Hello Friends, This post is long, but covers the last two days of our trip. 🙂 On Tuesday of our MontrĂ©al trip, we started our day with breakfast at Mamie Clafoutis again. We had tried two other bakeries as this … Continue reading
Hello Friends,
In late November my friend Annie and I explored the glorious city of Portland. I have driven through it on my way to Seattle, but hadn’t really spent much time. I fell in the love with the fall colors, glorious food, rainy weather and beautiful gardens. Here is a short video about our trip to Portland Oregon.
Have you ever been to Portland? Found any places that I should add to my list for when I return?
Love,
-S
Hello Friends,
A weekend or two back Annie and I schlepped up to the city via Caltrain. I always feel like it is so much more of a hassle than it really it (we only really noticed it on our trip home) but as we sat there in the Sunnyvale Caltrain in the gorgeous sunshine with snacks in our bags, it was a great idea. We had wanted to explore the walk to Pier 39, and thought that we since are hearty walkers (#thankspokemongo), we decided we could handle the 2.9 mile walk there from the Caltrain station. We enjoyed a lovely but windy walk after stopping to caffeine up at Philz. I am so glad A finally joined the coffee train! My weekends are often so jampacked that I need coffee stops throughout the day. Annie and I loved all the nautical decorations on our walk.
It was an all around perfect weather day up in the city, which is extremely rare. It was sunny but not too hot. Windy but not too biting. We were aware that walking along the bay could (and would be later!) chilly and potentially rough wind-wise. But we were very lucky. I did bring more than one jacket to prepare for the late night walk back but it was a great walk both ways.
I was vastly unprepared for the crazy amount of tourists we encountered once we got to both the Ferry Building and Pier 39. So many people! It was insane.
We finally put in our name at Swiss Louis, where we had excellent service and fantastic food. I highly recommend it if you can get there early enough to put your name in. We had soup in a bread bowl and split a salad, which was the perfect amount of food for me. We also saw a great sunset as we ate.
We walked back to the Caltrain station, where we learned I had read the times wrong, and the next train wasn’t till midnight. #whompwhomp. So we called an uber pool, grabbed a cocktail while we waited and finally made the treck home.Â
It was a great day up in the City. I love SF for day visits, but like my sleepy little suburbia for every day life. What do you like to do in the City? Have you been to Pier 39 or walked along the water?
Love,
-S
Tuesday morning my dad and I walked down to a local coffeeshop, where we had discovered they made not only an excellent espresso for my father, but a sweet and strong chai for me. Not all coffeeshops have a good chair, so once you find a place, put your feet down and stay a while. The Handlebar Cafe was once of those places. While the interior was charming and comfy, the fresh air and corner garden was where we lounged the most. It had a “secret garden” feel to it with ivy winding around arbors, and small table sets. We spent most of the morning there as my brother slept off his cold.
We looked into a few stores, and walked down to the pier where all the ferries take off from. We decided to go to the Brotherhood of Thieves for lunch upon recommendation from our at home neighbor, who is now a second year college student, a far cry from the little girl I babysat and came to this island with so many moons ago. I had a fantastic pot pie (i am picky about having a flaky crust and enough filling) along with a yummy summer salad. I had never had Spindrift before, so I might have had two of those with lunch!
We ended up back at the house with a Redbox movie to watch and enjoyed a mellow evening at the house as a family lounging on the couch.
Have you ever had a really good chicken pot pie? Are you particular about the crustiness of your bread as well?
Love,
-S
I believe every week in December will hold something amazing. This year my alma mater had their annual December book-fair, which is something I always look forward to. Even though they have moved to a new campus, and have tons of new staff, I always enjoy coming back and seeing the few people that made my middle school years so memorable.
Our librarian Walter, is a professional story-teller and always reads a chapter or a portion of a book. This year, it was a co-telling by Walter and Esther and it was amazing.
My masters classes at Santa Clara University and work vamping up heading into a second set of finals meant most days I am burning the candle at both ends. So, I treated myself to coffee and a manicure, and to some yummy fro-yo after babysitting all day. Â There’s something so decadent about taking time for just yourself, especially in the midst of the holiday chaos. It was exactly what I needed.
We had a pretty epic storm here last week, but I settled in to my itty-bitty apartment to binge-watch Gilmore Girls and eat soup! I loved every rain-soaked minute, including the tippy-tippy-tap of rain on the roof, wearing my rain-boots every day for a week, and the fresh clean scent of the air after it rains. We got some pretty gorgeous sunrises and clouds after a week of pouring rain.
When you are pushing yourself too hard (either at work, or school, or both!), how do you relax?
Love,
-S
To make a long story short, I moved unexpectedly about a month earlier than planned, thus the radio silence here on the blog.
Otherwise, things have been going great! Work has been going very well, and while I am proud of all that I have done this year, I have so many ideas on how to make next year better, both as an art teacher and as a testing proctor. I have things settled enough at my new place, and just got Comcast today. Woot! The return of my internet means I can join civilization again.
Over my spring break my father and I visited an old high school friend in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I had never been, and it was a glorious week of eating tasty things, art galleries and seeing beautiful new places!
Over the week, my dad and I took a green chile cooking class, hiked a gorgeous mountain, enjoyed a fantastic little bookstore called Moby Dickens, and snarfed some delicious carrot cake!
Happy Weekend! What are you doing for your mother’s day tomorrow?
Love,
-S
Classy and Fabulous 
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