On Saturday my old college roomies flew into San Francisco to visit me for a long weekend, and I've had so much fun with them the past couple of days! Neither Meaghan or Marla had been to the Bay Area before, so when their flight arrived a few hours late in the afternoon, we made sure to fit fun touristy activities in. First on our list was visiting the Painted Ladies aka the house from the TV show Full House - which we all were obsessed with growing up! After checking that out, we drove down Lombard Street, then stopped to see the Golden Gate Bridge. Afterwards we walked around Fisherman's Wharf, checked out some seals... ...and enjoyed a celebratory girls weekend drink. After that, we met up with a few people in Meg's family who live in/were visiting the area. We went out to ... [Read More]
Bay Area
Banana Pumpkin Pie Bowl
Hi friends! Hope that your weekend has been great. Here are the highlights of my past couple of days: My Friday morning began with a quick hour hike with Harley at our favorite nearby park. The hike became a bit adventurous when we found ourselves in a standoff with a fox - and I must say, my dog looks a lot like a fox! We all stared at each other for awhile, and then the fox ran into the fields and crouched down. I wasn't sure if it was planning on attacking us or if it was just scared himself, but I didn't want to take any chances, so we turned around. I snapped a grainy pic of him with my phone: The park is crawling with ground squirrels that Harley has always been interested in, but ever since she caught one a few weeks ago and it squeaked for its life, she's OBSESSED. It's annoying ... [Read More]
Tigelleria Organic Italian Restaurant in Campbell, San Jose
When I move to a new area, it takes me awhile to find favorite places and spaces around. So when my family visited me in my new Bay Area home last week, I had a mix of new places for us to try that I'd only heard of, with a couple of new things I'd already experienced and loved thrown in there. One of the restaurants I had lined up for us to dine at one night was Tigelleria Organic Restaurant, a small Italian eatery in the Campbell area. I first ate there with my friend Tiffany a few months ago. We both enjoyed our dinner experience there, so I went back with my family last Friday night. (source) The restaurant has 15 tables, so reservations are necessary (especially with a group of 6 as we had). I think I tend to gravitate towards smaller, more intimate places like this - especially ... [Read More]
Touring Clos LaChance Winery in San Martin
Hi friends! Long time no talk. Happy 4th of July weekend! My parents, younger brother, and sister flew into San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon from New Jersey, and we've been having a lot of fun together ever since. We spent the afternoon that they arrived walking around Fisherman's Wharf, checking out shops, having a bite to eat, and sipping Irish coffees from the famous Buena Vista. Since my hubby and I just moved to the Bay Area a couple of months ago, this is the first time that my family has visited us here. It's been fun showing them around our new area and having them at our new home. Though my brother and sister have met Harley before when visiting, this is the first time that my parents have met her. Harley is such a character and big part of my little family, so it's ... [Read More]
The Basil Thief
Hi friends! Hope you had/are having a wonderful weekend. Mine has been a lot of fun, and it's not quite over yet! I think that True Blood episodes make Sunday nights a little bit more fun. :) Here are some snapshots of my weekend: I broke my weeklong hiatus from dairy with an even more awesome grilled cheese than I made last week: fried zucchini + cheddar + avocado + tomato [from my own plant] + horseradish mustard on whole wheat = deliciousness. Since it was ungodly hot in my town this weekend, my hubby and I headed to the beach to cool off. We hit a lot of traffic on the way there and were wondering if going to the coast was a good move, but then we got to the beach in Monterey and it was perfect weather there - totally worth it. After beachin' it, we went into town to ... [Read More]
Best Easy Day Hikes San Jose: Miller Ruins Loop in Mount Madonna County Park
Now that I've lived in the San Jose area for almost 3 months, I've developed a couple of favorite spots for hiking and biking. But since I like to explore as much as possible, I recently made a trip to the book store to get a hiking guide for the area. I was a bit disappointed at the selection - or rather, the apparent fact that there aren't all that many awesome hikes in my immediate vicinity. A lot of the Northern California hiking books had mostly hikes that were hours away. This isn't good for me because 1.) I like to hike with a certain canine, but she's an absolute nightmare in the car, therefore I avoid long car trips with her unless necessary... and 2.) while I like to do all-day hikes, there are definitely a lot of times when I want to do a hike but don't have the whole day ... [Read More]