Category Archives: Friends

Baking Adventures, Halloween, and New Shoes

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It had just been one thing after another this week! Last Sunday, I picked Annie up and we made some tasty things with my new Kitchen Aid Stand mixer.

My new mixer.

My new mixer.

We munched on dim sum while we baked and I had a lot of fun. We made an orange bundt cake, cranberry orange bread, pumpkin bread,  spicy cinnamon pumpkin muffins and blueberry muffins,

Our baking results

Our baking results

Work was busy this week, with two rounds of testing for the teens. We often get home around 6 and often I just want to crawl straight into bed with the pups when I do finally get home.

On Thursday a few of us grabbed italian food for dinner. We got grand total of 3 trick-or-treaters. Quite frankly, I was disappointed we didn’t get more at our new place. But the three that did come, we loaded them up with candy!

My students were sleepy and off task Friday, which was a bummer for them since a lot of work was also due. I stayed later than planned at work getting ready for the next round of CAHSEE next week.

I met up with Annie at ValleyFaire and we shopped! With payday on Thursday I wanted to splurge a bit! I had picked up a treat for myself last weekend, but when I finally opened the little brown Kate Spade bag (most of you know exactly the bag I am talking about!) my new bow bracelet was twisted/bent! So our first stop was Nordstrom’s, where a nice young lady switched it out for a new sparkly one. This is my new bauble!

My new bracelet.

My new bracelet.

I tried on a pair of Uggs because my old pair is so old and well-loved and really not fit for anyone outside of the pups and my roomie’s eyes. Of course, they did not have the correct size for my giant feet, so I settled on ordering them. (Thank goodness Nordstrom’s doesn’t charge for shipping!) Can’t wait for them to arrive!

We wandered over to Sephora,where I picked up a Smashbox eyeliner cream I had been eyeing. I use their Photo Finish Light primer, and i love it!

My primer.

My primer.

It makes my make-up last, and it seems that it make my makeup stick better. I’m normally a warm person, and halfway through the day my make-up is gone. But a friend had recommended this brand, and they are my go-to primer now. I had also heard good things about the eyeliner cream, so we played around with it. I convinced Annie to try some of their products as well, since we have similar type of skin.

Next stop on our shopping spree: shoes, shoes, shoes. I always think of this Kirsty MacColl song that my dad and I listen to. It is called In These Shoes. It is really a fabulous song. You should listen to it.

While Annie got sucked into trying on lipstick at Chanel, I looked at shoes. With my giant feet (and toes) I often have to order shoes, and pray to the shoe gods that they fit. More often than not, I end up returning them because they gape, pinch, or otherwise look odd. I found a pair of Corso Como heels that I liked, and also ordered a pair of black boots by them in the hopes that they fit as well.

The new heels

The new heels

The new boots.

The new boots.

Currently some of my work shoes are not as comfortable as I would like. I am looking forward to having some happier feet.

Sorry for the lack of posts, I was having issues with my laptop suddenly shutting down randomly. I had my tech guy at work do his magic and it seems to be fine now.  I hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday!

Love,

-S

An evening with Friends, and Gallery Hopping in the City

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On Wednesday, Annie had a few of us over for a casual get-together. We munched on a few things, and sipped margaritas. Our usual crowd was there, and it was just what I needed to finish out my week. Work has been running me pretty ragged, and it was exactly what I needed. My friends are always the cure for anything. We played Cards against Humanity, which is always a blast and very entertaining.

 

On Thursday, Roomie and I had professional development at our sister school in Hayward. I met the other two art teachers, and had a wonderful time talking shop. As I am the only art teacher at my school, and building my own curriculum, bouncing my ideas off these two guys really helped.

While the rest of the district had a second day of professional development in Hayward, the three of us met up at 111 Minna Gallery for a day of wandering around looking at art galleries.

The weather was warm and sunny, unusual for San Francisco in October. We drifted from 111 Minna to the Academy of Art, and stumbled into a ancient five story building with a multiple small galleries on each floor.

We grabbed a bite to eat at Le Boulanger on Market and walked over to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. They had a beautiful exhibit. I snapped these there

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My favorite piece at Yerba Buena was tucked into the room in the front called the Room of Big Ideas. I loved the wall that was there. I wanted to take it home with me.

I loved that last line, so I took a picture of just that. Sometimes it is very hard to live in the moment, to feel everything around me. But this wall, this wall reminded me of why.

From there we sat in the garden, and took in the glorious weather.

 

 

 

We walked back to Minna and parted ways. I walked over to Nordstrom’s, where a girl from my small group at church works in the Fine Jewelry floor. We chatted for a while, and then I realised what time it was. I dashed over to the Kate Spade section, and treated myself to a little something!

I ran errands today, and tidied up around the house. Last weekend my family and I celebrated my birthday. My parents gave me a stand mixer!!! So, tomorrow I plan on baking up a storm! Annie is coming over and we are tackling a long list of yummy treats! Tomorrow I’ll show you what I picked up from Nordstrom’s and whatever tasty things we bake!

I hope you have some exciting plans for tonight!  Saturdays are always the best night to have a little fun.

Love,

-S

 

Work, Testing and Becoming a Yearbook Teacher,

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Work has been busy, and it occurs to me that I haven’t really talked about what the Roomie and I do during the day.

The Roomie and I work together at a small charter high school in san Jose. I teach two periods of intro to art, and then work as the site testing coordinator for the rest of the afternoon. I tackle a combination of paperwork from MAPS (Measure of Academic Progress), CELDT (California English Language Development) CAHSEE ( California High School Exit Exam) and most recently added PSAT and SAT Testing for our school. I organise, assist proctor, proctor the tests, and then collect and ship all the documents back.

In one aspect, it is nice that I teach for a bit, and then get to format the rest of the day any way I choose. But, it is also a lot of paperwork to read through (Dull stuff too), and mind-numbing test proctoring. I have been playing a lot of catch-up in both sections in addition to starting my BITSA training.

Also, I am the yearbook coordinator for our school. Getting that program ( a club at lunch really) up and running has been a lot of fumbling in the dark since there aren’t many notes left from my predecessor. He has been helpful, but I am making a lot of decisions that I hope will pan out well!! We shall wait and see.

The Roomie is also working hard, and teaches the girls soccer team after-school. We get home most days around 6, and dive into dinner and cuddle time with the pups. They sorely miss us, so we try to give them lots of love when we are home. Our days are long but the weeks tend to fly by. We have been very busy with the quarter ending this past Monday, so writing posts has somewhat fallen to the wayside. Now that I have had a few weeks of work under my belt, I am hoping to build gym time and blogging time back into my daily life. I also just got a Canon Rebel Xti from work to play around with for yearbook, so expect more photo saturated posts coming soon!

Today and tomorrow Roomie and I are at a professional development session at our sister school in Hayward. Tomorrow my group (the art teachers), are hitting up museums in San Fran, so expect a photo filled entry tomorrow!

Happy almost Friday! (it feels like one to me since we don’t have students for two days!)

Ps. What should I be for Halloween? I have no clue! 

Love,

-S

All In-Vested

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A few weeks ago, the Roomie and I hit the mall on the first day of a long weekend. We did some serious damage! The Roomie walked away with a super cute red vest from Gap, and she raves about it. I was jealous then, and still plan on getting a red one myself at some point. I picked up my first down vest last year from J.Crew and now I am totally on the vest train! Pinterest has been showing me all sorts of cute mixes of collared shirts, sweaters and vests in cute but bold color schemes. I like wearing vests because they keep me warm in the morning, but later in the day they are easy to take off when it warms up.

I have been loving these vests, and have really been holding back on getting every single one of them!!

J.Crew

J.Crew

J.Crew

Gap

Gap

 

Banana Republic.

Banana Republic.

 

Do you have any vests? Do you love  them as much as I do? Do you like any of these vests? Would you get any of them?

I am thinking about making a board on Pinterest solely for outfits involving vests!

Love,

-S

Backyard Photos, Reflections and Forgotten Memories

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I swear, as I am getting older, my memory is getting worse! Remember when I talked about making lemon bars for my friend’s wedding? Well, Robert came over and took some photos of me both in the backyard and getting the lemon bars prepped.

I completely forgot that he had sent me the final set a few days before my New York trip. Silly me. Here is another example of how ridiculously talented my best friend is. #bestfriendsforlife

In case you missed his other shoots, they are here and here.

This one is my favorite:

Watch: Miami Beach

Dress: Anthropologie (similar here and here)

Earrings: Kate Spade

Necklace: Kate Spade

Shoes: Steve Madden Flats 

The mornings are crisp and cool here in California, and mellow into a beautiful sunny 70 degrees by early afternoon. I love being able to pull on my boots and a cardigan in the morning, but still enjoy the sun on my face as I leave work.

What do you love about where you live?

Love,

-S

Emma Ward, Hidden Waterfalls and Apple Picking

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On Saturday Uncle Chip, Dad, Mum, Richard and I explored downtown troy. We started off with some hot coffee from Spill In The Beans, a local joint. We walked through a lovely farmers market and picked up a tasty goat chevre. From there we checked out a local all-girls high school called Emma Willard. The campus was unbelievable!

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Next we took a short walk down to the local stream, which used to be used to gather energy for the town. We enjoyed hopping from one rock to the next as I tried to not fall into any of the puddles.

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The streambed

The stream bed

 

The trees around this town looked like they were on fire. The spectacular colors that make the East Coast look dazzling were on full display for our visit.

 

We hugged my uncle goodbye and sent him on his long drive back to NC. Richard and I dropped my parents off at their hotel and set off to go apple-picking, one of my favorite childhood activities. We munched on fresh apple cider and apple donuts as we picked 9 varieties of apples. The sweet smell of ripe apples and the lazy sunshine on my sweater made the day feel perfect.

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On Sunday I waved goodbye to Richard, and to my parents, who were flying to Pittsburgh. They will enjoy a few days with my Grandfather before coming home later this week.

Today I jumped headfirst into work, coming home around 6. A long day, but it’s good to be home!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Happy Monday! (The Bones episode tonight was really good!!)

Love,

-S

Family Dinners, Table Toppers and a Fall Wedding

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I brought my work laptop on this trip, thinking it would be light and easier to carry. Which it was, but it also has some settings on it that blocked the hotel’s internet the whole time. So, I will play catch up for the last few days.

Dad and I flew out to New York very early (6.30am flight out of San Francisco!!) and got in around early evening. We met up with my friend Richard and drove from Albany to our hotel in Carlisle. We met the rest of the family and bridal party for Italian food.

Dinner the night before the wedding

Dinner the night before the wedding

Everything about their wedding was very cute. She had gotten a lot of ideas from Pinterest. The ceremony was outside at this beautiful venue, and we munched on apple donuts and hot cider before. This was the reception venue a few feet away.

The fireplace decorations

The fireplace decorations

The bridesmaids and family had made the table toppers.

The bridesmaids and family had made the table toppers.

Our party favors were maple syrup that Michael and Jeannette had tapped from the trees on their farm.

The wedding cake

The wedding cake

The wedding booklet.

The wedding booklet.

Michael is a big fan of candy, and so they had a “grooms cake” for him which was this candy take-out bar with to go cartons. It was pretty cute and tasty! They had a good variety of candy.

The "grooms cake"!

The “grooms cake”!

I thought her dress was absolutely perfect for her. Simple and elegant and totally beautiful!

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We have one more day here in Troy and then I have a 6.30 flight out tomorrow. If I have time later today I will do a post on our trip to Niagara Falls yesterday!

Hope you had a lovely week! Happy Saturday!

Love,

-S

Shopping, My 25th Birthday, Dinosaur Muffins and Cooking on Sundays

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This week was insanely busy, which is why I have not had a spare minute to post about everything.  I hope that with time I will get better at balancing work and blogging. If you have any tips, let me know!

The Roomie and I had a five day weekend from school, which was perfect timing as my birthday was smack dab in the middle of it!  On Thursday we slept in, to the gloriously late hour of 9am. We did a few things around the house and then went off to the mall. The Roomie and I found many cute things. We scored at pretty much every store.

Our shopping haul.

Our shopping haul.

On Friday I hit the gym, and it provided a much needed round of happy endorphins. Since I started working full time, getting to the gym every day has fallen to the way side. Starting in a week I hope to build it back into my routine. From the gym I went to my parents house to get Lightroom 5 set up on my mom’s and my laptop. For dinner we grabbed tasty greek food at Opa’s in downtown Los Altos. We had tickets to see Les Mis at the Saratoga Theatre, where two friends of mine were in lead role. I look forward the most to shows with actors I know personally.

After another glorious sleep-in, I set off for the grocery store. I picked up some snack but most everything was for my birthday party later that day. Around 4, people started trickling in, and we munched on tasty Mexican tacos and guacamole. We drank margaritas and horchata and enjoyed the warm evening air. We took a group photo, and I had everyone sign the frame that I would eventually put it in. People drifted in and out, and it was a glorious melding of friends, food and fun.

I made pumpkin spiced dinosaur muffins!

I made pumpkin spiced dinosaur muffins!

Our group photo.

Our group photo.

This morning after the Roomie and I tied up the house I wrote my thank you notes for my birthday gifts. We went over to the Castle and I tucked into cooking with my dad. We made ham and shrimp croquetten, mac’n’cheese and quiche lorraine. After a long round of dishes ( i swear we used every cooking utensil possible!) we tasted the mac’n’cheese. It was delicious and I look forward to munching on it after a long day at work next week.

Tomorrow I will be babysitting the whole day and Tuesday we start back  at work. I have one day of teaching, and then I fly out at the crack of dawn (have I mentioned I hate mornings?!) for my cousins wedding in upstate New York. More details on that later.

How was your weekend? What did you do? How do you balance getting you time and getting your errands done?

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Love,

-S

Summer Weddings, Premieres and a 3-Day Week

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The wedding yesterday was beautiful! It was at a local farm with in a beautiful meadow called Hidden Villa. Stefanie and I had gone to high school together, and kept in touch in college because we both were studying art. She is the rare gal that marries her high school sweetheart.  I had seen their romance from the very beginning and their wedding was a lovely start to their new life together. The cake was fantastic, a kind that I had not had before, called champagne cake. She had asked a few of us to make desserts, so there were 8 additional yummy things to sample, including my lemon bars!

She painted all these bottles that made up the aisle.

She painted all these bottles that made up the aisle.

I loved her lace dress!

I loved her lace dress!

She started tearing up when she read her vows.

She started tearing up when she read her vows. This is post-kiss!

I liked the doors that were at the end of the aisle.

I liked the doors that were at the end of the aisle.

We danced in the barn after dinner.

We danced in the barn after dinner. She made all these artistic details that pulled it all together so well.

The champagne cake.

The champagne cake.

The weather could not have been more perfect, considering the weekend before it had poured all day! It was warm and sunny until late in the evening. All in all, it was an amazing day.

Today I took care of things about the house, lazed with the pups watched ridiculous amounts of T.V (the good wife premiere!!!) and prepping for school. This week we have only three days of school, which fits in perfectly with my birthday on Saturday.

Hope you had a fun and relaxing Sunday!

Love,

-S

Work, Thirsty Thursdays and Loafers

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Things at the new school are going well. I have a lot of catch-up but I think that once I get the hang of things it well be a good fit. All of the staff have been welcoming and helpful, which makes me feel more comfortable. The kids are settling into things, but we still have a long ways to go (my classroom is a mess!).

Today, there was a few of us that grabbed a bite to eat after work. We met up at San Pedro Square, the cute downtown section of San Jose. Roomie and I shared a pizza, salad, guacamole and crunchy tortilla chips. Unusual combination, but it was what my stomach wanted, and I was not going to argue with it. The food was yummy, and it was nice to see the other teachers relax and unwind together. Sometimes seeing people only at work makes it feel a bit impersonal, and this was great chance for me to get a better understanding of how interesting and cool some of my coworkers really are.

Last year, I was a bit idealistic and wore heels very often as a substitute teacher. It didn’t take very long to see that at some the campus’s (ahem, Los Gatos!) were too hilly/multilevel/had metal grates for my heels to be comfortable for the whole day. Soon I switched to flats, and found some loafers later in the year that became one of my go-to pairs along with my Sperry‘s.

Anne Klein

My Anne Klein go to loafers

Finishing a workday with happy feet make me approach the next day in a more upbeat manner.  This year, I have continued in the same comfy shoes vein. Flats and loafers are the way to go when you are standing or walking all day long. Fortunately enough, loafers have hit the fashion world and have been given a makeover. Some of the ones coming out for fall are pretty cute. Which ones do you like?

Sole Society Cambria Tassle Loafer

Sole Society Cambria Tassle Loafer

Tory Birch

Tory Birch

 

Steve Madden Zunni Leopard

Steve Madden Zunni Leopard

Tropez Cotton Anchor Flats

Tropez Cotton Anchor Flats

 

Sperry TopSider Westwood

Sperry TopSider Westwood

 

I think all of these would look great with a decent pair of skimmer jeans, and a crisp white collared shirt.

 

Each of them has a very different feel! Would you wear (or buy!) any of these? What would you wear with them? Any suggestions on how to pair them up with things already in your closet?

Love,

-S