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.

How was everyone’s week of gluttony – the week where we stand up for everything America stands for by lying around and getting FAT on Thanksgiving comfort food?! So haute.

This past week, there were a LOT of posts on Facebook (as I’m sure everyone saw) about what people were thankful for… also a lot of quotes and comments about being thankful all year round instead of just one day, blah, blah, blah.

I know I’m very grateful for the gifts (and amazing talent ) I’ve been given. I frequently talk with my sister, friends, mom and dad about how lucky I feel. I really, really do. But I think because of the reason, season and time, we all give a few more thoughts during Thanksgiving week about what we’re especially grateful for.

I jokingly posted on the interwebs that I was thankful for spandex. Just to cut through the seriousness. But if we’re being serious (for serious, seriously), for me more this year than usual, I’m thankful for “each other.” Or more specifically, my friends and family. As cliche as that sounds, let me explain…

This is a lesson you learn even more so when you move away from home and relocate to a new city: Your 16 circles of people become two circles of people. The people who love you and take interest in your life, are those who call to randomly chat and check in (rather than just checking Facebook) and go out of their way to spend time with you because they love and appreciate your friendship just as much as you do theirs. Two way friendships stick around and one way friendships disappear. You stop taking advantage of the time you spend with those you love (because they are oh.so.missed), and your schedule becomes less spread super thin and more focused on those who just make you feel loved when you’re in their presence. This is what life is about.

It’s not easy to move away from all your life-long friends and family and sometimes sit in your house by yourself when it’s your nature to be social, to see everything your friends are doing at home and wishing with every bone in your being that you could cab to their house and go together, to explore new neighborhoods and lunch spots alone, or to not have a group to plan a camping trip with. I realized more so than ever that my personal relationships are more important to me than anything else in my life. I’m growing and learning and changing and having SOO much fun in a new city, exploring a new side to Jeanna. But I just don’t like being away from the people I love. I don’t at all.

But this is another lesson you learn when you move away from home: You work really hard in a new city to make your “family” – your home away from home – which might be 5 people instead of 30. Five very, very special people. In my new city, I’m surrounded by new friends, new people I’m quickly beginning to love, and a small circle of people who are becoming my family and my home away from home. And now, when I’m home in Seattle, I miss them and the fun they’re having. I want to take a cab to their house and go together. They’re my people to explore new neighborhoods and lunch spots as we navigate a big city together. As we miss our “homes” but choose to make a new home together.

What I learned this year is that I’ll never be able to stay in one spot anymore and not miss someone – this is what happens when you can call two places home… or three… or four.

But, I can go everywhere and find people who will love me, and love everyone back just as much, or even more, regardless of my location.

That’s what I’m thankful for.

Currently Feeling: Annoyed my flight is delayed two hours (again!). Damn you, SFO fog!
Currently Anticipating: Sleeping in my own bed tonight and cuddling Miss Stella!
Currently Loving: My new Kindle Touch! (I totes bought it, even though I totes didn’t need it. Whoopsie. But, I love it so much better than the keyboard one!)

On Sunday, I went with my friend Tammy to an event called THREAD Show. It was a small gathering of independent fashion and accessory designers selling their goods (for cost) with some food samples, wine, art and DJs. It was one of the most fun things I’ve done on a rainy Sunday! (Considering I spend 99 percent of my Sundays in bed reading and watching movies).

So many pretty trinkets, sparkly gems and lovely silky items I wanted to make mine immediately! If I had endless amount of dollars to spend, I would have bought the moon. What I loved best about this shopping event was that each curated piece for sale was made by a local designer and unlike anything you can pick up in a large mainstream store like Forever 31. Plus, your purchase supported their art! I came home with some beautiful pieces that I feel are what I like to call, “conversation starters.”

These feather earrings are from Turosum – artisan handmade jewelry from SF. Feathers are all the rage and ubiquitous in earrings, but what I love about these is they feel a little bit more “upscale” and special with their gold plating and soft, multi-colored cream and brown feathers. This designer had so many gorgeous feather earrings, many incorporating semi precious stones too. I kinda wanted to buy the whole rack.

My friend and I had a conquer strategy that included scouting the entire room for what we wanted before we purchased anything. I found this vintage light gray bag (worn with chain or as a clutch) with a hot pink hand-painted and fabric aplique created by De La Luna Designs and immediately fell in love. I walked away for three minutes before I turned back around and immediately bought it. I couldn’t bare the thought of someone else snagging it! The artist also does gorgeous appliquéd wallets, flasks, shoes and more. I wish I had a million people to buy birthday gifts for because these pieces were extraordinarily special.

These little friendship bracelets from Paolo Loves to Shop caught my eye when we first walked in. Friendship bracelets and “layered bracelets” are really in right now, and I love the studs (and rhinestones) braided into these ones, so I bought two! It feels like a fun throwback to my youth to have a friendship bracelet tied on my wrist all day (even if I did give it to myself), but modernized with the studs.

THREAD does Indie fashion pop-up shows in other cities on the West Coast (the best coast) such as Seattle (!!), San Diego and Los Angeles, so look it up and mark your calendars for next year’s shows. It’s something not to be missed!

Currently Feeling: So very, very excited to see my parents and my little sister when I land in Seattle for Thanksgiving week! Going home now feels like I’m 15 since I stay at my parents’ house without a car, but it’s nice to have so much concentrated family time to make up for how little I get to see them.
Currently Anticipating: A week of catching up with Seattle friends I haven’t seen since I moved (six months ago now)! There is lots of partying in my future. I’m going to have to work out extra hard this week.
Currently Watching: Hangover 2 on the plane! Don’t remember people really loving it, but I think it’s hilarious! Many laugh out loud moments (even if a lot of it is kinda crass, sea bass).