anchoring gemini

This Is Your Life

2011-07-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

Girly Girl

2011-07-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

So I usually don't wear any pink, I usually don't feel girly enough to pull it off. However, I went shopping for my birthday last month and wanted to get something special. When I saw this blouse I just fell in love with it. It was on a dress form along with the gold chain, and it just felt like something I needed to add to my closet. Now that I own it I've been enjoying the very girly, flirty look of it and have already bought a couple more pink items. Kind of not like me, but I'm loving the girlyness.

I wore this outfit to a family dinner last week. I had worked all day and my hair had lost it's wave and gone flat so I pulled my hair up into a messy ponytail. I love how it came out! That was probably the first time I wore a ponytail in the past 10 years or more. I think the key is to use some product and give the ponytail some wave and volume. And these are my favorite sandals. I bought them from Modcloth last year and can't get enough of them!

Happy Summertime Weekend

2011-07-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

Happy holiday weekend!! I hope you're all having a wonderful 4th of July weekend and enjoying the Summer. We've been pretty busy fitting in all of our Summertime favorite things to do. Friday night we went swimming and relaxed my a spa under the stars. Yesterday we lounged on the patio and sipped our coffee in the sun. Then we went for an afternoon of wine tasting in the Livermore valley. We have been exploring out there a couple time recently and have found some wineries we love. Thomas Coyne, Murrieta's Well and White Crane are among my favorites, but there are so many to try we will add more to that list soon. We caught a fireworks show last night put on by the Oakland A's, our local major league baseball team. And before going home for the night we stopped at a little ice cream shop and I got my favorite ice cream of theirs, salted caramel!! yum!!

Today we went to an antique fair that is held nearby the first Sunday of every month. We were out in the sun for hours, which called for some cooling off with soft serve ice cream from Foster's Freeze. yum again!!

Then we went and saw the movie Bad Teacher, which was a great mid afternoon funny movie to watch while using the movie theater to cool down. Tomorrow we'll go to my parent's house for a 4th of July bbq.
I picked up this little coral colored dress for the weekend and have to admit I've already worn it twice this weekend. I loving how light it is for the hot weather, and the pattern and color. I've been picking up some bracelets here and there lately and love the look of piling them all on. My favorite is the one with the chains that dangle down past my wrist.

Something New?

2011-06-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

source

I'm obsessed with this hair. The color the cut and the waves....so beautiful!
I'm looking for a new hairstyle, but just not sure I can pull off bangs....

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T00:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks for being such a great Dad, I can't begin to tell you how important all of your guidance in life has been.

Love you Dad!

Lumberjack!

2011-06-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

Breakfast for dinner? .....yes please!

I can't tell you how long it has been since I've had pancakes. Over two years at least. Tonight the refrigerator was looking a little barren and I was really feeling like some comfort food so we had pancakes and bacon! Yum!

This is my first time trying to make gluten free pancakes. I used Pamela's pancake mix and they turned out quite lovely. I was worried they might be too dense or soggy, but they were pretty much perfect, fluffy and tasty. I topped mine off with butter, jam and maple syrup.
I don't really like cooking regular bacon so we tend to buy thick cut turkey bacon, which tastes just like regular bacon to me. So I cooked up some of that too!
I love breakfast!!

Bring On The Gemini

2011-06-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

It's been an action packed month of events. First was a weekend in Sonoma/Napa, second my boyfriend graduated with his degree, third a road trip for my newly graduated and free boyfriend and last but certainly not least...my birthday!! Yes, I admit it, I turned another year older..it happens.

After three weekends of action-pakedness I didn't even have time, or energy, to plan a birthday weekend for myself. So my boyfriend took it upon himself and planned a cute little birthday full of things I love. The day before my birthday he took me to breakfast, then we did some shopping at a cute little boutique close to my house, he bought me a book that I've been wanting at our local bookstore and then we went to go see a movie. To top off my birthday's eve we went to gluten free pizza!

Then on my birthday we started the day by picking out gluten free cupcakes at a little gluten free bakery in Danville, California. They had so many yummy flavors that I got one of each of them!! After that we went out to my parent's house and picked them up to head out to some rustic wineries for wine tasting and picnicking, two of my favorite things!

It was a great birthday weekend, and thanks to my boyfriend for all of the planning when I didn't feel like planning anything!

Mystical Redwoods

2011-06-01T06:54:00.000-07:00

And here are the beautiful Redwoods I visited last weekend.

I think these pictures speak for themselves...

Roadtrip To Start Off The Summer

2011-05-31T06:16:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! We went on a roadtrip to celebrate the completion of my boyfriend's degree and the start of the summer. We drove from the SF bay area up to Eureka, California. Then we stayed up in Northern California for a couple days before making our way to Fort Bragg, California and spending sometime on the coast. Between Eureka and Fort Bragg we drove through about 25 miles of towering redwoods and peaceful forests. It was so amazing!!

These pictures were taken at a hilarious mural in Eureka, Ca. We saw this mural and pulled over right away, i love it!!!

I recently bought this jean jacket as an early birthday present to myself. I saw it at Loft a week ago and couldn't get it out of my mind. So before we left for our trip I made a stop in there to pick it up. I love it, so far it goes with almost everything I wear and feels so much like me! I can't believe that over the years I have managed to donate so many jean jackets. I should have kept them, so lesson learned, i will keep this one forever!

jacket: Loft
dress: F21
necklace: H&M
boots: Nine West

Sonoma County Sunshine

2011-05-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, I went to Sonoma and Napa counties last weekend for a girls wine tasting weekend trip! It was so much fun!! We went tasting at several wineries I've never been to before and a couple that I had. In Sonoma county we went to Hanna, Merry Edwards, Russian River, Hop Kiln and Benziger. Then in Napa county we went to Mumm (which makes champagne), Rutherford Hill and V. Sattui. I highly recommend all of these wineries for tastings!! I can't believe what good luck we had, everyone was super nice and we didn't run into too many crowds or too many expensive tastings. I came home with a bundle of wine and have decided to start my own collection of nice bottles of wine that I can enjoy in the future.

These pictures were taken at Hop Kiln (thanks Mom!!), where I will someday very soon go back for a picnic. They have picnic tables as well as a huge lawn in front of their tasting room and it just begs for me to lay a blanket out on it and enjoy a Summer afternoon soaking up the warm Sonoma County sun.

I've been loving this little lace dress I picked up at Forever 21 on my trip to Chicago recently. I've paired it with all black and a bomber jacket, as well as heels and a white cardigan and for this day of wine tasting I wore it with my brown leather boots and a navy cardigan. It's super versatile.

I hope you all have a great weekend!! I have company in town to celebrate my boyfriend's huge accomplishment of finishing his degree. So we will be spending Saturday at his graduation and all of Saturday night partying away. Can't wait!

xoxo
Chrystie

Little Vacations

2011-05-16T06:15:00.000-07:00

Little getaways are the best aren't they!! This weekend I went to Sonoma and Napa Valley for a girls trip of wine tasting, relaxation and good food!! I will have pictures of that to come very soon.

Also I recently took a trip to Chicago and Milwaukee, for some sightseeing and relaxation, with my boyfriend. We really enjoyed ourselves and will definitely go back as soon as we get the chance. Recently I finally got some free time to go through some of my pictures from that trip and here are some of them! We made a point to take in a lot of the beer history while there. My boyfriend is a history and beer connoisseur, so drinking some beers that he can't get on the west coast was something he wanted to do while there. Hence, the reason for our side trip to Milwaukee. I'll try to post these pictures as I go through them.

That Darn Cat

2011-05-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

This is my cat Gigi. I spent some time with her over the weekend taking pictures. I realized that I hadn't taken any good pictures of her for over a year, so figured it was time for a little kitty photoshoot.

She's a funny character. We got her when she was about 8 weeks and she is now almost 4 years old. She has gone through some stages like the terrible two's and the bratty teenage years, but now she's a full grown cat and loves to cuddle and to get her daily brushes.

The most recent funny thing about this cat is the things she's afraid of. Usually the things she's afraid of makes sense...she runs when you open the closet that we keep the vacuum in, which makes sense, vacuums are loud. She hates the scratchy and swishy noise that my boyfriend's jacket makes and runs away when she hears it...ok, yeah, that's an annoying noise..I get it. But bananas? Yeah, we recently realized she is freaked out by bananas. No reason at all to not like them, she just decided she doesn't want to be anywhere near them and will run to a different room to get away from them. Like I said, she's a funny character.

What's Left of the Hay Fields

2011-05-02T06:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had a lot of free time. I relaxed a lot and enjoyed the warm sun on my skin for the first time since last summer. I was feeling a particular 1970's California, free spirit vibe on Saturday and ventured out to where I grew up to take these pictures.

I love the rolling hills, hay fields and huge oak trees in the town I grew up in. I love that I had such easy access to huge open spaces to explore. By no means did I grow up out in the country, but in northern California many suburbs are still surrounded by undeveloped land. I used to go on nature walks, hikes, picnics and drives through the rolling hills whenever I needed some space to clear my thoughts and I still find it so peaceful out there.

dress: F21

ring: h&m

sunglasses: h&m

Royal Wedding Fever

2011-04-29T01:35:00.000-07:00

There has been much anticipation about the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. It's been going on since November last year, when they were engaged. And for me it has been a much longer fascination. I've got to admit that, at this point, I most definitely am an anglophile. I've spent a lot of time in London and am extremely fond of the English culture. I guess it comes naturally that I have become particularly fond of the royal family. I read the UK news daily and have followed Will and Kate's relationship for many years.

So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the evening television coverage of the wedding has now drawn me into a full on royal wedding fever!! I guess I'm going to stay up most of the night so that I can see all the pomp and circumstance....and most importantly the wedding dress!! I can't wait to see her dress, veil and how she wears her hair. After that I may calm down enough to get some z's before I need to get up for work in the morning.

As I flip back and forth from CNN to the ABC news coverage I can't help but wish I was there. Not so much to be in the crowd, but just to be in London. I love everything about London. To me it is the perfect city. The culture, history and traditions run deep. The neighborhoods are diverse, the food, nightlife and entertainment choices are abundant. I just have not found a place that I would enjoy living more. Hopefully some day I can again call London home.

Since I don't have a picture of the wedding dress just yet, I'm posting a picture of Westminster Abbey taken on my last trip there.

Happy Friday and enjoy all the wedding coverage!!

Seasonal Transitions

2011-04-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

So I'm finding that I'm a little stuck between Winter and Spring clothes and colors. But why not just go with it, right?! So here is my outfit from a couple days ago. I decided to pair my new pale yellow skirt with all black. I have on a black shirt, black tights and a pair of black lace up boots, the yellow skirt, brown belt and gold jewelery. And, of course, my easter egg nails. I can't get away with them past this week, as they will most likely become irrelevant, so I'm enjoying them while I can!

Are you finding that the winter to spring transition can be difficult? I still feel like I need my boots and darker colors, but am slowly breaking free. What are your first couple items of spring/summer clothes that make it out of the storage when the warm weather starts?

ps. Who's watching the Royal Wedding tonight/tomorrow morning?!!! I can't wait!!

skirt: F21

shirt: H&M

boots: TJ Maxx

jewelry: F21, H&M, Melrose Trading Post

Grilled Cheeez

2011-04-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

This took me awhile to get up, but last week I partook in a mini celebration of National Grilled Cheese Month. Did you even know such a thing existed?! Well it does and celebrating it was super tasty!

My office ordered our grilled cheese from the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen on 2nd street in San Francisco. They delivered on bike directly to our office which was extremely convenient. I ordered the Mousetrap which has Tillamook sharp cheddar, creamy havarti and monterey jack and I had it on gluten free bread. I also added bacon and pickles on my grilled cheese. Yum Yum Yum!! Please treat yourself to a grilled cheese (or two) this month!

Easter Egg Nails

2011-04-26T06:13:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I have an outfit post coming soon but I just had to share my easter egg nails with you! I painted my nails on Friday and have literally been bouncing around since then with excitement about my nails. It's silly how something so little can make us happy sometimes, huh?!

Other things that made me happy this weekend...

red velvet, strawberry and pina colada frozen yogurt with chocolate sprinkles and reese's peanut butter cups

Spending lots of time with my family, part of that being a family outing to Golden Gate Fields.

Updating the Digs

2011-04-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

We've spent about a year and a half in our new place now and slowly but surely we've made it ours. When we first moved in we sort of overwhelmingly attacked everything, from new carpet to new paint, a new couch and a new bed. Then we tapered off and took more time with our decisions. Basically, just waited for things to come to us. My boyfriend found a good Salvation Army so he was making weekly stops on his way home from work looking for a dining table. We were looking for a very specific style, so one day when he walked in to SA for his regular stop on the way home from work and found our perfect table he was so EXcited!! He bought it and we brought our new favorite piece of furniture home the next day.

Then more recently I was feeling like our couch needed a little pick me up. Ideally I would have been able to afford, or would have come across extremely discounted, Jonathan Adler throw pillows. Since that didn't end up being the case I took my search to Etsy for some handmade pillows. I found these blue starburst/retro pillow covers by CottonColors on Etsy. I ordered them and she had them in the mail about three days later, it couldn't have been easier. Now we're all ready for Summer with our bright pillow updates!

Days Turn to Weeks Turn to Months

2011-04-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! Oh my goodness, I can't believe how long I've been away from this blog. I spent sometime recovering from the holidays and adjusting to the new year, then one day I woke up and I was on spring break!!! What happened?! Anyways, the days are getting longer and I'm shaking my winter hibernation off.

There is some spring cleaning and redecorating to do around this blog, so that will come soon. I'm my boyfriend to the swing of things and we have some new things going on these days that we're going to being into the blog world soon.

Today's outfit is one of my first truly spring outfits. Spring as in, first time I wore short sleeves without a sweater to cover my arms. I wore this to work yesterday and styled up a navy skirt with a tribal print shirt, woven belt and leather boots. I've been wearing a bun so often lately, it's one of the easiest yet put together styles, and I can do it in 3 minutes flat! I've also been wearing a nude lip lately and playing up my eyes a little more... that's a spring makeup transition that I adopted a couple weeks ago.

tshirt: H&M

shirt: F21

jewelry: H&M, F21

boots: Nine West

Picturesque Prague

2011-01-21T10:42:00.000-08:00

As you know, if you're a regular reader, a couple months ago my boyfriend and I went on a wonderful vacation. We went to London and Prague. It was such a great trip and I filled up several memory cards with a total of about 1200 pictures!! I'm still trying to find time to get all these pictures off of the memory cards and into frames around our house and into little slideshows, etc. I was also thinking about making a photobook for my boyfriend...shh, don't tell him ;)

Here are some of my favorites from our time spent in Prague.

Have a great weekend!!

Radcliffe the Racoon

2011-01-19T07:09:00.000-08:00

Awhile back I saw the cutest little antelope picture on www.yellowbrickhome.com. I couldn't resist as a portrait of a little creature dressed up in a suit is something that I knew would fit right in with our style. We had a wall by our second bedroom that had yet to be adorned with any art and I thought this might just be the type of piece to put there. I sent the link to Berkeley Illustration on Etsy to my boyfriend and told him to pick out the creature he wanted. He went with the regal racoon.

So now our new little racoon, who we've affectionately named Radcliffe, has been framed and put on his very own wall.

Check out the Esty site, even just for a giggle, all the creatures are a little bit 'Mr. Toad's Wild Ride' and Fantastic Mr.Fox! Which creature would you buy?!

Lentil & Sausage Soup

2011-01-18T06:54:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a lot of cooking and baking lately. Through the winter I usually like to cook a few pots of soup and freeze for consumption in the upcoming weeks. I love soup with a nice piece of crusty garlic bread, it's my perfect winter comfort meal.

This recipe was found on www.budgetbytes.blogspot.com. Beth M over at budgetbytes writes a great food blog and when I saw this lentil soup recipe, and knew I had all of the ingredients in my fridge already (except the lentils) I knew that I had to make it.

Here is a link to her recipe: http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2010/10/lentil-stew-783-recipe-078-serving.html

There's no use in me typing it all up here since I followed it to the T. The only thing I did differently is add a little extra water, about 1 or 2 cups extra. I prefer a very brothy soup instead of a hearty stew.

It was delicious and absolutely perfect with a piece of homemade garlic bread.

Midcentury Finds Bedroom

2011-01-17T06:35:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time coming. I've been working on getting our bedroom together for awhile now. Little by little our bedroom went from Ikea inspired/shabby chic to Midcentury. My boyfriend and I have different likes when it comes to decorating. However, we decided that my love of Ikea and shabby chic type decor with lots of white and his love of Hawaiian inspired decor really would never mesh into a cohesive space. So we found something that both of us love and decided to go with that. We fell in love with Midcentury Modern decor about a year and a half ago. So everything we've bought since then has been in line with our new 'couple' style and it's really come together! We are loving decorating our place and I'm so happy that the bedroom finally feels complete.

Our dresser, night tables and headboard were found through Craigslist. The chair is a found item that was left in front of our last apartment building. The lamps an 'Keep Calm' poster were bought off of Etsy and everything else was just picked up along the way. I'll probably change up the colors a bit in the warmer months, maybe get different color pillows and flip over the duvet, which has a large, white palm leaf on the opposite side. I love the paint color that I chose for the room, it's Celtic Gray by Behr. It is a aqua/blue/gray, depending on the lighting and has given the room a very serene feel.

I love how it feels when you buy just one more item for the space you are redecorating and when you put it in place you realize that you have completed the project. I never really know when that moment will hit, this time it was when I bought the round pale yellow pillow that is on my bed. Something about that pillow completed the room in my eyes.

All Laced Up

2011-01-13T06:53:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is having a fabulous start to the new year! I haven't been posting lately, but am going to be back full time starting next week. This holiday season and new year really shook up my daily routine, so it's taken me awhile to get back to the normal day to day kind of stuff. But here I am, and with a really exciting post, nonetheless!!

Yesterday a little gift showed up on my desk at work. Sally Hansen Salon Effects!!! I had seen a teaser for these online sometime last month and was dying for them to be sold at my local Walgreens. My wonderful coworker saw them at Walgreens yesterday and picked up a box for me. She knows me so well, she even picked the lace pattern!! I was thrilled, she really made my day.

So I got home last night and pretty much immediately took off my nail polish, prepped my nails and put on the Salon Effects polish strips. It was so easy! I highly recommend these so far. I hope usually keep polish on for a week or so, so I hope they stay on about that long. If it's s good experience you can expect to see more patterns of polish strips on this blog.

Check out all the color and pattern options:

www.ldnfashion.net

Holiday Limbo

2010-12-27T12:14:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, celebrating holidays, being with family, or in whatever you did! It's sort of a strange week with Christmas behind us and New Year's on it's way next weekend. I feel like I'm trying to hold onto every last drop of Christmas that I can get. This video is so touching so I thought I would share it.

I had a great weekend at my parent's house celebrating Christmas. I have a couple recipe posts coming up this week as well as a couple other things. But for now just enjoy the video and hang onto the holidays just a little longer.

Leopard Love

2010-12-21T07:50:00.000-08:00

I've slowly been wearing the new clothes and accessories that I picked up while on vacation. Including them in my work and weekend outfits. I wore this outfit to work recently. My $9.50 Forever21 black stretchy jeans, my new leopard top from Prague, a blazer I picked up on sale at H&M last spring and my new favorite, thrifted heels. My most favorite part about this outfit is the ring. Don't you LOVE the ring?!!

So this ring instantly meant a lot to me. I was on vacation with my boyfriend that I love and we were in my favorite city, that I also love, London. The night was just full of love, then I come across this ring...there was no way that night was getting any better!!

Hot Mulled Wine

2010-12-20T06:24:00.000-08:00

This past weekend there was a lot of Christmas spirit swirling around me. My boyfriend and I will be celebrating Christmas with our own families in different cities so we decided this past weekend would be out Christmas. So I made sausage rolls, we watched lots of Christmas movies and tv and we even went to a street that was completely decorated for Christmas with a Santa and all!!

On our recent vacation we experienced the tastiness of hot mulled wine. It sure is a way to get the holiday spirit pumping through your veins. We would buy a cup to warm up as we walked through the Christmas Markets in Prague. So I decided to make some here at home.

It turned out great so I thought I would share my recipe here. I've slightly altered the recipes I found online to be slightly more like the mulled wine we bought in Prague.

Hot Mulled Wine:

1 bottle of red wine

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)

8 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

the peel of 1/2 an orange and a tiny bit of juice from the orange

With a sharp knife cut the peel of 1/2 an orange off, trying to avoid getting too much pulp. Put all ingredients in a pot and heat on medium until steam starts coming off the top then serve! Will keep in the refrigerator for a couple days. Yum!

Special Fair Isle Feeling

2010-12-15T07:13:00.000-08:00

This sweater makes me feel amazing! I don't know if it is because it feels like I am wearing a blankie all day or because of the luxuriousness of it and how I can throw it on a feel so special. I saw this sweater on the beautiful style blogger Mel from Idee Geniale awhile back. When I saw it I just had to have it. I'd been on the lookout for a sweater like this for quite some time.

I bought it and it arrived while I was on vacation. When I got home I literally dropped my bags and ripped open the package. Then I wore it a day later to work. I decided that to wear it to work I would have to pair it with a dress and heels to make it a little more dressy and a little less casual.

So I paired it with an olive green dress, blue tights and brown heels. I also wore my new leaf ring from TopShop which I am loving. A little memento from my vacation.

When wearing this sweater casually on the weekend I'll probably wear it with skinny jeans and boots. It would even work well with a pencil skirt and booties. Oh the possibilities!

sweater: Kensie
dress: Marshalls
tights: TJ Maxx
heels: thrifted
ring: TopShop

1 Year And A Tree

2010-12-14T07:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of our move into our current home!! Wow what a year it has been. Stressful, but also really fulfilling and rewarding. Any big thing you do in life is going to be scary and stressful, but then one day you will realize how much you love the change you made in your life and how rewarding it is. That is the case with our condo. It was a really scary change to buy our first place and move to different cities. Not only did it make us grow up, it also gave me about 5 gray hairs ( of which I have pulled all out in hopes they will not return for a few decades). I look back on those first months and think, how did I hold a full time job and move and fix up and decorate our place. I just don't know how I fit it all in. But, as I came out of that whirlwind I was able to relax and am so happy with where we live. We love our new city and we love our place. It's been so much fun decorating, and redecorating in some cases. I have another bedroom redo that I will post very soon. So the lesson here is that nothing is as scary and you think it will be and to just go for anything and everything in life, you will always come out on top, just for trying! It's true!

So this brings me to our first Christmas tree. Last year we were still unpacking boxes the week of Christmas so there was no sense in getting a Christmas tree. This year there was no going without a tree though. My boyfriend bought the tree while I was at work on Friday and I got to decorating it as soon as I got home from work.

It is the biggest tree that we've ever had so I had to use extra light that we usually use for decorating around the house, but I like how the led lights and the regular lights take on blue and gold colors. We have light blue and white ornaments and this year we bought dozens of ornaments that we brought home from the Prague Christmas Markets!

An owl ornament that I bought for my honey.

A little kitty ornament from Prague.

An angel ornament from Austria, when I went 10 years ago, and an egg ornament from Prague.

And last but certainly not least this is my most favorite Christmas decoration. It was my Grandma's little ceramic Christmas tree that she gave me a few years ago because I love it to much!

Happy Holidays everyone!

To Vacation And Back

2010-12-13T07:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday! I've been on a bit of a break as I went on vacation and when I returned I was jet lagged and left adjusting back to real life after a lovely vacation. So, now I'm back and ready to share everything about my vacation as well as I have lots of new outfit and food posts that will be coming this week and next.

Vacations are great aren't the?!! You get away from life, do wonderful things and when you come back you're usually re-energized and have a little spring in your step. I've missed looking at all of your blogs the past few weeks and am looking forward to get back in the swing of things this week.

So, about that vacation thing!...We went to London and Prague for about 10 days and it was amazing! I have some pictures below from our first day in London and will be posting more pictures and I download them off of my memory cards. I took hundreds of pictures, so it will take some time to sift through them!

We flew from San Francisco to London, didn't have the best flight over as the little boy in front of us threw up a couple times...basically a nightmare experience. And the flight crew wasn't very helpful in the matter, so we were glad to get off that plane. We stayed at the B&B Belgravia in London, right by Victoria station. I highly recommend that neighborhood, and the hotel was good as well. We landed in the afternoon, headed to our hotel and took a long nap. Then freshened up and headed out to the pub for dinner.

The Duke of Wellington pub is where we ended up and it was a great experience. Pretty much a locals only pub, as far as we could tell, great prices, not touristy...all in all a very memorable experience.

I had eggs and ham for dinner, it was so good! My boyfriend had a grilled cheese sandwich that looked really god as well. The food there was amazing and really well priced. Actually all the food we had on vacation was amazing! We really didn't have one bad experience on our trip, with food or anything else. It was great trip. And we were even right in the middle of the freezing storms that all of Europe has been experiencing. We really got lucky that our flights were on the days they were, and not a couple days earlier or later. Destiny our side as we didn't have any flight cancellations and only one day of snow showers. We did have to bundle up though, and I had to buy a few extra items of clothing to keep me warm....but I'm not one to complain about shopping ;)

Our first full day in London was a long one. When we go on sightseeing vacations like this we walk a lot and stay out pretty much all day. Tropical vacation, on the other hand, tend to be just laying around at the beach then laying about the hotel room. But when I'm in an exciting city like London I just can't stay in the hotel, or anywhere too long. There are so many experiences waiting to happen!

So our morning started with a walk past Westminster Abbey, then to Big Ben, across the Thames and to the Imperial War Museum.

My boyfriend's a history major and all in all a World War II history buff. He loves the Imperial War Museum and because he loves it so much, I actually find myself so interested in everything while there. Once we were finished there we walked along the south side of the Thames and ran into a Christmas market!

We bought roasted chestnuts, hot mulled wine and sausage.

From there we walked to a pub on the water and enjoyed the view while sipping on hot cider. Then we walked back over the bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral and along The Strand until we came to Trafalgar Square.

I did a little shopping at Top Shop in that area and then we headed back towards our hotel and got a late dinner.

It was quite a long day but so much fun! I love London. I would love to live in or near London someday. It's a pretty special place. But until then I'll just have to vacation there as often as possible.

Gold And Glitter-ey

2010-12-03T08:37:00.000-08:00

This is my most recent nail polish adventure. I've taken the metal color that I'm in love with and put a matte top coat over it. You can see that picture below.
Then I picked up a clear polish with large pieces of gold glitter in it at Daiso. So when the matte metal polish was chipping, what better than putting some gold glitter over top to keep the manicure going for a few days longer!
Love the glitter polish, but quick tip, it stays on. Like really, it's not coming off. So patience ladies, when taking off the glitter polish.

Shop Til I Drop

2010-11-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving vacation!! Was anyone able to get some good shopping in? I didn't partake in the black Friday madness, but recently I did partake in Daiso madness!! Do you all know of Daiso? It's the 100 Yen store from Japan. I've never had the chance to go to one of these stores in the US, only while in Japan. Then the other day I was walking to the health food store near my work and came across quite the suprise!! Daiso had opened up a little store right there on Market Street a few blocks from where I work. My heart skipped a beat and my eyes couldn't believe themselves. I think my wallet even got excited! This store has home goods, beauty products, snacks and some clothing items. Sort of a catch all, and almost everything is just $1.50.

On my first trip I picked up a couple beanies, leg warmers, and nail jewelery. Then I went again a couple days ago and got a clear umbrella (love), some nail polish, a mini dish rack, and kitchen sponges. This place really is awesome. Hours of entertainment could be had walking through the aisles and looking at every single little item they carry.

I certainly won't be doing any Christmas shopping here, except for wrapping paper, but I most definitely can shop til I drop here!

Road Testing

2010-11-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

Lots of planning has been taking place in my house lately. Lots of vacation planning!! So along with vacation planning, booking hotels and flights, you also have to plan what you will wear on vacation. I pack light, so that means I really have to figure out what I will wear and how I will mix it up into different outfits everyday. So far I've gotten started with shoe planning. I've thought long and hard about what shoes I want with me on my vacation and it came down to...boots. What else right?! So then it was, do I want a high boot, flat boot, riding boot, cowboy boot, bootie, wedge, lace up...oh the choices!!!

I was at a loss until I went into my favorite store (H&M if you couldn't tell by my outfit posts) looking for a new scarf or two and I found these lace up wedge boots! I'm loving them. Since these pictures were taken I've started wearing them with large slouchy socks. The boots have faux shearling inside and the sides do turn down to show it off, but for right now I like having the sides up to make the boot a little taller.

The night I got the boots I needed to see how my feet left in them after lots and lots of walking. So I needed to road test them. I needed to see if they hurt my little pinky toes like most shoes do and if they could make it into the running for vacation shoes. We decided to go for one of our night walks and this time instead of wearing tennis shoes and yoga pants I wore my new boots. So I can say that after walking a couple miles in them I was able to figure out that they need a little memory foam insert and maybe a little gel insole for the ball of my foot...but the important thing here is that they have made it into the running for vacation shoes. The other boots in the running are my Kaden boots from Target, which I bought an arch support for and are super comfortable. I can walk miles and miles in both of these pairs of boots without killing my feet so I'm feeling pretty good about them right now. Next up on vacation planning is deciding on what jacket(s) to take...

A Staple Ring

2010-11-22T06:47:00.000-08:00

Things have been very busy in life lately and I've started feeling the need to keep it simple. Do you ever realize that in your life. One thing starts to take up too much time in your life so a few things need to take way less time.

Accessorizing is usually one of those things that I have fun with after getting ready and before I have to leave the house in the morning. Well, being busy means that something's got to go. So instead of different rings and necklaces everyday, I've cut back on the variety. I'm keeping it easy by just wearing one ring everyday. I picked up this ring a few months ago at H&M and I love wearing it. It fits perfectly on the middle finger of my left hand and I think it wears well with almost all the outfits I've been wearing lately. It's become my staple ring. So It's gone from a ring I love to wear to a ring I wear everyday and it has done its little part in keeping my life simple.

Gluten Free Banana-Rama

2010-11-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

Who loves banana bread?!! I do! We bought some bananas that ripened far too quickly, and there's only one thing to do with a bunch of over ripe bananas..make banana bread!

I've tried many different banana bread recipes over the years and now that I eat gluten free have tried a few of those too. I'm not too good at saving recipes for reusing, unless they're a total hit, so I went to my favorite gluten free site heythattastesgood.com to get a banana bread recipe. I found one for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, nonetheless, so I was pretty excited to get to baking.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
3/4 cup white rice flour, plus 1 T
1/4 t xanthun gum
1/4 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 stick butter
1 egg
2 bananas mashed
1 t vanilla extract
1 T lime juice
Preheat the oven to 350, then grease and flour a cake pan (like I used), or a loaf pan. Whisk together the 3/4 cup white rice flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking soda and baking powder. In a small bowl, toss the chocolate chips with the 1 T white rice flour. Whisk together the butter and brown sugar, then add egg, then bananas, then the vanilla and lime juice. Stir banana mix into the dry ingredients, then fold in the chocolate chips. Spread batter in your pan, and bake bread for about 30-40 minutes for a cake pan or 45-50 minutes for a loaf pan, or until golden brown. Cool and eat!
I altered the recipe a bit because I didn't have any applesauce or lemon juice, and it came out just fine. I also added a little extra chocolate chips, for good measure, and left the banana mash slightly chunky so that the bread would have more texture. It is so tasty! It's moist and cooked all the way through, which can be hard to accomplish when cooking with gluten free flour. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Ooey and Gooey

2010-11-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

Last Friday my boyfriend met me for lunch near my office. We've been trying to coordinate our schedules for months so that we could meet for lunch, like we used to be able to do when his job duties were a bit different. So the fact that it had finally worked out was very exciting and quite a treat. I'd been wanting to try The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen ever since I realized they have gluten free bread as an option. So for the special occasion of my boyfriend meeting me downtown for lunch I decided we would get fancy grilled cheeses!

I ordered the Mousetrap which came with Tillamook sharp cheddar, creamy havarti and monterey jack on gluten free bread and added applewood smoked bacon and bread and butter pickles....MMmmmmm! It was so tasty!! It was so tasty, in fact, that I forgot to get a picture of it. Sorry 'bout that. But just imagine the ooiest, gooiest grilled cheese ever, on fluffy bread that is grilled to a perfect light brown. Crispy and crunch on the outside and hot and gooey in the middle, with bacon and pickles too. yum, yum, yum. I hope I'm doing it justice!!

So we sat at the counter amongst the huge crowd that gathered there for lunch, savoring our grilled cheese sandwiches, smiles on our faces...and I think I even liked my fingers when I was done! Then, sadly my lunch hour was over and I gave my boyfriend lots of ooey, gooey cheesy hugs and kisses and walked bay to the office, smile on my face. I cannot think of a better way to spend my lunch hour, ever!

Grilled cheese places are getting big. San Francisco has the Grilled Cheese Kitchen and Los Angeles has The Grilled Cheese Truck. Has this trend made it way to your town yet? I sure hope so!!!

Chicken and Rice Soup

2010-11-11T06:43:00.000-08:00

With the time change in full affect and my nights getting very dark and cold I was feeling the need for some soul warming soup. I make a killer Mexican tortilla soup, but haven't ever tried to make a completely homemade chicken soup. I didn't want to use anything from a can, which is what my tortilla soup mostly consists of. So I browsed around the internet for soup recipes and found a very basic one on Epicurious.com for chicken and rice soup. I ended up altering their recipe so much that I think I can now call it my own now. I took their bland recipe and kicked it up with more onion, garlic, salt and herbs. Now it's a full flavored soup.

Chicken and Rice Soup

3 carrots, sliced

3 stalks celery, sliced

2 small to medium sized sweet onions, chopped

2 boneless, skinless organic chicken breasts

4 boneless, skinless organic chicken thighs

10 cups of water

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

2 bay leaves

3/4 cup brown rice

parsley

thyme

Combine first set of ingredients into a large pot, cover it and bring to a boil. Once boiling put on low heat and simmer until chicken is cooked, about 35 minutes. Strain to separate broth from chicken and vegetables. Let chicken and vegetables cool then shred the chicken. While doing that use a pan to cook rice in 1/2 cups of the broth. Cover rice, bring to a boil, then put heat on low until rice is cooked, through about 15-20 minutes. Combine rice, chicken, veggies and broth back into original pot, taste for flavor and season with salt, pepper, a dash of parsley and a dash of thyme. Bring to a boil once more and it's ready to serve!

I enjoyed my soup with Glutino gluten free crackers, but it would have been great with a large hunk of french or sourdough bread!

All Buttoned Up

2010-11-09T07:11:00.000-08:00

I spent some much needed time relaxing this weekend. Unfortunately no weekend pictures to share, unless you want to see me lying on the couch watching movies and reality tv with my cat and boyfriend :) But I think weekends like that are necessary. Especially being that I've had every weekend since June jam packed with plans. We went out to sushi on Friday night, then on Saturday to lunch and a movie with my Mom. That was the extent of my time spent not wearing leggings, slippers and an oversized hoodie while lounging around.

I did take some time to do my nails and used some more of the decals that I bought a couple weeks ago. The pink polish is by Sinful Colors, I put a matte top coat on, then the little decals and a glossy top coat to seal it all off. The glossy and matte top coats mixed to make sort of a semi-gloss finish.

So, that was my weekend, how was yours?!

Food Matters

2010-11-08T07:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday everyone! Sorry for the brief absence. Last week was pretty crazy, there was so much going on, and it really wasn't until the end of the week that I realized the whole week had slipped by without posting anything. We received some great news last week that some of our requested vacation time had been granted, so all of my free time went towards vacation planning! Yay!!! I tell you, I am in desperate need of a vacation and I think this is going to be a pretty great one. I'll divulge more as the planning comes together.
I took some time off of vacation planning and hotel searching on Thursday night to watch a couple movies. I found them both in the instant play area of Netflix.
The first one I watched was The September Issue. I know I'm probably pretty behind on watching this, but I had forgotten all about it and was excited to find it on Netflix. It was pretty captivating. I had no idea what the inner workings of a magazine were like. I also didn't realize that Anna Wintour plays such a major role in directing designers and trends. It gave me a while new perspective on the industry.

The next movie I watched was pretty much life changing. I just came across it when searching for something else to watch and it ended up being amazing. It is a documentary called Food Matters. I can't say enough about this movie and how much I learned while watching it. Basically, it is about nutrition and how if we eat a diet of more than 50% raw food we will allow our bodies to heal themselves from illness. I find all of this interesting because I had gone though some issues with food over the last couple years and when I am avoiding the foods that I have intolerances and allergies to I feel amazing and I watch skin issue disappear and am not plagued with my normal little headaches and other aches and pains. It's hard to keep my diet perfect and I do slip up a lot. But this movie was so encouraging and had such a wealth of knowledge I haven't come across before. I highly, highly recommend this movie!

Go Orange And Black

2010-10-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

Lot's of excitement in the city for the past few weeks and it really ramped up this week. The SF Giants have made it to the World Series and the first two out of seven games were held here in SF. So exciting! I work about a 15 minute walk from the stadium so we can feel the excitement in the air. And I have proudly become a little bandwagoner Giants fan, as I usually root for the Oakland A's. I think in the bay area we all flip flop a lot with our teams, the stadiums are just across the bridge from each other, so it's kind of easy to root for both teams.

This is my outfit from yesterday. It's getting dark so early now I had to take these pictures inside. This is not going to work well for my outfit posts, I'm going to have to adjust my picture taking schedule. Yesterday was game two of the World Series so I thought I would wear some orange and black to support the local team. This is better than on Wednesday when I forgot the World Series was starting and wore a red jacket to work...ooh you should have seen the glares I got on the street. That jacket was promptly stuffed in my bag and I froze without it the rest of the day. Rangers colors are blue and red..I should have known better. Anyway, so I was also coordinating my outfit with Fall and with Halloween. It's pretty perfect that the SF Giants colors are orange and black, we can combine the purposes of our outfits for about another week!

So you've seen all of these clothing items before, but new are the shoes!! Thrifted from Reno!! I found a Salvation Army warehouse there that had clothes for $.65 a pound and got lost in there for quite some time. I was wild eyed with a huge smile when my boyfriend found me again! It was so much fun!!

Happy weekend and Happy Halloween!! May you all eat lots of candy and have tons of fun this weekend!

We Are Siamese If Your Please

2010-10-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

This week we were the lucky receivers of a very awesome gift. Our friend Chad has had this siamese cat tv lamp in his family for decades. It was recently passed around between grandchildren and then ended up in a bin to be donated. He grabbed it for us knowing we would appreciate these regal siamese kitties more than anyone else he could think of. And we do!! You see, we've had our eye on these tv lamps at our local antique fair for months, but with a house quickly filling up with kitchy nick nacks we've always passed them up. The cats have blue rhinestone eyes and they glow when the lamp is turned on..so totally cool!

A little history for you..TV lamps became popular in the 1950's when television sets made their way into households. The light bulb is behind the porcelain figure and offers an indirect light source as to not put a glare on the screen for your TV viewing pleasure. These days I doubt that it's essential for them to be kept in the room by the TV, although that would be traditional. We decided to put our little kitties on top of my chest of drawers in our bedroom. The blue walls compliment their blue eyes, and their brown tones compliment the blue walls. Thanks Chad!

Diamonds On Her Fingers

2010-10-28T06:31:00.000-07:00

With Fall comes muted and soft colors so when I saw this polish color I had to have it. It's from Rimmel and called Steel Grey. However, it looks to be a purple grey to me. I also picked up some nail decals recently, this is my first attempt at decorating my nails with them. I don't know that I'll ever go completely over the top with nail decals, I like to keep things simple and pretty. But I am loving wearing these little diamonds! Ok, well, they aren't actually diamonds.. no where close. I think they might be little reflector stickers, but from afar and in the right light they look like little diamonds and that makes me happy.

Mini-Mini Break!

2010-10-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend!! We needed to get out of town for a bit, just kind of break up normal routine and enjoy a weekend away together, so we planned a mini-mini break. Our two favorite mini-mini break places are Napa and Reno and we were just in Napa a few weeks ago so we went to Reno! Let me just say, no one I know goes to Reno. So as I type this I know that most people are thinking...Reno...really??!! But, yeah, Reno! We obviously love thrifting and antiquing and..ok I'm going to give up my secret now...Reno is like a treasure chest for thrifting and antiquing...seriously! I cannot believe how many thrift stores are within a two square mile radius. We could spend a whole week shopping and still feel like there is more to find. And the antique stores are plentiful and full of low priced quality goodies. We've come across many great finds there. So Friday night we headed out on the road, with out cat Gigi in tow. We stayed at the Grand Sierra Resort which we enjoyed. The hotel is renovated and pretty modern, several bars, restaurants, a casino, bowling alley and movie theater...and they allow pets!! yay!

Saturday we spent the whole day thrifting. Saturday night we did a little bowling, had dinner, gambled a tiny bit and watched the Giants game. I've been an Oakland A's fan for years, but the San Francisco Giants had a really exciting season and are now going to the World Series, so for this month I am a Giants fan and having a lot of fun rooting our local team on!!

Sunday we headed back home and concluded our mini-mini break with dinner out in our town and some quality Sunday night tv time. This weekend seemed really long, and it got me thinking..maybe there's something to that. Is it true that the more you do over the weekend the longer the weekend feels?

Rainy Day Date

2010-10-21T07:05:00.000-07:00

Our first rain!! As I mentioned previously, we had rain all day Sunday. I'm such a mushy, romantic, love to bundle up and go out for walks in the rain type of person. My boyfriend, well knowing this, planned a little daytime date for us on Sunday.

*Outfit pictures taken by Christopher*

I've always wanted to go to the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. It opened in 1926 and used to have vaudeville and silent movie showings. It's been a landmark in the Lake Merritt area of Oakland since then. I moved to Northern California when I was 10 and have driven by it many many times, always thinking...one day it would be so cool to see a movie there. So my boyfriend combined my want to go to that theater and my love of the rainy day and..voila!..perfect date.

I do have to admit here that I went to see the Jackass movie in 3D...coming from a romantic comedy, independent film, documentary lover...it was really funny and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. (I never thought I would actually say that!)

All clothes from H&M

Boots: Steve Madden

necklace: Chico, Ca farmer's market

Mad Men Me

2010-10-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

Hello, my name is Chrystie and I am a Mad Men addict. So much so that I had to Mad Men myself as soon as I found out this was available!! Just thought I would share it here. If you want to Mad Men yourself you can do so here. Enjoy :)

Matte And I Love It

2010-10-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

I'm forming a slight obsession with nail polish. I have to blame the $1.99 Sinful Colors polish that comes in endless colors and is available at the Walgreens drugstore right across the street from my office. I've been so overwhelmed with the different colors that I started painting my nails several colors at one time and changing it up every couple of days. I've been coordinating them to my outfits, wearing different shades of pink or red all at once. And now I'm starting to get into nail art and creative ways to paint my nails....and last week...I found matte nail polish. Oh yeah, i said it...matte nail polish!! Revlon has started making four colors or matte polish, red, ruby, emerald and white. So I picked up two bottles last week, ruby and white.

What do you think?!! Upon doing some research I found out that we're a little behind the trend because the UK is all over matte polish. I also found a matte top coat, at my local beauty supply store, so more fun is yet to come!

Making It Last

2010-10-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I would do an outfit post from my nature walk. Most of my outfit posts feature dresses and skirts because I do them on weekdays, which means I'm showing the clothes I wear to work. I can't wear jeans or dress down too much for work, but on the weekends I dress comfortable and casual and I tend to take a few more risks than usual (cut off shorts, leggings as pants, jeggings, very high shoes, lots of hats, etc). This last Saturday I went on a nature walk, so this called for a very casual and outdoorsy outfit.

My go to for outdoor adventure is my pair of homemade cutoff shorts. I just paired them with a baggy, white t-shirt and my blue flannel for when the cool breeze kicked up. I practically live in my Tom's lately, so these were the obvious shoe choice for my hike. So...here you have it..calm, casual, outdoorsy and comfortable.

*photos courtesy of my boyfriend, Christopher*

flannel: Target

t-shirt: H&M

shorts: homemade

shoes: Tom's

Take A Walk And Say Goodbye To Summer

2010-10-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

This past Friday night when I got home from work my boyfriend told me that he could feel Fall in the air. I giggled and told him how poetic he sounded, but then I had a little jolt of panic...we needed to savor the last tiny sliver of warm weather while it's left. With rain in the forecast for Sunday we decided we needed to get into the outdoors on Saturday. So we planned our day around a little nature walk into the Sunol Regional Park. This is an area near where I grew up and it's my favorite nature walk. It's a bit of a hike uphill in some parts, but the rest of it is really just a nice walk through beautiful rolling hills. When you get to the top you climb down into the creek, sit on the rocks and listen to the waterfalls. This time of year the waterfalls were really just a trickle, but in the spring they're big and in the Summer you can swim in the pools that the creek makes. It's easy to stay out there all day. Once we got to the waterfall we really felt so relaxed, it's amazing how the noise of a trickling waterfall can really calm you and it's moments like those that I realize that I need to either live in a more rural area, or make a better effort at getting out into nature more often. On Saturday the weather was just perfect and we were so glad we did it because the forecast was right and on Sunday we had rain all day. So...officially goodbye Summer and hello Fall!

Do You Have A Dry Red

2010-10-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post I went to visit my Grandma last weekend and while there we went to Temecula to visit some wineries and do a little wine tasting. Now, wine tasting is one of my favorite ways to spend a weekend afternoon. You get to go to beautiful wineries, everyone is always in a good mood and wine is so yummy.. So I love doing this sort of thing and this past weekend was no exception to the fun of wine tasting.

I decided to go a little country and wear my boots with a lace skirt, simple white t-shirt and turquoise ring. It was about 97 degrees that afternoon so I had to keep it light and airy. My hair wasn't obeying that morning, it thought that it was supposed to lye flat and have no volume at all, so I had to curl and spray and curl and spray to get what you see here...a minimal amount of volume, but better than it started. My gold leaf necklace and pink nails topped off the outfit and we were off to enjoy some almond champagne and to search out some dry red wines.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!!

xoxo

Chrystie

Over The River And Through The Woods

2010-10-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

To Grandmother's house I went! This past weekend I flew down to Southern California, met up with my cousin Lauren and then headed out to my Grandma's house. Sometimes you just need to spend some quality time with your Grandma, ya know?! I'd been planning this trip for awhile now and really looking forward to it. Her house is so peaceful and smells so lovely and I always feel so special when I'm there. Also, she always has many wise words about life and living it...she's been there and done that and can sort of ground me when I need it.

On Saturday we went wine tasting near her house in Temecula. I'm always up for some wine tasting, and had never been to any of the Temecula wineries. First we went to Wilson Creek where they had many sweet and desert wines and their famous almond champagne. Have you ever had almond champagne? It's so tasty!! then we headed over to South Coast Winery, which is a huge place with a resort and spa attached to it. Their flight is 5 tastings per person but somehow ended up being never ending. No complaints here, but we finally decided to call it quits once we tried everything we wanted to. After that we stopped over at another winery that had vendors selling jewelry in front and then headed to dinner. The thing that makes Temecula different than Napa and Sonoma is that these are all newer wineries on huge pieces of land. So they are all very near each other, however their tasting room facilities are huge. It also seems like the majority of the wineries have restaurants or cafes attached to them, which you rarely see in Napa and Sonoma.

It was such a nice, peaceful and relaxing weekend. One Sunday morning we had a really great home cooked breakfast and sat out in my Grandma's garden all morning. Then I got lunch with my two cousins Lauren and Sarah for some quality cousin time, and way too soon I was back in the airport waiting for my plane home. It can be hard to carve time out of your life to spend with family, but it's always worth it!

....The Holidays?

2010-10-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

Holiday Party 2010

This week at work they asked us to turn in our holiday time off requests. I was caught by surprise... 'what?! the holidays are coming?!'. Yeah, well, um, this Summer really flew by I guess. So, it got me thinking about all things Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. We booked a little Thanksgiving weekend-away trip and started thinking about making Christmas lists. ooh..what do I want from Santa this year?! (new cell phone, kindle and world peace)..

My work throws a very lavish holiday party every year, so I've started thinking about what I'll wear. It's always so much fun to see everyone all dressed up! I hopped on polyvore.com to start planning my general look for this year's party and just play with some ideas. So far this is what I came up with. I like it's because it's pale and neutral, girly and not too fussy with a little antique thrown in. What do you think?

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!! I'm going out of town, yet again, to my Grandma's house, yay!!! I can't wait to get off of work today and fly down to her house in Southern California. My cousin and I will be heading out to see her this weekend for a little bit of Grandma quality time.

xoxo

Chrystie

Good Wine

2010-10-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Napa! Oh, just one of my most favorite places in the world!! I live about an hour from Napa and Sonoma counties and love to drive up there on the weekend to stop at a few wineries and get lunch or dinner somewhere nice. Sometimes we'll get a hotel and make it a whole weekend away and other times we'll just go for a day trip. This weekend we realized we had nothing planned and since we are currently taking a break from home projects we decided to get out of town and head up to our little slice of wine heaven.

We have some friends that live near there, so we met up with them then headed to the wineries. Our first stop was not very great. We went to the Robert Sinskey winery. I will say that it was pretty special because they give you a little food plate to do wine pairings with. So we got to snack on olives, almonds, mini quiche and a couple other things, however the customer service wasn't so great. Very cold and unwelcoming. So we high tailed it out of there and our next stop was Mumm for champagne tasting. This place was awesome!! We sat in their outside patio tasting area with the hot sun beaming down on us in this indian summer we're having.

Our host was extremely friendly and we tried almost everything on their menu. From traditional young champagnes to aged champagnes to red champagne and pinot noir sparkling wine. Such a great time! Next up was Rutherford Hill Winery, which is my favorite. We used their picnic tables, and bought a bottle of wine to share with our hummus, crackers and cheese. That's were we spent the rest of the afternoon, up on a hill with a beautiful view of Napa Valley, good food, good wine and good friends. Yum.

Everlasting Light

2010-10-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday night my boyfriend and I had a little date night to go see our current favorite band in concert. We saw The Black Keys at the Fox Theater in Oakland. We started listening to them by accident actually. It seemed that their songs kept getting used in TV shows, and each time we hear a song we like we try to figure out who sings it and see what other great songs they have. So The Black Keys kept coming up, and we finally got a couple of their cds and have basically played them on repeat all Summer long. We called it our Summer theme music!

When I saw that they were having a concert at the Fox I was sold. The Fox Theater is a great venue originally opened in the 1920's that was just recently beautifully refurbished. They've been bringing great artists and selling out shows for about a year now. We bought these tickets quite some time ago but, as you can see from the photo, we got some of the last seats up in the balcony. Nonetheless we watched The Black Keys rock it and we danced the night away!

I was so happy when, about halfway through their show they played Everlasting Light. This song has made its way onto our short list of 'our songs'.

I think you can see why...

"Everlasting Light"

Let me be your everlasting light
The sun when there is none
I'm a shepherd for you
And I'll guide you through
Let me be your everlasting light

Let me be your everlasting light
I'll hold and never scold
In me you can confide
When no one's by your side
Let me be your everlasting light

Oh darling, can't you see
I'm shining just for you
Loneliness is over
Dark days are through

Let me be your everlasting light
A train going away from pain
Love is the coal
That makes this train roll
Let me be your everlasting light

New Vegetable Obsession

2010-10-05T08:32:00.000-07:00

Aren't brussel sprouts supposed to be gross? Well, this is what I thought until recently. I grew up falling for all of the jokes about them being the worst, yuckiest vegetable around. I really thought they must be the so gross, right?! Never on a menu at any restaurants I ate at, never cooked for me at anyone's house....Well I will be fooled no longer!

Within the past few months I've had brussel sprouts cooked a few different ways and each time they were increasingly getter. My favorite time was this past Friday night at a restaurant in San Francisco called B3. They served them with blue cheese and sausage. So when I went to he store this weekend I decided to buy some brussel sprouts and cook them up with some sausage and goat cheese that we had in our fridge already.

I sauteed cleaned them, cut them and sauteed them in olive oil. It took about 15 minutes or so for them to cook through, then I added the sausage, plated them and topped with garlic & herb goat cheese, some salt and some pepper.

So tasty!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Reading and Watching

2010-09-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share what I am currently reading and watching. I would usually have a food post, as I like to cook or enjoy a nice restaurant at least once a week, but I haven't had much of an appetite lately or gone shopping. So my fridge is pretty barren and uninspiring. Maybe this is a cue for me to get back on my elimination diet that I've been trying to complete for a few months now. All of the things I shouldn't eat are slowly being depleted from my kitchen's food supply and maybe I can just restock with lots of basics like fruits, veggies proteins and rice. That is my elimination diet, by the way. It's a way for me to clean out my system since I have several food intolerances/allergies. It's a nice way to start fresh and takes about a month. So, in lieu of the so tasty food post I want to talk about two points of interest this week. I'm currently cracking up over Russell Brand in New York City and have already watched it no less than three times this week. If you haven't seen it and you enjoy British humor and pop culture jokes you should check it out. This guy was my favorite part of one of my favorite movies, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I don't know how I've never watched his stand up. At the risk of not doing it justice or ruining his jokes by repeating them incorrectly here..I'll just say..watch it!

Now as for what I'm reading. I just started reading Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren. A memoir about how she found herself in the Harem of the Prince of Brunei at the age of 20. I've really just started it, but so far it's really well written and holding my usually short attention span. You can read more about her story here: w ww.jilianlauren.com

Quick Weekend Away

2010-09-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we took a little trip out of town to visit my boyfriend's family in Huntington Beach. We go there often and took our usual flights from Oakland to Long Beach, out on Friday night and back on Sunday night. Let me just say, we love Jet Blue! So this trip down was to celebrate my boyfriend's Dad's birthday. It's become a bit of a tradition that they hold a beach party and evening bonfire over the weekend and all of their family comes out to celebrate.

We got in late on Friday night and met up with my cousin for some margaritas. Saturday we headed to the beach for their family party and it was there that I spend the whole day lounging in the sun, teaching my boyfriend's cousins how to do different braids in their hair and playing frisbee with his nephew.

Once the sun went down they started the bonfire and we got the marshmallows out for some toasting! (psssst...toasted marshmallows are always my favorite part of any bonfire!)

Fishtail and Flowers

2010-09-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I went out of town and will have pictures up about my little weekend trip tomorrow. Now that it's Fall our weather here in the SF bay area is getting warmer and warmer. So we finally get our Summer! This is typical here, I'm just impatient and get annoyed waiting for the weather to turn warm. To me this time of year is for a little chill in the air, pulling sweaters out of storage and throwing an extra blanket on the bed, but the past several years have proven me wrong. September and October end up being the warmest of our Summer months.

Anyway, enough about weather. I bought this top at H&M recently and was dying to pair it with an olive green skirt. I finally got around to wearing it and love the pairing! I think it will also look awesome with a black skirt, that will have to be my next combo for this top. I wore black tights, just because I wore this outfit to work and the skirt is a little too much above my knee for bare legs, and my gray boots. It was a hot one, but I enjoyed wearing some Fall colors.

The green ring that I'm wearing is one of my many 'vacation souvenir' rings. My favorite souvenirs on a vacation are rings and photographs. I'm guess I'm easy to please in that way. So I like to pick up a ring from each vacation. This one is from the Big Island of Hawaii. We went there a few years ago for some sun and relaxation and to check out the active volcano. I loved that island, parts of it are almost like a moon landscape because of the hardened lava flow. Roads have been carved out of the lava rock, and some roads were over lava rock. It was like no place I had ever been. I also had my best snorkeling experience there to date. The fishes were swimming really close to me and not scared so I just laid still in the water then two of them swam right up to my goggles, I swear it was like they were seeing into my soul! Kinda creepy, but a really cool experience I will never forget.

I got a little bug in my brain that I wanted to learn how to fishtail braid my hair. So looked it up, and surprisingly it is quite simple. Who would have known?! Seriously, I always thought it must be super confusing, that I never wanted to learn! Turns out the only hard part about it is working with my layers making sure that I grab pieces of hair that are long enough. I found several videos on how to do this braid on youtube, give it a try, I promise you'll love it!!

skirt: H&M ($5!)

top: H&M

boots: Target

necklace: f21

ring: vacation souvenir

Are Those Leiderhosen

2010-09-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

We have a local restaurant that throws 4 Oktoberfest parties, 4 Sundays in a row that parallel the festivities that are currently going on in Munich. We were a little anxious to check it out and went a week early, which I posted about here Big Beers and Tiny Burgers. So we went back last Sunday to find the party in full swing. And when I say full swing I mean, men in leiderhosen twirling ladies all around the dance floor! There was a band that played all afternoon while steins of beer and dancing were enjoyed by all. It was a full on family event, kids on the dance floor and in the jumpy house in the back, young people, old people, German or no German decent it didn't matter, the more the merrier!

When we got there my boyfriend grabbed a liter mug of Spaten Oktoberfest and I had a wine (no beer for me, remember the gluten intolerance), we watched the dancers then sat down at an open table eventually. By the time we could order some food they were out of pretzels already, but we enjoyed a bratwurst and some apple strudel with pistachio ice cream. So tasty, I'm sad I didn't take pictures of it.

We hope to enjoy one more Sunday of this party sometime in the next three weeks, maybe next time I can convince my boyfriend to get out on the dance floor with me, a girl can dream ;)

Happy Friday, have a great weekend!!

xoxo

Chrystie

Falling for Fall

2010-09-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall everyone! Well, if you read this blog you know how excited I am for the season of Fall to be upon us. And last night Fall started, yay! This is the outfit I wore yesterday to welcome Fall and say goodbye, never had you anyways in California, to Summer. They say there was some sort of low pressure pattern stalled off of the coast since about May, which meant that we had a cold dreary Summer. All of you east coasters, no more complaining about the heat wave, please, you make me jealous!!

I am really loving my new Steve Madden Intyce boots and am starting to feel like I could probably wear them with every outfit. I picked up this skirt recently because it is green with bronze buttons, military, fall and lovely (oh and it has pockets too, which I love).

I thought I should probably talk a little about my choice of outfits. There are a lot of bloggers out there that wear amazing outfits, anywhere from high fashion to amazing vintage pieces and perfectly put together completely thrifted outfits. They have something different on everyday, never a repeat, and I adore their sites and fashion sense. Well, I'm not one of those, although I wish I was. I simply include a outfit post on my blog because I am exploring fashion lately and am starting to really be inspired by this exploration. I guess I'm looking for my personal style. My pocketbook isn't big enough to have something new everyday, and my free time is limited so thrifting tends to be a treat instead of a regular occurrence. Therefore, my outfits are more of a what I wear on a daily basis and how I mix and match my pieces kind of thing. I do hope that this will evolve into something more and that one day I can rock a new vintage or thrifted frock everyday, but one step at a time my dears.

I've been exploring the jewelry chest that was handed down to my from my Grandmother and today decided to wear one of her watches. I liked how the two tone went with the bronze buttons on my skirt. I made sure to take it to a watch repair place at lunch and get it a little tune up too. And on my finger that is the leaf ring my parents got for me as part of this year's birthday gift. I've talked about it before but I think this is the clearest picture of it yet. I love how it wraps around my finger so delicately.

A happy first full day of Fall to you all!

skirt: forever21
tights: forever21
cardigan: Target
boots: Steve Madden Intyce
watch: my Grandma's
leaf ring: etsy

Love Bites

2010-09-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

I believe I have found my new favorite TV show! It's called Love Bites and it will be on NBC, Thursdays at 10pm (from what I can tell). It stars Becki Newton, from Ugly Betty, and Jordana Sprio, from My Boys. From the clip below it looks like it will be different stories each episode about love and life.

Check it out!

Becki Newton was my favorite part of Ugly Betty, she's hilarious and combining her into a show with Jordana Spiro from My Boys is amazing!! I expect this show to be a favorite....cancelling all upcoming plans for Thursday nights...watching Love Bites!

Boots and Layers

2010-09-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

I got new boots, surprise!! So I've been sort of obsessing over these Steve Madden 'Intyce' boots. I saw them in Nordstroms a couple of months ago and their sight kicked me into a full fledged fall clothes planning frenzy. I wasn't sure that I would want to put the money into getting them. But then even a couple months later I was still thinking about them and you know how that goes...you figure you've thought about them so much you might as well just go ahead and get them. Well that's how I work anyways. So I marched myself down to Nortstroms, (after checking the internet for deals on these babies which there were none), and got myself a pair of my much sought after boots. I just love love love these boots!! So happy with them!!

I took these little outfit shots just trying to get a shot of the boots. I am so sick here, super tired and in need of more R and R, so don't mind the haggard look to my hair and makeup. But I also thought I would throw in a shot of how I look on my way to and home from work. San Francisco is all about wearing layers, and here you can see how many I wear on a usual day. I have a sleeveless dress, cardigan, jacket and scarf. Then leggings, boots and sunglasses. You never know what you're going to get with our weather so I'm usually prepared for a little bit of everything. I'm sure if I drove myself to work I wouldn't need so many layers, however I ride a bus to and from work, so all of that commuting kind of necessitates the large purse full of my needs for the day and all of the layers. Just thought I would include this, how does it compare to your town and what you wear out on a daily basis?

Read and Watch

2010-09-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I sort of laid low and spent a lot of time at home reading. I picked up Eat, Pray, Love at the bookstore sometime last month and made it a little goal of mine to finish the book so that I could see the movie in the theater before they stopped playing it. I'm such a slow reader so it was down to the wire, but since I wasn't feeling so well this weekend I spent more time than usual on the couch reading. I ended up finishing it Sunday afternoon and when we looked up the movie times ended up dashing out the door to catch the next showing.

Ahh...the typical 'the book was better than the movie' applies here. However, I was expecting this because the book was such a unique and in depth memoir, there's no way all of this emotion and pondering of the meaning of her life could be captured in 2 hours and 13 minutes. This the memoir of Liz Gilbert through her self exploration to find herself and happiness. She decides that a year traveling abroad to Italy, India and Indonesia is what she need. She goes to Rome for pleasure where she eats pasta, and gelato and learn to speak Italian. Then she goes to India where she lives in her guru's ashram and learns to meditate and find God. Then she goes to Bali where she learns to combine pleasure and prayer and ends up finding love. It's an amazing story to read as well as inspiring. She took drastic measures to find her happiness and gave up everything she had in life, but if I could learn anything from her journey, I thought maybe it is that love and happiness is right here within us we just need to cultivate it and listen to it.
I sort of love to read books that are being made into movies. This way the inevitable ending of the book can be extended just a little longer. What books have you read recently that were made into movies? Any suggestions?? The book I picked up to read next is called Some Girls, my life in a harem by Jillian Lauren. I've been looking forward to reading this one I'll let you all know how it goes.

Big Beers and Tiny Burgers

2010-09-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone!! I hope your Friday flies by super fast so that you can start your weekend right away! Just a little food and drink post to hopefully inspire your weekend barbecues.
Last weekend we rode our bikes to a local German restaurant called Speisenkammer to see if they'd started their Oktoberfest festivities yet.

Well, we were one week early, but I kinda liked it that way. We were able to enjoy a beer and some sparkling wine outside in the sunshine, free of the crowds. My boyfriend had a Spaten Oktoberfest and said it was dee-licious. I had a German sparkling wine which was sweet, bubbly and lovely. I used to really enjoy beer before I found out that I have a gluten intolerance, I even used to make beer. But, sadly, that time has passed and now I have to order things that aren't made with barley malt. So I am getting to experiment with wine, champagne and cocktails and I'm leaving beer to my boyfriend as his drink to master.

I love this picture because it looks like the heavens are shining down on my boyfriend's glass of beer. 'ahhhh..oh holy beer, the boyfriend is with thee!'

Then the other night we made sliders. These are a new food trend here, well for about a year now. Is this going on in other parts of the country too? Sliders are showing up on appetizer menus everywhere! So my boyfriend grilled up some cute little sliders for our dinner a few nights ago. They even make slider, or 'mini burger', buns!! So cute. Just top them with some cheddar, lettuce, mayo and mustard, or whatever you prefer, and they're ready to go!! We had some 5 layer bean dip with tortilla chips on the side and tried to keep it diner style with a dill pickle.

Happy weekending and barbecuing!!

xoxo
Chrystie

Get Me To The Fall

2010-09-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

Oh Fall how I have missed thee! So...how many times can I say my favorite season is the Fall?! This is something that my boyfriend doesn't understand at all. He looks at the Fall as like the funeral of the Summer, if that makes sense. I, however, love the Fall so much! I get more energy in the Fall, I obsess about shopping for Fall and Winter clothes. I even get excited for the time change. Super weird, I know, but it's because it gets dark out earlier and makes my house feel so cozy at night and I have a excuse to cuddle up in a big fluffy blanket on the couch with my love. Then there's Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years...excitement, excitement, excitement, excitement!! Here in the San Francisco bay area we enjoyed our Summer a few weeks ago and it lasted about three days max...now this week it feels like Fall has started!! Yay!

So, it's time to start transitioning my outfits into Fall outfits. This is the outfit I wore on Tuesday. I got this lace skirt for sale from Urban Outfitters and paired it with a Summery white t-shirt, black tights and pinkish flats. So combining some Summer and some Fall clothes, and I think it went well. Of course when I go to work I layer up so I had a cardigan, jacket and scarf on as well. I have a post coming up about all the layers I wear to work..so stay tuned.

This necklace comes from my Grandma's jewelery collection. I have been slowly wearing each of the pieces of jewelery from her jewelery box when the outfit and pairing presents itself. I thought this necklace worked nicely with this outfit. The pendant has two little love birds with hearts above them, it's very delicate. I just love wearing her necklaces, I remember her wearing them and they hold a lot of memories for me. I have a large amount of clip-ons that I need to start wearing or converting into other pieces of jewelery as well.

Are you all starting to transition into wearing Fall clothes yet? What's the weather like in other parts of the country, still Summery or turning cooler yet?

skirt: UO
shirt: H&M
belt: H&M
shoes: UO
necklace: vintage
cuff: thrifted

Camino

2010-09-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love meeting up with an old friend and it feels like no time has passed at all since the last time you saw her..this is like every time I see my dear friend Jolyne. She's my sister from another mister, that's for sure. And I just love the times when our schedules actually allow us to meet up and spend some quality time caching up. On Monday night she introduced me to a great restaurant in Oakland called Camino.

This restaurant was so cozy, warm and lovely. They have a small menu that changes nightly based on what was bought locally by the chefs. Everything is cooked over an open fire or in a brick oven and it was all so tasty. We started the night over a little gin, absinthe and lime cocktail, then headed into the dining room where we ordered and split three plates along with a couple glasses of red wine. We had:

. Slow-cooked beef brisket stew with roasted escarole
and fingerling potatoes

. Wood oven-roasted porcini mushrooms with rapini,
nepitella and garlic

. Grilled rabbit salad with herb sausage, frisée, grapes and beets

The first plate that was brought out to us was the grilled rabbit salad. Now I have to say... not a fan of ordering this dish...not even a fan of typing about it. The thought of rabbit twisted my tummy up, the animal lover than I am. But in the spirit of trying new foods, which I've been trying to do for the past few months now, I thought I would give it a try. To my surprise I actually enjoyed the dish, but to be honest, probably wouldn't ever order it again. Next came the porcini mushroom dish. The mushrooms were heavenly little slices of sweet and savoriness. Oh how I love mushrooms when they are cooked as good as this! So we nibbled on these locally grown little slices of heaven with huge smiles on our faces. Then it was time to eat the beef brisket. This was sitting in a little bit of broth and it's own juices and had a few halved fingerling potatoes sitting along side of it. This was the most mouth watering, juicy piece of brisket I have ever had. All three of these dishes were so amazing, like nothing I've ever had before.

We also enjoyed a tasty desert, an almond meringue cookie topped with figs, whipped cream and raspberry sauce.

So in the end of the night my tummy was full of wonderful food, my heart was full of love and laughter shared with a friend and my face had a huge smile on it. What a great night!

Gluten Free Treats

2010-09-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend brought home some so tasty treats for me the other day!!! I love gifts! He found a little nook in the snack store at his college that carries gluten free treats. So a few weeks ago he got me a lemon cookie that was so tasty and this week he followed it up with a ginger cookie and some chocolate bars.

The cookie is made by Nana's and it's a large cookie, sort of on the dry side and went perfect with my morning coffee, kind of like a scone. The chocolate bars are made by Go Free and I haven't tried them yet, but they look like some sort of wafer covered in chocolate.

I'm always on the look out for tasty gluten free treats because I have to try to stay away from gluten, which means most of my favorite treats...cheese it's, doritos, wafer cookies, chocolate chips cookies...the list goes on. So it means a lot to me when people find me gf treats that I can try.

Do any of you have food restrictions, or do you try to stay away from certain foods? Any gluten free recommendations?

Catching Up

2010-09-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

I have to apologize... I know this is really delayed. However, I still want to share it. I was really behind in posting for a bit because I was so busy at work but I think I'm back on track now. This is one post I couldn't get around to last week. My Labor Day post!!

My boyfriend and I flew down to Southern California and stayed the whole weekend at his parent's house. And, most importantly, I spent some much needed catch up time with my cousin Lauren. I love her!! We lived close when we were little them my family moved to Northern California and I rarely saw her. I am so glad that we have reconnected and that she's become such a great friend of mine.

We got in late on Friday night and grabbed a drink out in downtown Huntington Beach and a bar called Zimzala. This is the bar connected to the Shorebreak hotel, which looks like an amazing boutique hotel. It's very modern and cool looking. Saturday I went to my cousin's place for a day spent sun bathing, reading fashion mags and catching up down at her pool. Saturday night was dinner at Duke's restaurant a mainstay on the Huntington Beach pier, then the night was capped off with drinks at La Cave in Newport Beach/Costa Mesa with my cousin Lauren.

La Cave is an underground steakhouse that hasn't been remodeled since it opened in the early 60's. It turns into a bar with a dj at night and...it is awesome! There were huge red leather curved booths, arches made of bricks and lots of dark wood. I was imagining us in full on 60's attire sipping on our cocktails.

Sunday was spent at Crystal Cove in Newport Beach relaxing and searching for some sea glass. We found tons of it!! We also did some tide pool spectating and saw quite a few little sea creatures. At the end of the day we had a bbq and we filled our tummies with lots of yummy food. Monday was sort of a day to relax, I slept in to an hour I am ashamed to mention here...then we did some errands, got an early dinner and hopped on our plane home to reunite with our little kitty gigi.

I hope you all had a great Labor day weekend, (and weekend after)and that you are enjoying your last Summer weekends to their fullest!!

All For Some Boots

2010-09-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

Boots!! Over the past few years boots have become a huge love of mine. I mean, who doesn't love boots?! I tend to go boot crazy right around this time every year. I start scouring websites looking for the year's trendy boots, and the year's classic styles. I start thinking about which colors I want, etc, etc, obsess, obsess. So I have a pair that I'm still saving up for and will buy very soon. They will most definitely be featured here, it was love at first sight with those babies. But I also came across some great boots from Target. They're sort of a copy off of a copy, but I'll go for it, they only cost me $34.99 and I know they will last me through the winter. Target boots always last at least one winter. These are the Mossimo Kaden Tall Buckle Boots in Grey. They're only available online so I bought my normal size, but probably could have gone down a half size. I'm not worried though, this will allow for me to wear warm cushy socks through the winter with them.

I am in love with these babies, but I must tell you it was a rough road to get them. All of us that live in apartments know how much trouble it can be to get deliveries sometimes. Well at my new place I've never run into a problem with getting packages delivered..enter a large box from Target. UPS actually would not deliver this box to my door, and about 10 phone calls and a few days later I had to go down to the airport and pick them up. Quite the process!! All for the love of boots though!

I just had to wear them the first day I could, so I threw together this work outfit with my boots the next day after picking them up. I'm loving bronze jewelry lately. This bronze leaf ring was given to me by my parents for my birthday this past year. They found it on Etsy. And I just picked up this box chain necklace in a bronze color from Forever21. Also, as you can see I splurged on a manicure last week. It had been such a rough week, so busy at work. So I decided to make the most of my lunch hour and I found a little place that does $10 manicures!! I spent my whole lunch hour there reading my book and getting pampered. And I brought along my Sinful Colors in Ruby Ruby and got my nails beautified! I love taking my own nail polish to nail salons, which I rarely go to, but when I do I like to because I can do touch ups at home and extend the life of my manicure. I'm loving red and maroon nails for the Fall.

So what boots are you all looking for this Fall and Winter? What are the favorite styles?

shirt and skirt: H&M
boots: Target
necklace and bracelets: F21
leaf ring: Etsy

My Key Lady

2010-09-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

I recently received this cute little key lady as a gift from one of my students. She went home to Thailand for the Summer and when she came by to visit me last week to make sure her schedule was in order for the semester, she gave me this cute little gift. And I love gifts!! (who doesn't, right?!) At first I wasn't too sure how to use it, but she showed me that you put your keys on the key ring inside, then pull them up under the lady's skirt for safe keeping. She said that you can use it to protect your keys in your bag, so at first I thought that is how I would use this gift. However, my key ring that I carry around on a daily basis is quite hefty, and downsizing isn't really an option. So I brought this little lady home and gave her a special place to hold our front door keys. We have a double deadbolt lock, so you have to use a key to open the door from the inside. This has always bothered me because every time I want to open the front door I have to dig through my purse for my front door key, very inconvenient. Now I have this sweet little key holder and I love it!

Peaceful Pictures Calm The Mind

2010-09-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

So this week has been another really busy one. I just can't keep up with blog reading and posting. I'm really sorry, after next week I'll be back to normal and posting everyday. Tonight, in a moment of trying to relax, I was looking through my pictures and some that I had overlooked from a few weeks ago really caught my eye. I'm not sure why I didn't think much of them at the time.

These pictures were taken in Sonoma at the Mission San Francisco Solano and in Napa at the Mckenzie Mueller winery. We did a day trip up there with my boyfriend's family when they visited, we stopped in Sonoma for lunch then went over to the McKenzie Mueller winery for a tasting.

The Mission was so simple and beautiful. The light was perfect inside the chapel for this last picture.

This was out second time visiting McKenzie Mueller winery. We love wine tasting and there are just so many great wineries in this area. But if you really want an intimate experience this is the place to go. Their tasting room is on the same property as their home, their vineyard and their production facility. You stand there with the winemaker and his wife sampling several wines as they tell you in detail about each one, why they made it and why they like it. You can ask them any question, they are so nice, to them there is no dumb question about wine making. I've learned so much about wine in my two visits to this winery. If you are ever in the area please call them and schedule a tasting!

10th Follower!

2010-08-31T08:39:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Miss E for being my 10th follower!! Miss E runs One Girl, One Quest and I just had a chance to check it out this morning, it's a new baby blog just like mine. So far I love love it! Her motto is Live What You Love....coincidentally this is the exact phrase that hangs above my bed. Like your style Miss E! Can't wait to read more of your blog as your adventure continues.

What A Week

2010-08-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!! Wow it has been such a busy week! Work has been so busy because we start the Fall semester next week so there's lots and lots to do and students galore to help. Last week things really started picking up, it continue this week and will be even worse next week! Sometimes it's kinda fun to be running around like crazy, it really makes the day go by fast, that's for sure. But I did kind of start a new thing that has now become an annoying habit. I've started sighing really loudly throughout the day. I know, annoying huh! I didn't even realize I was doing it until my coworker started laughing at me every time I did it. She did that a few times and I realized it was loud and annoying. I also realized that I think I'm doing it because I'm forgetting to breathe. How horrible! Well, that's what stress will do to you, so once this is over I will be treating myself to a massage and to get through it I'll be planning some happy hours for the team at work and I've already stocked out candy supply to the brim with mini candy bars. Everyone needs a chocolate fix to get through the afternoon, right!

This week was also kind of exciting because of the extreme weather changes. First, on Monday and Tuesday it was hot hot hot. My office doesn't have any ac so it was sweltering in there. Then Wednesday was perfect, you know that weather that you can't even feel on your skin, so dreamy! And Thursday was very cold, misty and windy. So on Thursday I wore these black skinny jeans (shh...don't tell my work they are jeans..), with a light pink tshirt, brown cardigan and my new ruffle scarf. After work I put on these boots to run some errands, but during the day I had on a pair of dark brown wedges.

I love love fall clothes. I love layering, I love the dark cozy colors and I love the structure of the fall clothes compared to light summer clothes. Scarfs, boots and jackets are my favorite things to shop for. So.. this is my first piece for the fall...here it is!! A new brown, ruffly scarf from H&M. You like it?! I'm still unsure what kind of style I will go for this fall, I need to see what is out there and kind of figure that out...so all of that fun is yet to come. What are ou all thinking for fal style? I'm seeing structured, military, menswear, ruffles, preppy...lots of good stuff.

I hope you all have a great weekend! On Saturday I have a concert to go to with my family to celebrate my Dad's birthday and our condo building is having an end of the summer party on Sunday night. I'm also planning on lots of sleeping in to recover from this past week and prepare for next week. What are your plans for the weekend?

jeans: f21

tshirt: H&M

cardigan: Old Navy

scarf: H&M

boots: Target

San Francisco Bay

2010-08-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

Every once in awhile I get the chance to take some great pictures. About a week ago when we went on a ferry ride across the San Francisco Bay to a Giant's baseball game I knew there would be some great pictures to take.

I took my spot outside in the front of the ferry, braved the wind and sacrificed my freshly styled hair. But it was worth it to get a picture like this.

The Sun Showed Up!

2010-08-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, to our surprise, the sun came out and it was a hot one! In fact the heat wave is still rolling, it's been a hot hot week! I was starting to mourn the Summer when suddenly it showed up on my Sunday morning, yay! Welcome Summer, my name is Chrystie, nice to see you. So after sipping our morning coffee we headed out to the pool to catch some much needed, vitamin d producing rays. I worked on my tan a bit, did some reading and some swimming. After that we did the only thing that seemed right and went on a long bike ride around out town.

First we headed through some neighborhoods, sort of exploring streets we've never been down.

We stopped at the store for some dinner bbq ingredients. And got a great photo opp with our beloved bikes. Aren't they cuties! Mine is the green Fat Tire bike, and my boyfriend's is the blue Pabst bike. We love them!

Then we got a crazy idea...Let's go to Oakland! I know, not so crazy when you just live one little draw bridge away from Oakland, but a fun adventure none the less. So we headed over a tiny bridge.

Of course I had to get a picture of me, my bike riding outfit, my bike and my town in the background.

Back over a different bridge, and after a quick errand of getting cat food for our gigi we stopped off at our new favorite bar. Chardonnay for me, Coors Light for the boyfriend and shared chips and guacamole. And that is how we like to spend our Sunday afternoons.

How about you, what is your favorite way to spend your Sunday, or any downtime on the weekends?

Fried Egg and All

2010-08-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

I'm backtracking here a bit but I just had to share the wonder of the clay pot. I don't know how I've gone this long in life and never ordered the clay pot off the menu. Apparently everything is meant to happen in it's own time, and finally the day came that I looked at a restaurant menu and saw nothing that I wanted more than to try the clay pot. You see, this has been something that I've shied away for for years now. I never really knew if I would like it, never really understood what it was and honestly wanted something else more. However we ate at a new restaurant recently and they not only highlighted the clay pot all over their menu but also the waitress really sold me on it. The way she described how the rice keeps cooking in the bowl after it's served and gets crispy, and that there is a fried egg on top....I was sold!! It was so tasty!! I got it with chicken, and there were plenty of veggies chopped up and cooked in with the rice. Then there was a glorious egg laid right on top. I mixed it all up and enjoyed the crunchy, crispy rice as it peeled off the sides of the bowl. This is going to be my perfect, dead of the freezing cold winter, trying to get over a cold dinner. I can already see it..bundling up on a Sunday night and heading over to Hahn's Hibachi for a yummy warm clay pot to warm our bones. Winter is closer than you think..

Today Is Going To Be....

2010-08-24T08:17:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay on posts. I've been enjoying some of this rare Summer heat with friends, working on my tan and getting some much needed downtime. I'll be back to regular posting tonight!

As Country As I Get

2010-08-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

I love being out in the country. I love nature, camping, big trees, going on hikes and breathing in all the fresh air. These days we've been so busy that as country as we get is 'wine' country. We headed up to Sonoma this past weekend with our out of town visitors for some wine tasting. The first thing we noticed was that is was great weather. So I quickly peeled off the layers of clothing I'd worn up there. The weather up there was amazing, it was sunny and warm and felt like a great summer day!

There is a lot of history in the town square area of Sonoma. There was a mission built and operated there, as well as it is the place where the first California flag was designed and flown. This cute yellow building was just part of the out of use, historical buildings that are still there to look at. We also did a quick tour of the mission and then had lunch at a homestead that was preserved in the area.

How country do I look?!! I love how these pictures came out. I started with my cardigan on but quickly realized I was doing an injustice to myself, because it was really hot, but also to the dress. I bought this dress back in March and have only worn it once. I didn't love the black elastic band that goes across the waist so when I picked up this belt last week I knew it would add to the dress and make it more wearable. I also wore my new cowboy boots, of course!! What good is going to the country if you can't wear your new cowboy boots!?

I have to say my boyfriend is really getting pretty good at taking my picture and he's such a good sport putting up with my little photoshoots.

dress: Target
belt: H&M
boots: vintage
cardigan: Target
purse: Coach, thrifted

Better Than Game Food

2010-08-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

Usually when we go to a baseball game it's hot dogs and beers. However, if you're ever been to Giant's stadium you know that there's much more to choose from. I like how stadiums are really stepping up their food game and offering so much variety in food and drinks. This purchase happened because I was starving and didn't want to wait in the 15 person deep line that each hot dog stand had. So I just kept walking and when I found a place with no line at all, I walked right up and ordered the best looking thing on the menu.

Jerk Chicken Nachos!! Amazing right?! So the breakdown of this twist on nachos is that it was tortilla chips, nacho cheese, onions, jalapenos, carrots, black beans and jerk chicken. It was so tasty!! There are so many options of things to eat at Giants games, but I think I might have decided to only eat these each time I go back. They were gooey, warm and spicy.

And, of course, my boyfriend had a Anchor Steam beer, just to keep it real with San Francisco.

What types of food to you crave when you go to sports events?

Rarely Red

2010-08-17T21:51:00.000-07:00

So this weekend we had lots of family in town. My boyfriend's family came up, some stayed at our place and the others got a hotel. It was, and I say this in all honesty, the most eventful weekend I can ever remember. I have many posts to come of all the things we did.

On Sunday we went to a San Francisco Giant's game. I live and work so close to the stadium, but rarely ever go to a game. We made a big day out of it. To get there we took the ferry, then watched the game, slid down the Coke bottle slide, the kids got to run the bases after the game, then we did a walking tour of downtown SF for the out of towners and took the BART home. The day started out really gloomy and cold but ended up being sunny and really warm...and I got a little sunburn on my nose and forehead. oh well.

I've been perusing the stores recently and just couldn't hold back on buying some fall items. So this little red jacket was my first fall purchase. I decided to wear it with a white and navy striped shirt, stretch jeans and black Tom's. I tried to go with a bit of a nautical theme being that we were taking a ferry ride, plus I just couldn't wait to wear the jacket!! I love fall clothes!! In the picture above you can see my boyfriend's shadow taking my picture, he's so cute!

I loved this outfit so much that I had to transition it into a work appropriate outfit this week. So today this is what I wore to the office. I wore the striped shirt and jacket and paired them with a pencil skirt, brown belt and brown heels.

jacket: H&M
jeans: f21
tshirt: H&M
pencil skirt: H&M
sunglasses: f21
ring: So Good Jewelry

Versatile Blogger Award

2010-08-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

Thank you to cb over at The Citybirds Nest for bestowing the honor of the Versatile Blogger Award on me! If you haven't read cb's blog yet, you should! She's awesome and actually probably a bit more versatile than myself, but I'll take it :)

Before I point out some other very versatile bloggers, I need to list 7 things about myself that you may not know.

Here goes:

1. My favorite place in the whole wide world is Hanalei, Kauai. I always tell my boyfriend if he ever loses me in this world, that's where he'll be able to find me.

2. When I graduated high school I won an award for the student that had put in the most volunteer hours in our community.

3. My favorite way to eat a slice of pizza is to scrape the cheese off and use a fork to eat the gooey dough, then put the cheese back on and slice it up into little bite size pieces. I genuinely think it tastes better this way!

4. I have been with my boyfriend for 7 1/2 years. I knew him while growing up and we even have pictures of us together when we were toddlers.

5. Everyday when I get home I immediately change into leggings and a t-shirt, or sweatpants (cute ones of course). I can't stand to wear clothes I've worn all day around the house.

6. I do my makeup every morning either on the bus or when I get to work, I never get up in time to actually get this done at home before I leave.

7. My favorite season is the Fall. I love when the leaves change colors and drop off the trees, I love when the time changes and it's dark earlier, I love buying and bundling up in new fall clothes like boots, jackets, hats and scarves.

So do you feel enlightened about me now? Ok, now to pass this lovely honor on...I choose the following blogging ladies:

Anna @ Acquainted With The Night

Heather @ A Measure of...

Claire @ Bicoastally

Mel @ Idee Geniale

Happy Weekend everyone!!!

Finding Boots

2010-08-12T09:21:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how long I've wanted a pair of cowboy boots. I really don't remember when the obsession struck..maybe last summer? I just know that I've been on the search for the perfect pair for a long time now. I also can't tell you how many times I've put on an outfit recently and though, 'wow a pair of old beat up cowboy boots would look awesome with this outfit'. So it was due time that my patience paid off. I told the story in yesterday's post about how I found them. So just to recap it went something like this...found antique store, found boots in antique store, heart pounding, hands shakily looking for my size, tried them on....SMILE! It was like Cinderella or something!

Anyways, I thought I would do a little shoot with them. I must say I didn't wear this outfit out, yet. This is a preview of many cowboy boot adorned outfits to come. I just had to share these beauties with my blogging friends!!

Weekend Getaway

2010-08-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we decided to go find the Summer. As you may have noticed I am not at all pleased with the dreary and cool weather we've had lately in San Francisco and the east bay. We decided we'd really had enough and ditched our town to head three hours north to Chico. Now, Chico is known for two things..CSU Chico the big party school, and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. We were there to enjoy that later of the two.

As soon as I got off work on Friday I packed and we got on the road. It was a long drive and we got to our hotel around 11pm or so. The drive up there starts out fine, but soon enough you find yourself on tiny highways, and eventually on country roads. I had to use my high beams a lot, which was freaking me out. So I was really glad when we got there so that I didn't have to drive anymore!!

The next morning we got up, had breakfast and headed towards downtown Chico for their farmer's market. On the way we found the ultimate antique store, so much time was spent there. When I say ultimate I mean ULTIMATE, there was room after room of different seller's areas. Each seller had their own style and little things they had collected. And *bonus* it was all priced to sell. We saw so many things that could have fit into our little home, but I was determined to not go too crazy. First I found a white and turquoise planter, it is simple and pretty so I had to have it. I can already think of so many places to put it, so it was a purchase that will go far. Then...for the purchase that made my weekend....cowboy boots!! I walked around the corner of one room to the next and saw one pair of second hand cowboy boots, then another, then two more pairs, then a whole wall (WALL) of cowboy boots. This was one of those moments that my heart started racing and my hands shaking. I just knew there would be a pair that fit me. So I started looking at all their tags hoping to see my size. The first pair I tried on was huge, so I realized they were all tagged with man sizes. So I subtracted two from my size, and the next pair I looked at was marked with my size. I pulled it out and they were beautiful! I quickly pulled my shoes off and got my foot into one of them. My eyes were wide and my smile even wider, they fit!! Therefore, they were purchased and worn the rest of the weekend.

After our antique success we headed to the farmer's market and met up with our friends that drove up for the weekend too. After some browsing it was time to head over to the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Sierra Nevada brews all their beer in Chico and has since they opened in 1980. They are a great company that runs their brewery with sustainability and the environment in mind. They have solar panels, they capture and reuse Co2, they feed their spent grain to local cows, and so on. They're an awesome business model for sustainability, and for inspiration. We had a little tour then browsed the gift shop and went to their restaurant for an early dinner.

First we all did a tasting of their beers. It was shocking to me to see how many beers they actually brew. I can honestly say I only, for sure, know of one beer they sell and that is their Pale Ale. But when you are there in Chico and especially in the restaurant there are lots of different beers to choose from. We tried about 16 or so different beers that were all brewed there recently. And we had an awesome dinner! First we all started with a round of delicious appetizers, there was fried calamari, a sausage platter and buffalo wings. Then for the main course I ordered the fillet mingnon, which came with jumbo prawns and seasonal vegetable. It was such a great meal! Our evening was spent resting out bellies by the pool, then eventually we headed out to a local bar to see why they call it a party town...and the rest is history.

All in all a great weekend! I found the sun and cowboy boots and my boyfriend got to explore the wonders of the beer world.

Meet Jordana

2010-08-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

Makeup isn't something I feel like should cost a lot of money. Sure, wrinkle creams, serums, and other anti aging products I will splash out the cash for, but makeup..nah. I'm a drug store shopper. I've worn Max Factor, Maybelline, Revlon, L'Oreal, Wet n Wild, and all the others. I'm not partial to any brand, but have found some pretty great products at drug stores. I'm very noncommittal to makeup, so most times I never finish a whole eyeliner pencil before I find a new color I want to try. I usually get sick of an eyeshadow color before I've even gotten halfway through the palette and I usually have anywhere from 3 to 5 lip glosses in my purse at all times.

So imagine my excitement when I found Jordana Cosmetics at my local Walgreens drug store. They sell several styles and colors of eyeliner, lip liner and glosses and all for $1.99 or under!! My coworker and I have made it a little bit of a lunch time tradition to go buy a new gloss or eyeliner. Lately it's been normal for us to come back from lunch and try out our new gloss and compare with the others we have in our purses, we'll also layer on a new color of eyeliner to try it out. I have found my favorites. They have a liquid eyeliner marker called 'FabuLiner' that is awesome! It comes in black and dark brown. They also have a clear gloss that gives Mac's lip glass a run for it's money. And there is a berry colored gloss and a purple eyeliner that I will be wearing a lot this Fall.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Trying To Be Healthy

2010-08-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

Eating healthy. It's hard to do, we all know that. So it's natural to slip up sometimes. But recently we've really been trying to eat healthy. Lots of fruit, veggies, brown rice and some proteins. I was especially proud of this meal. My boyfriend bbq'd some steaks and I prepared a swiss chard side dish and brown rice.

We almost exclusively use Trader Joe's frozen brown rice. Three pouches of it come in each $3.99 box and to prepare it you just pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes. So I got that going, then sauteed swiss chard in olive oil, onion and garlic. It was a very quick and easy dinner.

We rounded out our 'all the food groups' dinner with a little bit of butterfinger ice cream for dessert, yummers!

Summery Boots

2010-08-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

So far this Summer I haven't been able to really have more than a couple hours in a full on Summer outfit. It's been a cold one. I've had to leave my comfort zone a bit and find creative ways to be Summery but warm. I'm usually a skirt, tank and flip flop girl in the Summer, but now I've turned to boots. I have a pair of boots that I picked up last Fall at Target and I've been wearing them often with skirts. I like how they open up at the top and have more of a cowboy boot look that goes great with skirts.

I can't really pull this look off at work, so I tend to wear it out in the evening and, to the grocery store. So last time we needed to run out to the store this was the choice outfit. It kept my toes warm and still felt a little like a Summer outfit.
The necklace I am wearing was given to me by my Mom. It was hers in the 70's and although I'm still not sure if it is real turquoise I love it and wear it all the time. I've had it since I was a teen, and every so many years turquoise pops back into the trendy jewelery realm. So I always pull this necklace out and wear it with pride, knowing that, at this point, it's a vintage piece that has been in my jewelry box for years.

I hope you all had a great weekend! I have a few posts from the weekend in the works!

skirt: Old Navy
boots: Target
belt: H&M
necklace: vintage

Happy Weekend!

2010-08-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy weekend! We will be celebrating our little kitty's 3rd birthday this Saturday! For all of you that haven't met her yet, her name is gigi and we love her to pieces. She's a crack up and makes every day just a little better than it would have been without her. I can't even remember what our home life was like without her.

Something else you may not know is that gigi is a traveling cat! She loves car rides and has been with us on several road trips to southern California, Lake Tahoe and even Reno. We try to take her with us if we can, and we think she probably appreciates that.

here are some pictures of gigi through the years :)

vintage gigi

first time out on grass

during one of many road trips

halloween poses

2nd birthday present..homegrown cat grass

hotel room play time

Dressed For Finds

2010-08-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

This was my outfit from last weekend. It's a bit behind because I wasn't sure if I was going to post it. I am just loving my new green sweater so much, but thought it might be a bit much to have two green sweater posts in one week. We had a very busy and productive Saturday, family visited in the evening and we spent most of the morning and afternoon cleaning and running errands. When my family left around 9pm my boyfriend got an itch to finish the night off with a movie. So we hurriedly changed into warmer clothes, to brave the cold nights we've been having here, and rushed off to the movies. We saw Dinner For Schmucks, which was pretty funny.

In my rush getting ready I just grabbed the most comfortable clothes I could think of for an impromptu mini date (I say mini date because actually I was tagging along with my bf and his friend, so it really wasn't a date at all I guess) and tied a white scarf around my head. I wore a pair of stretch jeans folded up with my new Tom's, and a layered a tank and t-shirt under my green sweater.

The next morning when we woke up at the crack of dawn and dashed off to the Antiques By The Bay flea market I grabbed the easiest outfit I could...the one I wore last night! It's ok to be a lil' dirty when you visit the flea market, haha. So these pictures are of me after we got home from the flea market and before I crashed on a lounge chair by the pool for a long afternoon nap (and got a bit of a sunburn).

I like this outfit because it's a bit 50's/60's, but very current. I like the smartness of the cardigan and headband and the comfort and simplicity of the jeans and navy t-shirt. And, of course, I love my Tom's!

jeans: f21
sweater: Old Navy
t-shirt and tank: probably f21
shoes: Tom's

Snap Krackle!

2010-08-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

My favorite food blog is heythattastesgood.com. I figured out a little over a year ago that I have some food allergies and intolerances. So I now avoid gluten and foods from the nightshade family. Nightshade foods are what I am allergic to, they are tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant and a few other things and I have an intolerance to gluten. It's very hard to find recipes that don't include nightshades, so I just alter a lot of recipes. However, it is very easy to find recipes that are gluten free. One of my best resources for gluten free recipes and yummy recipes all together is heythattastesgood.com. I've gotten sausage recipes, soup recipes, cake recipes and cookie recipes from this site. Jill is the blogger that runs the site and she usually makes recipes that surround her life. So it's fun to read along while getting inspiration for cooking and baking.

Last night I used her recipe for gluten free peanut butter rice crispy treats. Which you can find here. You can see that she decided on a whim to stir in some peanut butter. Well, that's where I was sold. If there is one food that I love it is peanut butter (ok maybe pizza too...and chocolate too). My favorite candy is Reese's Pieces, my favorite sandwich is a pb&j and my favorite thing on toast is butter with melted peanut butter. She turned a regular, done it a thousand times, recipe into something amazing! I made sure to by gluten free rice crispies and marshmallows on my last visit to the grocery store and made these babies last night. And they are SO tasty!! I encourage you to givem a try..gluten free or not!

Purple Paisley Pretty

2010-08-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

I bought this dress from H&M this past Spring and just love it. I wear it to work frequently and I love that I can wear so many different accessories with it. I've remixed this dress so many times. So for my first photo shoot with it I decided to keep it simple. I have on a turquoise Brighton necklace that I recently received as a gift, with an antique locket. To match that I wore one of my turquoise rings and a chunky beige cuff. My shoes are from Target and were my first venture into very tall heels. They're actually pretty comfortable and I've worn them out a lot lately.

I love the 1970's feel to this print and wish I owned more things that took me back to that era.

What's your favorite era for clothes and style?

dress: H&M

shoes: Target

jewelry: vintage, Brighton and f21

My Finds

2010-08-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

Antiques by the Bay was quite the success this month. We did set out to find a dining table, however when we realized that wasn't going to happen I set my sights on some smaller items for our place.

I have been looking for the perfect salt and pepper shakers for awhile. We used to have these cute little ones my Mom gave us from her china set, but lost one of them in the move. So I was hoping to come across turquoise fiesta ware shakers. My patience paid off after many months and I found these beauties!

To continue the theme of turquoise ceramics I fell in love with this large piece of pottery. It isn't marked at all, so I can't tell if it's homemade or what, but I love it and it adds color to our neutral color scheme.

Walking along one of the many aisles my eye saw something it liked. I would have paid up to $30 for this lovely piece of wall art but got it for $10!

At the same booth as the turquoise pottery I found this glass ceiling lampshade and it looks great in my boyfriends tropical theme man cave room (our guest room).

And last, but certainly not least, this little candle holder. It's an extremely heavy piece of amber colored glass with awesome details!

Antiques By The Bay

2010-08-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we happened to have a weekend where we had no plans. Well, you know how that goes. As soon as you have nothing to do you fill your time up with all sorts of things. We took it easy most of Saturday, but then Saturday night remembered that the monthly Antiques By The Bay fair was being held this Sunday. So bright and early we staggered out of bed at made it there by about 8am on Sunday. We were hoping to score a dining table, and are always looking for retro/kitschy home decor. We also have our own things that we look for, my boyfriend keeps his eye out for cool 'man' things and beer signage, and I stop at almost every jewelry and vintage clothing booth to see if I can find items to get excited over. The fair is completely overwhelming. I don't know how else to explain it, it is o v e r whelming!!

We bundled up and faced the foggy morning, grabbed coffee and jetted straight to the end of the booths so that we could work our way forward zigzagging through all the aisles. There were several dining tables, but out of our price range, so we switched gears and went for the home decor and our other go to items. We ended up with some great stuff and stayed in budget, which was a bonus!

I will post our fair finds soon!!

Tastes Like A Burger

2010-08-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

I've been hearing my boyfriend talk about buffalo burgers for years now. However, I've never tried one. We walked to a little bar and grill that we've been wanting to try the other night, and what did they have...buffalo burgers. And on the low cal menu, nonetheless! We kind of thought they would just have pub style food, but they actually had an extensive menu and the fact that they had some low cal options means we'll be going back time and time again.

So this buffalo burger, it was pretty great! The picture just does it no justice. My boyfriend thinks it's weird to take pictures of food (ok I guess it kind of is) so I always have to whip the camera out real fast and I can't use a flash or he'll get very embarrassed. You can't even see the meat in this burger, sorry! It was so tasty though. the burger was lighter and had a bit more texture. I got mine with no bun or tomato, and had pickles, onions, lettuce and mustard on it. They also gave us these little fruit cups of watermelon and pineapple.

How do you like your burger? Do you alter it like me and take the bun off, or load it full of condiments and all the toppings?

Thar She Blows

2010-08-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Many months ago I got a call from my boyfriend that he had found the perfect painting of a ship at a thrift store and that he bought it. I think you can imagine all the different types of ship paintings that went though my head at that moment. I was thinking a sail boat crashing in the waves with a seagull above. Then I thought about a little row boat, a large yacht, a ferry boat all sorts of things. I never thought it was an awesome pirate ship!! I don't know why but that just didn't cross my mind. So when I walked in the door, given the reaction he got from me over the phone, he had thought he had wasted his money on something I would never allow him to hang on the wall. I really fell for this painting. It's nothing I would have picked out but it's pretty frickin awesome. Well, we've been busy and didn't really know where to hang it so it's been leaning against a wall by our dining table since then.

Today I set out to change that. I carried it around the house looking for the perfect spot. The pirate ship painting has now found it's new home in the kitchen! Kinda weird given that I wanted to decorate my kitchen with cute retro, kitchy old food adds, but the ship just gives the kitchen what it was lacking. It gives it substance and it makes the kitchen feel kind of edgy.

Beach Walk

2010-08-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

On Friday night we needed to get out of the house and forget the past week. So what, at first, was going to be a little walk down to the beach actually ended up being a long walk down to the beach, then to dinner. We walk to the water and enjoyed the warm sunshine. It's been a really cold summer for us, so anytime the clouds clear we try to get out and let the sun hit us. It was a freezing cold and super wet winter, now we have a cold and foggy summer...what gives?!

There's a little pier by the water that we spend some time on. When the tide is low you can see that there are a lot of marsh lands near where we live. We got a bit creative and took this pictures of our shadows.

We really enjoy living by the water. It's nice just to have that open space near us, and the peacefulness that the water brings. I've started jogging since we moved here, and we try to go on a lot of walks. Sitting in front of the tv is something we're trying to do less of these days, so hopefully there are many of these nights ahead of us.

Light Dinner

2010-07-31T15:45:00.000-07:00

It was a long day at work and the last thing I felt like doing was cooking dinner. I just wanted to lay on the couch with a glass of wine and watch some reality tv. My favorite show in the Summer is always Big Brother, and it's another great season. I can't believe I've been watching this show for 12 seasons now!! So this summer every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday I look forward to watching another episode. I'm a real dorky fan and even look online to see what's going on in the house that they don't show during the tv shows.

Anyway, I looked in the fridge and right away saw lettuce, spinach and left over chicken and it was decided that we would have a salad for dinner. So I prepared the lettuce, mixed in spinach leaves, shredded some carrots, minces onions and sliced up the chicken. Voila! Green salad with chicken. I used a little balsamic vinegar on mine and my boyfriend used ranch dressing, both were great options. I also made a little bowl of split pea soup for each of us (from the can). Soon enough I'll be cooking up fall and winter soups and hearty diners. But for now I'm taking the easy way out for a bit. I've already been searching out new recipes, I like to cook healthy, low cal and stay away from gluten as much as I can. Anyone have any great recipes to share?

The Day I Didn't Wear Leggings To Work

2010-07-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, the day finally came..I didn't wear leggings to work, can you believe it?! It was a pretty great day. It was warm and I had a dress that was long enough to wear to work without leggings. Lately it's been so hard to find the right length dress. I need to wear something that looks professional, but all the cute dresses and skirts are getting shorter and shorter. So I was very excited to find this dress. I paired it with my new green cardigan and my favorite jewelry of the moment. I also wore my new white flats that I am loving. I wish I could wear them every day this summer.

Do you ever find yourself in a rut where you want to wear the same accessories everyday? I get into a groove with accessories that I love and want to pair them with every outfit I can think of until I run out of ideas.

Today was also my first day wearing my new eyeliner. A coworker of mine shared her eyeliner secret with me and it's Walgreens, $1.49 Jordana Fabuliner! I bought it in black just to try, but fell in love with it instantly. It's an eyeliner marker and it went on so easy. I totally recommend it! And their clear lip gloss for $1.49 is supposed to be just as good as Mac gloss. I'll be sure to post about it when I try it.

dress: Old Navy

sweater: Old Navy

shoes: BP Shoes

jewelry: Melrose Trading Post and f21

Sittin On The Dock Of The Bay

2010-07-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

I have a desk job so I try to get out at lunch time for some fresh air. Sometimes I just do some errands, but lately I've been shopping a lot during lunch. Working downtown puts me right by Forever21, H&M, Marshall's, Old Navy and pretty much every other store you can imagine. So to curb that bad habit today I decided to walk down to the water. I work about 10 minutes from the Embarcadero. As I walked down there the tall buildings created some shadded street blocks and some sunny street blocks. I froze on some blocks and warmed up on others. Then when I made to the water it was sunny and warm. Such a nice Summer day! I sat for a few minutes on a bench and walked all the way down one of the piers for some good pictures of the Embarcadero.

This area of the Embarcadero is especially important to me. It was here that way back in December 2002 my boyfriend and I realized that we liked each other. It was the night that sparks ignited. There is a little spot here, along the water, where the sidewalks ends and we were just out there watching the water and talking. Well, several month later there was a cupid's bow and arrow sculpture erected there...true story!! Pretty special, huh!

Only and hour for lunch so sooner than I wanted it was time to scoot on back to work. Did you know that a lot of the sidewalks in San Francisco have glitter on them that sparkles brightly on sunny days?!

Vintage Butterfly

2010-07-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

There were only a select few things that my Grandma held onto over the years. Lots of photographs, one fur collar coat, one very retro dress, one of my Grandpa's cameras and some accessories. One of those accessories happens to be this awesome vintage butterfly belt. I received it from my Mom with another belt and a few other keepsakes after she had cleaned out my Grandma's closets. My Grandma loved butterflies. She had several butterfly things around her house and adored a birthday card or anything with a butterfly on it. I also love butterflies, but felt overwhelmed with the idea of wearing this belt. I wasn't sure that I would have the right outfit to wear it with, so it has been in with my other accessories for a few months now just waiting for the day. The first outing with this butterfly belt was in Palm Springs, and today was the second time I've worn it. I paired it with a green dress and yellow wedges. I love wearing vintage clothes, accessories and jewelry, but it's so much better knowing that a woman you completely looked up to bought it and wore it in her day.

Washing Out The Shampoo

2010-07-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

One complaint I always had about our shower is that the water pressure wasn't strong enough. I would use the master bathroom shower most days, but on days that I needed to wash my hair I would need to use the guest bathroom. The master bathroom shower head just didn't spray strong enough to get the shampoo out of my hair. This past Sunday when we found ourselves with some time to kill we headed down to Lowe's. My boyfriend was on the hunt for the perfect wallpaper for an accent wall behind our tv, and I was on the hunt for a new shower head.

After quizzing the salesman in the bath hardware section about water pressure, spray modes, shower head height, and all sorts of things he probably didn't know how to answer, I decided on my new beauty. The 6" Waterpik RainFall! After some minor adjustments and some trial and error I now have a shower head that sprays with a mighty force. I immediately jumped into the shower and tested it by washing my hair....and tada! it cleaned my hair perfectly. All the shampoo and conditioner rinsed out, yay! Plus, with the increased water pressure I got a bonus neck and shoulder massage.

Street Fair!

2010-07-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

Oh boy do I love street fairs. I love all the people that come out, I love the hand crafted goods for sale and all the art work you can find. I also love the food! I'd been planning for this annual street fair for months. In fact, I think I had my parents reserve the weekend back in February or March! We had my parents and my boyfriend's parents over to enjoy the street fair this past weekend. I kind of felt that it would be something to look forward to. We got our place in November, moved in December, marathoned it through the holidays and have been endlessly fixing up our place. I kind of figured by July we would have made a large dent in our to-do list and be able to celebrate and enjoy a day out in our new town.

Well, it worked out just that way, and it was a great day! Our parents were a huge HUGE support to us throughout this process of buying a place, moving in and fixing it up. So having them out to enjoy our place, our town and a bbq dinner made by us was very necessary.

Did I mention I love street fair food!! I frickin love street fair food, especially corn on the cob. They always have different sauces they put on the corn and it is so tasty. I also love all of the other food on a stick and fried food options. I can't always eat all of it, but I do enjoy the smells of all the tasty food as I walk down the streets.

Until next year summer street fair!