14.8.09

georgie be



a couple of girlfriends and myself attended the appel & frank chic summer soiree. it was held in the regency center, san francisco, and featured many local designers. there was artwork, clothing, jewelry, accessories, and more. our favorite vendor was georgie b. georgina hand makes hair accessories. we left with mini top hats, and flower and feather clips. they're the cutest hair piece statement, and totally make an outfit.

georgina can custom make your piece, or you can select them from her site. check her out!

www.georgiebe.com

fabulous fashionista

bcbg and ella moss sample sale

8/15 | 10am-4pm

fort mason @ the golden gate room

visa/mc accepted
additional 10% if purchased with cash

http://www.fabfashionistaevents.com

12.8.09

lynchburg lemonade


i often find my thirst unquenchable in hot weather. no fail, a lynchburg lemonade satisfies my parched bouche.

here's my recipe:
shot of jameson (the original recipe is of jack daniel's, so if you like bourbon, go on!)
1/2 shot triple sec
squirt of sweet and sour mix
squirt of 7up
a couple lemon wedges squeezed in
*don't forget to do this over ice
-
doctor this recipe if you like it strong, or add more sweet and sour to make it sweeter and more juice-like

cocktails and canines


want to cool off, but feel bad about abandoning your pup? here are a list of dog friendly bars in san francisco where the two of you can enjoy a cold beverage, and/or spirit.

elixir
http://www.elixirsf.com/

broken record
http://brokenrecordsf.com/

danny coyle's
http://www.dannycoyles.com/

ducca
http://www.duccasf.com/

500 club
http://www.yelp.com/biz/500-club-san-francisco

absinthe
http://www.absinthe.com/

market bar
http://www.marketbar.com/

lucky 13
http://www.yelp.com/biz/lucky-13-san-francisco

let the ladies in the burquinis swim!


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090812/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_burquini_banned

10.8.09

san francisco street food festival

sample food from many of the mobile food carts that roam san francisco, as well as many of city's restaurants!

7.8.09

boys II men @ the san mateo county fair


i didn't know that they were still performing together. that's definitely a blast from the past!

8/21 7:30pm

4.8.09

free coffee freddo @ pete's


friday, 8/7, 2-3pm

coffee freddo menu -
http://www.peets.com/stores/iced_menu.asp?rdir=1&

happy birthday obama!


happy 48th!

red wine increases women's sexual desire


feeling like you've lost your sexual mojo? ladies, are you not feeling sexy in between the sheets? studies conclude that moderate intakes of red wine can boost your libido!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/5907623/Red-wine-increases-womens-sexual-desire.html

big fish


free screening of big fish @ jack london square in oakland, thursday, 8/6. guest speakers and trivia starts at 7:30, and the movie begins at nightfall. the surrounding restaurants will be providing boxed meals, so you can dine and watch the flick.

3.8.09

i <3 yelp


camel milk chocolate - al nassma


it's the hershey's of arabs! camel milk chocolate.

http://www.al-nasma.com/

gussie's chicken and waffles


gussie's just had their soft opening, and they've brought chicken and waffles to the western addition in san francisco. no need to go to oakland or los angeles for the breakfast/lunch treat, just head over to the fillmore!

www.gussieschickenandwaffles.com

cougar convention


there's a cougar convention storming through the bay area. it's a coat and tie/dressy event that brings together cougars, and the young lads that love 'em!

http://sanfrancisco.tribe.net/event/National-Single-Cougars-Convention/palo-alto-ca-94306/8bd25f1a-32f9-4ce3-9541-6426753456a5

move over bacon hot dog cart, adobo hobo is taking over the streets!


a new era of street food vendors/carts are gracing the streets of san francisco. before it was only your standard taco truck, or hot dog cart. now-a-days the selection of cuisines are endless: korean, indian, african, etc. but wait, did i just recently find out about an adobo cart? the delicious garlicky chicken dish that us filipinos grew up with, sold on the streets? it's manila's street food at it's finest, and you can find this cart roaming the streets downtown near the bars, or at dolores park. look out for the tall 6foot pinoy serving up plates at $5 a pop!

http://twitter.com/AdoboHobo

9.7.09

brendon - couch surfing host in wellington



brendon let me surf his couch in wellington. we both found we had a love for music, movies, and food. we swapped heaps of songs from each other’s iTunes, and he schooled me on native kiwi artists and bands that i should look out for.

brendon travels between the gold coast in australia, and his hometown tauranga in the north island. he is gone at least two weekends out of the month. i was his first couch surfer he had over during the weekend, and he was delighted to hang out with me and show me around town. he took me to his favorite bars, restaurants, we buzzed around town, and he invited me to hang out with him and his friends.

it was real fun hanging out with him during the weekend in wellington, and even better, we got along well.



my first night in wellington




although i was absolutely shattered by the time i settled into wellington, i made the effort to go around town that evening. on the couch surfing website, i joined the groups of each city i intended to visit during my holiday, and checked the posts for events to attend. that evening they had a movie trivia night at the paramount theatre, an independent movie house. i met two fellas outside, and asked if they were there for the trivia night, which they were. they were kind enough to chat with me outside, and even invited me to join their group. attending this trivia night is where i learned that i do not know as much as i thought I did about movies. sure i’ve watched tons of films, and gone to the cinema loads of time, but names of pictures and people never stuck with me. this is where it would have come in handy. the people playing at trivia night are serious movie buffs, and they know their stuff. one of the competing teams is the bar. they are also the source of reference when there is any discretion as they have the internet handy to check the facts. in the end, we modestly came at 3rd place out of the 5 teams. i joined my team for some grub at burger fuel, which is an eco-friendly gourmet burger spot.

after i departed from the team, i strolled around courtney place, which is one of the main streets lined with bars, restaurants, cafes, gaming rooms (casinos), night clubs, and the whole lot. i stumbled upon some buskers (street music performer) who were playing contemporary alternative tunes. they were a trio playing 3 different guitars. they were quite talented, so i stayed to enjoy the live music. another guy was standing near me admiring the triplet troubadours, and we got onto talking. i can’t remember his name for the life of me, but he was a german couch surfer going through new zealand.

it was getting late, so i left the band and the german, and headed back to brendon’s place (my couch surfing host in wellington). i was stopped by live music again, but this time it was of a full on band in bar. they were rocking out to music of the ‘90s, and i couldn’t resist popping in. it was a wise choice on my behalf. they played the likes of guns ‘n roses, pearl jam, blues travelers, and covers of past and present rock 'n roll tunes. the crowd were all jumping and dancing around to the sounds of the band.

to say the least, it was a great first night in wellington.

auckland -> wellington




scenes from above - mt. eden, auckland





shella and steven


back in the states i went to the the millionth member couch surfing bbq/picnic in golden gate park. i met loads of couch surfers from the san francisco bay area and beyond. one person in particular was tim, from oakland. we hit it off from the start. i loved his snarky and witty humor, and his quick comeback comments. we shared travels of our past and present. tim was had plans of going around asia during the late spring/early summer. when i told him about my trip down under, he told me he had a friend in auckland who he would connect me to, steven.

i met steven at the bus in the city center of auckland. he brought me back to his place, and there i met his fiancĂ©e, shella, and their dogs; mocha, bebe, and diesel. the couple took me out to their local ramen house, and had their friend, loong, join us. it happened to be the night before loong’s birthday, and we proclaimed the dinner to be his pre-birthday party.

after a mix up with the couch surfer i intended to stay with in auckland, steven and shella welcomed me to stay with them. the original plans were for us to meet for dinner my first evening in nz and auckland, and i was meant to stay with them the last weekend of my holiday.
the two were very helpful in suggestions for my holiday in new zealand. they had tons of brochures and maps from their own personal travels and treks through their country. i joked with them that they should start a tourism/travel agent business with the amount of pamphlets they had.

shella treated me to homemade breakfasts the next two mornings, and took me sightseeing around auckland. afterwards we would meet steven in the city for dinner.

the two are a happy and good natured couple. i’m glad to have been linked to them by

sydney -> auckland





as you can see, the bags are getting bigger and stuffed to the brim.

tara and flynner


tara and flynner

john and paul told me to visit their mate, flynner (mark), when i was in sydney. paul, john’s house mate and friend, grew up with flynner in dublin, and flynner lived in san francisco with the two boys for a good amount of time. paul gave me his number, and told me to ring flynner. i asked john to contact him because i wanted to give him notice that i would be in town. we never heard back from him, and on the last days of my stay in sydney he contacted john. apparently he got loads of emails messages from facebook as it was his birthday, and john’s message was buried in between them all.

we agreed to meet in surrey hill, at the clocks. after walking along the harbour, i left david and brian and headed off for cocktails with tara and flynner. i wasn’t quite sure where or what the clocks were, but i had mapped out my walk and knew it was on crown street. when i arrived to the corner of crown and oxford there were no said clocks. i was under the impression it would be clocks at a train station (like flinders square in melbourne), or clocks on a building. i stood at the corner dumbfounded. there was barely any foot traffic close to 8pm on that sunday. eventually a guy passed through, and i asked him where these supposed clocks were. he informed me that they were another 10 minute walk down crown, so off i went. shortly after i found the clocks, which turned out to be a bar with a clock tower. i was five minutes early, and opted to wait outside. i had no idea what these people looked like. the only picture i recall seeing of flynner was one taken during halloween, and he had on sun glasses and a hat – dressed as one of the blues brothers. soon enough i got a text from him, “we’re inside sitting closest to the door. i’m the one dressed in drag.” unfortunately he wasn’t dressed in drag, but i did spot the couple.

tara and flynner had just moved to sydney late last year. the two of them left dublin, and toured through asia for a few months before settling in australia.

we had such a fun time getting acquainted, sharing stories of flynner’s days in san francisco, and myself filling the two in with the recent antics that the lads have been up to back home. tara is dry from the drink, so flynner and i were going round for round, and she was sweet enough to drive us two drunks home. they encouraged me to stay over their place, and i happily agreed. we all got a long so well, and had a fun night. they asked me to come around for dinner the following night, which was my last night in sydney.

i’m glad i got to meet flynner. there are many stories the boys back home speak of with him involved, and it was nice to put a face to the name. his misuses, tara, is such a babe and a sweetheart.
--
you guys must make it over to san francisco, and john and i will be over to you guys at some point as well!




sydney’s opera house and surrounding buildings had a wonderful light show event. brian eno curated and created the soundtrack for the light show named 77 million paintings. they were all projected with beautiful revolving artwork, which changed every couple minutes. the colors were amazing, and took on many different shapes and patterns like a kaleidoscope. it was a treat to be there that weekend, since it was the closing weekend of the display.

i didn’t have high expectations for sydney, i’ll have to admit. i was told that sydney was a postcard, and melbourne was an open book. i did fall in love with melbourne as it reminded me of san francisco and berlin. i had an awesome time exploring the nooks and crannies of melbourne, and also being taken around by paddy, laurie, and matt. but after seeing the opera house lit up with artwork, and being in all it’s glory, it was quite breathtaking. it was so romantic walking along the waterfront and harbour. the opera house and harbour bridge is gorgeously stunning when lit up at night. i even felt a bit melancholic being around loads of couples and families. at that point i wished i had john or a friend with me to enjoy the beautiful sights. right when i was in the middle of my blues, i got a text from david and brian. we were set up to meet at the harbour, and eventually found each other among the masses. seeing them lightened up my spirits. we walked around the quay and looked at the many installations and performing art that were all around the walkways. i ended up missing the fire and ice show since i had some friends to meet within the hour, and decided to walk the distance from the quay to surrey hills, and had been told it was a 45min – 1hr walk depending on your pace.

david and brian said the fire and ice show was excellent, and shared with me photos the following day.