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I stopped at a Chevron this afternoon for my bi-weekly charitable donation to OPEC. At my feet when I stepped up to the gas pump? Barbie…naked…with her head in a plastic bag. SOMEONE had quite the party with Ken last night!!

This week finished with a few meeting-packed days and team-filled evenings in Seattle…all glued together by conference calls in the free moments. Certainly a good visit…but it felt incomplete without a visit with dear ol’ Jeffrey…next time I promise. (Photos are from my room in the Seattle Grand Hyatt…my first stay.)

Still, no worries about good food and great espresso. Wednesday lunch at the hidden Dish Cafe in the Nordstrom corporate HQ building. Dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse with my team…a never-ending flow of meat on skewers…the name escapes me. Thursday morning…a meeting at local-favorite Top Pot donuts…a rich latte on the side. Lunch at the downtown Icon Grill. An afternoon latte near the office. Dinner at the cozy, flavorful Dhalia Lounge. Breakfast pastries from the simply amazing Belle Epicurean…those to-die-for pecan buns and spicy corn fritters. Lunch with the team at Two Bells Tavern…a Jeff classic that kept running on about…a toast to Jeff for introducing me to this gem.

I swear, we also got work done on this trip as well.

United flight 1200 left from its SFO gate promptly at 6:46am this morning bound for Seattle. I was about halfway through my morning latte–Peet’s with a dusting of Splenda–and slowly emerging from the fog of my early rise.

Early flights are just rough, but as the plane lifted from a routine north-bound runway, I got the payoff I needed to lift my spirits.

The pilot kindly banked around the City on a breathtaking route that revealed a City waking up with the dramatic first rays of sun. It felt as if the pilot was sightseeing with us as we passed one celebrated landmark after another…each one worth a vacation.

Low, early light truly sets off San Francisco…revealing the famous undulations of the terrain that are normally masked by rows of houses. From above, the City looks small and intimate…a tiny peninsula isolated from the rest of the world.

What a fantastic (and unexpected) reminder of what makes San Francisco special.

Still…I’m not saying I couldn’t have used another hour of sleep. 🙂

Name three things in our front flower bed.

Seriously…I just replanted this damn flower bed this past weekend, because dogs keep peeing in one corner and killing everything. This is planting #3…or is it #4…I’ve lost count.

Now its ME that is pissed.

Last night, our friends Brad and Brian invited us over to their neighborhood for dinner and a movie. At Cha Cha Cha on Haight Street, we barely beat the throngs of locals, who line up early for creative tapas and famous sangria. The colorful wall decor was a bonus.

For our movie, we walked a block to the Red Vic Movie House…a worker-owned city favorite. The theatre had that quirky Haight charm, although the popcorn (served from a traditional theatre popper) was surprisingly cold and stale. They asked if I wanted yeast on my popcorn…maybe that would have helped?

We watched the Oscar-nominated flick There Will Be Blood. We all left the theatre scratching our heads, but somehow we just felt wiser…or at least happy not to be in the oil drilling business.

But the real show was on Haight Street itself. We had about 30-minutes to kill between dinner and the movie, so we walked several always-colorful blocks. Lots of people offering items for cash…or just outright begging.

Our favorite? Two young men who offered to do “extreme ultimate fighting” right there on the street for cash. Awesome!