Savvy in San Francisco

Tasty Treats: Farina

2012-03-13T15:04:00.003-07:00

Over the three day weekend a couple of weeks ago, Carlos and I went out on a date night on Sunday night to Farina in the Mission. It was nice because it wasn't crazy busy like I suspect it is on a Friday or Saturday night at Farina. There are so many fabulous places to eat in the Mission, but we always dread parking over there, so if a restaurant has valet parking, it's a huge plus!

We started with the Foccacia di Recco con tartufo nero. It is stracchino cheese (similar qualities to sour cream) melted between two layers of thin dough with shaved black truffles. This dish is Ligurian specialty and Farina was first to serve it in it's authentic form here in the US.

Mark Bittman said about Farina, “I have not had a pasta dish here that wasn’t perfectly cooked and well worth eating." We ordered the two pastas dishes which were outrageously fresh and delicious. I ordered the Mandilli di seta al pesto ligure di mandorie (handmade handkerchief pasta with Genovese basil and almond pesto). Carlos had the Genovese Pansotti filled with meat.

Both Carlos and I agreed that the food was delicious but the prices were definitely on the pricier side. The pastas run about $24-$28 and the meat/fish dishes run $34-$46. Everything seemed to be priced $10 more than it should be (even for San Francisco). It was still quite a treat!

An extra perk was that Conan O'Brien walked in with his family and went upstairs to a private room. They have also added a roof deck that looks amazing that is scheduled to open in the next month.

Of course, afterwards we had to walk the half block over to Tartine Bakery and Bi-Rite Market to pick up a couple of goodies for the next day.

It's all in the details - Neiman Marcus Walnut Creek

2012-03-12T11:38:00.000-07:00

Stores within stores!

It's all about color!

So much effort went into the design of the store.

Local artists' art installations are all throughout the store.

Last Wednesday, Lindsay and I were lucky enough to get a tour of the new Neiman Marcus in Walnut Creek before they had their grand opening on Friday. The store is absolutely beautiful! I had never realized how many little details go into the design of the store until they were pointed out to me on the tour. All of their furniture is designed personally for the store and they have some truly unique and gorgeous pieces. (If you see the large creme/tan ottoman up above from the shoe department, you can see how they designed it to line up with the change in color of the carpet.) Their dressing rooms are large and luxurious. The mens is made to look like a man's apartment and the womens to look like a women's studio. All over the store are beautiful and brightly colored art installations done by local artists. They had many of the artists on hand to explain their work.

I highly recommend if you live in the East Bay or if you find yourself on a shopping trip to Walnut Creek, to stop by Neiman Marcus for a one of kind shopping experience. If you tire from all of the shopping that you end up doing while over there, you should stop by Va de Vi for a glass of vino and some tasty bites for lunch! Happy shopping!

Lemony Deliciousness

2012-03-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

You all know my obsession with yellow lately - it's a little bit out of control. Especially with having a new house to decorate and lots of new rooms to fill with fun colors. Our guest bath (picture up above - has white and blue tiles) is right off of the kids playroom. I bought these gorgeous lemon colored Kate Spade towels for the bathroom and this fun blue rug from Rugsusa.com for the playroom. I think I might need to order these yellow graphic print pillow covers from Gracie's Pillows for the couch in the playroom to help pull it all together! What do you think?

Wordless Wednesday

2012-03-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Buried in Boxes

2012-03-06T10:21:00.003-08:00

Checking out our new house - very excited!

Wearing his great grandfather's hat (my Papa's hat).

I'm going to miss this view on my drive home!

The kids & I spent the night at Mimi & Papa's house the night before the move to stay out of the movers' way! Mimi and Landon made beignets for breakfast.

My first latte and one of our many gorgeous flowers out on our deck!

I apologize for disappearing last week! It has been a crazy week with trying to get everything ready for the move and the move itself. Now that we are in the new house, I'm overwhelmed by the number of boxes that have taken over our house. It feels like we will never be able to unpack everything. On the bright side, I am absolutely in love with our new house and with the outside space for the kids and for us! It was so nice the other day to enjoy our breakfast and lattes out on the deck soaking up the sun! Hopefully in all of this craziness, I will be able to blog a little bit more than I did last week.

Just to add a little more craziness into the mix, I am trying to get ready for Landon's 5th birthday on Sunday and then we leave on vacation next week for Florida. YIKES!

A is for Adorable

2012-02-27T16:10:00.001-08:00

I Heart Faces is skipping their weekly photography contest and instead having people post pictures to their Facebook page with the theme of the letter A. My picture is A is for adorable. This is a picture of Baby J at 10 days old. I have a lot more to edit and will share more with you when I am done, but for now you can soak up all of his preciousness from this one picture.

Currently Craving: Yellow

2012-02-24T16:07:00.001-08:00

Z Gallerie Ottavio Vase

Z Gallerie Geo Bedding

J.Crew Quorra Ballet Flats

Kate Spade Treasure Chest Statement Necklace

My recent yellow purchases from West Elm & Target.

Is it possible to want to change your color scheme in your kitchen because you fell in love with one striped bowl? I saw these bowls at West Elm (they are currently ON SALE) and ever since I've been having a slight love affair with yellow. I have always loved yellow accessories for that fun pop of color to an outfit. Now I want to take that pop of color and insert it into my new home. I want to buy pops of yellow for the kitchen, living room and possibly that gray and yellow combo up above from Z Gallerie for my bedroom. Yellow is such a happy and cheerful color and just what you need to start your day off with a little bit of sunshine to get you going!

What color does that for you?

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! My brother is getting married tomorrow and I am excited to play with my borrowed Nikon 85mm 1.4G lens from Borrowlenses.com. Anxious to see if it is worth the hefty price tag that comes along with it. Then we will be packing for the rest of the weekend and hopefully getting the keys to the new place on Sunday!!!

images 1/2/3/4

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-22T00:24:00.000-08:00

I Heart Faces: Hugs & Kisses

2012-02-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

Entering the weekly photo contest over at I Heart Faces. This week's theme is hugs and kisses. This is a sweet moment I caught while doing Baby O's one year photoshoot down at Crissy Field and my photography assistant decided to get in on the action!

Tasty Treats: Hot Chocolate Mousse Cups

2012-02-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

How amazing do these Chocolate Mousse Cups look by Jane at A Taste of Koko? Not only do they look delicious, but I think that these would be so fun to make with the bambinos. They would love to dip the balloon (make sure to use water balloons - not filled with water) into the melted chocolate. Plus so much fun for them to eat. Might need to serve them at our next dinner party!

images via

Neiman Marcus Beauty Event

2012-02-20T17:49:00.000-08:00

Our fabulous beauty samples from the swag bag!

Tom Ford's newest fragrance Neroli Portofino.

I was invited to a Spring Happenings event at Neiman Marcus in the Rotunda Room last week. I was excited to find out it was to talk about their upcoming Beauty Event that starts on Thursday, February 23rd (available online now). Not sure if most of you know, but I have an ~~unhealthy~~ slight obsession with beauty products. I'm always in search of that one product that I just know is going to change my skin FOREVER!

We heard from the Neiman Marcus beauty representatives from Tom Ford, Fresh, Creed, Le Metier De Beaute and Clinica Ivo Pitanguy about their upcoming spa and artistry events that will be going on during The Beauty Event through March 3. During the beauty event if you purchase $100 more of cosmetics or fragrances then you receive their brightly colored totes with some amazing samples in it! I'm thinking the bright yellow will make a fabulous diaper bag for me!

Also, for all of you Bay Area folks that are out in the East Bay, Neiman Marcus is about to open their Walnut Creek location. I'm going to a private press event to tour the new store that opens to the public on March 9th. Can't wait to share my sneak peek with all of you!

Happy shopping!

image 3 via

Loving Lately - West Elm & Z Gallerie

2012-02-17T11:48:00.000-08:00

How cute are these bowls from West Elm?

In the couch finals from West Elm.

This Z Gallerie couch is in the finals too....but in a granite color.

Maybe for the Master Bedroom from West Elm.

Z Gallerie headboard for the Master Bedroom?

Like this side chair from Z Gallerie and love the little guy in it! Quite the trooper while shopping for furniture!

Charlotte's 1st Valentine's Day!

My little princess!

Don't you have days like this that you just want to snuggle up to all things soft!

I hope everyone has fabulous plans for the three day weekend! Normally I would be thrilled for a three day weekend, except mine is going to be filled with packing (at least I have an extra day of help with packing from Carlos). We would much rather be taking the kids somewhere fun and enjoying having three solid days together! I thought I would share some of my recent items I have been loving lately (mostly related to furnishing our new home) along with some Instagram favorites of my cuties!

Any fun plans for the weekend?

Happy Weekend!

images via 1/2/3/4/5 & 6-9 taken by my iPhone

My Blank Canvas

2012-02-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

Dining Room

Living Room

Dining Room

Diving into these for inspiration!

I'm excited to be starting with a blank canvas in a bunch of rooms in our new house. I think I am most excited for the living room. For the past four years, our living room aka "the preschool" has not looked like a living room. It has been taken over by cars, trucks, dolls, musical instruments, art supplies, art tables, doll houses, baby swings, etc (you get the idea). In our new house we have a living room and a family room, so I am going to turn the living room into a playroom where are all of those items listed above can reside and live! I am not naive to think that the toys won't creep out into the living room, but no where near the level that is currently going on.

Our current couch (which the bambinos have not been so kind to) will go into the playroom and so I am in search of a new couch. The reality is that we need to have a darker colored couch because a creme or light tan colored couch would never survive in a house with three kids! I have grabbed a couple of my favorite couches from Z Gallerie and West Elm that are in contention and put them on a Polyvore page. Did you know that Polyvore is doing home goods now in addition to fashion? Very fun! What do you think? Any favorites of the ones up above?

Sofas by savvyinsanfrancisco on polyvore.com

Chester Tufted Upholstered Sofa | west elm, $1,699
Sofas & Sectionals | Harrison Sofa For Friends & Family at Z Gallerie, $1,000
Z Gallerie - Pauline Sofa - Pearl, $1,000
Benny Sofa - Browse This Chic Sofa & More Affordable Home Furnishings..., $999
One Kings Lane - Globally Inspired Rugs - Meridian Rug, Black/White

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

Tasty Treats: Aziza

2012-02-14T10:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day to everyone! I hope you have some fabulous plans for today or that you will at least treat yourself to a little something special!

For today's tasty treat I wanted to share one of Carlos and my favorite local neighborhood restaurants, Aziza. It is an amazing Moroccan restaurant in the Richmond District in San Francisco. The restaurant is located on Geary Avenue and from the outside you wouldn't realize that inside is this romantic and delicious restaurant.

One of my favorite things about Aziza is how Mourad Lahlou (who is in the running for hottest chef in San Francisco by Eater SF) blends fresh and local California ingredients with the taste of Morocco. Not only is the food amazing (the spreads with flatbread and duck confit basteeya are definite must haves), but their cocktails are outrageous. They use fresh muddled herbs, spices, vegetables and fruits that are in season to make their cocktails and the results are so very tasty.

There were rumors that they were moving to Jackson Square, but supposedly that is off the table and for now they will remain in the Geary location (yeah for the Richmond locals).

Now that we have kids, Carlos and I have started going out the weekend before or the weekend after to celebrate Valentines Day instead of on Valentines Day. We really enjoy doing this for three reasons - it's not as crazy busy, not as expensive and we always feel that the food is better. We always find that the food is never as good on busy holidays because the kitchen is always slammed. Instead, we make a romantic dinner that we eat at home and pull out our wedding china (oh we be fancy) after the bambinos have been put to bed. We will be going to Fifth Floor this Saturday and I am excited to see what David Bazirgan has done with the menu and the food. We went there years ago before David was the chef and we were not that impressed. I will definitely be sharing my experience with all of you!

What are your plans for today? Happy Valentines Day!

On the Move

2012-02-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! We have had a busy weekend of packing! This family of five has outgrown our place and we are excited to be moving where we can stretch our legs out a little bit more. I know the next couple of weeks are going to be crazy while we try to sort through all of our stuff and try to reduce the clutter before we move. I am excited to have a blank canvas and to have some new rooms to decorate (living room, playroom and Charlotte's room - she is finally at 8 months going to move out of our bedroom and have her own room)! I can't wait to share the new place with you once we settle in! But I am also a little bit sad to be leaving our first home that we bought together as a married couple and where we brought all three babies home to from the hospital. Very bittersweet!

New Year, New You: Eating My Greens

2012-02-10T00:56:00.000-08:00

My box full of "good for me" goodies from Lisa and Lacy!

images via 2/3/4

One of my friends, Lisa of With Style and Grace, along with Lacy of LacyYoung.com, started Group Health Coaching and I decided this could be the perfect little kickstart I need to help me lose this baby weight! It is a small group of women that "meet" over the phone every two weeks with Lisa and Lacy while they help guide you through changing your relationship with food. Hello GREENS and WHOLE GRAINS, nice to see you again, it's been awhile!

This came at a perfect time for me for two reasons - (1) For almost the past six years, I have been either pregnant or breastfeeding, while both are amazing things that your body can do, I am anxious to give my body a "tune-up" if you will now that I am closing those chapters in my life. I think it deserves it after all of that work! (2) It's the new year and I'm ready to embrace the new year with a healthier outlook on food - it's not my enemy....we can be friends!

I am excited to share with you my journey over the next couple of months! Hopefully I will be able to share some helpful hints along the way and pass on some Lisa's tasty recipes!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

Tasty Treats: S'mores Cookie Bars

2012-02-07T17:29:00.000-08:00

I hope all of you are having a lovely week! I thought I would share a tasty treat with you today. This past weekend, my friend CC (who is an amazing baker), brought over some delicious S'mores Cookie Bars to our Superbowl party! They were outrageously decadent! The only change that she said she would change is that she would use regular size Hershey bars instead of king size Hershey bars (like the recipe calls for). Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together).

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Makes 16 cookie bars.

Now I am off to go make some more kale chips to balance out the naughtiness of the s'mores ~~bar~~ bars I ate this weekend. This has been part of my "homework" for my New Year, New You session tomorrow that I am taking from the lovely Lacy & Lisa of Group Health Coaching (more posts to come on this).

recipe and image via Lovin' from the Oven

Charlotte - Seven Months

2012-02-03T16:08:00.001-08:00

Charlotte at seven months old:

You are are 17 pounds!
You are wearing your 3-6 and 6-9 month size clothing. You have a very round tummy and your thighs have rolls for days!
You are such a happy and smiley baby! Even when you complain, its a soft complaining.
You are doing really well sitting up on your own!
You are still breastfeeding but we are supplementing with formula as well (which has given Mommy a break since you are not the kindest to my breasts).
You are sleeping from 8:30-6:00am. Every night you go to sleep, I request that you sleep in until at least 7am. You must not hear me when I make this request.
Now that we have added in bottles, your brother and sister fight over who gets to "feed" you the bottle.
Your hair is getting longer and you seem to have a widow's peak.
We attempted to start feeding you - I made peas for you, but you were unable to swallow them. Your tongue would push it right back out and you were gagging. The doctor told us to to wait a month and try again.
You still don't have any teeth, but seem to have A LOT of drool.
We can't imagine our family without you and love you so much!

*You turned seven months old on January 10th but your Mommy is a procrastinator!

I hope that you all have a fabulous weekend! We are going to be off doing some house hunting (this family of five has outgrown our house), a little bit of bloggers who brunch with Blog Brunch and then having some friends over to watch the SuperBowl on Sunday. What are all of you up to this weekend?

Cherishing all of the little things

2012-02-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

My head has been spinning since I got back from Altitude Summit and I haven't been able to slow down and focus on things. Sometimes I have to stop spinning around out of control and just remember to focus on the little things. These moments can be all to fleeting!

Warby Parker - Part Deux

2012-01-30T15:19:00.000-08:00

I wanted to follow up about my Warby Parker post with you guys and share my final ~~choice~~ choices! I was having the hardest time deciding on one pair (your opinions on the blog and twitter really did help), so I decided to get two pairs! At $95 a pair, two pairs is still cheaper than what I would normally pay for one pair at any other brick & mortar shop. Plus, that means that Warby Parker donated TWO pairs of glasses to two people in need.

I went with the Sinclair in Midnight Blue and the Pierce in Oakwood Brown. The process was so simple. I just returned my five trial pairs, went online and chose the two pairs of frames that I wanted, entered my information, took a photo of my prescription with my cell phone and then emailed that to Warby Parker. The glasses were made and shipped out to me a couple of days after I ordered them! Color me impressed! I did have to get the Sinclair pair adjusted because they didn't fit me exactly right. But WP's customer service was so helpful - told me that most eyeglass shops will adjust them for free, but if they didn't, just to keep the receipt, send a copy of it in to WP and they would reimburse me for the adjustment cost. Very nice!

Thank you again for all of you help choosing. It was so fun to get everyone's opinion! What do you guys think?

I know that the blog has been heavy on the ALT Summit posts, but I am hoping to do one more wrap up post about my individual sessions and share some of my great tips I learned while I was there. Then hopefully we will be back to our regular programming! I have so many restaurants that I need to catch up on and share with you and a couple of trips too!

He's got the world at his fingertips...

2012-01-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

ALT Summit Eve Dinner - Cocktails, Crafts & Cooking

2012-01-27T00:57:00.000-08:00

Dayna, myself and Amy on a wild car ride back to the hotel.

Hello....you had me at cocktail!

If it gives you any idea to how crazy things have been since I got back from ALT (and when I mean crazy - I mean my spinning out of control and my lack of focus), I started writing this post a week ago!

One of my favorite moments at ALT definitely was the first evening at the interactive dinner with Kelly Wilkinson and Sarah Flotard. I met a lot of fabulous ladies, decorated some fun dinner napkins, pickled some scallions and ate some really delicious food. They sent us home with our pickled scallions (that I know have a mild obsession with ...like seriously...what else can I put these on - never was a big pickled fan before - Carlos now thinks I have a problem. Did you know that you can put them on homemade pizza, carnitas, roast beef sandwiches and on a hot dog...oh yeah...you can*), our napkin, a book of recipes from the evenings delicacies and a copy of Kelly's book, Weekend Handmade (which I can't wait to dig into)! Thank you to our lovely hosts for such a wonderful evening and the perfect way to kick off ALT!

*Forgive the four sentences that ended up being dedicated to pickled scallions!

**The most shameful thing I have to admit is that these (besides the pictures I posted earlier out my hotel balcony) were the ONLY pictures I took at ALT. I brought my camera and two lenses because I wanted to capture every moment. I guess I was too busy being caught up in all of the moments to pull out my camera. The rest of my pictures that I will posty camera phone. C'est la vie!

The Business of Cards - ALT Summit

2012-01-25T11:36:00.000-08:00

I met so many amazing people at ALT - designers, bloggers and photographers. All of these creative people had the most unique and fabulous business cards that definitely reflected them and their businesses. I can't wait to go through all of their cards and check out their websites!

Come back tomorrow to hear about my delicious and fun dinner with a bunch of new friends at the ALT Summit eve dinner with the crafty Kelly Wilkinson and amazing food photographer, Sarah Flotard.