Neighborhood Edition: The 16th Ave. House

For this Neighborhood Edition, I am taking you on a little detour!  And, technically this is a mini house tour of the lovely home of our favorite San Francisco neighbors (if we still lived there, right!).

This is the home of Scott and Cissa, which sits atop the foggy hill that is 16th Avenue, above busy Park Presidio and a skip & a hop from the University of California at San Francisco (the hospital school).  When the fog clears, you can see all the way to the ocean from those magnificent windows!  Scott and Cissa are dear friends.  And, even more dear to us since they graciously let us invade their serene home for a couple nights, baby and all!  When we lived in the City, we spent many a night in this light-filled house at Scott & Cissa's infamous dinner parties.  Their space has evolved over time and has settled into a lovely mixture of Danish-Modern furniture that I tried to steal while I was there (damn Toby, he would not help me carry anything to the car!) and funky trinkets and art collected on their many travels abroad.

Maverick was the first baby to share this space and I think Scott and Cissa liked him!  He enjoyed time spent on that amazingly cozy & soft wool rug from Pottery Barn (where Cissa once worked-major employee discount holla!) and trying to chase their chubby cat around the living room!  It was great to come back to this treasure of a house after a long day of being tourists in our old city all day!  We listened to records, talked, ate take-out and sampled some funky liquors from their recent travels.  It was a peaceful and restful space to unwind in and we are forever thankful for their hospitality!  Thank you Scott & Cissa!  We love you both, muah!

We are traveling to Paso Robles this holiday weekend to visit the grandparents!  Fun, fun!  See you back here on Tuesday!  

San Francisco Part 3: Saying Goodbye

These are the last of our San Francisco photos (sorry guys, I just went photo crazy & wanted to share!).  After visiting Mollusk on our first day, we headed to The Natural History Museum in Golden Gate Park.  It was jam packed with tourists from all over the world and we loved the beautiful aquariums, jellyfish and the living roof.  Maverick was mesmerized by the water and fish!

We ate lunch at Burma Superstar, our all time favorite restaurant!  It's located on Clement Street, which is a block away from Geary Street, a main thoroughfare through the city.  Clement is a vibrant, bustling little neighborhood with lots of dim sum joints, yummy bakeries and one of the best book shops, Green Apple.  The food at Burma was as amazing as we remembered.  On our way back to Scott & Cissa's home, we stopped in Golden Gate Park near the Panhandle to look at the Dahlia garden, which is in its prime at this time of year.  The blooms were beyond spectacular and I could have spent all day looking at them; so many bright colors and voluminous shapes!  With the sunshine out in full force, the park was glistening with life.

Our last full day in the City was spent exploring The Mission District.  We wondered into Four Barrel Coffee on Valencia by accident and were surprised with a large open space filled with stylish locals.  The coffee is roasted on sight, so the aromatic smell of fresh grounds fills the air.  Our cup was very yummy!  Toby loved their parklet and abundance of bicycle parking.  I stopped into Painted Bird and then we headed over to Little Star Pizza to grab a pie for lunch.  Little Star is the absolute yummiest pizza in town!  We took our hot pizza to Dolores Park, where Maverick was delighted to be!  He crawled all over the place, watched the wind gently blow the grass and crunched leaves between his toes.  The park was glorious, filled with people simply enjoying the sun.  The sounds of people in one green, beautiful open space really made my heart ache for the city.  We felt so relaxed and happy to just be sitting there in the grass, overlooking the cityscape.

We ended our last day with a few scoops from Bi-Rite Creamery (and, the line was actually short-wow!).  It was such a fun visit.  We packed our days to the brim and went home rather tired, but we can't wait to visit our beloved San Francisco again!  Goodbye for now, sweet city!

♥

San Francisco Part 2: Old Stomping Grounds

We arrived in San Francisco as the sun was setting and the misty fog was rolling in, preparing to cover the Outer Sunset.  We stayed with our most lovely friends, Scott and Cissa in their magical house (pictures to come).  We rested, ordered take-out and played catch up.  The next day was all about enjoying our old stomping grounds, riding bicycles out to Java Beach Cafe and along Ocean Beach.  Our first apartment was just a couple blocks from that often chilly, overcast and soulful beach & two blocks from the magnificent Golden Gate Park.  Being close to our old neighborhood incited lots of glimmering nostalgia and warmth in my heart-for the 20 year old Benicia, so carefree with wide eyes taking in all the beauty that exists here and stumbling around trying to find her place in the world.

We lucked out with weather and were delighted to see the sun as we took off from Scott's house towards Java Beach Cafe.  Java Beach sits at the very end of Judah St., usually shrouded in fog and filled with warm bodies.  Toby and I walked here all the time on many an early morning.  We ordered coffees, pastries and bagels.  We then rode along the beach path toward Irving Street to visit one of our favorite places in the City: Mollusk Surf Shop. 

Mollusk is a treasure that lies hidden in the depths of the Outer Sunset.  Now, lots of people know about this whimsical, community driven surf shop.  A collective of like-minded artists, surfers, musicians and creatives run this DIY shop, with handmade screen-printed t-shirts and one-of-a-kind displays.  It is a breathtaking spot and I am always mesmerized with the beauty that one can find here.  They always have art and music shows here, filling the space with all sorts of stylish people who also seem to have a boundless appreciation and love for this quirky beach-bum vibe neighborhood that most people overlook when visiting the City.  I went absolutely nuts taking photos, so please forgive me!  But, I really wanted to capture the charm of this place and hopefully inspire some of you to explore this vibrant neighborhood next time you are in San Francisco!

Inspired By: General Store

My San Francisco trip left me deeply inspired, invigorated and refreshed on so many levels.  It blows my mind to see so much creativity and such passionate individuals making things happen.  I was especially taken with all the new parklet's or outdoor mini parks I saw all over the city!  And all the amazingly designed and highly functional bicycle parking made me smile as well.  Both things made me miss living in a larger city and I yearn so badly for people in Ventura to one day embrace some of these city elements, on a smaller scale of course.

This trip reaffirmed some dreams and desires that both Toby and myself have been kicking around lately.  It's much too soon to even really talk about them, but I am so happy about our future and its possibilities.  Lets just say that Santa Cruz especially stole our hearts.  Both Santa Cruz and San Francisco had some wonderful little places that I fell in love with and was so inspired by, I just have to share!

First up is a little place in my old neighborhood in the City called General Store.  Tobes and I lived by Ocean Beach the whole time we lived in San Francisco.  We loved the small beach town vibe, the stillness of the morning fog, the empty beach with an abundance of sand dollars and the quirky little shops, cafes and restaurants that were there.  Since we have moved, more amazing local, one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants have sprang up.  We would always stop into Java Beach to grab coffee, which is located on Judah Street, where the Muni train ends at the beach.  Judah has blossomed and now has a fun stretch of shops & eats right by the beach and in earshot of the fog horns that I love so much!

General Store is located right next door to Trouble Coffee (yummy local coffee) and beckons you to come in with their simple shop window logo.  I like how the shop reflects its surroundings, taking inspiration from the beach neighborhood.  Lots of the local artists hold true to this same aesthetic, often times using found wood and other materials from the neighborhood streets.  The shop is carefully and beautifully curated with all sorts of small scale craft goods, designers and unique vintage oddities.  The design of the shop itself will blow your mind!   On the morning we rode by, the shop was closed (major sad face) so I could only drool over all the loveliness from that light filled window.  The whole vibe reminded me of another San Francisco treasure in our old neighborhood, Mollusk Surf Shop (which we did go into & I will be featuring it this week).  If you find yourself near Ocean Beach while visiting the City, please stop into this little gem of a shop & relish in the charm that is the Ocean Beach community.

I was so smitten with the lovely changes in my old hood that I have a few more great spots to share with you in the upcoming weeks!  So, come meander with me in the Outer Sunset...next stop, Mollusk Surf Shop.

 Photos 2 & 3 Source

Summer Trip to San Francisco

It's official!  We are headed to San Francisco on August 5th to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary.  Toby and I used to live in SF prior to moving to Ventura a couple of years ago.  We lived in the City (as we fondly call it) for about 7 years and have not been back to visit since moving (biggest apologies to our SF friends!).  As you can imagine, we are over the moon excited to be visiting.

We don't have any set itinerary, especially since we are bringing Mister Boy along.  All we really want to do is walk around our favorite neighborhoods, laze in Dolores Park, visit Ocean beach (our old neighborhood), eat every chance we get, visit with dear friends and squeeze in a museum visit while at Golden Gate Park.  I am just happy to feel my body once again in that magical city.

I have been putting together a little list of places I would love to visit/see while we are there.  Some are new to me and some are old favorites that fill my heart with the happiest memories!

1. Shopping at Painted Bird-this little vintage treasure of a shop was not open yet while I lived in The City.  So excited to browse the racks & possibly find a gem!
2. Eat at Burma Superstar-this was one of my favorite restaurants!  I ate here at every birthday I celebrated & took every out of town guest here.  I dream about their samosas and tea leaf salad!
3. Eat Ice Cream at Humphry Slocombe-never tried this ice cream joint, but I hear great things!  Ice cream is my fav food, so we will probably also make a stop at Bi-Rite Creamery in the Mission as well
4. Go to Ocean Beach-we used to live a couple of blocks from OB and some of my fondest memories happened here.  We will stop for coffee at Java Beach Cafe first & then slowly walk the deserted beach, smell the foggy air & listen for those beautiful fog horns
5.  Browse at Little Otsu-I always loved popping my head into this light-filled, modern paper & art shop.  Plus, good thrift shops and Aquarius Records are nearby
6. Eat breakfast at Bugaloo's-one of our fav breakfast joints with yummy black beans & eggs, coffee & cute tattooed waitresses.  Epic goodness!
7. Record shopping at Amoeba's-Toby and I used to spend hours in here digging for records!  Then we would go back to our super tiny apartment and play all our new records as the bus whirled by our front door.
♥

Can't wait to hear the ring of the cable cars, sit in the grass next to the Dahlia garden in Golden Gate Park, eat Little Star Pizza for lunch, peek into people's pretty apartments through old windows, and remember being so young and in love while living in this great city!