USA | loveliness. | Page 12

Category: USA
- birthday plans
  
  Posted at 6:22 pm by jasminedesirees, on October 4, 2013
  
  Next week is Derek’s birthday, I’ve been trying to decide what to get him. Last year, we went on a road trip down the coast and just kind of crept around Santa Cruz, Monterey and Carmel exploring. It was really fun and spontaneous.
  
  I’d really like to do something like that again this year, I was thinking Morro Bay. There is so much beautiful coast line in this state, and I’d like to see as much of it as possible while we’re here. We even bought a tent this summer that hasn’t been used once as I bought it for a camping trip and then ended up sleeping in the boat under the stars.
  
  We’re so busy this month that we wouldn’t be able to go until November, but it’s California, how cold can it be by then, really? I’ve camped many a May long weekend in Canada where there was snow on the ground and nothing but red Sourpuss and Sky Blue coolers to keep me warm.
  
  There is something so romantic and wonderful about just getting in the car and driving with no real plans. Maybe we’ll make it to the campgrounds, maybe we won’t. Maybe we’ll visit Hearst Castle, maybe we’ll get mugged on the beach. It’s a mystery, but I bet you it will be a memorable weekend.
  
  We’re seeing Matt Nathanson at the Fox Theater in Oakland tonight, I saw him last year at Now and Zen and he is great live, so great that I am willing to overlook his nose ring.
  
  Also on the agenda for this weekend, a massage, book club, and making perogies for Thanksgiving next Sunday while I creep all over the internet trying to find season 4 of Downton Abbey because it doesn’t air in ‘merica until January.
  
  Posted in California, exploring, life, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged birthday, explore, life, road trip, travel
- breast friends
  
  Posted at 6:51 pm by jasminedesirees, on October 1, 2013
  
  The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer was this past weekend. We signed up in February, fundraised for months, thought about training for months while sitting on the couch and not actually training (to be fair, it’s walking, right? I’ve been walking pretty solidly for like 26 years by now).
  
  I was excited for it, and excited to be doing it with my mom and sisters, I thought it would be fun and that it raised money for a good cause, but I didn’t give it much more thought than that.
  
  It was a really great experience, even just as far as getting to see the city. If you only have one weekend to visit a place, think about signing up for this event because it was really awesome, we walked through Fisherman’s Wharf, down the Embarcadero, through China town, North Beach, the Presidio, past Golden Gate Park, it was really an amazing way to see the city, and to get to really appreciate so many of the places that I drive by all the time and think to myself “Oh I should really stop there”, but then never do.
  
  As we were at about mile 8, we came to a corner where a woman was standing alone. She was pale. thin, and she looked frail but tough. From her close cropped hair, it was clear that she was either in the midst of chemo, or had just finished it. As each walker passed by her, she would look them directly in the eye and say “Thank you for walking for me.” I almost burst into tears, but it was so inspiring, especially at about mile 25 when all I wanted to do was lay down and drink a margarita.
  
  That night we went to Cheesecake Factory for some carb loading and some truly delicious Asian Pear martinis, I didn’t even blink at finishing most of our shared piece of cheesecake myself, because let’s be honest, I had earned it. We were sitting there, feeling proud of what we’d accomplished, 26.2 miles the first day, but tired, sore and injured, and really disheartened at the prospect of doing it all again the next day.
  
  All of a sudden, my mom pipes up with “Maybe that’s kind of what it’s like when you are actually fighting cancer. You’re tired and sore and injured and you’ve already come so far and you feel like that should be enough, but it isn’t, and you have to wake up the next day and do it all over again, even though you don’t feel like you can, but you have to do it.”
  
  I guess that’s why we have moms. All in all, it was a great experience and a very memorable weekend.
  
  Posted in family, life, San Francisco | 1 Comment | Tagged avon walk for breast cancer, breast cancer, family, health, San Francisco, thoughts
- favourites
  
  Posted at 10:23 pm by jasminedesirees, on September 26, 2013
  
  Here are a few things that are making me happy right now:
  
  This article about living in Hawaii. Makes me happy/homesick.
  
  My co-worker went to Italy for a few weeks and brought me back some truffle risotto. Amazing.
  
  I love discovering news words like this one:
  
  fernweh – (noun) a craving for travel; being homesick for a place you’ve never been.
  
  Also, I have recently discovered this amazing spray that has actual magical powers. I’ve been kind of hating on my hair lately because no matter what I do it seems kind of dry and frizzy. I tried using WEN for a few months, and as always happens when I try to do nice things for my hair, it completely rebelled and looked worse than ever.
  
  Apparently my hair is still 13 years old and only likes things that are mean to it. But I tried It’s a 10 spray with Keratin last night, and my hair is soft, shiny and frizz free, and for the day after I wash my hair that is almost unheard of.
  
  It usually takes at least two nights of me sleeping on/aggressively rubbing my head against my satin pillowcase to achieve this kind of sleek manageability. It’s a bit expensive, but worth it if these are going to be the consistent results.
  
  Posted in favourites, Hawaii | 0 Comments | Tagged beauty, favourites, hair, Hawaii, risotto, travel
- hello goodbye
  
  Posted at 10:35 pm by jasminedesirees, on September 25, 2013
  
  I still don’t know my way around here very well, probably because I’ve been so dependent on technology that I’ve never had to learn. My phone GPS is broken right now, so on the way home from San Jose last weekend, we ended up getting lost and going through San Francisco, which worked out anyway because I had a friend visiting and she wanted to see the city.
  
  It was a gorgeous day, not a lot of traffic, the sun shining and good tunes on the radio, and as we drove north on the 101 and came around the last curve and saw the San Francisco laying out in front of us, with it’s cute, colourful houses on the hillsides and the skyline off in the distance, I realized for the first time that I really love this city.
  
  It would be just like me to finally notice that just as we’re starting to get serious about planning where we want to go next, but you can’t have everything in life. The transition to living here was definitely rough, I’ve never been so lonely and homesick in my life, including when I moved to an island in the middle of the ocean without knowing a single person.
  
  It was a great experience for me in hindsight, nothing helps you figure out who you are faster than no longer have anyone around you to tell you who they think you should be. It’s scary at first, but once you figure out that the only opinion that really matters is your own, even if it’s because there is nobody left around you to have an opinion, it’s very freeing.
  
  Looking back, I can pretty clearly see how each new place I’ve lived has changed me and shaped my viewpoint, and I know I’m very fortunate to have had the ability to live in so many wonderful places. I can’t wait to see what is in store for me when I get to my next new home.
  
  Posted in exploring, life, San Francisco, travel | 0 Comments | Tagged exploring, home, life, San Francisco, travel, wander
- Tiffany’s
  
  Posted at 9:30 pm by jasminedesirees, on September 20, 2013
  
  Last night we went to the launch party for Tiffany’s new jewellery line, Atlas. I went with my friend Hannah, and it was a good time. They had some really good appetizers (and some not so good ones, avoid black bean tarts at any cost), and we drank all of the champagne that exists in the world, as evidenced by my pounding headache and immediate craving for a cheese bagel the second I opened my eyes this morning, one hour past my alarm.
  
  We also got to meet Aimee Song from Song of Style, and she was very sweet and just as beautiful in person. It was a pretty fun night, we were quite like Holly Go-Lightly, but without the emotional baggage or jaunty hats.
  
  The Atlas line was pretty, I liked some of the bracelets especially, but call me old fashioned, if I’m going to pay that much for a piece of jewellery, it needs to be really sparkly.
  
  Aimee Song, she was very sweet
  
  Sparkly chocolate truffles. Everyone was completely covered in edible glitter
  
  Tiffany jewellery models
  
  Posted in San Francisco | 0 Comments | Tagged aimee song, champagne, diamonds, jewellery, party, San Francisco, song of style, tiffany's
- ale trail
  
  Posted at 6:39 pm by jasminedesirees, on September 17, 2013
  
  I was only going to take 1 day off work for Nic’s wedding, and fly to Oregon on Thursday, but then I heard the slate of activities that were planned for the bachelorette party and I had to immediately change my plans.
  
  We went on the Ale Trail, a local institution in Bend, which is a 16 person bar/bicycle that let’s you pedal/drink your way from bar to brew pub, all over town. It was so much fun, and also sort of a workout. I think if more workouts involved alcohol and a bunch of friends, people would always be in peak physical condition.
  
  Our bar driver was a doll, and we ended up picking up a topless troubadour, whom we invited along because we thought he was a friend of our driver, but at the end of the tour we were informed that he was actually just a random homeless guy who came along for the ride.
  
  As an added bonus, one of the breweries we went to was called the Boneyard. If you knew me during my time on the island, you will probably be as excited as we were, and will likely fully support our decision to buy matching Boneyard hats.
  
  If you’re ever in Bend with some good friends and a few spare hours to kill, definitely check out the Ale Trail, more info here.
  
  boneyard for life
  
  bride’s bitches
  
  Posted in Oregon, travel, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged ale trail, bachelorette, beer, Bend, biking, friends, oregon, wedding
- montana
  
  Posted at 9:17 pm by jasminedesirees, on September 3, 2013
  
  My most recent trip to Montana. I hadn’t seen my niece and nephew since Thanksgiving last year, so it was so much fun to hang out with them. We spent tons of time out on the boat, and just relaxed. I’m pretty sure Montana is my favourite place in the world, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up living there one day.
  
  cross eyed
  
  sisters
  
  first timer
  
  There is literally nothing better than bubbles. True story.
  
  Posted in family, life, love, Montana, USA | 0 Comments | Tagged family, flathead lake, Montana, summer
- eat all the things.
  
  Posted at 9:07 pm by jasminedesirees, on August 22, 2013
  
  I have a friend coming in to town over Labour Day weekend from L.A., and she was wondering about the best places to eat in San Francisco for a truly delicious, unique experience. I asked my food-loving co-workers for suggestions, and I got a lot of feedback. It turned into a pretty impressive list, so I decided to share it.
  
  I’ve been to the first few, and really enjoyed them, and I’m pretty excited to start eating my way through the rest of the list.
  
  Tacolicious– The tacos here are really delicious, they have a bunch of different kinds, and they have really interesting margarita flavours to try as well.
  
  Spruce– This place is a little more expensive but it’s really funny because if you go in here, every.single. person. is eating a burger. Their burgers are amazing, their fries taste like potato chips, and they gave us a free giant cookie when we came in for being first time visitors, but I was already so full from eating everything else that I was like “I’ll never be able to eat this cookie, I’ll have to save it for tomorrow”. And then I ate the whole thing before we even made it home.
  
  Cafe Delucchi– In North Beach, the “Italian” part of the city, I went for dinner here a few weeks ago with my Italian girlfriend and it was so friggin good. Then we went across the street for hot chocolate and cannoli’s, it was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.
  
  Tartine– I’ve never been here but I’ve had food from here. It’s pretty much an SF institution, and their flourless chocolate cake might be the best thing I’ve ever eaten.
  
  Flour and Water– Pizza and pasta, came very highly recommended
  
  Thanh Long– Vietnamese fusion cuisine
  
  Burma Superstar- Apparently a very unique experience.
  
  Yank Sing– Deem Sum
  
  State Bird Provisions– This place has a constantly evolving menu, and is apparently a cliche, but classic San Francisco suggestion
  
  Golden Boy– People are pretty crazy about this pizza place.
  
  Frances– A bit expensive but really good food-
  
  AQ– Uses seasonal ingredients to make brand new
  
  Mission Chinese– Life changingly good Chinese.
  
  Swan Oyster Depot– A place to get very fresh seafood. I’ll be taking my sister and brother-in-law here for sure.
  
  Foreign Cinema– I’ve heard the food here is amazing, and the really cute thing is that they show movies on the wall of the court yard.
  
  AsiaSF: It’s a bar and restaurant but the servers are really beautiful drag queens. It’s apparently a must do for visitors to the city, I might take my sister there when she comes in to town tomorrow.
  
  The Latin American Club: If you like margaritas as much as I do, and I’m not sure that it’s possible to, you should check this place out.
  
  And the final suggestion I was given: get a bacon wrapped hot dog in the mission. We used to go to Mazatlan all the time to see my Grandpa, and the bacon wrapped hot dogs they sell on the street at 2 a.m. are a thing of beauty, so we’ll see. Big shoes to fill, and what not.
  
  I’d love to get more suggestions, so if you have any for me, please leave them in the comments. 🙂
  
  Posted in food, San Francisco | 0 Comments | Tagged food, foodie, restaurants, San Francisco, Spruce, State Bird Provisions, Tacolicious, tartine
- back in the saddle
  
  Posted at 4:06 pm by jasminedesirees, on August 19, 2013
  
  On Saturday night, I finally got to go to the Saddle Rack for the first time. The Saddle Rack is a country bar in Fremont, CA, complete with mechanical bull. There was a big group of us and it was really fun. My absolute favourite bar in the world is Nashville’s in Waikiki, so I’m always trying to find somewhere in California that I like as much.
  
  Nashville’s is still better, but I’m definitely biased as I basically lived there for 3 years, people I didn’t know would come up to me randomly on the street and by like “Oh hey, Nashville’s! You work there, right?”. I don’t have any immediate plans to move into the Saddle Rack, but it was a great time. Often when you’re really anticipating something for a long time, it can turn out to be a let down (every New Year’s Eve ever) but this was just as much fun as I’d hoped.
  
  Posted in California, Hawaii | 0 Comments | Tagged bar, California, country, dancing, saddle rock
- tiburon
  
  Posted at 11:54 pm by jasminedesirees, on July 29, 2013
  
  The same day that I had my first adventure at the SF Ferry building farmer’s market I also took the ferry across the Bay to Tiburon, which is something I’ve wanted to do since the first time I came to visit San Francisco.
  
  We went to the wrong pier at first and almost missed the ferry and had to take a high speed pedi-cab ride to make it in time. Amanda was feeding the seagulls right off the back of the ferry and it was pretty neat until one almost took off her hand.
  
  We wandered around Tiburon, poked around some cute little shops and ate some sinfully delicious chocolate truffles, and laid out on the grass where we had a front row seat to a happy couple taking photos on their wedding day.
  
  We went to Sam’s for supper on the water, and just relaxed, it was a really great day.
  
  our trusty stead
  
  wind blown
  
  Alcatraz (not Azkaban, which is what I accidentally call it most of the time)
  
  Such a funny face
  
  Gorgeous day on the Bay
  
  Eat ALL the things
  
  Soaking up sunshine
  
  Would love to live in one of those little brown houses
  
  Bubble man
  
  Homeward bound
  
  Posted in California, life, San Francisco | 0 Comments | Tagged California, exploring, ferry building, San Francisco, summer, Tiburon
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