Christmas tree that they put up.

Anyway – we’re just taking a breather before we head out to catch the Trolley so we can meet our friend Brenda for dinner tonight!

Well – it’s vacation time again.

I arrived in San Fran today for a week of vacation before Christmas. I’m really looking forward to it. Besides the fact that I only have to work 6.5 more days between now and January 3rd. Can’t beat that.

After a little over an hour delay out of Seattle because of weather delays in San Fran I finally made it here. Luckily I only had to wait for a few minutes for Melissa to get here – she drove up from Anahiem for the week!

We finally found our way to the hotel after a bit of a wrong turn. The condo we are staying at is really nice and comfortable and it’s right off the Powell-Hyde Cable car line – in fact we are one block up from the beginning of the line. We plan on taking that as much as possible for transportation (that and walking of course).

Once we got ourselves unloaded we went on the hunt for food. Melissa had seen an In and Out Burger. I’ve never been to an In and Out much to the chagrin of Melissa. So off we went.

Here’s my first In and Out experience — a Double Double Animal Style (for those not in the know, that means w/ grilled onions). YUMMY!

Once we ate we walked down a block and picked up a few essentials at the Walgreens and made our way back to the Condo. On our walk back it started to rain, but for the most part we were able to stay out of it. We’ve just been hangin’ out for the most part tonight and are now Blogging/Facebooking and watching SNL with hottie Taylor Lautner! (You definitely should catch the Team Jacob/Team Edward sketch on HULU if you missed it!)

Here’s a view from our balcony! Have a great weekend everyone!

If so, one of my bestest friendsMelissa is having a really good Blog Candy! Sign ups end Wednesday the 26th at 11pm PDT.

Here’s a quick peek of what you could win – it’s a great stash if you’re a stitcher!

Amanda asked how I made my light box. I have to admit, I found the idea on this blog. I didn’t go find the instructions that she used, I just looked at her picture and made my own up!

I initially made it out of cardstock and that just didn’t work – not firm enough, although it did do what I wanted. I took the Thank You card picture from last week using that! Since it did what I wanted it to do I decided to buy some Foam Board at Wal-Mart and re-make it this weekend. I just used packing tape to tape everything together. That is just a piece of tissue paper over the hole cut in the one side (the hole is cut the size of 11×11 inches). It works perfectly! I just shine my Ott Lite through the tissue paper and it gives it the perfect amount of diffused light to take a great picture. No glare or shadows!

I made this one 12×12 inches, but I’m thinking of doing another one that is big enough to do a full 12×12 scrapbook page.

Here’s another page from my Hawai’i book!

And it’s true, shopping really does wear you out! After we all spent way more money at the Pearl Factor than we had intended, we walked over to the Tree House Cafe and had some fruit smoothies! They were yummy!

This layout is just a really simple layout. I decided to keep it for the most part simple with this book.

When I was in Hawai’i my goal was to find something scrapbook related that you could only get in Hawai’i! Well – it was harder than I thought it would be. Wherever I saw scrapbooking stuff, most of it was stuff you could get back on the Mainland! BUT, I did find these buttons that were made out of coconuts! They are so pretty – I took a close up picture of them!

Enjoy!