Holidays, #1 Belated T'giving

I failed to write a proper post after our visit to Milwaukee over Thanksgving so I'm going to

do so now, everyone's getting a little tired of Christmas blogposts right? 

 Well, no, me neither but here goes anyway!

Thanksgiving table-setting, we all loved our cute pilgrim place cards 

Bloody Mary, Milwaukee Style, ouch!

After all of the Thanksgiving feasts, we drove down to Chicago for the day, and went promptly to the RL Restaurant for more eating of course...the restaurant is absolutely gorgeous, feels like you're in Ralph's home, definitely a must if you're in Chicago!

 

Cloud Gate presiding over the seasonal ice-skating rink.

Playing with a Felix Gonzalez-Torres candy sculpture at the Art Institute.  Please take a moment to read the link and meaning behind this piece of artwork, quite poignant.

 ...and another Gonzalez-Torres.  Would love to see something like this at an event!  Could be easily and fairly inexpensively done with a bag of mardi gras beads.

Ginormous chandeliers at the entrance of the Public Hotel, designed by Ian Schrager.

 Our reason for going to the hotel, the infamous and recently updated Pump Room.  Check out that domed gold leaf bar, so beautiful in person.

 And the adjoining restaurant, these orbs of all different sizes and shades were fascinating and provided the restaurant with such a nice warm glow.

So that was Thanksgiving, minus a few hundred other pics I took...maybe by Valentines Day, I'll eventually get Christmas pics loaded!  Hope yours was filled with family and friends!

A Season for Giving

It's no joke that my blogging has slowed since moving to SF this summer.  I'm lucky if I get a blog post out once a month with my crazy new work schedule!  But when my best friend from highschool, Megan asked me to blog about a non-profit she started, I couldn't wait to login to Blogger and start writing out this very post.

I first learned of Tailored for Education while visiting Megan this summer in Boston.  She told me, a conversation with a friend at work turned into research which led to a realization that something needed to be done to help children in impoverished countries afford uniforms to attend school.  If they don't have uniforms, they're not able to enroll.  Having worn a uniform for most of her education, this struck a chord with Megan and so the process began to fund their first school in Haiti.  Once accomplished, the pair jumped through all of the legal hoops, filled out massive amounts of government paperwork, and created Tailored for Education.

I am beyond proud of my friend for having the passion and generosity to create a company that gives.  It doesn't take much to afford a child education in these countries, please consider donating if you're able, even $20.00 will make a difference in the lives of these children!

Clever Christmas

This time of year, I can't help but take notice of all of the fun and creative ways people decorate their trees!  Last Friday night at the Hayes Valley block party, I spotted these two super unusual, clever trees.

A good alternative tree for those of you who are lucky to enjoy a tropical Christmas!

I also liked this "billiard themed" tree, although I'd add lights for sure.  Would be a fun way to surprise someone with a pool table as a gift.  This could also easily be done with regular ornaments.

This is a tree I spotted at Anthro while in Milwaukee.  It was made from fabric swatches and light bulbs.  Oh Anthro...such geniuses...

Bring on the Roar of the Holidays!

Just this week, I've added about 5 or 6 new things to my already jam-packed calendar for December.  I had kind of expected a slow one considering I moved to the Bay Area just a few months ago and still feel like I don't know too many people.  But I've been delightfully surprised with the invitations, some social, some for work that December has brought.  Like most people, I can get a little carried away over the next few weeks with all of the celebrating.  I know it's important for me to remember to drink lots of water and stay well-rested so I can enjoy all of the fun things ahead!  How about you?  Are you prepared for the festivities?!

I'd like to post some pics from my first Milwaukee Thanksgiving with KTW, but they'll have to wait until next week.  For now, I'll leave you with this guy.

While in Milwaukee, we took a road trip one day to Chicago.  After leaving the Art Institute, I snapped a photo of one of their lions all decked out for the holidays.  He looked so regal gazing out to the skyline of the city and certainly ready for the "roar" of December festivities with his wreath!

Gallery Wall

Still trying to pull together my new apartment but thought I'd share my most recent project for a sneak peek.  KTW was given the task of helping me hang a gallery wall in my kitchen.  I laid everything out on the floor the way I wanted it hung and then sat back, ate bon bons, and watched tv while he did the rest.

Not really, I handed him nails and gave directions like "a little to the left."  But he was definitely the master of this project and I think he did a phenomenal job!  I smile each time I turn the corner and walk into my kitchen.  Big thanks to my favorite dude!

Mapping out the plan and measuring each frame.

All done!  The items hung in black frames are some of my grandmother's embroidered hand towels.  My mother cleaned and ironed each one for me.  I truly treasure them.  I painted the Le Sueur Peas can and bee.  My mother painted the flower.  The green framed picture is of Spanish Bay at Pebble Beach.  This photograph is particularly meaningful to me because it's one of the moments I decided I must live in California!  The shell sketches I bought in a gallery in NYC, they've lived in many apartments with me over the years.

Umami Burger

I hope I don't lose any friends with this statement...

....I do not love hamburgers.  There. I said it.  It's out there and I can't take it back.  It's not that I won't gladly eat one if it's in front of me, but I definitely never crave burgers.

That was until I tried an Umami burger.  One recently opened on Union Street and KTW and I checked it out last week.  O   M   G, so super yum.  We got the pickled plate because we're sooooooo healthy like that, an order of cheesy tater tots (not smothered in cheese though, the cheese is very subtle and baked into the tots, mmmm,) and we each got a burger too.  KTW got the Cali Burger with butter lettuce, slow roasted tomatoes, Umami's own house-made cheese, carmelized onions, and house dressing.  I went for the Umami burger with shitake mushrooms, carmelized onions, roasted tomato, parmesan crisp, and Umami ketchup.  The parmesan crisp was my fave part.  You can see it peeking out of my burger in the 2nd pic.  Drooling yet?

Update: I now crave burgers.

Spex Club

Yo! I've been having super crazy problems with my contacts lately and decided I should wear my glasses more.  Problem is, my glasses are about three prescriptions old and crooked.  And so has begun my quest for a new pair.  I started with Spex Club (now known as Lookmatic,) mainly because they are cheap!  $88.00 covers prescription eyewear and shipping with lots of fun styles.  I also had a discount code from InStyle bringing the price down to $77.00!  You can virtually try on the glasses but ultimately, I'm going to end up taking advantage of their free returns.  First, specs to arrive were the "Jesse" style in tortoise-shell.  I sooooo wish I could pull these off.  However, I'm just not hipster enough to make it happen, baby steps...

So these are getting returned, on to the next the ones!