For the last couple years, I’ve really hated flying. It was something that awkwardly started in my mid 20s, for no real reason other than I had a small bout with acute anxiety from a terrible job I had, and suddenly, being in an airplane meant I didn’t “have an out” if I felt panicky and needed one. While the anxiety only lasted a short time, the flight nerves stuck around. It hasn’t been fun to deal with since flying is a big part of vacation and travel (which I obvs LOVE), especially when amazing, life-changing trips start with 24 hours of airplane travel. *cough* Bali *cough*

Someone once said to me that I don’t like to fly because I don’t do it often enough. So, around that time I added to my Bucket List, number 96: Fly somewhere every month, for a year to get more comfortable with flying.

To tell you the truth, I’m already half- to all-the-way cured after my Bali flight and moving away from home. (I feel really lucky that Seattle is only a couple hours away from San Francisco, and I have the luxury of flying home whenever there’s something I don’t want to miss).

However, I have a good jump on this Bucket List item of mine from my travel the last couple months and planned travel in the upcoming months, so I’m going to tackle #96 on my Bucket List with a goal of finishing it by July 2012.

I don’t currently have travel plans for May, June and July of 2012, but I do want to make it to New Orleans and Savannah (the dirty, dirty south, y’all!) next year, so perhaps those two mini trips will have to take place within those months.

Lots of travel to look forward to in my near future – the best feeling!

Currently Feeling: A little guilty after my three bowls of Golden Grahams dinner. Damn you, corner store across the street from me!
Currently Anticipating: Getting home to Seattle on Friday for the holidays!
Currently Needing: Some blog recs – leave em in the comments if you have em. Bonus points if they’re fellow San Francisco bloggers!

I participated in my first-ever SantaCon this year (on the 10th anniversary of it’s inception in San Francisco)… it’s definitely a new favorite “holiday” and excuse to dress in costume* that I’ve added to my ever-growing list. I think this always-celebrating, pub-crawling, costume-partying city was made for me…

Also, I’m working my way on being the World’s Best Grandma with the costume box I’m building. Since here, I’ve added Ursula, Wish Bear and Santa to my costume box (and re-worn a hippie and pirate costume). That’s five costumes in seven months. I can’t wait to get my nylon World’s Best Grandma hat someday and wear it proudly with my skinny jeans, Uggs and poncho – the future definition of out-of-date granny gear.

*The red dress I wore for SantaCon, and the green dress I wore for my CareBear costume for Halloween, are both American Apparel’s Nyloc Tricot Figure Skater Dress, which I’m OBSESSED with for costumes and truly want one in every color!

Currently Feeling: So exhausted today after a busy, but SUPER fun, weekend. Totally worth it, but man do weekends like this take it out of me! *Ahem, almost 30, ahem*
Currently Anticipating: Spin class tomorrow, and trying out a cranberry sorbet recipe with some leftover cranberries I have.
Currently Proud Of: A few aesthetic and functional fixes on my blog – click through to see if you’re in a RSS viewer! (I’ve added a “Pin This” button to each post and a small Pinterest feed in my sidebar, among a few other small updates.)

Stella wore a pretty red bow to my holiday party tonight and hung out with all the gals. She’s such a fashionista. And a party animal. Just like her mom!

1. You own Toms, lululemon and a Mini Cooper (and notice, strangely, that millions of your clones are running around the city).
2. High heels are no longer a member of your fashion wardrobe, especially if they’re over 3″, and you start to lean more toward wanting to wear out those *less than stylish* nurse shoes in the name of walking comfort. If you do wear heels, you pair your outfit with an oversized bag to keep your flats to change into.
3. You plan an extra 30 minutes to get anywhere – via Muni (bus), walking or driving around in circles to find parking.
4. You finally understand the meaning of, and frequently use, the “California Stop.”
5. You channel your inner Cameron & Christina (from one of the best movies ever) while walking up hills.

To be continued…

Currently Feeling: It’s Friday – hip, hop hooray ho….!
Currently Anticipating: SANTACON tomorrow all day! It’s my first time participating in this popular tradition (that started in San Francisco), and this year is the 10 year anniversary, so it’s gonna get crazy!
Currently Loving (and Reading): Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels. Seriously good stuff about our food industry, all the chemicals in food, and how it effects your metabolism. Great stuff.

While I was recovering from being sick, I turned into a nesting/cooking queen. Anything to pass the time from staying indoors all day! I’ve been wanting to try this soup I found on Pinterest for awhile now, and since the temperature in SF is just now starting to drop, I felt it was the perfect comfy, cozy lunch option for cold days.

I’m a HUGE fan of the “soup, salad and breadsticks” combo from Olive Garden and always ordered their Zupa Toscana soup – a creamy soup with potatoes, sausage and greens. This is a somewhat healthier version of the soup since instead of heavy cream, I used fat-free half and half to save calories. Some could argue that fat-free half and half is not healthy since it uses corn syrup. (ARGH AMERICAN FOOD INDUSTRY). I opted for organic kale and chicken broth, sausage from a butcher to save preservatives & additives to make up for the little bit of corn syrup in this soup. That being said, this was one of the easiest, yummiest most impressive things I’ve made in awhile. Don’t you just want to dive into that bowl! And only five ingredients to pick up at the store…

Here’s how ya do it, and a printable recipe card for you too if you click on the image!

Stay warm out there, blog lovelies! xoxo

Currently Feeling: In love with spin and biking! Makes me feel like I might want to sign up for an organized ride… my sis and I are tossing around STP with my dad next summer.
Currently Anticipating: A brunch with friends before SantaCon on Saturday! I have my Santa costume and can’t wait to participate in this popular SF citywide Santa bar crawl!
Currently Loving: Seeing some of my best friends pregnant and squeezing out their mini mes. So hard to wrap my head around, but so cool!

Since moving to San Francisco, the number one restaurant I’ve read about in all my city sources for events and happenings, is The Boxing Room. Maja buzz. Since it’s a cajun restaurant, and I’m obsessed with all-things southern food, The Boxing Room has been at the top of my must-eat restaurant list for months now.

One slight problem – in a city of foodies, getting a table at a decent hour at a highly buzzed about restaurant, is nearly impossible. But ah ha! If there’s a will, there’s a way. We made 9:30 p.m. reservations then went at 8 p.m. for a drink, hoping we could squeeze in. Sure enough – the bar had a fairly good sized four top. Tricks of my trade. Grab a seat in the bar if you make it here – it’s the same restaurant space and it serves the full menu. (It’s also been voted one of the bar’s in the city that steal’s the restaurant’s show by 7×7.com)

Often, I’m an indecisive orderer and always covet what the person next to me is eating. But, not this time! I ordered “Tonight’s Boucherie,” which was glazed baby suckling pig, served on top of two side dishes (I chose the candied yams and pecans with the broccoli and chanterelle casserole) and drizzled in gravy. Holy wow. This is one of the top 10 things I have ever eaten.

That is, until I split their Bourbon Banana Split with my dining partners. That sealed the entire meal for us with a, “OMFGTHISPLACEISSOGOOD.”

Coupled with warm, honey buttered cornbread, other southern staples, and a warmly lit, inviting atmosphere with dark woods and simple decor makes this one of the best restaurants I’ve been to in San Francisco.

Currently Feeling: Glad to be back in the land of the living, and ready to spend the rest of my week enjoying holiday festive plans.
Currently Anticipating: A holiday lights tour via bus I have planned with a girl friend tomorrow. Hot cocoa and rich, fancy Bay Area house lightings!
Currently Listening To: Indie Holiday Music station on Pandora!

The tree is up! My apartment is festive and ready for a holiday party I’m throwing this Sunday for my San Francisco girl friends. It will, of course, be a theme party, and I’m really excited to share the details with you once it’s over. But I’m MORE excited for the party. Holiday parties are a good excuse to eat potluck finger food and drink tons of wine. Two of my favorite things.

This year I got rid of the red bulbs and went with a jewel-tone Christmas tree. I added a few special ornaments to the mix that are really “me” – a couple sparkly butterflies, a painted peacock bulb, a platform heel, and a glass of wine.

Growing up, we always had “themed” trees that looked like they belonged in a department store. I used to get really frustrated with my mom and complain that we didn’t have one of those funky, kitschy, eclectic trees that had ornaments from a family’s collection through the years. I loved looking at those ornaments as a kid, and friends and neighbors trees felt more homey and special. (By the way – I feel super bratty writing this. #firstworldproblems) My mom would always say to me, “When you’re an adult, you can do the tree anyway you want.”

Turns out I’ve gone with a mix of a themed tree and some sentimental ornaments through the years, strategically placed and matched. Best of both worlds.

How does your family, or you, decorate your tree – themed or eclectic? 

Currently Feeling: Like the master cook these days – I can’t lose with any of the recipes I try off Pinterest, and it feels awesome.
Currently Anticipating: Coming home to the sparkly lights of my tree for the next two weeks before I go home for Christmas!
Currently Loving: Totino’s Party Pizzas. So gross. Yet so, so delicious at the same time.

You know when you’re so busy during the week that you have to save weekend-time to accomplish your “adult chores” such as grocery shopping?!

Well, that was me last week since I was previously in Seattle for eight days for Thanksgiving and had a slew of things to do when I got back to SF. Except, I got food poisoning instead and spent this entire weekend eating really creative foods like Triscuits with salsa, tuna and pickled cauliflower out of the jar cause I was too sick to leave my house and buy groceries. Mmm! (Not sick enough to starve myself, obvs).

I did absolutely nothing fun this weekend, and in fact, had to cancel a bunch of fun plans while everyone frolicked and enjoyed the sunny December SF weather. I’m bitter!! Bitter, bitter, bitter. So, I sat inside and took photos of myself to send to my friends and family because I looked like a GD beauty queen!

If you’re Justin Timberlake and you want to Mila Kunis me, that’s not really me.

BUT, the whole point of this post was for me to impart some interesting to you, blog lovelies, not complain. And what I DO have to share, is that I watched pretty much every dang movie possible this weekend, and figured I’d quickly share with you the worth and worthless. Just in case you’re stuck inside, sick, eating cupboard crumbs, unshowered for three days and looking like a beauty queen (see above).

Yes I’m Siskel, yes I’m Ebert and you’re getting two thumbs up!*

1. Friends With Benefits - Super cute! Predictable, but Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake definitely have onscreen chemistry and made me *kinda* want to shower, get out of my PJs and find a man immediately. And then I stood up, felt like barfing, and there went that goal.
2. One Day - This is one of my favorite books I’ve read, and I actually thought the movie was really good, despite hearing virtually zero about it. It makes you bawlll, but if you read the book, you already know what’s coming. 
3. Horrible Bosses - Silly with only a couple laugh-out-loud parts. BTW – it’s a bit bizarre to see Jennifer Aniston so raunchy! 
4. Sarah’s Key - So good! So, so, so good! This is a great book, but I’d actually say the movie is even better, and I’ve never said that. 
5. Our Idiot Brother - HORRIBLE. Couldn’t even make it through the first hour and gave up. Yikes.
6. Deck the Halls - A poorly rated, unknown Christmas movie with Matthew Broderick and Danny deVito that’s actually pretty funny and worth a watch. Good addition to the cheesy Christmas movie rotation.
7. America’s Next Top Model All Stars, Season 17 - Okay, this isn’t a movie. But I rented the entire season on Amazon Instant Video (my new obsession – see yah Netflix), and it rules. I’ve watched ANTM since the beginning but have dropped off the last couple seasons cause the drama is too much and the girls are a bit young, but this brought back all the love with old fan favorites coming back. I can’t wait for the finale this Wednesday and have all my money on Lisa!

*I know all the words to this song and even have a dance my girl friends and I used to perform in da clubs when I was 18. Random Je fact!

Currently Feeling: Slightly out of the woods and double crossing my fingers that I wake up healthy tomorrow morning. I want to get back in the gym!
Currently Anticipating: A week of fun holiday plans including a Toys for Tots party with the AMA, a holiday lights tour of SF, SantaCon pub crawl and a “Favorite Things” girls party at my house!
Currently Reading: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

After my week away last week in Seattle for Thanksgiving, Stella hasn’t really left my side or stopped purring. It’s good to be loved and missed!

Hold up, wait a minute. Don’t look now… it’s a bacon cheeseburger served between two sticky icky icky glazed donuts.

I know – your arteries are clogged by just reading the title of my post.

But let’s all set aside our Judgy McJudgerson tendencies for a bit and just roll around in the glory of a cheeseburger served between two glazed donuts. Gross? Totally. Amazingly cracklicious delicious? Totally. The definition of sin and heaven rolled into one.

I doubted the greasy confection, but then I took one bite of (my friend’s) order at Straw SF and immediately regretting not going for the gusto. If you get a chance to go to Straw SF, don’t miss “The Ringmaster” – ground chuck burger, bacon and cheddar between two house-glazed donuts. Perfectly sweet and salty.

But that’s not all I loved about Straw. The small restaurant in Hayes Valley seats maybe 20 people tops, but it’s kitschy cuteness that’s reminiscent of “carnival fare” is full of so many special little touches (on the menu and beyond) that you can’t help but to have just plain FUN eating at this place. I mean, you can sit in an old seat from a Tilt A Whirl!

Menus are hallowed out old children’s books, the waiters are witty, friendly hipsters (I know, the shock), dessert brought us to the childhood fair favorite – cotton candy! and the appetizers included a to-die for sweet potato tater tots dish served with blackberry barbecue dipping sauce. My friends, I have agonized for the perfect dipping sauce for sweet potato fries (ketchup and aioli just don’t do it for me), and my search is over.

Orange blossom cotton candy

Sweet potato tots with blackberry bbq dipping sauce

You’ll leave this place charmed, nary a dent in the pocketbook, smiling, and well, in a total:

In my book, that gets a vote for one of the best restaurants I’ve been to in San Francisco.

Currently Feeling: Back to the grindstone in SF (and the sun) – feels good! Nothing but a light sweater is how I like to roll.
Currently Anticipating: An ugly sweater benefit party for One Warm Coat tonight with SF Weekly.
Currently Reading: An Invisible Thread by Alex Tresniowski and Laura Schroff.