We celebrated our one year anniversary this weekend!  It is pretty hard to believe we've been married for a year already.  This last year has been the fastest (and best) year for both of us.  To celebrate we thought it would be fun to escape AND stick close to home all at the same time.  The city made the perfect destination!

We snuck out of work a little early on Friday to head up to San Francisco.  We checked into our hotel room at the St. Francis on Union Square -- hoping to get some sort of first year anniversary perk or upgrade.  Unfortunately for us, the Westin isn't suffering during these TETs (tough economic times) and didn't have anything available to upgrade us to.  Our initial reservation was still pretty fabulous and we enjoyed great views from our 20th floor room.

That night we had our first experience at the Symphony.  The building is gorgeous and the symphony was amazing. They performed Schubert, his Great Symphony in C Major.  We both loved it.  We scored 50% off tickets for that night and were able to have some AWESOME seats.  When we ordered the tickets and were debating between sections, the woman suggested going with the Terrace seats.  They are seats that are directly above the stage - along the stage's perimeter. We were in the first row and looked directly down over the performers -- we could almost even read their music! It was so cool.  AND it was so much fun to watch the conductor -- he was so animated. We definitely want to go back.  But now we're spoiled with those seats and will have to look for more great deals!   It was a lot of fun to get all dressed up, go to dinner at Frjtz (we were definitely overdressed there -- but such good fries!), hit the symphony and go to Citizen Cake for dessert afterward.   Such a fun date! And even better that we didn't have to drive home afterward -- just go two miles back to our hotel.  We loved it. 

Saturday was a beautiful day and a lazy one for us.  We had a very late breakfast/brunch at Dottie's.  A DELICIOUS breakfast joint on Jones.  It's on the fringe of the Tenderloin and if you go too far you'll know it.  But the food was fabulous.  Definitely an excellent choice when looking for a savory breakfast.  Lee got the biggest pancake on earth with a slab of ham and I had a most delicious omlette.  And we both shared a blackberry torte - coffee cake like, but not.  It was really good.  It's a must visit.  Lee spoiled me with a few purchases around the square and we just were lazy all afternoon. We needed the break and thoroughly soaked the R&R in.   

We enjoyed a very lovely walk to Russian Hill for dinner. The sun was setting and the city and bay were lit up.  It was a beautiful night.  We had reservations at a restaurant I've wanted to eat at for ages, Frascati. It is a cute little restaurant and we were lucky enough to sit up in the romantic balcony.  The gnocchi appetizer were some of the best gnocchi I've ever had (and I'm a gnocchi snob) - served with white truffle oil.  YUM!  I also had my first sturgeon (which was also incredible) and Lee of course had lamb. It was all delicious and the perfect end to our day.

Sunday was our real anniversary -- but pretty mellow after the hoopla of Friday and Saturday.  We had another leisurely brunch and then went to church with my cousin Joy and hung out with her and Collin for a few hours.

All in all - the weekend was wonderful.  Beautiful weather, new restaurants, the symphony, relaxation and two full agenda-free days. What a perfect way for us to celebrate our first anniversary!  Here our our pics.