Bay Area | January & February, 2025
I’m back on the monthly recaps! We spent most of January in Asia, so I’m picking up with a combined post on both January and February in the Bay.
We definitely returned from Asia with three more bags than we left with! And our first meal back was… Chipotle?
Videochat catch-ups
We also came back with tea and Sunny Hills seasonal apple (not pineapple!) cakes. Picked up some quince branches from the Farmers Market for our Lunar New Year decorations.
Jon and Pei in town for my birthday dinner! We went to Stonemill Matcha for a lovely brunch.
Lunar New Year dinner with the in-laws
Lunch with Rebecca, and homemade dinner in some of my new-old rice bowls I brought back from Tokyo.
Coffee outing. Plus a peek at my Hobonichi five-year journal, which I brought back from Tokyo and gifted folks for my birthday party, and which we’ve been diligently filling all year.
Oramasama pop-up! Hello Henry!
Seapot with our hotpot loving friends.
LNY at Chase Center, ringing in the year of the snake. Plus, my first driverless Waymo ride, thanks to my wedding clients.
Ho Chie organized a little meet and greet lunch with comedian Sheng Wang at Piglet & Co.
Always happy to be included in Ho Chie’s gatherings, hobnobbing with the who’s who of Taiwanese America.
So many cool folks in our community!
Thank you to Chef Chris Yang for feeding us on an off day for the restaurant too.
And Grace brought us backyard meyer lemons, extremely Taiwanese to come with a gajidai full of fruit to share.
Author/cartoonist Gene Luen Yang (“American Born Chinese”) was also there! Very cool.
Then it was time to launch into the NBA All Star Weekend hosted right here at Chase Center, and complete with SO MANY free activations all over San Francisco. We were all over the free giveaways and activities! First, a live taping of TNT’s Inside the Studio. We got to customize our own bucket hats…
Saw Shaq, Ernie, Chris Mullin, Kenny, and Charles Barkley…
And then in a very interesting moment, Shaq pointed RIGHT AT Alex, a cameraman came and pointed his camera right at us… and nothing happened. They stood there and we stood there, but the live feed never actually cut to our camera! We’ll never know what that was all about.
After a couple hours, the headliner we were all there for… a free Chance the Rapper concert, up close and personal!
Another day, another bunch of free stuff! This time we went to the brand new sports bar right outside Chase Center, Splash.
Second Chris Mullin sighting. He was being interviewed for a live taping of All The Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson of the “We Believe” era of the Warriors.
The upstairs was converted into a little Steph Curry museum. Hello Olympic gold medal! And then the nicest free shirts we’ve ever gotten, thanks to Curry’s brand. We got to pick our own patches and center design to customize the shirt, and it’s actually a thick Under Armour tee. We still wear them all the time!
Next, we went over to the Metreon for a Chase pop-up, featuring the brand new Golden State Valkyries who still hadn’t started their season. We got to meet Kayla Thornton, Kate Martin, and coach Natalie Nakase before we even knew anything about them! We were already season ticket holders long before this though, before the team even had a name.
Then, visiting SFMOMA’s sports-themed gallery before it closed. Very well done!
Plus Michelle Obama’s portrait, within the Amy Sherald gallery.
Callback to Gene Luen Yang whom we just saw! Here’s his mural at SFMOMA.
Hanging out with the Yens and doggos in the redwoods after their photo session.
Next round of free All Star Weekend things… First a free Philly Cheesesteak thanks to BET. And then, the star of all stars, Steph Curry, out in the wild, making an unannounced appearance with Ayesha to support her Sweet July skincare line. I even got Steph to sign Alex’s Warriors hat. The biggest get of the weekend!
More, lesser, freebies: ShaqALicious XL Gummies and free Beyond tacos. Roped the Valentes into this madness too.
Heading downtown, San Francisco was buzzing with both the Lunar New Year parade and the All Star events all weekend.
A small Warriors pop-up
And a large AmEx pop-up with free boba and more bucket hats.
A final round-up of the swag. Not including a bunch of stuff we ate along the way. Baby Alex could not be more proud!
Finally, a bunch of crafting at the end of the month! A visit to Stonemountain & Daughter, my favorite fabric shop in Berkeley. And crafting friends, with special visitor Enzo, two months old.
I sewed a little quilted zipper bag for my Hobonichi journal.
Mocktail by Alex
And a whole mini series documenting the fourth of five tiny tiles quilts that I’ve sewn! This one is for Do-Hee’s baby boy, who would come along two months later.
And brunch with Rebecca! I could go for a giant pancake right now.
Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco. She compulsively documents and blogs all of her daily adventures. Follow her on instagram and view more of her professional work at annawu.com.
