Chevy's By the Bay

I forgot to mention to you yesterday, that after my Ikea shopping trip, I visited Chevy's on the bay for lunch.  Obviously I was taking FULL advantage of not having my kids with me for most of the day.  This Chevy's is located about 1/2 mile from Ikea and sits right at the edge of the bay in Emeryville with a beautiful view of San Francisco.

I asked to sit out on their deck even though it was a bit chilly in the shade outside, but I didn't want to look like too much of a freak as I sometimes do when I have my camera with me.  Eating lunch all alone is always fine with me {I'd rather have company}, it's just the combination of eating alone and photographing my food and drink that I was worried about....what kind of freak does that?!  I figured I was safe outside.

Chevy's has the best salsa!

The view from my table.

Raspberry iced tea {although I couldn't taste any raspberry}.

Little did I know this guy would shortly become my lunch companion.

This is a public dock that is accessible right from Chevy's deck.

My new friend made a few fly-bys as soon as he spotted my chips.

I'll share my chips after I eat if you don't poop on me.

Landed.

Now I know why these spike - like metal strips are attached to every overhang.

I ordered the tostada chicken salad with apple chipotle vinaigrette on the side.  The guacamole that was supposed to come with it was MIA!  Oh well, I didn't need the extra calories.

My friendly waiter brought me an additional dressing to try and I'm so glad he did because I liked the salsa vinaigrette so much!  I will definitely order it again.

My friend became very brave, he moved to the next table over from me.  Maybe he sensed I was almost finished with lunch?

I don't ever eat the tostada shell from my taco salads and when the waiter came out I mentioned that my friend was hungry, and he proceeded to toss the shell over the railing, down to the water for him.  This made my friend and his buddies VERY happy.  The shell was gone in less than 30 seconds.  No wonder the seagulls hang out at Chevy's. 

Oh, by the way, when I got up to leave, while walking through the restaurant I looked back for one last look of the view and noticed my outdoor table was in perfect view of almost every customer from within the restaurant.  That's what I get for trying to be sly. 

Happy Friday!  Cheers!

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My Trip to Ikea

I think Wednesdays are my new favorite day.  Paige is now in preschool until 2:30 on Wednesdays and with Bryce going to school for a full day now, until 2:45, I have almost the entire day to myself!  No babysitters needed!  So what did I do on my very first Wednesday to myself?  Took a trip to Ikea.

But first, I must cross a bridge.  Is it just me that has a phobia of driving over bridges?  Okay, not just any bridge but the Richmond/San Rafael bridge in particular.  Every time I drive to the east bay, upon arriving at the bridge entrance, I think awful thoughts like what if the bridge collapses while I'm on it?  What if I'm in a accident and my vehicle is somehow launched over the side rail to the water below?  It's terrible, these thoughts I have.  I don't know if the reason behind my thoughts is that this bridge is a narrow two lane, double decker bridge or what?  The Golden Gate bridge certainly doesn't bring on thoughts like this for me.

So, if I want to go to Ikea, I must cross the bridge.....anything for shopping I guess.  Snapping photos of the bridge while driving across it actually helped my anxiety.  I know, I know, such a smart thing to do right?

Thirty minutes later I have reached my destination.

My goal was to find organization tools that would work for my home. 

I recycle most of my magazines but I do keep every single cooking magazine I have and right now they are stored in various stacks throughout my house.  This needs to change.

I searched, I found, I bought magazine holders.

I wanted to buy some of these, but I didn't.

I did buy a few of these CD/DVD holders.  One for each of the kids for their story books on CD.  They were only $2.99 each!  What a deal!

I only go to Ikea once or twice a year and when I do venture across the bridge to go, I look through every section of the store.  You never know what great ideas you can pick up just by browsing.

Bedding section.

Lighting section.  Isn't this hanging light cool?  I think it's made out of bamboo or some sort of wood.

This I had never seen at Ikea before.  Cow hide rugs.  Yep, that's right, real cow hide.

The rugs are backed with a suede leather.

I kind of wanted one but believe it or not, they don't really go with the decor of our house.

Ikea is like a MAZE.  It took me a good 20 minutes to find my way out....no kidding!  Of course I believe it's designed this way purposely because you must walk through EVERY section of the store while following the arrows announcing Exit & Checkout.

Well their design plan worked because I left the store with a few items I wasn't planning on purchasing.  Like these neat little bead projects for the kids.  They're going to love creating different colored hearts and the watermelon could be a lemon or lime if one uses yellow or green beads.  How fun!

When I saw these, I HAD to buy them for the kids.  My kids love putting on puppet shows so I bought them each a package of 10 finger puppets for only $4.99.....that's 50 cents per puppet!

I finally found my way to the checkout counter, finger puppets in tow.

Back over the bridge again, the upper deck this time, which is even scarier than the bottom deck for me.

But I made it.  With time to spare before pick up time at preschool.

Happy Thursday!
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