Friday, February 27, 2015

Old Faves


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Anytime I talk to someone who mentions they're going to be in the Bay I tell them they have to eat at two places: Homeroom and Tartine. Homeroom is really close to my heart because the first time I went was a few weeks after they opened, and I fell in love with it immediately. I don't know how anyone (except maybe the lactose intolerant & vegans) can not instantly fall in love with a place that only serves mac n cheese. I have the cookbook now so I can bring a little bit of Oakland to my kitchen in LA, but it's not the same as having the real thing. When I was up North I decided to branch out from my usual Gilroy Mac and I tried a Smoky Cheddar Bacon Mac which did not disappoint.

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When we went to Tartine though, I stuck to my usual. The pastrami sandwich at Tartine is perfect. The bread is amazing, the horseradish is wonderful, and the spicy pickled carrots they serve on the side are incredible. Sometimes it's best to stick with the old fave.

<3

Monday, February 23, 2015

Northbound

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Maybe it's because I grew up in LA so I'm used to spending a ton of time driving from place to place, but I love road trips. I've talked before about how much I love driving to the desert, but I just also really like the space/atmosphere that road trips provide. (Rant kind of touches on this too in the party crashing scenes, and is also just a fantastic book that you should definitely read right now.) I'm not a morning person so road trips are also pretty much the only time I get to see the sun rise, and it's nice when someone else is driving so I get a chance to snap some pictures of it.

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And if we get to stop at the garlic capital of the world on the way to our destination, that's just the icing on the cake.

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<3

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Spring Cleaning

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Last weekend me and my mom took a quick trip up to Oakland, and it was such an amazing weekend getaway. Honestly it had been way too long since the last time I was in Oakland, and I could feel the change in myself as soon as we got onto the 580. I just adore the Bay Area so completely and I feel so great while I'm there. I used to tell people that I felt like LA drained my soul, and while I don't completely feel that way anymore (or at least, not always), I had forgotten how much it feels like the Bay feeds my soul. I know I'm getting really hippie here but the whole trip left me feeling really replenished. I got to see some friends that I hadn't seen in far too long and I left the Bay reluctantly, but so inspired.

It would be hard to explain to anyone outside my head how this connects, but the first thing I was inspired to do when I got home was clean my room. Not just tidy-up and dust around things, but like REALLY deep clean my room. I've been watching Rosianna's videos about this and something about the trip clicked the procrastination switch in my mind off so I'm ready to do all the things right now. I started by going through the stacks of paper sitting on my closet floor and scanned everything I wanted to save, and then threw it all out. So now the notes from all my college classes, the ticket stubs from London/Amsterdam, old papers with nice notes from my professors are all backed up on a hard drive and my closet floor is clean. I really want to use this book as a guide, but while I wait for it to arrive I basically asked myself "Do I want this thing? Have I even thought about it in the past year?" and that really helped me get rid of a lot of clutter that had been living in my closet. I also moved my spare duvet & blanket to a basket on the floor of my closet from where they had been on the top shelf, so now when I have friends spend the night I don't have to pull out a stepladder to bring them down. Small changes, but I really cannot emphasize enough how great I feel about them.

I've got a clean closet and I'm walkin' on a cloud.

<3

p.s. Happy Lunar New Year!

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Ink

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I took the top picture at Kew Gardens when I was living in London in 2012, and the bottom picture last Tuesday. I've always had a soft spot for Victorian things, especially because my mom's name is Victoria, and I loved the design of Queen Victoria's cipher. I knew I wanted the crown and my mom's initials, but the tattoo came out so much better than I could have imagined! If you're in SoCal and want a tattoo, you need to call Sara Fabel because she is amazing.

<3


Monday, February 2, 2015

What happened to January?


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Dim Sum
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Found a pink tree to park under
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Happy Birthday Isabel!
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Obligatory picture of Peter
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We've never met a photobooth we didn't like.

Hope your year got off to a good start!

<3