Farewell Christie (for a bit)!

Posted in Friends, SF Bay Area by

Our dear friend Christie is about to enter into a fun, crazy season of life that is full of traveling.  She is helping set up & establish call-centers for Facebook all over the world, and therefore is about to be gone from SF until the end of December!  We are so sad that we won’t be seeing her for the next few months, so before she headed out, Christie and her fabulous husband Troy had a little send-off dinner party at their apartment.  It was so wonderful getting to spend a little more time with them and our friends Mike & Moira, enjoy amazing food, great wine, and watch an exciting Game 6 of the World series.  Onto the photos!

Troy and Christie

Mike Saign & me

Harper & Moira

Clean-up crew!

Go Cardinal!

Posted in Friends, SF Bay Area by

Saturday, Michael and I attended our first Stanford football game which was really fun and exciting, especially given the fact that they have (arguably) the best player in college football right now.  The game itself wasn’t too exciting (65-21, Stanford vs Washington) but the day was gorgeous and we had fun with Michael’s coworkers and friends.  Here are some pics from the train ride to the game, the game, and a little fun afterwards.

on Caltrain headed to Palo Alto

 

 

 

Grammies visit to SF!

Posted in Family, SF Bay Area by

What a treat and an honor!  My amazing grandparents flew all the way across the country from Chapin, South Carolina, to spend time with Michael and me and get a glimpse into what our life is like in San Francisco.  We had such a fabulous time, but there were a few bumps along the way.

First of all, Nanny & Papa planned their trip to ensure that they would not miss the birth of their first great-grandchild.  Suzanne was due November 3rd so they definitely wanted to be back in SC by this weekend.   Well, as you can see by my previous post, the beautiful Augusta Clare was born early and they had hardly landed in San Francisco when they got the news.  So, the first photo of the trip is of their Friday morning visit to my office — we put a picture of Augusta Clare on my computer in the background.  🙂

Friday night: Dinner at Jardiniere - this is where Michael and I had dinner the night we got engaged!

Papa checking out the fancy bar at Jardiniere

Saturday: Napa! 1st stop - Domaine Carneros - known for their sparkling wine

Saturday: 2nd stop - Frog's Leap vineyard - the weather was gorgeous!

Saturday: 3rd stop - Lunch at our favorite restaurant in the world - Bottega!

Michael and Papa outside Bottega - always supporting Clemson!

Sunday: After church walking around Filmore St. while Papa got his foot examined at the ER!

Sunday night: Dinner at the Harper household. Papa keeping his injured foot propped up. Self-timer photo!

Monday night: Dinner at local favorite, Zuppa, for delish pizzas

Tuesday afternoon: SF city tour stopping by Palace of Fine Arts

There were so many more photos but this will have to do for now.  We miss you already Nanny & Papa!!!  Thanks for visiting!
Love,
Ashley

Announcing… Augusta Clare Zais!

Posted in Family by

Beautiful Augusta Clare was born happy and healthy at 10:13am on Friday, October 14th — 5lbs, 10oz and 19.5 inches long.  Augusta was Suzanne’s great grandmother’s name and her great great grandmother’s name.  Clare is my grandmother’s name.  Beautiful, southern, classy and meaningful.  🙂

After a tough couple of weeks for Suzanne, they performed an emergency c-section Friday morning.  The original due date was November 3rd so although it was a little early, the baby was ready and she has been doing just wonderfully.  Suzanne is taking her time recovering but has already been an absolutely fabulous mom and my big brother Brad has just been the most incredible dad and husband, taking care of everyone.

So excited to be an aunt, so proud of Brad and Suzanne, and DYING to meet my adorable niece!!  I’ll be there soon!

Love,
Ash

A Weekend in the Windy City

Posted in Friends, Travels by

What a wonderful wedding weekend in the Windy City of Chicago!  Michael and I traveled to Chicago this past weekend to celebrate Mark & Elise’s wedding and we had the best weekend EVER.

The first main event was the Rehearsal Dinner on Thursday night.  It was held at a cool Chicago restaurant with amazing Italian food – Sapori Trattoria.  I think the best part of any Rehearsal Dinner is spending time with everyone and getting to know “the other side” through the toasts.  Mark was one of Michael’s roommates and best friends from Boston College so we know him well, but it was great getting to know Elise a little better — she is fabulous.  After dinner we went for drinks at Kingston Mines Blues Club which was a blast.

On Friday, the boys were off getting haircuts, manicures (seriously) and straight razor shaves, so I took the opportunity to walk up and down the “Magnificent Mile” on Michigan Avenue appreciating the amazing array of stores.  Later, while Michael took photos around Chicago with the wedding party,

I got a drink at the top of the Hancock building with some of the group.

The wedding Friday night was absolutely beautiful.  It was held at the historic Knickerbocker Hotel (conveniently where we were staying).  The ceremony was so lovely and was followed by a fun cocktail hour leading into dinner.  Table 5 at dinner was simply unforgettable.

After a delicious meal, the party got started and the light-up dance floor was put to great use.

Following the reception the group had drinks in the lobby and made a final stop at Kerryman’s Bar.

Saturday was all about STATE.  State is a sport’s bar that even boys might say has too many flat-screen TVs and too much football, but… it’s pretty awesome.  After spending the day there with a big group, Michael and I took off for dinner and a Second City comedy show.  Seeing Second City was a major highlight for me, and looking through the Playbill at all of the alum who have come through there — Steve Carrell, Steven Colbert, John Belushi, Joan Rivers, Chris Farley, Tina Fey… it was amazing.  The show was hilarious and lasted from 11pm until 2am!!  So much fun!!

Then Sunday we flew back to our little home in San Francisco to get ready for a great new week.  We hope YOU are having a great week too!!

It’s Wedding Season!

Posted in Friends, Travels by

I’m not sure what season everyone else is in, but for the Harpers, it’s officially Wedding Season.  Last weekend Michael traveled to NY to celebrate his good friend from Boston College, Dan Ferguson, marry Christine Burke.  Congratulations Dan & Christine!!

Tomorrow I am heading to North Carolina to celebrate my sweet friend from Wofford, Elizabeth Frazier, as she marries fellow Wofford alum Jason O’Quinn.  Woohooo!

This Friday while I’m in North Carolina, Michael will be attending the wedding of Christie Miranda & Troy Bienemann, two San Francisco friends who have quickly become very dear to both of us.  I’ll miss you guys — know it will be a fabulous wedding!!!

Also getting married this weekend are two of my coworkers — Devon O’Donnell and Mark Chu Cheong.  But not to each other.  🙂  Congrats to both beautiful couples!

Then, next weekend, Michael and I will both head to Chicago for Mark Norcini & Elise Linden’s wedding!  Mark is another very close friend of Michael’s from Boston College.

Whew!  I’m exhausted AND excited just thinking about it all.  We are so blessed to have so many friends who have such wonderful things happening in their lives — I love love.  🙂  Expect lots of fun photos and posts to come!

LOVE,
ash

Surprise! Happy Birthday Michael!

Posted in Friends, SF Bay Area by

On Friday, September 9, Michael turned 29!  Michael loves a good surprise so this year I kept all plans a secret.  I found it incredibly stressful but I think that Michael found it incredibly fun, which makes it alllll worth it.

Friday morning started with breakfast-in-bed.  This is a long-standing Harper tradition so it wasn’t a total shock, but what I made was the surprise.  Swedish Pancakes!  Although this was Michael’s favorite breakfast growing up, we have never made it at home so he was totally surprised.  They weren’t the prettiest in the world, but they tasted good.

Swedish pancakes, fruit, coffee, juice

Later in the day we met up for lunch at San Francisco’s “hottest” new restaurant (#1 on the Eater SF “heat map”), Cotogna.

We had both been eager to check it out and it did not disappoint.  The pasta dishes were a-mazing.  Definitely want to go back.

   

After work I rushed home and decorated the house with streamers and balloons.  When Michael got home he had a gift on the coffee table and inside was a Giants t-shirt and 2 tickets to the game that night.  I said, “Surprise!  We’re going to the Giants game!”  We’re a 5 minute walk to the stadium so we headed over to the game.  As we were walking up to our seats I kept talking to Michael so that he was distracted.  Then, once we were closer, the whole group of friends who met us there jumped up and shouted “Happy Birthday!” as they threw confetti and blew party horns.  That was one of my favorite moments of the night.

The next surprise of the night came right after the 5th inning.  The Harper family got Michael a “Happy Birthday” scoreboard message WITH a photo!  It was awesome!

We celebrated and sang to him over Julie’s AMAZING brownies and as we sang the entire section joined in.  All in all, we had such a great time — thank you to all the friends who came!  And BIG thank you to Dr. and Mrs. Harper who treated the crew to a round of food & drinks!

After the game a group of us headed over to 21st Amendment for some post-game beers.  (Funny enough, 21st Amendment was on the Bar-Crawl agenda for Michael’s 28th birthday last year.)

Next up was a little bit of a wildcard…we went to a club called “Harlet.”  Harlet turned out to be pretty hilarious and really fun as we took over their VIP section and had an amazing dance party. (I’m still not sure why they didn’t throw us out.)

Needless to say it was an incredible night celebrating the most incredible man on earth.  🙂