Upcoming trip to San Francisco

Yep, that’s right- I’m headed to San Francisco in a week and I couldn’t be more excited!! 

I’m going for my step-grandmother’s birthday which is bound to be elaborate and very, very fun (eg: I have already received the week’s schedule in the mail with all of the dinners, lunches and outings that will be happening). But in the off chance I have free time I’m really hoping to get in some activities of my own.

1) Take an early morning jog through the hills (mountains) and streets of beautiful San Francisco

2) Perhaps check out this place: Local Edition, a bar that I read about recently on a blog I adore (vmac + cheese)

3) Find a Churchkey brew-skee as seen on Forbes.com and only found I select US cities (San Francisco being one of them)

4) I would love to get some research in before I go and find some “can’t miss bakeries” that I should check out in my ongoing research of bakeries (reason and ultimate goal to be announced at a later date)

5) And finally as a CA girl born and raised I can’t wait to see me some palm trees J expect many photos of them! – In fact maybe I’ll pull out some “Yes Man” and take photos while I run!

Does anyone else have any SF suggestions! Anything I can’t miss while I’m there??

J. Crew

So I realize I’m totally behind the times with this but I just found J. Crew and OH MY GOD. Everything is so adorable!! Granted I think it’s best at this point in my life to continue living in H&M and Forever21 but you can bet that you’re going to be seeing a lot of J. Crew items in my future “I Wish I Owned”/ Inspiration posts! For starters, LOVE THESE OUTFITS:

Source: J.Crew

I just love the outfits that they come up with! I love the satin shirt with jeans- perfect way to spice up a weekend outfit.

I also love how comfortable and cute yet totally sophisticated that second outfit is!

What do you guys think of J. Crew? Are you a fan already?

xo

I also want to take this time to make a shout out to my wonderful father whose birthday is tomorrow!! Unfortunately I'll be 3,000 miles away and therefore unable to celebrate this national holiday with him ;) but I am excited to see him in two weeks!!

New Blog Suggestion

So I have recently found a new hobby-- reading lifestyle and design blogs and of course the occasional foodie blog. It also helps that a certain element of my work day consists of searching through these very blogs on a daily basis soooo I bring you my first ever blog recommendation post!

I give you my newest favorite and the source and inspiration behind my regeneration of blogging:  VMAC + Cheese.

(Image from VMAC + Cheese "about me", designed by Victoria)

To put it simply, Victoria, the author, creator and driving force behind VMAC + Cheese, is my idol. Okay, so that may be an extreme term, but since I read about her on PureWow I’ve fallen in love- she not only has a similar background as me (formal undergraduate business education, culinary school afterwards, and lifelong interest in all things food design and wonderful). She has recently launched her own business and is now attempting to make it in the world as a consultant for all things food, party and graphic design. To say that I admire her work ethic and style is putting it lightly and she can ultimately claim full responsibility for my devoted (re)entrance into blogging.

I love her concise, simplistic style that has the most subtle and powerful flair is inspiring. And the fact that she’s currently planning a wedding is only a bonus :)

Her posts are never overwhelming (too long) so they’re always a fun and easy read.

So may I suggest checking it out? Now?

Let me know what you think!

xo

Look What I Bought Today!

So I made an impulse purchase today:

(Image from One Kings Lane)
I just decided that it was too cute and affordable to pass up!

What you should know is that I have a small obsession with travel bags- duffles, large purses, pretty much anything “carry on.” And this bag just called out to me, plus it will be adorable for weekend trips, beach outings, picnics and other summer fun! I can’t wait :)

Plus the beauty of a backpack is that I won’t be left with one shoulder in total pain from hoisting the weight of all of my things! I love backpacks for this reason and yet have trouble finding one cute enough that won’t make me feel like I’m back in middle school, which made the discovery of this bag all the more exciting!

Can’t wait until it gets here!

xo

A Late Recap of My Weekend

I realize this may be coming a tad late but seeing as I had to do a “I’m rejuvenating my blog” post on Monday my “Recap of the Weekend” post had to wait until today. 

So for your entertainment- my weekend in photos!

I may have cheated a tad with these and taken most of them while out on just one run.... to be perfectly honest I spent the majority of the weekend inside. The weather was muggy and yucky, most of my friends were out of town and quite frankly I was feeling very lazy the result was the images above annnndddd my introduction to Die Hard. Which I’ve now discovered is one of my favorite movies.

I also got a lot of room cleaning done so don’t think too lowly of me.

But as I said before I went on a very long adventurous run (probably close to 6 miles). l went through the many parts of Queens I had left unexplored until now. Starting with a giant park with a wonderful lake, lots and lots of families out having picnics some people playing cricket. I also fell upon the grounds from the old New York World Fair, City Field (a number of areas I don’t want to go back to ever), the Queens Zoo as well as the Queens botanical gardens. I took a quick walk through Flushing Queens as well and saw a lot more of Forest Hills. It was fun to see more of my neighborhood than I was used to seeing (aka more than the 5 blocks to the gym and the 3 blocks to the train station).

Plus then after I was able to make myself a delicious balsamic and thyme burger with avocado, onion and tomato and not have to feel too guilty about it (sorry forgot to take a photo of this :/ I’m still getting used to the whole "blog about everything therefore take pictures of everything" idea)! I've found that the best reason to work out is to be able to eat guilt free.

I also painted my nails quite elaborately. A feat I'm very proud of though they are already chipping :(

Hope ya'll had a great weekend as well!

xo

Making A Comeback

So I’ve been inspired lately to start fresh with my blog- thus the format, font and name change. The new title, “Thinks and Links” stems from my constant compiling of links that I come across every day. That or the thoughts I write down with the hope that one day I would have time to get back to them. Truthfully most of them get lost in the array of lists that I have now curated never to be seen again. So here is my spot to condense my thoughts, give you my inspirations and suggestions and in return occasionally get your opinions on what you suggest should be done ASAP and then of course what you may deem totally not worth my time. So you can look forward to an array of posts about random tidbits-  but then again I suppose that’s essentially what blogging is!

To start off Starbucks recently launched their latest “Refresher” drinks and thanks to their kindly email (and my gold card) I was able to get a free taster of one. I went for the berry blaster which was pretty yummy-ish. They put real berries in (not fresh) but berries none the less. Of course, the issue with this was that now there were pieces in my cup that made the entire enjoyment process a little strange only because as I sipped I would randomly get a very hard seed that needed to be chewed not sipped, for me that kind of ruined it but the taste was otherwise good only slightly too sweet but pretty refreshing! Unfortunately, the seeds mean I probably won’t buy it again but rather stick with my passion fruit and lemonade beverage. 

Have any of you tried these new drinks? Do you think you're going to? If you do wind up being adventurous, be sure and write about your experience in the comments!

xo