10 Things I Did This Week

1. I made a spontaneous decision on Saturday to pick up a copy of The Cinch Plan and give it a try.  I am one more meal away from surviving the insane "five day, five food" fast forward and beginning the real plan.  I feel great, but hungry... and if I eat one more spoonful of plain, nonfat yogurt I might hurl.  Oh, and don't be fooled.  It's four foods, not five.  Basil and cinnamon do not count as food.
2. Made some plans to see a few friends when we're in LA for Barri and Greg's wedding over Labor Day weekend.  I always look forward to these short, but friend-and-family-filled visits!
3.  On Saturday, we went for a great hike with friends in Palo Alto.  I love that the Bay Area has an endless number of incredible places to explore the outdoors.  It was a hot day (yes, we have summers here despite what everyone else loves to think), but we were fully prepared with ice cold water and delicious sandwiches from a new favorite local Palo Alto market.
4. I was having a little chat with Dani as I walked home from the bus to find this leaf just sitting there waiting to be instagrammed.  Wait, instagrammed is underline... does this mean it's not a real verb yet?  Ha. I was amazed that technology allowed me to take the picture, instagram it, and text it to her, all while we were having a conversation on the same phone.
5. We already started talking about plans for Thanksgiving this year.  It's crazy how time flies... we're coming up on a year of SF living next month!
6. Sent another Festival of Children Foundation newsletter off to the printer!  Rewarded myself with spinach and almonds... and basil.  Ugh.
7. We spent many hours on the couch pouring through Mad Men episodes on Netflix (says the girl who NEVER, EVER watches TV), and am still left dumbfounded by it all.  Still not sure if I actually like it or am just intrigued by the character development... and the fact that they're drunk at 7am.  Everyday.
8. Passed on two invitations from friends to go to happy hour this week because of #1 above.  Then made the decision to never put spinach before my social life ever again.
9. Made some good progress on work projects that have been brewing in my mind for a while now... feels so good to be creative and productive :)
10. Went to the gym four times in just as many days. Hollaaaa!  Thank you to the Glee, Rent, and Rascal Flatts stations on Pandora for getting me through it all.

10 Things I Did Last Week

I saw a series on an old friend's blog and was inspired to try it out, considering I continue to fail miserably at blogging.  It's an eternal debate in my head about oversharing and getting too personal, while longing for a place on the web (or anywhere for that matter) to document bits and pieces of my life.  But this I can do.

So here goes.

10 Things I Did Last Week:
1. Welcomed my best friend for a week-long visit on her way to Portland, her new hometown. :)  We had THE BEST time and it was an extremely special thing to spend so much quality time with someone I love so much!  We did San Francisco proud.
2.  I turned 30. Yowza!
3. I hosted about 14 friends for a really awesome birthday soiree.  I felt really blessed to fill our apartment with so many warm and friendly faces, so soon after moving to the city.  We went all out and made amazing appetizers, desserts and cocktails.  Having Nicci there to help (and a talented hubby!) made things possible in the short amount of time we had!  The only thing I failed to do was take pictures to document it all.  Boo.
4.  I opened more than 30 cards and 30 gifts from Todd... but what got me the most was how much time, thought and effort he put in to the whole presentation.  I'll never forget it!
5. Nicci and I hiked Cataract Falls in Marin County and it was BEAUTIFUL.  It was so serene and scenic... and the weather couldn't have been better.  It felt good to sweat out all the crap we'd been eating and drinking :)  We drove through the town of Fairfax to get to the trails, and I had visions of raising a little family there.

6.  On the 4th, we rented bikes and rode across the Golden Gate Bridge with Nicci's friends, Rachael and Joe.  It was a tradition Todd and I started when we were first dating and came up here to celebrate my birthday.  Never in a million years did I think we'd be living here, together, and doing the same thing four years later.  We had the most perfect day, including many stops for photos (and sangria) along the way, delicious burgers and fish tacos in Sausalito, and ended it with fireworks at Dolores Park.
7.  On Friday night, we finally tried Dosa with a few friends and it was delicious.  We ended the night at Zeitgeist, a San Francisco favorite (for the beer drinkers in my life, at least).
8.  I had my six month review at work, and it went really well.  I'm really happy here, and it was nice to hear some positive feedback for the work I've been doing.  Looking forward to growing and taking on more responsibility in the months ahead!
9. I made cheesecake for the first time, in the form of little cupcakes.  I covered them with red and blue berries (hello, patriotic) and they were delicious.  Cracked and all.
10. I booked a flight to OC and San Diego at the end of the month.  Can't wait to see my college pals for Barri's bachelorette party!

Sheesh

I'm averaging about a post a month these days.  Huzzah!  I love that I've spent the last three months convincing my full-time work, my clients, my friends and anyone who will listen that they need a blog, yet here mine sits.  Sad, lonely and stale...

Speaking of blogs, let's talk about the Internet for a hot minute.  This might be a little hard to read, but I think you get the picture.  We. Consume. So. Much.

Dear Valentine

Dear Valentine,

I hope we always have this much fun together.

I love you! XOXO

Sonoma State of Mind

About five minutes after I wrote the last blog post about new year's resolutions, I decided to act fast.  I stared at the page for 27 seconds before I decided to do something about #10 on the list.  Before we both knew it, two weekend getaways had been booked.  Hey, I take this resolution business seriously.

A couple Saturdays ago, we woke up on a beautiful San Francisco morning and headed less than an hour north to stunning Sonoma wine country.  We passed through miles of vineyards before landing at our first stop, Ravens Wood Winery. I love their slogan: unadulterated, unapologetic, unfussy, unwimpy.  The wine was delicious and we had fun chatting with the guy at the tasting bar about all things food and zinfandel.

We had a tasty lunch in "downtown" Sonoma which is an adorable old town square vibe with NO Starbucks in sight! Perfection.  Even more perfect were the two snack plates we picked out to fill our tummies and soak up the wine: fingerling potatoes served with an olive oil and herb infused goat cheese dipping sauce (hello favorite things) and fire roasted piquillo peppers filled with fresh chevre, chopped pistachios, honey, orange zest and a little EVOO for good measure.  Phew.  Heaven in a few bites.

That night, and the real reason for our trip, we paid a visit to Sur la Table, where we'd been given a gift certificate for a cooking class over a year ago (thanks Mom and Dad Degnan).  The class theme was "Moroccan Date Night" and it was amazing!  We created kitchen perfection in the form of olive and orange salad, saffron chicken, crispy flatbread and tasty Moroccan almond cookies.  I always enjoy cooking classes but the thing I love the most (besides cooking a gourmet meal and having all the dishes done for us!) is the simple reminder that food is a pretty incredible thing when done right.  Fresh herbs, unique spices, preserved lemons, and slow cooking make one helluva difference.

We finished off the night with a bottle of wine at our hotel and woke up the next morning to enjoy breakfast, coffee, and a leisurely drive home through Sausalito to enjoy the crystal-clear bay views.  All in all, a perfect way to spend 24 hours!

The following weekend we joined a group of friends in Lake Tahoe.  Neither of us had been before so it was a total treat, minus the no-snow factor.  I'll save that for another blog post :)

I Resolve.

I'm not one to faithfully make resolutions at the start of each year, but since my sister pointed out my lack of blogging lately, I thought I'd document 15 of the thoughts-turned-resolutions that have been percolating over the last couple of days.

In 2012, I resolve to...
1. Try one new recipe each week.
2. Bake more, even if that means I'm pawning the goods off at work so we don't eat them ourselves :)
3. Make the most of my evenings by working out in the morning as much as possible to get it out of the way.
4. Pick up the phone a little more often (not to check Facebook or Twitter, but to actually dial some numbers and have some old-fashioned conversation)
5. Say what's on my mind before it turns in to something way messier than it ever needed to be (been working on this one all my life it seems).
6. Intentionally carve out time in my day for the gym, rather than allow it to be an afterthought.
7. Continue enriching my skills by taking on personal projects for fun. Working on a little something right now actually...
8. Go to the movies more than twice. Ha!
9. Take advantage of the stunning outdoors in San Francisco, even when it rains.  Cuz that aint gonna change in 2012...
10. Book a few weekend getaways before our calendars fill up, rather than saying we never have time to go away.
11. Get my photos organized and (gasp!) even print a few for albums.
12. Blog more.  Stop shying away from it. Writing is better than worrying!
13. Make real plans for a beachy vacation; don't just daydream about it. :)
14. Get authentically involved in a local charity (not the one that pays my bills!)
15. Choose gratitude in the hard moments. Let go of what doesn't matter to make room for what does.