so my darling I'll succumb

sometimes I want to pretend I can fit in, when I realize they invite me because they just don't know; but inevitably:
-I drink gin, not vodka; Trappist beer, not Bud Lite.
-I wear bangs, not eye-makeup; cardigans, not date tops.
-I listen to bands you've maybe never heard of, not top 40.
-I go to church, not brunch.

and I like it.

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

1. Nights with my best girls and their best men
2. Packing for five days and bringing four sundresses
3. Peacock feathers everwhere for fall, especially in this new scarf, and in Milly's fall collection.
4. Summer rain storms
5. Chicken Foot dominoes with The Folks
6. Bottle of 2004 Amante from Faulkner Winery in Temecula
7. Throwing horseshoes
8. Jonathan Wright (printed letterpress by hand on a hundred-year-old Chandler and Price platen press)
9. Seawolf and homemade pizza for my one-year anniversary with my favorite boy.
10. Stone Brewery's outdoor beer garden in Escondido, CA

smoking lips and owls

I never thought I'd be so into Kate Spade , but I am now. Her new clothing line is adorably on key; there are great jewels, some cute flats and I'm even actually loving a bag. I think she is coming out of the suburbs and into the city; off of the housewife and onto the young, hip, professional.

I'm so in love with this owl bag, which even has little gold leather feet poking out of the bottom, and there is a coin purse that makes me wish I live where it is a more a coin-based currency.

This is a Kate Spade I can get behind. Hello Fall!

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

1. Scarface --not what I thought it was going to be, (thanks Alcatraz tour guide) and a few [too] bloody parts, but overall, and unbelievable win of a film.
2. Francis Ford Copola Winery, and wine --who's wine club we joined and are thilled to no end with
3. Swimming in rivers and Healdsburg [which, you COULD say, is for lovers]
4. Opi "No Spain, No Gain" --the perfect transition color for pre-fall, and my new constant color
5. Lake Tahoe! That thing really is so blue it's unreal. Like Disneyland water blue.
6. Figs
7. Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, and Fleet Foxes
8. Pedro Garcia flats, with a hidden platform in the heel similar to Lanvin, but for less... and, they're hecho en Espana.
9. headbands, which keep my out-growing, messy hair under wraps
10. Public access to private property, such as the public walking trails at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay

Frank on beauty.

“The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”

- Frank Lloyd
Wright

Hello Pre-Fall, my you are lovely.

Very dangerously in love with this year's Pre-Fall collections, and most tangibly with J. Crew's. Excellent work J. Crew, simply lovely. Cardigans and blouses, and the JEWELS. oh man. Simply lovely.
shop my fancy.

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

1. My new living room makeover
2. Farm Fresh To Me box!
3. A quick visit to my hometown and catching up with the dearest friends who made time for me.
4. A weekend in AZ with my grandfolks, with my grandfather doing much better, praise the Lord, and telling me about his younger years: the war, flying army planes made out of canvas they'd build themselves, hunting Gustav, and the beginning of his legacy, meeting and marrying my grandmother.
5. Amazing pedicure I got while in SoCal, where great pedicures are standard, inexpensive and available on every block, unlike in SF where they are harder to find and expensive when found.
6. Cucumber Mint Lemonade!
7. Red Hawk cheese from Cowgirl Creamery
8. 4th of July!! my favorite holiday, and it felt like it should, bbq, Taboo! decent weather (or just enough sweaters and blankets), sitting on the marina lawn and actually seeing the fireworks, margaritas, and great friends.
9. My mom, who loves me, and wants the best for me, but lets me be me.
10. Thursday morning farmers market at the ferry building (and especially THIS thursday's visit and morning with the amazing C-star Green.)

Little Green Boxes

I finally joined a crop share! Farm Fresh To You is now sending me a "small box" of organic fruits and vegetables from their local farms every two weeks. I got my first box yesterday, just in time to use some of the things in my Vegetable Stout Pie. I'm so excited for Wednesdays!! Every other one brings me a new fresh box of surprises!
This weeks box consisted of:
4 Japanese eggplant
4 nectarines
1 cantaloupe
3 large heirloom tomatoes
3 yellow summer squash
1 bunch of Italian basil
4 peppers

Sign yourself up, and tell them I recommended you and I'll get a free shipment!

Happy Birthday Chief

Andy's 26th Birthday was celebrated with a small dinner party that bled beer when pricked.



Way to go Champ, Way. To. Go.


Beer-Steamed Mussels --Fantastically easy, and looks fabulous. I found my mussels at Whole Foods for $4.99/lb, and used Stella Artois for the broth.

Beef and Stout Pie --I also made roughly a third of this recipe for two little meatless pots and substituted a Japanese eggplant, two small summer squashes, 4 ounces of white mushrooms and a handful of baby portabellas and criminis (I think? from my mixed mushroom bucket Ferry Building score) for the beef. I also used an extra 1/2 C of Guiness to replace the pot gleanings. --however, I think I only halved the recipe for the stilton pastry, which next time, I would use a little less of for individual pots.

Green Beans (sauteed in the leftover Stella)
Birthday Peach Cobbler (my cobbler didn't rise properly, but still tasted yum, with vanilla ice cream and sweetened whipped cream)

Thanks Sportsfans, it was a fun night.

Summertime is for Lemonades

I found this recipe in People of all places, while getting a pedicure last weekend! I made it and served it for some of my favorite ladies, and think it's DELICIOUS and refreshing. I'm betting it would also be excellent spiked with gin.

Cucumber Mint Lemonade

1 cucumber
hand full of fresh mint
1 C lemon juice (about 6 or 8 lemons?) plus one lemon for garnish
1 C sugar
1 Cup boiling water
4-6 Cups cold water (depending on how sweet/strong you like your lemonade)

peel and dice the cucumber, saving a small hunk at the end to slice for garnish. coarsely chop the mint. Make simple syrup by adding the sugar to the boiling water. In blender, blend cucumber chunks and mint leaves with a little of the lemon juice, until pureed. In lemonade pitcher, combine lemon juice, and simple syrup. Strain cucumber puree into pitcher through a mesh sieve and add water. Add slices of lemon, cucumber and a few sprigs of mint for garnish. Chill. Pour into glasses and sip on a patio, or poolside...

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

1. Friends visiting San Francisco!!! (The Heidens, The Souza's, and my cousin Rachel and her boyfriend who will be here tonight and tomorrow.) (We have a GUESTROOM in our little flat and it is **usually** open...)
2. Knowing I've still got my flower skillz, and using them for my dear friend Jessika's wedding.
3. Andy's new Versace suit. (HOT.)
4. Selling on ebay! Cleaning out my closet and making some extra cash.
5. Oregon. I fell a little bit in love with the green state of OR this weekend.
6. My espresso machine which finally moved it's way up to SF from SD (courtesy of my dad and sister) and learning how to make it work properly.
7. Basil Lime [gin] Gimlets
8. New Jimmy Choos for 60% off PLUS my discount --I love designer finale.
9. Dritz Easy Hem, ahhh, my sewing life is about to get easier again.
10. Gustav --the deer head of the household who has safely made his way from Seattle to my home (courtesy of the Coughlin men).

our ideas held no water but we used them like a damn

I'm sitting in bed, drinking coffee, procrastinating my pre-church shower. In 45 minutes, I will need to leave the house and ride the cable car downtown, switch to the streetcar or the number 6 bus to arrive at church. This morning I am loving life in the City and almost hinting my thoughts at wishing I lived in New York. Almost. It's because I read Apartment Therapy while searching for Jessika's wedding website. If I don't get the evite out today for her Hen Night this Thursday, I fail. I'm already a week over my evite due-date. I still have no straight idea of where I'm inviting people.

I was going to have a little breakfast cheese. I am usually a HUGE fan of anything "light," and skinny, becuase I think it usually tastes good, and I care a lot about how much fat is in my diet. This morning I decided that some things must just need the fat, and brie is one of them. The texture is off, the taste isn't right, and it is not good.

I dream of a fabulous life that is glam but humble, cozy, full but not exhausting, exciting but calm. I dream of a life with a fantasticly arcitechtural home, well designed and lit, with warm summers and dinner parties both inside and out, crossword puzzles on saturday morning with coffee and my husband in bed. I dream of this artistic yet cerebral life that makes me not think about the weight of staying still for 30 years, because my life would be moving.

Baby I'm a Working Girl.

I have an Etsy site now. Perhaps one day I will be able to call it more, for now, I'm excited just at the idea of calling myself an artist, and at the hope that someone else will like my things as much as I do.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7503833

Here's to the working women.

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

1. My new little niece, Hannah Jeanne Stensler. Born May 11.

2. The apron my mom [and I] made me for Christmas.

3. Lanvin flats, with their hidden wedge in the heel which make them both comfortable and gorgeous, and make me want to wear no other designer's flats ever.

4. Fabulous interesting documentary films like Helvetica, Bomb It, and Man on Wire that get me so excited.

5. Having a job, I am repeatedly reminded of how thankful I need to be for that.

6. Taking the Alcatraz night tour and seeing a gull get protective of the egg she was sitting on (!!!) a few feet from us.

7. Eight bars of my sister's soap as a late Birthday gift.

8. Spur of the moment swimming in the **Russian** River on Memorial Day.

9. Dior Skinflash Radience Booster Pen: concealer with an ingredient to help relieve my undereye circles and puffiness as it covers them.

10. Fondest memories of my grandfather, a man of most character, integrity, strength, wisdom, and joy.

Helvetica

Brilliant and exhillilrating. My favorite kind of documentary film.

Calling all pirates, bandits & rebels!

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

1. Heat waves and warm nights that don't require a sweater

2. This John Varvatos pirate tie:

3. Jersey dresses that feel like pajamas

4. Special K Red Berries

5. Goat Hill Pizza's all you can eat Monday nights

6. When dogs howl at sirens

7. Hymns

8. Aquariums, especially the Monterey Bay Aquarium

9. Big Chunky statement jewelry

10. The posters for SMUIN Ballet: (located on Haight St on the side of Andy's builing)

Wild About Otters!

Andy took the day off Thursday and we drove down to Monterey to go to the Aquarium and have a fun Whole Day. We started with a coffee and a croissant from "No Mas Pan" (which is really the Italian French Baking Company on Grant and Union) (how ALL Whole Days start) and headed out of town.

We made it to the aquarium too late for the penguin feeding, but just in time for the otter show, which isn't a show WITH otters, but ABOUT otters. Andy didn't get picked to play on stage, and thus did NOT win an energy-saving light bulb, but we DID have a GREAT day at the aquarium, and DID write to the Govenator to communicate our support for coastal marineland protection, and that we vote.

Aquarium highlights include:
-those four little otter gals are a riot of good times, I think I'd like to have one.

-a harbor seal out in the real water, swimming around in the cove!

-seahorses galore

-a private q&a session with a docent whose time we monopolized

-asian otters who act kind of like cats (andy liked, me: ehh)

-penguins!! even if they weren't emperor penguins, or swimming.

-reading the best chapter of Cannery Row ON Cannery Row (concerning the gopher in the vacant lot)

-LOTS of schooling fish (I love it when they school)

-the Archer Fish, which spits a spout of water at a bug to make it fall into the water to eat it!

-the only albatross in captivity (who looks interestingly similar to a seagull...)

-scuba-diving window-washers / aquarium maintainers

-amazing jellyfish

Then we ate our packed picnic lunch of quiche and salad with lemonade and champagne in the back of Andy's car. We strolled through Cannery Row, took our own walking tour through all Steinbeck's spots, watched an otter who was right offshore, and walked along the Monteray coast for the afternoon, before heading back up north. We stopped at the beach on the way home for a nice long walk, and then for late-night tacos in Capitola, before making our way back to the city.

I crawled into my bed a tired, happy girl.

Happy Easter!

We dyed eggs on Easter Sunday!! Sold out of Paas, we used this "tie-dye" system from Andy's aunt, that wasn't as romantic as the old school hot vinegar and tablets with copper dipper, but it made pretty eggs! I love holiday cheer.

Don't Cry Over Spilt Wine: PART TWO (in which I become zen master of cleaning.)

I realized, this is the time in our lives when we learn how to treat red wine stains. There is no time in lives like the present, when we have parties with high occurance of over-service, when we are drinking wine instead of mixed drinks, when we are careless and accident prone with our wine, which is why, when I shared with the girls in my cab, that I spilled an entire glass of red wine on my carpet and bedding, they each had a[n amazingly accurate] remedy.

Here follows, my successful recipe for removing the set red wine stain from my light blue carpet:

Immediately at spill: blotted stain and dumped as much salt as I had on hand on it. (This sucks up the wine, pulling it out of the carpet.) Left it for two days (not the best idea, I readily admit, but did not have time (what?!!) before now to deal).

Tonight:
-cleaned up the salt, scraped it up and tossed it.
-Vaccummed everything else up, super well.
-Consulted How To Clean Practically Anything (4th ed./updated, Comsumer Reports Books, Kippel; Appendix B, pg 198.)
-found an old opened bottle of white wine in the back of the fridge, and grabbed a clean white rag towel.
-turned on some MGMT.
-poured the white wine onto the red wine stain, and blotted, pushed around the pile to agitate only a little and soak up as much as possible. repeated (maybe even two or three times).
-back to the kitchen, I made a solution of Detergent*, put a kettle of water on to boil, and turned an old white skirt into a new clean white rag.
-I poured the soap-water onto the stain, let it sit for a sec and then began firmly but with not much action to agitate the pile, and almost scrub, alternating with soaking up the stain and soap-water. Again, repeated, maybe even twice.
-poured hot water onto the stain to "rinse" out the detergent and abolish any remaining stain and blotted like crazy with a pair of old white and blue seer-sucker pants I'll not wear again turned blotting rag. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

It still needs to fully dry out, but looks awesome. (I definitely worry I didn't get enough detergent out and it's going to soil again quickly... we'll find out!)

-poured myself a tall glass of red wine to celebrate.

If only the girl in Can't Buy Me Love had my cleaning abilities, she'd never have fallen in love, but our hero could have had a new $1000 telescope.

*Detergent (From HTCPA's Spot Removal Kit, Appendix B, pg 182) (mild) Mix one teaspoon of a clear (not colored) hand dishwashing liquid per one cup of lukewarm water. Hand dishwashing liquid residues can cause rapid resoiling, so rinse thoroughly after using. Never use laundry detergents on upholstery or carpets because they contain optical brighteners that may discolor the fibers or afffect light and white colors.