summer solstice

happy official day of summer. i love this day right now, although i barely stepped outside, it's nice to know i could. it's so great that it's summer because i live in southern california and i'm not used to sunny skies. so far my summer has been pretty great. the month of june alone has already joyfully been filled with visitors and beachy time.

look how cute this is. just me and roommate enjoying pride on a sunny sunday.

and earlier this month mom came to visit!


we learned a lot about santa monica beach and toured marion davies's guest house, which was recently restored.

sister came to visit too, which was awesome. we went and saw sex and the city 2 and even though it's perhaps not oscar worthy, we still had a good time. and SAC always feels summery awesome.

oh irma

that was the name of the facialist (uhp not a word, i guess she was an esthetician) at the kabuki spa i went to while in san francisco.

she was so great and lighthearted. my skin has never felt better. i really need to do that more often. i wanted to pass on some of her wisdom. i told her that my issues with taking care of my skin are that 1) i am supremely lazy and 2) i am cheap. she said that basically i could use a cornmeal mask. that involves cornmeal and water and that is all and just a couple times a month. she also said i could use a little bit of olive oil for moisture if i need it. AND she also said i need to up moisturizer to oil free 30 spf (which is hard to find, so if you find it-let me know). thanks irma for the good times! it made me realize that i need to spend my money differently. for example instead of buying crappy jack in the box breakfast (which i did this morning) don't and get a facial instead. yes the facial is more expensive, but my cholesterol level will thank me.

speaking of cholesterol. i was on the phone with my dad last night. he decided to make me jealous and tell me how he was frying up some hot dogs. i reminded him how he used to boil up the dogs. he replied with, "gross! boiled meat is so gross." i said, "but dad! you used too! why dad? why did you used to?" to which he replied, "i don't know. i didn't know what i was doing." not to mention they were being boiled in an aluminum pot, which is why i have early onset alzheimer's.

oh boiled meats.
NOTE: DO NOT GOOGLE IMAGES OF BOILED HOT DOGS. TRES DISTURBING.

san francisco, etc.

i love joy's hood. i just walk around in awe all day. it's sort of like being a kid at disneyland. everyplace i pass i'm like, but...i want to go there. or live there.

view of the city from rooftop bar in the mission. hot day.

through pacific heights looking at the bay:

s.f. bridge- heading over to sausalito side:

muir woods- it was one of the most beautiful places i've ever been.

my foot in the woods

joy and i enjoying stinton beach


some redwoods!

i have arrived

this morning i got to work and i'm feeling like i'm taking crazy pills. and then my mouse won't scroll up. it will scroll down, but not up. this is almost enough for me to have an "overreaction."



so i called my IT guy. who is generally nice and very busy, cause it's a hard show to work on and also he sort of makes work for himself. clearly it was not a great time to be bothering him with a mouse scrolling issue, as our entire server was down. but i am a woman of priorities. so i bothered him anyway. and guess who got a brand new mouse? right out of the sealed apple box. c'est moi. because i have arrived people. i am the boss.

okay for a second i am the boss- well less then three more months to be exact. but still. you know when IT does what you tell them to do, that people are very afraid and that is always a good sign. ALWAYS.

this is not my crappy picture or my crappy carpet, just felt like you needed a visual.

san francisco food edition

so i went to san francisco over the weekend and i just feel like sharing. it was probably one of the best trips i've ever taken. period. my friend joy is so great and always thinks of fun stuff for us to do, but she really out did herself this time. i'm going to have to blog about my trip is separate posts. this first section is dinner we had at SPQR. we felt like spoiling ourselves.
Butternut squash agnolotti, medjool date & rosemary brown butter (so, so delectable):

Stracciatella cheese pansotti, baby artichoke & sundried tomato (also had leeks and carrots and celery and the waitress described the pasta as little buddha bellies filled with cheese):

Chocolate baci & mascarpone cream (cannot describe how wonderful this was- with roasted strawberries and p.s. we started with dessert):

Selection of Andante Dairy cheeses:

the next day we went to Carnival, a street fair in the mission and ate vendor food: tacos, nachos, fruit with salt and lime and corn. we decided we hadn't had enough of all that delicious taco fun, so joy made some more. they were spicy and delicious pulled pork in corn tortillas with a yogurt, cilantro, cabbage, carrot, lime dressing. along with a mixed greens, arugula, chopped almonds, goat cheese and balsamic dressing salad.
joy enjoying her masterpiece:


classic joy, always matching her dishwashing gloves with her outfit.

my last delicious meal was at woodhouse fish co., a lovely little seafood restaurant by joy's house. i had the dungeness crab cracked and steamed in white wine, lemon and garlic butter (it's in the foreground) and joy had that yummy halibut cooked in parchment with leeks, fingerling potatoes and tomato. so good. we also had peas with garlic and mint. yum.

sadly i'm missing pictures of my lunch at delfina pizzeria where we had pizza with prosciutto di Parma, cacioccavallo, mozzarella, panna, and arugula and a side of asparagus with pancetta and breadcrumbs, but know that it was tasty. and allow me to tell you that panna is my new favorite thing.
la sigh.

i have a headache

therefore it is difficult to work. or care. or care about work. so....instead i want to think about wallpaper! do you know that i love wallpaper? i think i was influenced by my grandma's house. she had that fantastically ornate wallpaper that was gold and metallicly with awesome prints of leopards (with velvet spots) and peacock feathers. i would kill to see that wallpaper again. how i miss it.

found a gorgeous print in martha stewart recently. i swoon over these walls


i really want to decorate my own place. real, real bad.

hey bucket list? kiss it!

alright, nothing is official quite yet. but, but!!!! i'm doing it. rodie ro and i are totes going on a cruise to mexico! i don't care how unemployed i am or how difficult it will be to eat for the next six months. I AM DOING IT. now to just become anorexic so i can get in that bikini.