Category Archives: Food

Prom 2016

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Last weekend we had our prom at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. I was super excited to hear that it was planned for earlier in the school year, which meant we were able to include it in our yearbook!

Prom is such a milestone event, and I feel lucky that I am able to go every year and see my students looking so beautiful. They really dress up for it, and look like little stars on the red carpet. I have the distinct pleasure of taking a few photos for it each year, and it’s one of my favorite events as a high school teacher!

prom collage

All the staff typically come, and look pretty swanky themselves! This year a small group of us met up for dinner at Left Bank before.

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How was your prom? Do you have fond memories of it? Would you enjoy going to it every year?

Love,

-S

Fall in Love with Fall

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I personally really love Fall. I like all of the things that make the cold crisp mornings and start of a new season feel so much better. So without adieu, here is my welcome to Fall Bucket List!

Fall 2015

  • Explore a corn maze
  • Pick out some pumpkins to decorate your house with (i love the white mini-ones!)
  • Bake a pie
  • Make Chili (I love my dad’s recipe!)
  • Go apple picking (have a sunday planned to do that with my brother)
  • Make s’mores
  • Build a crackling fire and enjoy a good book
  • Decorate pumpkins
  • Smell cinnamon Candles at Bath & Body Works and try not to buy every Fall/Holiday candle scent
  • Pull out the ol’ galoshes and splash in puddles
  • Cozy up with your blankets on the couch watching the fall shows premiere ( i’m so excited for so many shows to return)
  • Go for an early morning walk in the crisp foggy air
  • Decorate your front door or porch with some cute fall decorations
  • Start planning your halloween costume
  • Start your morning with a steaming cup of tea instead of coffee
  • find and devour ALL of the candy corn

 

I also love October because it’s my birthday month. Even without that special date, I love everything about the summer ending and a new season beginning. This year it really felt like our California summer lasted from March to well, now! I am really looking forward to pulling out my box of mittens, hats, scarfs and fuzzy socks!

How do you celebrate fall? Do you like the cooler temperatures of the upcoming weeks or do you wish summer would stick around?

Love,

-S

Academy of Sciences

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SF
My brother’s best friend Alex is pretty much part of our family. He comes on our family vacations to Tahoe, is invited to our birthday parties and nights out in SF, and is a cool kid. He fits in so well with our (crazy) family.

Last weekend was his birthday. My brother and I joined him and his parents for a gorgeously beautiful day in the city. We started out with a tasty breakfast at Padrecito in Cole Valley in SF. I had scrumptious fish tacos. Sadly I ate them too quickly to snap a picture.

SF

Yum, Churros!

 

From there we uber’d to the Academy of Sciences. I hadn’t been since high school, so it was fun to see their newer exhibits. We went into the Osher Rainforest, which is my favorite part of the museum. It’s a four story dome that houses a rainforest and an aquarium on the lowest level. You start on the ground level and slowly walk around and up looking at the tropical flora and different animals. Then, you plunge down to the aquarium level (in an elevator) and get to look at all the different animals that live in the ocean.

SFSFSFSF

I particularly enjoyed the Earthquake zone where they had built a temporary exhibit where you could feel the two major earthquakes that have hit SF in the last 100 years.

SF

On our way out we got to meet their albino alligator named Claude. He was one of the few animals that I particularly remembered from my previous visit.

SF

What was the latest museum you visited? What was your favorite part about it?

Love,

-S

Golfing in Arnold

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The weekend after school started my friend Kim and her boyfriend Aaron treated me to a decadent weekend in Arnold. Her Grandfather and mother have a family house in Arnold. Kim and I are long time friends, we met at our all girls preparatory middle school. Kim and I are both teachers, we love the T.V. show Suits, and are tight Snapchat buddies. In short, we have a ridiculous amount of fun together.

This summer we hung out a ton, and discussed Arnold. She had invited me to a weekend up there in middle school, and I haven’t been back since. She proposed a weekend getaway. We met up Friday after work, gassed up the SUV, put Cali the dog in the backseat with me as my snuggle-buddy, and hit the freeway.

Arnold 2015

Her Grandpa is amazing. He made so much yummy food, from pancakes before we went golfing (more on that later!) to hands down the best chicken teriyaki that I have ever had!

Arnold 2015

Saturday morning Kim, Aaron, Kim’s dad, and his best friend took me golfing. We ate tasty snacks, drank margaritas on ice, and they let me drive the golf-cart! It was gorgeous weather, nice and sunny without being too hot. The grounds were lovely, and everyone was so much fun about me not knowing all the rules. It was such a blast.

Arnold 2015 Arnold 2015 Arnold 2015

I wasn’t golfing, but I still had a great time thanks to great company and a beautiful course. Who knew golfing could be so fun Have you ever been nervous about something and found it more fun than you planned?

Love,

-S

Mountain Air

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A week before work started back up again, my brother and I went to Tahoe. Now, my brother and I exist on slightly different sleep schedules during summer. I, not using my alarm clock daily, and sleep in until 8 or 9 and stay up later (to the shocking time of 11 or thereabouts). My brother, who is usually roused by his rather large and rather noisy pup at the tune of 5am, has become an early riser.

So, on the weekend we went for Tahoe, my brother stated he would like me to get up and drive to Tahoe round 5am. I tried to negotiate, but I lost. Off we went.

On the plus side, we had a rather nice sunrise during our drive.

Sunrise

We met up with my father in Truckee where I ate what appeared to be the largest bowl of oatmeal.

Oatmeal

We were headed to see our good friends new house just outside of Truckee. They are nestled pretty deeply in the woods, and have a gorgeous backyard and beautiful mountain house.

Truckee Truckee

We grabbed the pup and took a walk up the hill behind their house. They have a great view of the backside of North Star. The pup promptly found the largest stick he could carry, and proceeded to bang it on every tree and rock on his hike up the mountain. I also got to see their adorable 2-story treehouse!

Tahoe 2015 Tahoe 2015 Tahoe 2015 Tahoe 2015

 

After our walk, we drove back to our house on the other side of the mountains. Tahoe is always so relaxing, full of tasty food, extra sleep, and lazy movie time. I’m hoping to get more Tahoe time this school-year, as it didn’t seem to happen often enough last year.

Where is your favorite place to relax and unwind?

Love,

-S

Fresh Picked Strawberries

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On Thursday, my mum, Cathy and I went berry picking. We drove down to Gizdich Ranch, which is this charming pick your own farm in Watsonville that has tons of fruits. I have been there in the past and picked apples, but this time there were strawberries in season.

The strawberries were on the smaller side, but were juicy and full of flavor. It took all my control not to eat all of them! We picked until our hands were red and dirty, and we had picked in almost every row.

Gizdich RanchGizdich Ranch Gizdich Ranch Gizdich Ranch

We ended up picking a ton of strawberries so that Mum could make some jam and we got a triple berry pie and gallons of fresh apple juice to take home. That pie was delicious!

Have you ever gone to a pick your own place? Any places you recommend I visit sometime?

Love,

-S

High Style

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About two weeks ago, my mum and I drove up to SF to see an amazing exhibit with our friend Lisa at the Legion of Honor museum.  Quite possibly one of my favorite museums, (next to the Met) we were interested in a couture fashion traveling exhibit on loan from the Brooklyn Museum.

The exhibit included ball gowns, day wear, bathing suits, and accessories from major designers (think french couture and some American woman designers) from 1910 to 1980. Everything was beautifully lit, and all the costumers were still in great condition. I had seen some of these items in fashion coffee table books, but it was pretty cool to see some of these iconic pieces in real life.

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After a long morning at the museum, we drove to lunch at the Beach Chalet. I had a delicious carbonara pasta with an amazing pomegranate blueberry lemonade.

Beach Chalet Beach Chalet Beach Chalet

We had an amazing view of the beach and the water as we ate. I would eat there so often if I lived closer to SF.  It is only a 1.5 hour drive up to the city but i don’t go every often, so every time I go it feels like a fun treat!

Love,

-S