Birthday Fun in the Bay

One of my favorites turned 30 recently and I was so excited that she decided to spend her big weekend with me! It was a pretty great itinerary, so I'll give you the details in case you want to check out any of these spots of yourself...

Thursday: Dinner and sake bombs at Mas Sake, and wine and dessert at Bin 38. 

Friday: Tour and tasting at Anchor Brewing Company, shopping at the Louis Vuitton in Union Square and Laline in the Marina. Lunch at Burger Bar and dinner at Foreign Cinema (sit outside!).

Saturday: Bus tour from San Francisco to Napa, tasted at four wineries, and rode the ferry back.
Sunday: Bargain shopping at Nordstrom Rack and a fashion event featuring local artists.

 

 

  

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July! 

I celebrated with friends in San Jose with a poolside BBQ and far too much whiskey.

 

Old Town Sacramento

My sister, a childhood girlfriend and I recently spent a day wandering through Old Town Sacramento. My sister and I hadn't been in years, and our friend had never been at all!

Old Town is a charming, Gold Rush themed neighborhood in Sacramento full of shops and eateries. It also features a couple of museums and a railroad stop offering train rides.

Here are a few must-dos for your next visit!
- Taste the chocolate covered crickets at Candy Heaven
- Themed photo shoot at O'Grady's Oldtime Photos
- Grab a burger and beer at Fanny Anne's Saloon
- Sit on a bench with an ice cream cone from Turtles

Summer to-do List

I'm a big fan of lists. All kinds of lists. I make lists of things I can't forget to do each day. I make lists of things I need to buy and errands I need to run. My favorite sort of list are goal lists, like the bucket list I've been keeping since high school and reoccurring to-do lists for by year or season.

Here's the list I've already been getting a jump start on for this summer!

1- Bling out my old bikinis instead of buying new ones

2- Finally work up the courage to scuba dive during my Jamaica vacation

3- Fit back into my college jeans!

4- Sail on the Bay. Already bought a Living Social deal for it, just need to book a date.

5- Hit up every bottomless bunch on 7x7's list

6- Donate my collection of bridesmaid dresses. They depress me.

7- Go camping. I haven't been in three years and that's just silly.

8- Do a wine country day tour. The tourist kind, not the locals only kind.

9- Horseback riding. I probably haven't been since grade school!

10- Go white water rafting. Can you believe this will be a first for me?

Esquire - Best Bars in America

California made quite an appearance on Esquire's Best Bars in America list and, not surprisingly, a lot of those listed are in San Francisco! 

I do feel rather obligated to drink my way through them. Join me?

The Silver Lady

A 1961 issue of National Geographic featured an ad for the California Zephyr, also known as the Silver Lady, a passenger train connecting Chicago and San Francisco. The two-day, 2,500 mile route might seem painful to modern travelers, but during its 20 years of service, the Silver Lady was touted as "the most talked-about train in the country," The train featured themed Vista-Dome cars with large windows allowing passengers better visibility along their journey. 

Today, Amtrak runs a passenger service under the same name and following the same route. I priced out a ticket from Chicago, IL to Emeryville, CA on Amtrak's website and found the $300 price rather reasonable.

 ...so gay, so colorful, and so much fun, you'll think you're already in San Francisco!

I doubt back in 1961 the slogan for this themed buffet-lounge car was highlighting San Francisco's pride scene, but it certainly proves our grand city has always been a hot destination!

DIY Wireless Router Cover

I'm pretty sure we can all agree that the wireless router is the ugliest item in any living room or home office, so why not turn it into a chic piece of decor! I stumbled across a very lovely little blog with a fabulous DIY tutorial on how to turn an old book into a cover for your wireless router. 

You're welcome!

Rooftop Slide Show

A carousel slide projector propped up on two cases of beer; two boomboxes stacked one atop the other; a white sheet taped haphazardly to a wall protruding up from the east corner of the building; an ice chest packed with Liberty surrounded by folding chairs; a video producer nonchalantly weaving through and around a dozen brewery employees. As the sun dipped below the horizon, we gathered near the ledge and cheers'd, twice actually, to be sure our video producer captured it just right.

Last night some coworkers and I gathered on the roof of the brewery to watch Tom, an Anchor old timer, show slides he took at rock shows in the 70's and 80's in Philadelphia. He timed out the slides to match music from each band. The concept was initially brought about for a video production piece that our marketing department is working on, and we certainly did knock that out at sunset, but after our videographer had captured all she needed, we kept the beer flowing and slideshows rolling well into the night!

Spice Cupcakes

Somehow my coworker Lynda made it to her 30's without realizing that women get a full week to celebrate their birthday! After all these birthdays of only allowing herself one day of birthday fun, we've been stretching her birthday out at the office. 

Today I brought her cupcakes with plenty to share. She wanted carrot cake so I made a first ever try of it last night and couldn't get them to turn out. I think the carrot shreds were too big? After running out of carrots I went for a spice cake instead, but still topped them off with cream cheese frosting and sugar sprinkles.

Technology and Change

It is undeniable that I'm heavily dependent on online services, everything from social sites like Facebook and online portfolios like Flickr to file sharing with Dropbox and downloading with iTunes. 

Last week I attended a brunch hosted by the Network of Executive Women and heard speaker Edie Weiner, who emphasized the shift from relationship based business to technology based business. I agree that the value in getting to know one's partners and clients on a personal level has decreased as computers are rapidly becoming our main form of communication and business process. Personnel turnover is far more rapid than it was for previous generations of professionals. However, the turnover in technology is frustratingly rapid as well. 

When I was in college, everyone used MySpace, until there was a shift toward Facebook. Twitter exploded, followed by Instagram, which was recently purchased by Facebook. Kodak Gallery was just sold to Shutterfly; and the list goes on. It is hard to be dependent on web-based services that are ever changing, evolving, selling, and merging. Thankfully, these kinds of transitions have only affected web-based services tied to me on a level of social interaction and convenience, and my professional life has remained relatively unaffected. I wonder, though, what is coming down the pipeline that might completely change workplace staples like Microsoft Outlook and Excel, or the way we utilize conference call services and engage in business travel.

I'm going to take Edie Weiner's advice and begin to regularly look at my business with "alien" eyes, being open to shifting the way I engage in my business. It is crucial to stay at the forefront of my industry rather than allow "the way we've always done things" to prohibit my company from anticipating inevitable changes.

Giants vs Brewers

Sunday was an unusually clear, warm day in San Francisco; a perfect day for baseball! 

A friend met me in the city to watch the Giants play the Brewers. Most of the game was fairly slow and uneventful with the Giants maintaining a one point lead, until the 9th inning when the Brewers tied it up. In the bottom of the 11th, Giants' batter Hector Sanchez finally knocked one out past third, an otherwise unremarkable single, but with bases loaded it was all he needed to secure the win. 

As the Giants poured out of their dugout onto the field in celebration, the little league team sitting behind us went wild, pulling off their jerseys and swinging them over their heads while jumping on their seats screaming.

Tea Bridal Shower

Erin and I have been friends since we were four years old. We met in Sunday School at a little church in our hometown. We've had oh so many adventures over the last 24 years; growing up at the same church and sometimes in the same schools, spending a summer in Nepal together during high school, an internship in Dallas, and in recent years plenty of visits back and forth between her home in Los Angeles and mine in San Francisco. She's a gem, and I couldn't be more thrilled to be a part of her big day - in Jamaica no less!

Last weekend was Erin's bridal shower, a tea party with flea market inspired decor. It was a very "Erin" tea, with every last detail well thought out. I'm not sure how her fiance will react when he realizes Erin registered for and indeed received every type of bowl and desert dish imaginable, but I'd say the event went off without a hitch and she got piles of fabulous gifts.

Parking in San Francisco

It has been said that you're not a real San Franciscan until you've had your car towed in the city. I beg to differ, since I haven't been towed yet (knock on wood!), but that's only because I obsess over curb colors, parking meters and street signage, and have even on occasion tipped a bum to keep an eye out. Although, even at that, I've had my fair share of parking tickets. 

The most infuriating was a $40 fine for not curbing my tires "enough" while parked in the very affluent, residential neighborhood of Pacific Heights on a street that was so nearly flat I debated not curbing my tires at all, but thought I was better off curbing them just to be safe. Clearly I wasn't playing it safe "enough." There was also that time when I found a note on my windshield letting me know it appeared that the registration tags had been stolen off my license plate, which would have been very thoughtful had it not been attached to a ticket for missing registration. 

I suppose there is some solace in knowing I'm not alone in my frustrations and that there are more crafty folks than myself creating tools to help San Franciscans spare our sanity and pocket books the pain of future tows and tickets. Finding the Sweet Spot has a clever flow chart on their website that tells you all of the places where your car could be should you discover it is no longer at the curb where you left it. There is also an app called VoicePark that will guide you to the nearest unoccupied, legal parking space.

If you're willing to spend the cash, there are always garages. This is probably worthwhile for some of you when compared to the wad of tickets in your glove compartment; you just have to know which ones to use. I can't give away my best spot or you'll be sure to flood them and I'll never get a space again, but just to give you some idea - there's a small garage just blocks from Union Square where I regularly get an evening flat rate of $10 or $15, depending on how full they are. Believe me, ten bucks is well worth it when you want to bounce around to restaurants, bars and shopping without worrying about feeding a meter or getting scratches.

Marin Headlands

Marin is full of great little trails, some of which weave right down to the ocean. My favorite is the Tennessee Valley Trail, just shy of four miles round trip. Half way out the trail splits for a while, a beautiful but narrow path on the left leading you on a flatter route, and a wider more steep path to the right better suited for bikes and horses. The two paths reconnect before reaching a pebbly cove where I like to sit and watch the waves for a while before heading back. To the right of the beach there is a foot path zigzagging up the hillside that leads to an incredible view of the cove. 

I don't get across the Golden Gate Bridge as often as I'd like (hello $6 bridge tolls!) but as I've told you before, Grand View Park, which is just blocks from my house, is a great spot to run stairs and get a 360 view of the city.

Easter Weekend in Phoenix

I realize that my love of Phoenix seems rather unreasonable, considering it is a flat, hot, desert, but it's honestly one of my favorite places for a weekend get-a-way. One of my very dear friends lives there, as does most of my extended family, so there's always wonderful company to be had. And the food, oh my goodness, you can't help but stumble into good food in Phoenix! 

My absolute must-dos for every visit are brunch at Postino, where the bruchetta and bellini never fail me, and happy hour at Sandbar, which has a location conveniently located around the corner from my friend's house. Sandbar literally has a sand patio by their outdoor bar, surrounded by a DJ booth and cabanas for your Sunday Funday pleasure. Get the nachos, trust me... and the margaritas... there's a reason why they cut you off at three margaritas. 

Some people love the Scottsdale night life, which is some of the best in the state, but I'm generally more than happy to pass on that for the poolside sunshine, a baseball game at the Diamondback's immaculate new stadium, and shopping in the countless outdoor malls.

Hello, spring!

I'm a cold and foggy weather lover for sure, but for those first few days of blooming trees and parks filled with picnic goers and when the sun is shining but the air is still crisp, oh how I fall in love with spring! It was sunny and 60 in San Francisco last week, which is absolutely ideal, but I decided to head to Phoenix for a few days to enjoy warm weather, poolside girl time with one of my besties, opening weekend of MLB with a Giants vs Diamondbacks game, and Easter Sunday with extended family. It was such a lovely weekend of fun and festivities!

Here are some delightful spring things to send you into your weekend dreaming of all things pastel and pretty and soft and sunny!

cremecycles.com

www.chanel.com

http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/eco-picnic-basket

Easter Treats

Now that I've done cakepops for my coworkers a few times, I decided to change it up for Easter and do a throwback to my childhood with chocolate nests! There was some initial disappointment when I didn't walk in with cakepops, but as soon as I started handing out these little goodies everyone was on board. They're so quick and easy you have no excuse not to throw a batch together tonight!

INGREDIENTS

1 bag of chow mein noodles (I used the Safeway brand, Asian food section)

1 bag of Reese's chocolate chips

1 bag of Cadbury chocolate eggs

1 package of Peeps

DIRECTIONS

Melt chocolate chips. I like to do this on the stove top in a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water as opposed to in the microwave. While you can use the microwave, it's very easy to burn the chocolate. If you need to thin the melted chocolate (with the Reese's you will), add a little bit of Crisco.

Gently fold in 3/4 bag of chow mein noodles, being careful not to crush the noodles, until they're all coated in chocolate.

Use hands to shape the mixture into little nests on wax paper. Place the eggs in the nests before the chocolate dries so they'll stick and won't roll off later in transport. Allow nests to dry completely.

Decorate any way you like! I cut squares out of a roll of cellophane, placed a handful of decorative grass in the middle, topped with the nest and a yellow Peep, and tied it closed first with a twisty and then a ribbon.

Recipe makes 10 nests.

Furniture From Suitcases

www.rossanaorlandi.com/

I've been seeing vintage suitcases popping up in blogs and on Pinterest and, I must admit, I'm in love with the idea of it! I'll have to start keeping an eye out for vintage suitcases at yard sales and antique shops and try out this new DIY trend.

trendland.com/katie-thompsons-recycled-furniture/

March Photo-a-day

Last month I continued on with the photo-a-day list by blogger fatmumslim. I posted my daily updates on Facebook and Instagram. Last month my mom joined in on the photo-a-day fun, and this month my dad decided to open a Facebook account and start posting his as well! Oh, what an adorably web-friendly little family I have! In the wake of Fatmumslim's popularity, plenty of other copycat photo-a-day lists have started popping up, but I'm sticking to this one. I've already started slipping on my timeliness, but here's hoping I can stick it out through the rest of the year. Here are some of my favorites from last month.