Super Lux Christmas List

If Santa said, you can have ANYTHING you want this year, this would be the start of my list.

.. Gucci Techno Horsebit Hobo

Louis Ghost Armchair

Apple iPad

Nos Da Throw Blanket

Yves Staint Laurent Y-Mail Clutch

Kate Spade Laptop Sleeve

James' Butter Mint Salt Water Taffy Rolls - love that packaging!

Nordstrom Colorful Leather Gloves

Happy Birthday Emily

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to my sister Emily.
Emily, it is hard to believe we are 10 years apart....
You are my best friend, my confidant, my therapist, my sounding board, my coach, my inspiration and best of all....my sister.
The world, and life itself would not be the same without you!
I love you!

Thanks for always understanding, especially today, I swear you won't have to punch me, ever.

*{Fabulous Find}*

I super love this elephant hook! This would look amazing in my little entry way and give me a mighty fine place to hang my purse and jacket instead of tossing it somewhere that leads to me search for it the next morning.

Click here to check it out at P.O.S.H. Chicago.

Middle Sister Wine

I saw this wine at Target and had to take photos of all the labels, I think it is super cute and being the middle child makes me love it even more! Not sure about the wine quality, but I super love the labels!

George Bailey (BayLee)

I haven't posted a photo of BayLee lately, so here he is. I took this yesterday morning while he was trying to relax on his cat tower but he was just so cute I had to get out the camera.

Oh, and by the way, his name is George Bailey this time of year a la Its a Wonderful Life.

Too Hot to Handle?

Love the cookware but hate that the handles on the lids get too hot to handle without hot pads?

Here is my solution...

I have some lids that require up to 5 corks, but they sure work good and when you are done and the lid has cooled, just slide em out and use them again at another time.

Ladies that Lunch

Yesterday I had a small group of my lady friends over for lunch. It was super fun and so nice to see everyone. Thanks ladies for driving so far to join me for the afternoon.

I made the following:
Poinsettia Cocktails
Creamy Tomato Soup
Spinach and Gruyere Quiche
Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Quiche
Mixed Green Salad with almonds and pomegranate
Caramel Crumble Bars with Vanilla Ice Cream

I was on my A Game on Saturday, made the soup (just didn't blend it), made the crusts for the quiches, made the dessert and prepped all the veggies for the quiches. Sunday, all I had to do was bake the quiches, blend the soup, set the table (which I love), have a cocktail and have a good time with my friends. The best part...I rented the table, chairs, linens, flatware, glass wear and china so all I had to do was fold up, rinse out and shake off and return back to Classic Party Rentals. I would do it again in a heartbeat, it is worth it. When the lunch was over, all I had was the salad bowl with serve ware in it to wash which was wonderful!

After lunch I gave everyone a little personalized gift (don't say what it is in the comments please - I have a couple more to hand out). Around 4 PM everyone headed home and I had the evening to put the living room back together and watch the tube with Tim. What a great weekend!

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak at my Christmas decorations.

I will take more photos this weekend if I can remember.

I love decorating for Christmas!

These are the two little jars of ornaments I got in Austin; they make a fine addition to my vintage Christmas stuff if I do say so myself.

Austin

Monday - Wednesday I went to Austin with Wendy for work. I super love working for a company that's headquartered in a cool city. Just like the last time we went, we should have gone for a longer period of time. The antiquing alone in Austin is incredible!

We flew out on Monday morning and arrived in Austin just before 4 PM. Picked up our snazzy rental car, that went by any of the following names....ZZ Top, Charmin, Toro, Stay Puff and Marshmallow. I swear it needed horns on the front hood a la Boss Hog, so we decided to put Flowey (my buffalo that has traveled the world) on the hood for a photo shoot before we left the rental car lot.
Time for Happy Hour - before going to the hotel we went straight to Guero's for Queso and Drinks!After our snack we walked around a bit on South Congress. We went into Uncommon Objects which is the most incredible antique store. I love antiques, but not most of the shops in the Bay Area because they are so pricey. This store is pretty affordable compared to San Francisco and we went bananas in there but didn't buy anything, we had to sleep on all of the lovely things we saw first. After treasure hunting at Uncommon Objects we went over to Allen's Boots and take a gander at the array of boots they had and take in the smell of leather. One thing I noticed in Austin was a lot of stores had a sign on the door "no photography" - which, as a blogger, really bothered me.
After walking around a bit, we went and checked into our hotel, plugged our computers in and worked for a bit before watching WAY too much Celebrity Rehab until 2 AM.
Tuesday was all work and almost no play. We woke up, worked a bit and then went to our flagship store (which is a monster of a store). We walked around before eating lunch at one of the food venues at the store and then headed to the office (which is connected to the store). I got to meet with people I have spoken to on the phone and emailed with over the years so that was nice. Some people I met last time I was in Austin, but it has been 6 years since that last trip and there were quite a few more people to meet this time around. I ran into people that I used to work with in my current office as well (Manny, Wade, Brian just to name a few). I had a meeting from 3-3:30 and shortly after that ended Wendy and I headed out to go back to the antique store and pick up what we had seen the day before. I got 2 cool jars with vintage Christmas ornaments in them and a couple other tiny things. Wendy got some great prints in frames for her house. We literally rushed through the store though since we had to get back to the hotel and get ready for an awards dinner. Wendy is one of the award winners, so I went as her date. This dinner was the sole purpose of the trip. We got ready very quickly and headed back out to the awards location (Green Pastures). It was an incredible place, I didn't take my camera though (wouldn't fit in my fancy purse). It is a Victorian Mansion (I had to read about it) and it is surrounded by the most magnificent trees with limbs that sort of creep over the lush carpet of green grass that the property is wrapped in. The magical part the trees are wrapped in tiny white lights and there are peacocks on the property and one of them is white! We saw them sleeping up in one of the trees, what a nice cradle for a sleeping peacock. We stepped into the house, got a drink and visited with some of our old office mates that now work in Austin. Dinner was served (it was all vegan and not good vegan if you ask me) and then the awards ceremony started. We watched other people go up, get their awards and say a little thank you and then the time came....Wendy's boss presented her with her award and said some very nice things about her followed by Wendy's acceptance speech. She did really well, but the funny thing was, she couldn't remember what she said when she got back to the table, it was like all time stopped when that spotlight was on her. Shortly after the awards ceremony ended we decided since we were in Texas and it was our last night and the dinner was vegan we HAD to go out and get some Texas style BBQ. We went to a cool place called Ruby's and split a BBQ plate and drank beer straight from the bottle like the classy ladies that we are. After our second dinner we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Wednesday morning, we went to meet Raquel and her son August for breakfast a Kerbey Lane Cafe. Raquel and I used to work together and then she moved to Austin a couple years back for her husband to attend post graduate school. We knew each other from working together but have gotten to know each other even better thanks to blogger. It was so great to see her and spend some time together albeit brief, it was delightful. The gingerbread pancakes were incredible and HUGE - I should have just ordered one. After breakfast Wendy and I took one more pass through some shops on South Congress - oh the temptation was great, but we held tight onto our pocketbooks. We checked our emails one last time and headed to the airport. Our plane landed on time and delivered us back here to a wet and dreary Bay Area. It was a quick but wonderful trip.

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Caught Up!

I think I am caught up!
Now, I know I am bound to get behind again.
I have a TO DO list that looks like Santa's Gift List.

I am hosting a few friends for lunch next weekend, but am going to be in Austin Monday - Wednesday so this weekend is going to be packed with things to do to get the house and other things in order. Here is a sneak peak at my list.

• Cole Hardware - get 2, 2x4 pieces of wood cut into 35" long pieces (I will explain later)
• Target - need some essentials
• Ballet on Saturday morning
• Go to storage to get suitcase for Austin trip
• Bring up Christmas stuff and decorate (put up tree, swap out dishes, etc.)
• Finalize menu for holiday lunch
• Sunday morning brunch with Sara and Aurora and friends
• Laundry
• Change sheets
• Make a pot of beans
• Studio time to finish some projects (make book for office gift exchange)

That is just a few of the items. I am going to try and get some of the Christmas stuff out of the basement tonight if my partner in crime will come down with me and hold the flashlight (its creepy down there and there is the ghost of a cat down there too! Oooooo.....ha ha!).

Visit with Cheese in Berkeley

This photo is of my friend Cheese. He decided to change his name and kept correcting me when I would call him Frankie, which is what his name used to be. Isn't he adorable? Cheese loves to hang out on 4th Street in Berkeley, even when he was a wee baby like in this post here.

Sunday, Mom and I met Angela and Cheese at Tacubaya for brunch and a walk around the shops. For those of you who have not been to Tacubaya on the weekends, you are missing out because they have great coffee, hot fresh churros and wonderful breakfast food. We all hung out here for a while and then walked around and popped in and out of shops along 4th Street. Cheese loves walking around the stores and asking me how things work, I do my best to explain but letting Cheese try things himself is the best way for him to really grasp it. We have so much fun together, he makes me laugh and I think I make him act very silly. Cheese acted as the salesman at Crate and Barrel and flipped through the rug selection asking at each flip "Do you like this one?", it was great fun. The rule in the stores is always, before Cheese touches anything he must ask "Katie, can I touch this?" sometimes the temptation is too much and he gets the buzzer sound which means foul play. We went into Anthropology and there is a little frame of a house inside that you can walk into which kids love, there are tons of ornaments and LOTS of colorful things to look at. When the shopping and visiting was done, Cheese simply said to Angela, "Can we go home now?". I love that child! Angela said he passed right out in the car on the way home. It was a nice Sunday afternoon!

Napa Trip

Saturday we had planned a trip to Napa to have a tour and barrel tasting at the St. Supery winery. My parents are members of their wine club as well as Tim and I so we thought it would be fun.

Robin, Kenny, Mom and Dad all met us at our house on Saturday morning, weather was clear and sunny even though there was mention of rain in the forecast. We all jumped into my parent's mini van and headed up north. We packed breakfast for the road, which I think is always a must when taking a long drive in the morning. We had hard boiled eggs, bagels with cream cheese and left over pecan bars from Thanksgiving. As we got to Napa the sky turned a dark grey and before we knew it we arrived at the winery in Rutherford and it was pouring! We went inside and got warmed up just in time for our tour start in the coldest part of the facility.We learned about harvest, process time, barrels, and then we got to taste straight from the barrel. We had a great guy (Ryan) showing us around, he was a good sport, we are all a little crazy and he dealt with us really well.We tried a couple different varietals from the barrel and then got to make our own blend by telling Ryan how much of each wine we wanted in our glass, it was super fun and mighty tasty. After the barrel tasting we got to go to the members only Divine tasting room and continued to taste some of the wonderful wines St. Supery has to offer. They just kept lining them up, I had to stop, I was the driver and all.

After drinking our weight in wine, we got back in the car, ate some more from our breakfast box and headed to St. Helena for a walk around the shops and lunch at Cindy's Backstreet (which I super love thanks to Wendy). Hey, is that Robin in the window?

After lunch we went over to Mumm, we heard that they had a great photo exhibit that included some Ansel Adams plus I love being surrounded by bottles of sparkling wine. The photos were pretty cool, I really enjoyed them, the photographers name was Art Rogers and he does family portraits. The exhibit was full of family photos taken at one point in time and then at another point in time years later in the exact location so one could have been taken in 1985 and then the other in 2010, such a cool concept. Click here to check out his website, click on the "yesterday/today" tab, that is what we saw.

When we came out of the exhibit the sky was just incredible, check it out, this photo doesn't even do it justice. Can you see the face in the C curve, so cool (think of the dark part as sideburns and a beard). It is when the sky turns amazing colors like this where all I can think is God is Good.After Mumm, we hit the road and headed back to the city. Mom and Dad went back to their hotel and Kenny and Robin drove home. I think we all slept pretty good that night. It was a great day.

Woah....

I am way behind, wish I could stop time, but it keeps on a passin' by!
Thanksgiving week was full of fun, food, family and friends.
Here is the rundown of how it went:

:: Monday - I worked, my parents arrived in the evening, checked into their hotel.

:: Tuesday - I worked, my parents played downtown all day and then met Tim and I for dinner at Max's Opera Cafe where my friend Larry was playing the piano. Great cocktails and HUGE servings!

:: Wednesday - Funeral in the morning with Wendy (rest in peace Brent Cyr) followed by a quick jaunt through an antique store in Alameda. Worked a little. Mom and Dad came over and Mom helped me prep for Thanksgiving - we made pie and pecan bars and prepped the dressing and some veggies for the big day. Burritos for dinner, yum!

:: Thursday - Slept in a bit, yessss! Mom and Dad came over at about 2, turkey was in the oven and things were starting to happen in the kitchen. We had dinner around 4:30-5ish followed by desserts that we made the day before. Everything was really good! I was really bad and didn't take any food photos, weird...

:: Friday - Tim's Birthday! I worked until about 3:30 and then headed downtown to meet my Mom and Dad. Tim met us downtown after work and we all went to the tree lighting in Union Square which was so crowded I about panicked...we ended up standing on a street corner where we could see the tree light up (phew!). We all took a stroll though Williams-Sonoma (love that store even more this time of year) and then went to dinner at E&O Trading Co. for Tim's Birthday.

:: Saturday - see next post (with photos!)

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Thanksgiving

So, I am a day late, what else is new?
Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!
My parents are visiting and arrived on Monday so I have been a bit busy between work, prepping for the big meal (thanks to help from my Mom) and hanging out with my folks.
Enjoy your weekend!

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Weekend Recap

I am just getting to my weekend recap, a little late but you know what they say...

Saturday I had ballet (of course) and it was fun except we had a pretty tough combination in the end with a turn in it and I just wasn't getting it. I hate those moments where you are expected to move in unison with a group and you don't get the combo right until the last minute. Once I got it, it was time to try it on the other side. Geeze. I wasn't the only one though, I had company which made me feel better. I felt like I was a little disconnected brainwise on Saturday morning too which could have been part of it. Anyway, class was great. I knew I was going to be sore and boy I was right. I have an ingrown toe nail on the right side too - ouchie!

After class, went home, showered, stripped the bed, got laundry together and packed a bag and headed down to San Jose with Tim for a night with our friends Kenny and Robin. Our plan was to check out the new Whole Foods Market in San Jose and make dinner together. So we did just that. We made homemade pizzas and drank some great wine. The boys stayed up playing wii into the wii hours of the morning. Sunday morning, I was super excited to check out the Home Goods store. I always see their ads, but have never been and there is one down in San Jose so we went to check it out. I got a couple cake plates for a great price and some holiday wrapping paper.

Sunday night Tim and I got home, made the bed (I love fresh sheets!), took showers and went to sleep, ready for yet another week of work.

Hope you all had a great weekend and are having fun prepping for Thanksgiving!

Photoworks by Attila Nagy. National Theater of Pecs, Hungary

It Happened One Night

Last night to be exact.

Remember this post about me running into Katita Waldo? It happened again, at the same little grocery store as last time right by my house, we must be neighbors.

This time I was in line to pay and she walked into the store. I wanted to jump and down and let everyone know that my SF Ballet hero just entered the store. I wanted everyone to know who she was. But everyone just went on with their business, except for me. I was in line to pay and realized I forgot bananas so I went to the back of the store and there she was in the produce section. I looked at her straight in the eye and said, "Hi" and gave her a smile. That was about it, but what I wanted to say was, "SFB is not going to be the same company this year without you (she retired after last season). You are such a great dancer and you are so inspiring and make everything look effortless." I said nothing, just hi and smiled and walked away...chicken!

Maybe next time I will say something. I hope there is a next time and it isn't as far away as the last time was.

Katita Waldo, if you every google your name and find this post, I am not a stalker. I am actually a nice person and I think we should have tea, we wouldn't have to talk ballet I swear.

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Currently Loving...

Ballet has brought back my super love for Janet Jackson! We use her music to warm up in class (along with Michael Jackson, BeeGee's and Jamiroquai) and it makes me so happy!
This song is so much better than some of the crap that is out there now. Sing it Janet!
I remember when I got a Janet Jackson (Control) cassette tape in my stocking one Christmas and played the heck out of it in my room on my pink cassette player. That is where some of my signature dance moves originated...ha ha!

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Giants Victory Parade

Yes, I went.

Yes, it was insane.

Yes, it was HOT outside.

Yes, it was FUN!

No, I couldn't see anything.

Yes, I should have staked out my space earlier.

The good thing was, I was alone, so I could easily move around and not worry about loosing anyone. I made friends in the crowd, everyone was super nice and so happy! I generally don't like crowds so this would normally give me a ton of anxiety, but I faced it and went. I felt like I had to, when is this going to happen again? It was fun to be a part of it. Could the weather have been any better? I think not.

World Series

Congratulations to the home team! It has been so much fun watching more baseball than usual at our house! Parade downtown tomorrow, very exciting. The city was insane last night, you all should have heard it!

Manic Monday

If I had the closet of my dreams, this is what I would be wearing today...

Seriously, these shoes, GHASP....oh, I super love them!