I left my heart in San Francisco...

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 One of the top things on my bucket list is to visit every single state in the US before I die. But in my sub-list I have a few certain cities that I want to visit in my lifetime too. And yes, some of them are in the same state. Last year we went to LA, so this time around we decided it was time for San Francisco...

And I fell in love with San Francisco... There is so much to see and do but it wasn't like I would have imagined it. I did imagine it like this:

Or like this:

And even like this:

But I was surprised to see that most of the city looks like this:

Lots and lots of small, modest homes, narrow streets, Moms and Pops tiny grocery stores everywhere (don't ask me how many questionable bathrooms I frequented in San Francisco...after all, I am 4 months pregnant!) - for real, people, we did not find a single Walmart in the whole city! Honestly, we eventually Googled it (out of curiosity) and the closest one was in Oakland. San Francisco is like a story behind every corner with it's historical buildings, docks and piers and unusual people. And by unusual I don't mean weird. If you want to see some weirdos than go all the way to Hollywood... San Francisco is like a melting pot of very distinct views, nationalities, personalities and gorgeous greenery. For real, I've seen some of the most interesting trees in San Francisco starting with the Muir Woods that we visited on our first day and that is famous for it's Sequoia redwood (not the biggest you can find but still very impressive):

I really enjoyed all of the ocean views (even though my hair looked like a mad mane most of the time). In fact, this is what we saw out of the window when we got to our hotel:

Actually, the "water front" rooms were $40 more which we didn't pay so it was a pleasant surprise. Gorgeous!

Since parking is not just expensive but almost impossible to find in San Francisco, we walked a lot. And I mean, A LOT! No wonder, most of the population in the city looks like they weigh barely 120 pounds... But it was so worth it:

And yes, some of the streets have interesting names too ( I couldn't resist. I wonder where this boulevard got it's name from? :): 

When walking got too much, we enjoyed a ride or a few on another special attraction of San Francisco - the cable cars:

It took us straight to Fisherman's wharf:

We decided to skip Alcatraz (to my FIL's dismay...) but went for a boat ride around the island:

What more can I say? I loved our vacation. It was nice to get away, to spend a few days just the two of us and explore a new place that I've always wanted to visit... And with all the walking that we've done, I was sure I've lost like 5 pounds but no. I actually gained 2. I blame it on my husband successfully tempting me with a Ghiradelli Black Forest cherry hot fudge sundae :) It's all his fault...


“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”(St, Augustine of Hippo)

The budget Thursday.

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I don't really do a regular budget post because, well, our weekly budget is fairly boring. But today is an exclusion :) Not that it's any less boring, I'm just writing about it, lol.

We received our tax return last Thursday. It was the quickest return we've ever received (just six days!!!), and we already bought a couch. I want to dress it up a bit before I share any pictures with you :) And I also ordered the green house and can't wait for it to arrive! The weather has been so beautiful lately that it's obvious, gardening season will be here before I know it! The rest of the money is sitting in checking for now, until we decide what we want to do with it. I'm still leaning towards buying a new mattress but we'll see. And I hope to be able to put at least $200 into savings.

Talking about savings, you might remember that we had a very ambitious savings goal for 2014. I don't know if it is going to end up being realistic but so far we saved $1700 and I hope to add another $300 at least to this number in March. It might not be much but it is for us, and I'm glad to see that we are right on track. It will slow down a bit as we get closer to summer because we are yet to have any vacation plans, even if it's a small, local trip. I don't really care where we go (well, I do but where I want to go we can't afford anyway...sigh), I just need a change of scenery. Maybe, visit another state or something :)

We also need to start thinking of Christmas (I know, who wants to think of it when we still have snow in places, right?). We've been putting aside $20 a month but it's not going to be much when the time comes. I definitely need some sort of a plan here...

Did you start thinking of Christmas yet? Or, maybe, you are planning a fun vacation instead? Or both? :) Do share, please!

Do you like to travel?

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I have a friend who, before she got married, divorced and raised six children on her own (yes, if that doesn't show that she's a superwoman, I don't know what does!), yeah, before all that she decided to travel and explore every single one of the fifty states in the US. Back then she was very young, ambitious and could live with very little. She still can live with very little and is still young and pretty, but this experience that she received has no price value on it...

Many moons ago I was young and ambitious too. Before I came to the States, I had a desire or more of a fantasy to visit every state in the US too. I do like traveling and I'm fascinated by both geography and learning about new cultures. But my dream kind of stayed in the stage of a dream. In fact, I've never even been to NY. Well, if you don't count those five times when I spent countless minutes passing the floor at JFK after or before the exhausting 10-hour trip to or from Mother Russia. Lame, I know...

In reality, fast forward 8.5 years, and I'm only about 15% into my goal. We did visit some amazing places in those years like the trip to Arizona (something we definitely want to repeat):

Last year we went to one of the "it" places for foreign tourists:

Guess where I was? :)

But there are still so many destinations I want to see. I'd love to travel around the world, that's a given. But money is definitely tight... Maybe, Vegas is my next destination... Right.

 So if money was not an issue (let's just imagine for a second that you were a lost child of the Hilton family...), where in the whole world would you go? And if money is an issue (because you did not find a $10 million dollar treasure in your back yard), where in the States would you travel and why? Or where would you recommend to go? Of course, I mean those of you who live in Northern America. Because those of you who are located in sunny Spain, I know where you live, and I'm already envious...:)