Well the last time I wrote anything was about two weeks ago. And you know what? There's not a whole lot to tell, but I'll give it a shot...

I am now 23. Getting old I know, and a certain someone keeps reminding me I'm getting closer to 30 :'( Having a birthday over here was so so different than having it at home. It wasn't anything tangibly different, just little things like the people I was speaking to on the phone I most certainly would've seen them in person had I been at home. Thanks for the messages, phone calls, emails etc, it was all great!! Thanks!!

I had a big sleep in, headed down to Jeremy's work for lunch, and had lunch with Jeremy, Sam, Dan and Kristie at The Holding Company (a cool pub near the Ferry Building). We had a lovely lunch, they all headed back to work, and I headed out for some shopping. So far so good!! Jeremy had made dinner reservations for 7:30, and I wanted him home a LOT sooner than that to open my presents. I had patiently waited eight whole waking hours for him to get home so I could open them. For those of you who know me very well, I can *sometimes* be tempted to take a peek at presents before the date they're due to be open. To prevent this, my smart boyfriend took it upon himself to put my presents in his suitcase, and change the lock combo to something that I wouldn't be able to guess. RUDE!! I swear, this made me want to see them all the more... Never mind, they were well worth waiting for. I had an extra surprise present that I hadn't a clue about (some awesome towels from Jeremy's parents, very very nice and handy!) And finally I was able to open the others!! A copy of the DaVinci Code (Kath and Kim anyone?) a handpainted martini glass with a recipe for Cosmo's, and a Bose sound dock for my iPod. That was perfect, I never really thought how much I missed listening to music until I realised that I couldn't. So, it's been getting a decent work out since!! (Poor neighbours!!) Dinner at the Fairmont was amazing, although we had a very new waiter and were pretty much the only patrons there that evening. Once again, the steak here in the US proved itself awesome and dessert was just as yummy!!
The next day, Tony Blair thought that the Fairmont was good enough to stay in, so I figure it was good enough for me to have dinner!! We managed to get some pics of the police motorcade as they actually went past our hotel, blocked off streets going off Pine all the way from Powell to VanNess. Traffic buildup was a bitch!! Was cool to watch though ;-)

Saturday brought a BBQ in Burlingame (south of San Francisco) with some people from Jeremy's work. There was the usual Aussie contingent, as well as three of Jeremy's bosses (so to speak) who had just arrived back from Tokyo that day, and a new Aussie couple who usually live in London, here on business. Joseph, the host, had three adorable kids that loved playing soccer with Sam. I had a lovely time, a few beers and a bottle of White Zinfandel will do that to me!! After drinking and eating in the afternoon sun, we were fast asleep very early that night.

We took it easy on Sunday, had lunch at a Mexican joint down the road and headed off to see Clerks 2. Funny funny stuff!! Worth seeing if you have my sense of humour, and/or enjoyed the first one!! That night, as we were walking home, we noticed a bus had come down Mason St, and gotten stuck due to the insanely steep gradient of the hill. It was stuck there for maybe two or three hours, police blocked off the road and a giant tow truck had to back its way down the VERY steep street. Funny to watch, got some photos from our hotel room. I'll get Jeremy to post them on his blog at some point. It was better than TV!!

I started a new volunteer job yesterday, for a group called Breast Cancer Action. It's basically a charity just trying to raise awareness about the 'pink ribbon' type campaigns, and urging consumers to ask questions about how much of their 'pink' product sales are going toward research etc. The girls that I've met there seem really nice, and appreciate the help. So, that's looking good for me at the moment. And I'm still keep the Hall of Justice too, a little diversity!!

One last thing of note; last night we felt our first earthquake!! It was 4.4 on the Richter scale, the epicentre up near Napa and no damage to date. We can now feel like we've been baptised true-blue San Franciscans!! All is ok, don't worry Mum. It just felt like someone had been tapping the couch. Cool huh!!

I think that's me up-to-date for now. On the weekend we're headed to another BBQ, this time north of San Francisco, and probably check out some more places. And try to make the most of the sunny weather we're currently blessed with!!