A visit to the fog city

The weather has been amazing recently here in the South Bay Area but just yesterday we found out that the rain clouds would make a week long trip to the Bay Area. Before the rain hits the area we wanted to have made one last trip to San Francisco prior to my in laws departure. This time the destination was Ocean Beach...

The first stop was at the Cliff House to have a Saturday brunch with family. The Cliff House is one of my favorite restaurants in the city. It is located on the headlands on the cliffs by the Ocean Beach, next to the historic remainings of Sutro Baths. I have a lot of great memories at the Cliff House as this place has witnessed several of my happiest moments such as my graduation celebration party, post wedding celebration dinner and many more...

Brunch at the cliff house was delicious as usual and after this huge meal we did a short hike on the Lands End Trail.

Bits of Indonesia

My dear friend and coworker Silvie has just returned from her 3 week vacation in Bali. As much as I was happy to see her back in the office, I was also thrilled to find that cute gift bag with souveniers from Indonesia...I love the coconut candle, sterling silver jewelry and Indonesian fabric head band.

Carmel by the Sea

My in laws have a few weekends left to spend with us here in the San Francisco Bay Area and we try to spend as much quality time as we can before they leave. Because of our +50hrs/ week work schedule, neither me or hubby can come home early during weekdays so weekends are the only time we can take them out for sightseeing trips.

This weekend was extremely joyful. We went to Carmel by sea with the parents and some friends, walked down to the beach, enjoyed the beautiful weather, watched the surfers ply the winds in ocean and the dog gang race around and jump into the waves. It felt soooo good :)

Antique touches

Even though hubby and I both have a taste for modern living and contemporary home design we were thrilled to accept this Swiss made clock from my parents and have been displaying it as our favorite centerpiece on the stairs wall. The vintage vase is also the newest addition to the rustic corner where I display a few more vintage items.
With some vintage appeal and antique touches you can also turn any part of your home into a fun, rustic place like I did. I will probably add a few more items over the next years but will make sure to not turn this corner of the house into a overwhelmingly crowded spot which creates anxiety instead of comfort and relaxation.

Labor day sales

Labor day weekend sales are sure very popular as many people would look for deals in shopping stores. Since my in laws happened to be here during the labor day weekend we took them to Stanford shopping center to take a stroll around the shops and enjoy the pretty flowers. Since we are in mid September it means pumpkins and Halloween items will be on the displays for the next few more weeks. And there I came upon a large glass pumpkin display by glass artists Walker & Bowes as I was walking by the center area at the mall.

Another thing I realized (which has nothing to do with seasonality or fall harvest time) is that the leopard prints are back to play their game in the fashion world. Almost every shoe brand at Macy's had at least one shoe with a leopard print design on their new season displays. My favorites or eye candies I should call are;

- long dress with belt from Anthropologie
- stylish orange dress from Miss Sixty
- casual winter boots from Macy's
- Calvin Klein shoes

A Bridal brunch

We met at the 25lusk last Sunday for a friend of mine's bridal brunch and spent a good few hours there. The pre- wedding period might be a bit stressful time for most of the couples and especially for the bride. I believe it is always a great idea to spend a full day with your good friends and leave all your worries about the wedding behind. I can't wait to see this cute couple walking down the aisle next Saturday.

The place was a great choice for a bridal brunch, food and service was great and I loved the setting. I will definetely go there again...

Books and bookends

Borders is closing its stores :( and we know that the reason behind this is not that people are not reading any more but they prefer using digital platforms where they have convenient access to thousands of e-books, audio books, music CDs, movies, and etc...
I did one of my Borders trip yesterday at the Palo Alto store which is having a closeout sale of 60-80%. I got 2 books at a very good deal but it still does not change the fact that my hearth is still crying for Borders.

As I was placing my new books on the bookshelf in our living area I realized my bookshelf was lacking a key element; some bookends to hold the books from sliding. As I started searching online I found these bookends at Barneys but as soon as I found these I also had to forget about them right away since they have an average price of $295 per pair. They are extremely cute though...