Uncategorized
Shopping San Francisco
What’s a young lady to do when she’s spending almost an entire week in downtown San Francisco and her hubs is working all day? S-h-o-p for reals.
Did you expect the first picture to be of the gates of China Town? Not the first place you would have expected the shopping extravaganza to begin huh? Well… I had to get my hands on an angel cat.
Cute. Mmm. Creepy.
Seriously I was on the look out for some legit Fu Dogs.
These are discontinued from CB2, but I was going for a similar look and hoping to find a bargain. No luck. Lots of Fu, but no bargains. It’s like they know how cha cha the Fu dog is right now. I did find lots of other neat items like these holiday ornaments with origami birds inside.
Those were cool. Didn’t buy them, but they were cool. I’m not completely sure how they got those little birds in there. Maybe I should have called this post Window Shopping San Francisco since it’s looking like my first stop was a bit of bust.
For more non-purchasing I moved on to the mainstream shopping by popping into the Madewell shop for the first time. Great clothes and great decor.
I was almost too busy scoping out their antique cart coffee table and kilm rug to notice all the cozy tee shirts, jeans and boots. Definitely put me in the mood to move on to the home stores. After a quick pop in to Zara and Banana of course. (had to get a shirt for the hubs, picked up this one to say “thanks” for bringing me along on the work trip)
Bring on the home stores.
- Homme: This shop was hyped up for real online, and the window decor was amazing but the shop was also teeny. Plus, although the hours were posted from noon to 6 pm it didn’t actually open until about 1:30 and closed again at 2:30. Somewhat disappointing, but hey, the store was teeny so we just walked in, spun around and walked out. GREAT stuff though, in that tiny space.
- Flip: Really looking forward to visiting this store – alas it was closed on Tuesday, which was of course the day I ventured there.
- Picnic: Ah-mazing. This little shop was exactly what I would create if I were to create a home slash gift boutique. It made me wish for a retail space big time – for now we’ll have to settle for retail-cyber space(hint hint of those big things happening, start saving up some fun money now!)
- Molte Cose: Neat vintage shop for men, women and babies. Got Grandma Whited a Christmas gift in here (that’s how we roll. WAAAY early) and a belt buckle for the Texan.
And finally my shopping journey for the week concluded at the corner of Haight and Asbury streets. Yes. The Haight and Asbury of Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin.
It is on this little drag that I spent the majority of my dress money for the trip – on clothes that still smell like incense. But it’s okay most of the dresses were less than fifty bucks and were crazy-unique. I decided they would have all cost twice as much in Raleigh, and therefore it was appropriate for me to buy two in San Francisco.
I’ll be honest. My friend Jenny and I just popped into e-v-e-r-y shop down the street like wild women and didn’t stop to think about shop names that I might need for the blog. If you’re ever in San Fran, just go here and shop around. They have great vintage shops for the men-folk too. Full of vinyl and tee shirts. Also reeking of incense.
And that’s the quick and smelly dirty of my shopping adventures in San Fran in less than 625 words. Where are your favorite places to shop outside of your home towns?
Master Bedroom Ideas
So I have already failed miserably at my New Years Resolution to not begin projects without finishing others… but come on, was I really fooling anyone?
The half bath isn’t done, the guest bedroom is still awaiting a new mirror and some crack repairs but I can’t help but begin to daydream and scope out inspiration for our master bedroom.
That’s really why we posted about it yesterday. Throwing images of our horribly green bedroom out into the cyber void for all the world to see really gives us the needed kick in the pants to start making some changes.
You are holding us accountable and didn’t even know it, so thank you.
Here is an image from Southern Living that I am admiring today, it’s not the best angle but the muted walls and curtains, graphic suzani bedding and cozy feel is just what we made need to make our room more of a retreat and less of an afterthought.
Comments? Other images we should check out? Let ‘er rip.
Cookie Swap
I attended my first official cookie swap this weekend – and let’s just say I left a happy girl.
Photo: Washington Times
If you aren’t familiar with a cookie swap here’s the drill: people come to the party with cookies in tow. The goal is to make your offering rather than buying them at the store because at most parties you bring copies of the recipe to share as well – although I forgot mine yesterday, d’oh!
Everyone tastes the cookies throughout the party but your host will supply bags too so that everyone can take home a couple of each cookie that was brought over. The final result is a bag full of cookies and a bunch of great new recipes to try.
I brought Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls, also known as Buckeyes to you midwesterners. These are a staple in my family around the holidays and I may even get in trouble for sharing this recipe publicly.
Basically all you do is mix together a cup of creamy peanut butter, 2 sticks of melted unsalted butter, a whole box of powdered sugar and 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs. Make sure your graham crackers are truly crumbs, meaning nearly powder – it will make rolling this mixture into balls much easier.
Once those ingredients are really well mixed you roll it into lots of tiny little balls (about 60) and them dip them in a bag of melted semi-sweet chocolate chips with one ounce of paraffin wax melted in. Let them cool off in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
The wax is the key ingredient in this recipe. I had trouble finding it in the store last year which caused my CPBB’s to fail in a big way. The brand name is Gulf Wax and you usually will find it in a “canning” section of the store near the mason jars and trash bags – tasty right?
Since taste-o-vision hasn’t been invented yet – we’ll fill you in that they taste just like Reese’s cups. Oh yea, you’re in the canning section already aren’t you? Enjoy!
It is that time time of year, anyone else have a cookie swap story or recipe to share? Anyone else weirded out by paraffin wax – the box does say you can also use it to wax surf boards. Yum.
We’re Looking for Neighbors!
The cute older couple across the street, where I scored that $7 mirror during their recent garage/moving sale, are moving on to greener pastures and have put their fixer-upper on the market. If you’re interested in becoming our neighbors/new best friends check it out at Fonville Morisey’s website. If you move in we’ll help you paint and Amy will bring you a mean welcome to the neighborhood pie.
Know Your Decor Lingo
The News & Observer, the local paper here in the Triangle area has a savvy little lady named Pam that blogs about grammar on a regular basis. We don’t typically go hunting for grammar blogs (shocking right?), but while doing some research for my day job earlier today, I stumbled upon this home decor themed quiz. It’s trickier than you think! Let us know of any awesome scores out there.
My People Have Taken Over
It was an odd feeling to walk around Durham this weekend with so many Alabamians afoot. One of my best friends came into town for the big game and for a little while it felt like I was back home.
Alabama won in a big way and Texas beat Texas Tech last night too so it was a good weekend for football in the Whited house.
With Carrie in town we also took advantage of some tasty Durham eats hitting up Fosters, the Q Shack and Piedmont for Sunday brunch before she headed South.
