Pretty Dresses

This shirt dress from Club Monaco is structured enough for work and can easily be dressed up for evening.

Pedicure Worthy

I'm loving open toe shoes lately. This pair is on sale for a mere $60 at Nordstrom.

Pretty Dress

I've tried on this BCBG dress twice and almost purchased it both times. It looks really short in the picture, but it hits me right at the knee (I'm 5'6"). It's hard to find cocktail dresses with sleeves, so this one might find its way into my closet soon.

Zazie

Elise, Kim and I met for a late breakfast at Zazie today. Zazie is possibly my favorite breakfast place in SF. (I'm torn between who has the better breakfast - Mama's or Zazie.) My favorites are the poached eggs Albert with white cheddar, bacon, and salsa fresca served with the most delicious garlic roasted potatoes, gingerbread pancakes with lemon curd, french toast Tahiti stuffed with caramelized bananas and walnuts, orange-vanilla challah french toast with whipped cream and cherries.... you probably get the point! You can order most items al acarte which is nice for the days when I want 1 gingerbread pancake and 1 poached egg. The hot chocolate is really good too.

If you happen to be there on a decent weather day, check out the garden patio dining in back. I've heard that the lunch and dinner menus are equally as good, but I've never gotten that far in my perusing! I'm hoping to get the gingerbread pancake recipe out of them someday to use for Christmas brunch. So far I know that they use freshly grated ginger.

Closet Downsizing

Tyler and I stayed up until 2:00 AM last night because of the overwhelming urge to clean out our bedroom closet. We took 6 large trash bags of clothes and shoes to goodwill today and threw away at least 2 more bags full. I feel so light and refreshed as a result!

Here's my criteria for clothing: (1) Do I love it? (2) Is it flattering? (3) Does it convey the image that I want? That last question usually seals the deal if you have any doubts!

(Completely unrealistic picture from The Container Store. Do you really want to wear khaki and aqua everyday of your life just so your closet can look this good?)

Portica Table

I'm in love with the endless possibilities of the Portica table from Room and Board. You can order from several standard size bases for coffee tables, desks, dining tables, accent tables, console, etc. or customize the base to your exact specifications. Once you determine the size, you get to choose the top from a pretty wide and versatile selection of finishes. They have everything from traditional woods to glass finishes to French limestone. I particularly like the zebra wood, French limestone, and white quartz. The price is really reasonable even for the custom option.

Paper Piles Be Gone: Part 4

This is probably the easiest organization tip with the biggest impact which you will ever get from me. Get off the credit card offer circuit by calling 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) or going to OptOutPrescreen.com. You can opt out for 5 years in a couple easy steps or permanently by mailing in a form with your signature. Opting out will prevent the 4 major credit agencies from selling your info to credit providers. Between the two of us, Tyler and I use to get several offers almost everyday. Now we only get a couple a year. Cut down on mail piles, extend the life of your shredder and protect yourself from identity theft for 2-3 minutes of effort.

Frascati

I'm way behind on restaurant reviews, so you get two in one day. We went to Frascati a couple weeks ago for a work function. To sum it up, they really know how to cook! The menu is pretty traditional with a Mediterranean influence. I was particularly impressed with the scallop risotto appetizer. For my entree, I had the very delicious maple leaf duck breast with herb spaetzle. The dessert menu included traditional desserts such as apple crisp and chocolate bread pudding. Everything was prepared really well and the atmosphere was especially charming. Sans the business aspect, I can see this place as having some serious romance potential if anyone has an anniversary or special occasion coming up.

Swan Oyster Depot

Stephanie and I had lunch at Swan Oyster Depot last week. In my opinion they are the best shell fish establishment in the city. They get their fresh shipment of shell fish every morning and only stay open until they sell out. Plus the ambiance is fun. You sit at a bar that runs the length of the restaurant, the temperature is a little brisk, and the fish is so fresh you can still smell the salt water. It makes me feel like I'm actually on the ship. My favorites are the oysters and half crab. The line for lunch can be long so get there a little early if possible.

Space Planning

I have been using Icovia Space Planning Design Edition software for an interior design project. You can type in your room dimensions and then click and drag furniture into the room and re-size the furniture to scale. It is also a very useful tool for remodeling projects. You can try a free trial or save your work for $29/month. It's a good way to see if the sofa you want is going to overpower the whole room. Speaking of sofas and space planning, the general rule is that you don't want your sofa to take up more than 25% of the room.

Tulane Sofa

I'm helping a friend decorate her new house right now. We might order the Tulane sofa from Room and Board. I really love the vibrant color with the modern design.

Brian Regan

I've been having so much fun with my sister this week that I've hardly had any time to touch the computer. We are going to see comedian Brian Regan tonight at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga. If you are feeling spontaneous, tickets are still available. I'm looking forward to a good laugh!

Sister Time

My baby sister is visiting me this week for the first time without our parents. We have a fun week of girl activities planned. We spent today shopping on Fillmore, Union, and Chestnut. We lunched at La Med and had dinner at my current favorite restaurant, Terzo.

Pink Martini

Pink Martini is performing with the SF Symphony tonight and tomorrow. Tickets are sold out, but they will be coming back to the Bay Area in Septmember.

Dreaming of Choos

I love these Jimmy Choo shoes from the fall line. Bloomingdale's has all the summer Jimmy Choos on sale right now for 50% off.

Independence Day

July 4th might be my favorite holiday. We enjoyed an unusually warm day here in SF and we are all sunburned to prove it! The day started with shopping on Fillmore with Kim. Then we picked up lots of goodies from La Boulange and met the guys for a picnic in the park after their bike ride. Later we joined a big group of friends near Fort Mason for fireworks.

Josh Rouse - Winter in the hamptons

I've been listening to a lot of Josh Rouse lately. Tyler came across his music by accidently purchasing the wrong cd from a listing station at Virgin, but now he's a favorite. His best albumns are 1972 and Nashville.

Partners in Crime

I can think of at least three things a girl should never shop for alone - jeans, lipstick and sun glasses.

Raina helped me choose some Chanel sunglasses today. I didn't get them, but now I know what to dream about as I put my pennies away for our San Francisco hovel and since holidays and gift certificates are still 6 months away.

Barcelona Collection

Someday I'd like to surround myself with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona furniture.

Going Green

I'm on a green kick right now. I like this outfit from Anthropology. Now I need red hair.

Picnic Ware

This is a pretty set of melamine for picnics and outdoor dining. Details here.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

It's my handsome hubby's birthday today. That means In 'N' Out and German chocolate cake for us tonight.

Summer Non-Cooking

This was last night's dinner. We subsist on this meal pretty much all summer - heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil with a sprinkle of olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Handbag Obsession

This Marc Jacobs Stam bag is my current obsession. (I actually want it in black, but for picture purposes you can see the detail better in this color.)

Afternoon Excursion

Jordan and I took a drive over to Berkeley today to visit her favorite boutique, Tail of the Yak (2632 Ashby Ave.) They have a very eclectic collection of objects such as vintage jewelry, prints, ribbon, beautiful paper products, and more. I picked up some vintage-style shadow cards, tiny clothespin paper clips, and fortune sticks.

Before the boutique, we ate lunch at the Pizza Board on Shattuck Ave. See my post here. In my opinion, this is the best pizza in the Bay Area. The crust is perfectly crisp on the bottom and slightly soft on the top, but not too thick. They serve one type of pizza per day and there is always a Jazz ensemble to entertain as you enjoy your pizza.

Pandora Radio

Jeong-Im recently turned me onto Pandora Radio. You enter the name of your favorite music group and it creates a station that is similar in style and sound. You can enter several names and mix the stations too.

Dinner Club

Dinner club met last night at Karen's house. The food was excellent as usual. We started with chicken satay and peanut dipping sauce, mini toasts with pea mousse, and bruschetta. Next was Suzie's famous raspberry soup and a beautiful fruit salad. The main course was a hamburger and grilled corn on the cob. The hamburgers were not your typical ground beef patties. Karen used a combination of ground sirloin and chuck (I think?), eggs to bind, and steak sauce. Then she enveloped a pat of butter in each of the patties before grilling them. The toppings were arugula, tomato, and a thick slice of blue cheese. This was by far the best hamburger I've ever eaten. Finally, for dessert we had the most beautiful berry cobbler.

Family Reunion How To

Thanks for the great feedback about the family reunion in the comments section and in person. Some of you have asked questions about how to make some of the items. I bought the tote bags at target.com and filled them with items mostly from Target. I really lucked out because Target's summer colors this year are aqua and red. I purchased all the paper and envelopes at Paper Source before I even started thinking about the gift bags.

For the guidebook, I typed up accumulated information from friends, research, and highlights from guide books into a word doc. I used downloaded fonts (Airstream, Fashion Victim, and Eurostile) from dafont.com. To finish the book, I punched three holes using a mini hole punch, stuck in color coordinated brads also from Paper Source and scored the length of the book on both sides with a bone folder so it would open easily. The brads will only work for small projects. Our book was about 20 double sided pages. The palm tree is simply a stamp and Robin's Egg Blue ink, also available through Paper Source.

Did I cover all the questions? I'm happy to answer any other questions you have.

Speaking of Pride & Prejudice...

If you haven't seen the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice with Collin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, you must see it as soon as possible. (The new version with Kiera Knightly doesn't count.) It is hands down my favorite movie. I can watch it over and over and never tire of it. The tension between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth is so palpable that I wonder if they are ever going to get together everytime I watch it. Plus I get to fall in love with Collin Firth over and over again. My friend Ryan's theory as to why girls love Mr. Darcy - the house and money, but I'm pretty sure it's the accent. That house is pretty fabulous though!

Face Lift

You've probably noticed the new background for my blog. I was going through a really traditional, old world opulence phase for a while, probably because I watched Pride & Prejudice one too many times (the Collin Firth version, of course.) Is that possible? Well, now I am feeling rebellious and heading the opposite direction into a modern phase.

p.s. I finally figured out how to post a profile picture. Thanks to Kathy for the picture from last year's Halloween party. I got to be Marie Antoinette for the night.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

I just finished reading this book for book club. It's the best new fiction I've read in a while. The author has a very original style. The story follows a 9 year-old boy on his quest to find information about his deceased father. The boy is brilliant, a little on the strange side, and very endearing. The major theme of the book is dealing with loss, but the author makes loss seem beatifuly tragic.

Pamper Your Man

Tyler loves black pepper. I thought of him immediately the first time I saw this Molton Brown black pepper product line. I recently bought him the candle and bath products. They were a big hit.

It Takes a Village

Most of us aren't at an income level where we can justify dropping hundreds to thousands of dollars on designer labels. I've always been a believer in quality over quantity, but it's still hard to justify a designer handbag when I'm working on a down payment for a house. I don't do fake. I'd rather not have it at all than have the fake version. Here's my solution: I use any money that I get as a gift from grandparent, parents, in-laws, etc. to buy gift certificates at stores who sell my desired item such as Bloomingdale's, Saks, and Neiman Marcus. Once you've accumulated enough (or close enough) in gift cards you can get your item.

I use to just end up spending gift money on random things anyway that I forgot about quickly or didn't use for long. This way you can build a collection of items that transcends trends and your loved ones who send you money can help you purchase something that you'll use for a lifetime.

I just got my Louis Vuitton Speedy bag this way. Here are a few of the other items on my list:

1. Chanel sunglasses
2. Chanel ballet flats
3. Burberry trench coat (not the basic model, but a higher-end tailored piece)
4. Jimmy Choo shoes
5. Manolo Blahnik shoes
6. Marc Jacobs "Stam" bag
7. H. Stern jewelry
8. Catier Tank watch
9. Chloe bag
10. A really great medium-weight winter coat, maybe from Chloe

Paper Piles Be Gone: Part 3

What Financial Papers to Save and For How Long:

General Rule # 1: Get rid of what you can. Most paper falls into the categories of save for one year or less, save for 7 years (tax related), or save indefinitely.

General Rule #2: Invest in a confetti shredder to guard against identity theft. They cost about $40 which is a minimal price to pay for safe-guarding your financial future.

Toss Monthly:
ATM & deposit slips - after you've checked them against your statement, credit card receipts** - same as above applies, receipts for minor purchases**

**I'm breaking my cardinal rule here because you don't need to keep receipts once you reconcile them to your statements, however for ease, I just toss them into an envelope labeled with the month that I keep in my monthly folder and then clean them out every year when I clean the folder. This has come in handy a couple times when I've wanted to return something. See Paper Piles Be Gone: Part Two.

Toss After One Year:
Monthly bank and credit card statements, monthly or quarterly brokerage and mutual fund statements, phone and other utility bills, paycheck stubs - once you've reconciled to W-2 statement

* The exception to the guidelines above is keep it if it supports for your tax return, especially any deductions you take.

Keep for Seven Years:
W-2 and 1099 forms, cancelled checks and receipts/ statements that support your tax returns, pretty much anything tax related

Keep Forever:
Tax returns (you can ditch the support documentation after 7 years if you are an honest taxpayer, unless shredding it helps you case!), year end summaries from financial service companies, confirmation slips with purchase price of any investment you own, home improvement records, major purchase receipts - anything that you would claim on your homeowners or renters insurance

You can view Paper Piles Be Gone: Part One and Part Two here and here for more ideas about how to set up a short-term filing system for projects and outstanding items like bills and long-term files.

Next for Paper Piles Be Gone - how to get off the junk mail circuit, especially the multiple daily credit cards offers that put you at risk for identity theft and pile up until you find the time to shred them.

Nieces

Aren't my nieces adorable?

Pink's

Pink's, the celebrity frequented hot dog joint in Hollywood, was a fun moment from our vacation. I don't believe that celebrities actually eat there though, because I was feeling about 100 pounds heavier after my Mullholland Drive Dog smothered in cheese, bacon, grilled onions, and grilled mushrooms.

(That's Tyler's cute baby brother, Trevor, pictured.)

Getty Villa

For all the things that Southern California is or isn't to us folks up north, I have to admit that they have some pretty amazing museums. One in particular that I actually got to visit twice (because the first group I went with told the people who didn't go how awesome it was, so the second group wanted to go too) was the Getty Villa on the southern end of Malibu just off the PCH.

Getty's vision was to build a classic Roman villa modeled after the Villa dei Papiri which was buried in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and later partially excavated. He built the villa with the intent of housing his art collection for the public and giving us common folk a taste of what it would have been like to be a Roman citizen back in the hey day, albeit a really rich Roman citizen.

The result is an amazingly beautiful setting overlooking the coast. Today the villa only houses the antiquities collection. The rest of the collection has been moved to the new Getty Center just off the 405. I always forget that I really love antiquities. Usually at other museums like the Met or Louvre which house significant antiquity collections, I breeze past the ancient Roman and Greek art to see the "good" stuff like the 19th century French and modern paintings. When you are surrounded by only antiquities, they take on a whole new significance and beauty. It's also the type of art that you really need good explanations or a good guide to tell you the mythology stories and explain the context since it is so different from the way we live today or common religious beliefs.

The museum cafe is pretty good too. So if you get the chance stop by, enjoy a relaxing day of browsing antiquities, going on tours, and lunching on the patio overlooking the villa. The museum is free except for the $8 parking fee, but make sure you make a reservation in advance.

Welcome Bags & Snack Packs

We arranged a welcome bag in each of the rooms that included sunscreen, aloe vera, beach towels, a beach mat, and sporting equipment. We also made a box of snacks for each person for easy portability to the beach or wherever.