After brunch, we picked up our wedding album from our photographer, Anna Kuperberg. She let us know this past Monday that it had come in. Like DMV and Social Security, this also had me really excited and amazed, because she'd told us it would take two months to complete, and we didn't order it until March 11th. When we arrived to pick it up this afternoon, she told us she had another surprise for us - the album the Hawks had ordered had also been completed, so we got to bring both home with us. The Hawks' album turned out great, but ours turned out completely fabulous. Really, this isn't a compliment to us, it's a testament to how awesome our photographer's skills and her design work are. If you're planning a wedding or want baby pictures done, I can't recommend Anna enough. She's definitely pricey, but so worth it, in our opinion, especially for weddings, since you only get one chance to capture those images, which are of one of the most important days of your life.
Afterwards, we went and bought some Australian tour books from a guy we found on Craigslist. He was selling a whole slew of them, which are in fairly good condition. It included Lonely Planet Australia, Frommer's Australia 2008, Lonely Planet Melbourne, DK Sydney Pocket Map & Guide, DK Melbourne Pocket Map & Guide, and Lonely Planet Sydney Encounter. Altogether, these books are worth $99.94 before tax, but he was offering them for a major - and I do mean major - steal. He was selling them for $30 total! Not only that, but when Shweetie went to pick them up, the guy chatted with him about their trip. He and his wife have friends in Australia, so all the restaurants they tried were places recommended by them, rather than places recommended in the tour books. The guy said he would email Shweetie with the names of all of the places they went to and which ones they recommended. This will be really helpful for our planning purposes, since, whenever we travel, we love having recommendations from locals rather than the traditional tourist spots. So not only did this guy give us a major deal, he's also willing to give us recommendations from locals. Sweet.
After that, we were driving past Cousin Traveler's apartment, so I called her up and she just happened to be home, though she was running out soon to visit a friend in Fremont. We got to see her new apartment for the first time, and were lucky enough to get a parking space right in front of her building. She said this is amazing because her family's circled the block for up to 45 minutes before, looking for somewhere to park. We went up and visited with her for about ten minutes, then drove her to the BART station. Her apartment is nice and spacious (the bedroom is huge!), and I really like all of the artwork they have hanging around the place.
After that we hung out at Peet's, perusing our Australia books, then headed to San Mateo to try out Santa Ramen for dinner. This place supposedly has the best ramen in the Bay Area, and there's always a crazy long line. When we arrived, there was indeed a line that wrapped around the entire front foyer area (which is tiny and claustrophobic), but the line moved quickly and they efficiently took people's orders and seated them. I ordered the roasted pork ramen and Shweetie ordered the miso ramen. Mine had delicious broth and very tender pork, but the pork tasted a little bland and the noodles themselves were a little bit firmer than I like. Shweetie decided he would probably like the shoyu ramen better than what he'd ordered, and we concluded that this place is above average, but would hesitate to call it the "best ramen in the Bay Area," even though we can't tell you what is the best ramen in the Bay Area. It was definitely good, but I don't think we'll be back anytime soon.
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