The family pilgrimage to Tahoe at the end of July provided a much-needed break from all things real-life related, and aside from a bit of Insta-action I really didn't go online much. Which was healthy. And should happen more. In contrast, this last week has been all the things a first-week-back from vacation usually is: laundry (sooooo much laundry, always), overdue visits to the dentist, grocery shopping, catching up on email, back-to-school shopping, freaking out that it's already time for back-to-school, and so on. Also, after a week of virtually pickling ourselves in ... [READ MORE]
Spin. Stop.
August 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Driving through North Beach this morning, pondering the closure of the French-Italian bakery and what an olfactory loss that was for the neighborhood, wondering cynically what hipster cocktail cave will take its place, it occurred to me that I'm actively trying to make peace with my city. It's an old saw, how much San Francisco has changed -- is changing -- since the arrival of the Tech Set. It's not particularly new, even (hello, late '90s) but somehow the tiny basement-room ripples became penthouse-level waves, and things are shape-shifting so visibly now. I drive down streets I've ... [READ MORE]
The Most Perfect Roller Coaster
August 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
A funny thing has happened in the past couple of months that my husband and I are just beginning to wrap our heads around, in that way that you notice something but you're not sure it's real yet, and you don't want to get too excited or even name it lest it turn out to be a phantom or a fluke: Our kids seem to be becoming...friends. This quiet, joyful turn in their too-often-fraught sibling relationship coincides with another funny thing happening -- that I have very mixed feelings about -- and that is the fact that my Babygirl, my tiny dancer daughter born with the big smile and the Buddha ... [READ MORE]
Recipe Roundup No. 6: New Stove Joy
July 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
In case you're keeping tabs: my stove works. After, Oh, I don't know...four or five years of working periodically, unpredictably, and dangerously, it works at last! All the stoves in our building are electric, which is kind of unusual in San Francisco and definitely takes getting used to. As an added bonus, our old stove (which, for the record, was an old stove), had bent coils that refused to lie flat, meaning that our pots and pans slid around on the stovetop unless you positioned them with the handles just so, balancing the weight of the pan against the weight of the contents of the ... [READ MORE]
Wednesday Wishlist: Midsummer Stripes
July 20, 2016 by Leave a Comment
After dropping the kiddos at camp this morning I took a wander through North Beach to return some library books and grab a coffee. I ran into a few moms from the 'hood and we were remarking about what a beautiful morning it was. The sun is finally out after days and days (and days and days) of drizzly fog and it just...Feels. So. Good. Good enough to make a gal want to run home and put on that one sundress hanging in the back reaches of the closet. Except not, because it was also 59 degrees at 9 a.m., I was perfectly comfortable in black running tights and a sweatshirt, and this is ... [READ MORE]
Headlines
July 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
We have to hide half the magazines now that LittleMan can read. We bury the Time underneath the Highlights and the Lego Club and the Cooking Light. We quietly tuck the headlines -- about terror, about sex abuse, about disease -- into our gym bags and out-of-sight. I feel as though we exist on two intellectual planes: one, where we talk in hurried, whispered tones with other adults about the heartbreaking and incendiary news of the day, and another where we talk to our children and go swimming and see the Secret Life of Pets twice in one week, which lately feels like an exercise in ... [READ MORE]
Recipe RoundUp No. 5: Five Ideas for an Impromptu Summer Cocktail Party
July 15, 2016 by 1 Comment
One of the random things I pride myself on is the ability to pull together an impromptu cocktail party on no notice. To be clear, this happens basically never, because all my friends have kids under 8, we're scattered all over the Bay Area, we work, and we aren't exactly a spontaneous bunch. Still, IF the opportunity were to arise to do something festive and unplanned, I would hate to miss out because I was unprepared. That would just be a damn shame. Anyway, it's Friday, and after a downer of a week, I'm holding tight to happy times, dedicating this Recipe Roundup to an ... [READ MORE]
