Nesting, Part 11

Because I'm home again at last, and the nesting never stops (and I'm so glad it doesn't :)

San Francisco is being properly good about giving us all a real summer!  Here's a long lit evening from when a friend and I were lucky enough to snag an outdoor spot at Foreign Cinema.

The Bud Stop aka prettiest curbside florist in SF and the very same one that I walked past when I was first moving here; I remember thinking 'I really want to live somewhere around here so this can be my local florist' - and so it was. 

Wait, did I hear you say you wanted more pictures of strangers' dogs?!  This little guy (or gal?) is the latest to be captured in my greatest unpublished anthology #dogsofsf - snapped this morning outside of Plant Cafe on Steiner.  Just look at those shaggy little front paws!

Part of my pursuit to eat less animal products - I present to you vegan 'scrambled eggs': much more delicious than anticipated!  My ever excellent vegan brother got me thinking about the impact of animal agriculture on our planet (spoiler alert: it's worse than using all of the plastic bags in the world).  I still love my cheeseburgers and even eggs, but I do believe it's our responsibility to do what we can to minimise animal product consumption, when we can - hence this experiment  :)

This is a terrible over-lit shot, but I snuck out onto the fire escape again this week to get a view of our old golden girl stretching beautifully over the bay.  San Francisco, I love you.

It's so good to be home.  Happy Sunday to your corners of the world!

Banana doughnut

Flicking through my photos from NYC a couple of months ago and I came across this flowchart:

Did I mention I spent five and a half years at art school?

Inspired by a banana doughnut I ate from the timelessly excellent Balthazar.  Yes you are.

Happy weekend!

Nesting, Part 10

You guys, it's the holidays.  Hmm, that's all I've got for now - but here's some snaps from around the hood and home of late:

Lotta's Bakery is a most excellent and unique little spot up the road from me - it's a cosy, old-school bakery and vintage store (?) catering to the divergent interests of the couple who owned it.  Also home to hands down best, blackstrap molasses gingerbread in San Francisco - a moist, dense brick of ginger goodness.

Early morning pastry rolling to bust out another one of these puppies for the slew of Christmas parties ahead.  A fair share of the grated fontina made its way into my mouth during the process.

Gigantor wreath up at our building entrance - not pictured is the huge Christmas tree in our foyer.  It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

Latest subculture discovery: HK cafes in San Francisco - I love seeing how 'fusion' foods go from this perspective, Smile House Cafe is a particularly great spot, this was my Tom Yum soup with a fancy puff pastry hat (of course).

I snuck out onto our fire escape one night to get this view of our beautiful Golden bridge, end to end.  Never gets old.

Hope your weeks have been just as well  x

Happy feet

I know that this post will officially take me from 'quirky' to 'stalker', but I saw these happy feet enjoying the summer breeze walking home one afternoon (the block in the bottom right hand corner of the first pic is my place), and it just made me smile so big.

Thank you, owner of these tootsies.  And San Francisco, your summer ain't so bad.

Google hearts

I adore the Google Valentine's Day doodle today - throughly recommend that you listen to all of the hearts, intimate snippets of love stories from all walks of life.

Happy Friday everyone!

#100happydays

The rain this weekend was my Day 2.  Oh how I missed the rain!  It legitimises staying in and eating soup all day.

Discovered this happiness project via a buddy at work - can you be happy 100 days in a row

Successful participants noticed their mood lifted and found themselves becoming more optimistic.  I'm not opposed to that and I also love a good #hashtag hence I figured there was nothing to lose; currently finishing Day 3 and hoping to be part of the 29% that make it through to the end.  If you like, you can follow me here.

Being robbed of choice

Studying design in undergrad, I remember reading a quote about how "good design is when the user doesn't have to make any decisions that they don't absolutely have to".

Perfection at the end of a long day.  Burrata come to me!

I was thinking about this the other night when I was meeting a buddy for dinner at Cotogna, one of my latest restaurant discoveries.  One of my favourite things is when you sit down at a bar or restaurant and you want a glass of wine and your server will make the decision for you, instead of you navigating your way through a long list which, let's face it, is really just going to be a combo of looking for the type of wine you want and making sure the price isn't completely off the charts.  "Um, white... dry?" and they do the rest.  You can get back to catching up with a friend.

It's so good to be robbed of choice sometimes.

Nesting, Part 8

The first of nesting in 2014.  Some of the same, a new plant and more holiday candy.

Succulents were 50% off at my local paint store.  Needless to say I came home with a new friend over the weekend.

Ritual trip to Walgreens to check out the latest holiday candy.  Surprisingly could not find any Valentine-specific Peeps - yet Christmas and Halloween made the cut.

How many times can I say that I will never get tired of my view every morning as I scuttle down to the shuttle.  Just magnificent.  This was Saturday morning, before Karl the Fog crept in on Sunday evening.

The other side of living the expat dream: you stay up at night to write cards like these for sending.  On the upside, this letter-pressed beauty was pretty adorabubble - inside it says "it's me".

I have a thousand and one things to say about some new adventures I've been having - pirate bar!  SoulCycle!  Light graffiti! - but they will be featured in posts to come.

Guaranteed LOL

Someone asked me the other day if I had a YouTube clip that can guaranteed make me laugh out loud, every time - and literally, not just in typed 'lols'.  I know I'm slow on this one, but my brother sent me this a few days ago and it has been making the loops with me, it just gets funnier every time:

"And you're in *Yemen*..."
Love Kirsten Wiig.  Do you have a guaranteed IRL LOL?

Phils, again.

Does two years in a row make a ritual?  Not sure.  But after going every two years up until I was 16 (and then a big break) it does feel nice that the family faces we saw this time around were only a year older from the last.  Again we had a mix of old familiars and new adventures, and this time C even made it in time to ring in the new year.  Some snaps:

Kayaking over Pagsanjan Falls.  And by 'kayaking' I mean it wasn't rainy season and so our superfit guides had to haul our boats over the rocks where there wasn't enough water - they made it look so easy!  A highlight but not pictured was getting pulled through a waterfall on a raft.  Through a waterfall.  Drenched.

Beautifully serene infinity pool at The Farm at San Benito.  This place was amazing!  Think delicious vegan foods and different yoga and workout classes every day.  The perfect post-Christmas cleanse.

Riding tiny horses to the top of Taal Volcano and view of the Lake.  You can see from my attire that health and safety is their #1 priority over here.  There is still a gash on my leg from when my horse - named 'Papa Bear' - ran me into a tree, but the view at the top made it all worthwhile.

This was the cutest, happiest pup I have ever met.  His little tongue!  Found him in the greenhouse at Sonya's Garden where we had lunch while nursing horse-riding wounds.

Our smoky view of the city on New Years Eve, taken from a friend's apartment in Makati.  Most wonderful was having C by my side.  That, and they had a make-your-own-pork-buns at the party - I only have a vague recollection of this but apparently I was at that table all night hehe.

Not a food shot in site I know (?) but I can assure you it was the best way to welcome in the new year. Happy 2014 everyone!

It's the most wonderful time

- of the year!

Noone does suburban Christmas lights like 'Murica!  This year I upped the anti with a buddy who offered to drive us around Chestnut street in South San Francisco, which has a famous lit up strip:

So pretty!  The detail is amazing - even all the windows have little lit up scenes set up for when you peer in.

Deer!  Snowmen!  Inflatable Santa with a husky sled!  You can't see but the deer on the right was nodding.

We made a special stop to snap this one of me and my buddy HK.  I love how she dressed for the occasion, she has a wardrobe for every holiday.

Again.  Rituals make a home.  SF, you're killing me here.

True to the ritual, I'm off to the Philippines tomorrow.  To all a good night!

Nesting, Part 7

I think it has officially been the longest time ever between posts.  You may speculate on what's been keeping me busy, but in reality this is just how long it took me to replace my mac which died last month *tear*.  I was thinking about whether these 'nesting' posts should stop as I've effectively been here a year now, so am I now 'nested'?

Then I decided no, because it's a perpetual act for so long as having a home is important.  I will never stop anymore than I will ever stop going to Paper Source.  And with that, some snaps:

The 49ers vs the Seahawks - so, so much fun and what a win!  I'm not really a big sports person, but just like my first ball game this was a ton of fun and I wish I'd gone to one sooner.  Bonus: we even tailgated and made chili dogs in the carpark beforehand - best Sunday ever!

A most beautiful lettuce (?) at Contraband Coffee Bar.  Mental note of keeping lettuces instead of flowers around the house more.  Bonus is that I'll be able to say things to it like "lettuce turn on the heater", or "lettuce get some dinner" around my house and it will be puntastically relevant.

New obsession: Roasted brussel sprouts.  Dust with paprika to give them a little kick - tip via a buddy.

New holiday: new peeps (see last nesting).  You could keep your calendar by these marshmallows.

Feels so good to be coming into Christmas - hoping y'all are enjoying the lead up to the holidays too!

Scratches on a page

I can't remember the last time I fell so in love with a writer, but since weeping into a puddle over The Fault in Our Stars I've been having obsessive, crush-like bursts of stalking John Green.

As a part of my investigation into all things about him, I came across this response he gave on the writing of this most excellent book that at one point became a 'problem' for him:

"...for ten years of my life, I tried to write this book and it taunted me and it sucked and it kept sucking and nothing I could do for years and years made it suck less, and then finally I was given a way into it and I worked very hard to make it the best book that I could possibly make it, but books will always be a collaboration between reader and writer, and at some point I have to stop doing my job so I can start letting you do your job.

I mean that a book is a problem in that it is composed out of meaningless scratches on a page that must be translated into ideas that live inside your head, and you use a set of skills (literacy, critical thinking, etc.) to make that happen.  I don’t mean that it is an UNFORTUNATE problem; I just mean that it is a thing that has to be created by both of us, like a crossword puzzle or something."

Ten years!  Also, I love this idea that a book is created by both the writer and the reader.  This somewhat legitimises my stalking, we collaborated on this after all.

Taken from here (not to read if you haven't yet read the book), more from him and his wonderful brother here.

Nesting, Part 6

and resting really, but solidly on the mend!  I no longer have to run out of meetings in a coughing fit now, so that's a plus.

Snaps of the home and hood recently.

Secret confession: Whenever there is a special holiday on (which, lets face it, is pretty much all the time here) I go down to Walgreens purely for the purpose of scoping out all the intense looking candy and decorations on offer.  Ghost peeps!

Discovered Conifer - a new favourite store, just off the beaten track in my neighborhood.  I was passing by and saw a sign "art + clothing this way" - how could I resist?  Run by the most beautiful woman who has a personal relationship with all the emerging brands she stocks.  Just beautiful.

I found this magnificent beast panting on the sidewalk on my way home from froyo one day.  How I loved his thick glossy fur!  The little girl in the background stopped to say hello to him too.

It's a little hard to see but this house on my street has an incredible fiddle leaf fig tree in each long window, I look up in admiration (or, like a stalker) every time I walk past it - oh how I want one for my living room!  So sculptural.

Our friend Karl the fog came back for an evening the other day - even though it's not his season at the moment.  I don't mind though, I like him now.

It's nice to be back, SF.

Beautiful home

I felt like I was in a Tourism Australia postcard but better.

I very badly would love to post pictures of the most gorgeous of weddings but I'm not sure that my haphazard Android photos between happy tears would really do the beautiful couple or the celebration justice.  It was a privilege to be a part of it, and it was surrounded by some really wonderful days on the sunny shores of Australia.  Such great friends.  I didn't think I would get so sentimental, but I did.

I will leave you a small snapshot of bathing in an incredible warm Tea Tree lake, next to what we called 'the secret beach' - so magical!  The Tea Tree is what stains the water darker.  One of many warm, lovely sandy afternoons.

p.s. the jet lag trick totally worked!  Definitely recommend.  Prepare to starve in between though - that part is less fun  :)

Nesting, Part 5.5 (Special Edition)

My parents have been camping out in my studio with me for the last week or so, hence the nest is a little cramped at the moment but oh so happy.  A small snapshot:

A very sweet gift of chocolates, appropriately shaped from home.  There was also a marzipan penguin aka my spirit animal in there as well.

Who needs Google Maps when you have this elaborate trip planner - note the trip variation options and even different streams for their and my plans.  Independent of dying Android batteries too.

My view from the couch - I was dozing off to sleep while these two crazy kids were staying up late watching Bubble Gang on YouTube (on their Nexus 7, no less).  Hello also makes an appearance.

Not pictured: tutorials how to use a Clipper card, obligatory clam chowder and even a trip to Daiso - yep, hitting all the major landmarks over here  :)

Err in the direction of kindness

The golden bridge and Karl the fog who I see as his kind friend.

So, I'm getting pretty good at this "neglecting the blog until I feel really guilty on a Sunday night" thing.  Anyway.

This graduation speech by George Saunders has been making the rounds recently - I've seen it reposted in various places and there's typically a focus on the last few lines, about being true to the "luminous part of you", it reminds me of Steve's similar words to new grads on following your heart and intuition.  What really struck me though was his preamble on kindness.

"So here’s something I know to be true, although it’s a little corny, and I don’t quite know what to do with it:

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. 

Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded…sensibly.  Reservedly.  Mildly.

Or, to look at it from the other end of the telescope:  Who, in your life, do you remember most fondly, with the most undeniable feelings of warmth?

Those who were kindest to you, I bet.

It’s a little facile, maybe, and certainly hard to implement, but I’d say, as a goal in life, you could do worse than: Try to be kinder."

Such great words.  Let's all try to be kinder this week, friends.

Nesting, Part 5

The home and hood in the last week, part fünf.

Ways to know you might be insane: you start 'rescuing' amputated succulents and keeping them in water to re-root.  I got this tip off the lady who sells drinks on the Sausalito ferry.  No, seriously.

My favourite juice shop which is literally a small window just up from the street.  It's the hardcore kind with dandelion root in its juices and glass bottles you have to return on your next visit.  Uncharacteristically, the people in line are not wearing Lululemon pants.

The greatest bookstore ever, Green Apple Books - this was the gorgeous children's section.  I am the hugest fan of Amazon but oh how I hope these places can survive alongside it.

Flowers at the Inner Richmond Farmer's Markets this weekend - 6 bunches for $20!

The most hilarious dog which I found at AT & T Park, waiting in line to pick up my bib for the The Giant Race.  That face!  Dog City Part 1 and Part 2.

Lovely days all round.

Oh hello

I'm not sure if I've written about this before - but early on in my moving here, I had a conversation with a (also new expat) friend about how being new to a city allows you this unique opportunity to consciously fill your weekends, in a way that you might not have experienced in a long time (or ever!).  When you've lived in a city for as long as I'd been in Sydney, your days get quickly filled up with errands and various people to see, while your list of aspirational projects or trips gets longer.

Over the months here my weekends have definitely filled up again, but I'm glad to say I've gotten more of my 'really want to but not urgent' activities done - one being that I've finally willed a Pinterest discovery to exist outside of the internet.

Template at the full instructional post here, these fair hands which have mastered the diagonal pulling and wrapping of fabric are those of my crafting buddy.

This is around the point when I began to feel victorious and that it was perhaps going to look like the picture after all.

Close up of the finished product, now hanging proudly on my wall, above my terrarium collection.  Why yes, please do feature me in your article 'Girls who pretend they hate hipsters but really are partly one'.

Yeah, that's right - give me the chance to consciously fill my spare time and I will give you hours at a craft store getting distracted with Hello Kitty stickers, and a decorative speech bubble.  And it feels great.

Next on the list: making my own sourdough.