My holiday traditions each year seem to always go like this: Mail 100+ Christmas cards Buy and decorate a tree Have 20+ people over for brunch Have a tea party with some young ladies Zoom around the city for holiday parties Christmas shop on Hayes Street at the last minute Come down with a cold…

On the final weekend before Christmas, I arranged to have two of my favorite girls come for a tea party before venturing out to The Fairmont Hotel and Mark Hopkins Hotel downtown to see the holiday decorations. Rowan (5) and her sister Tierney (3) arrived in their finest party dresses and fur coats at 1:00…

A cold Northern California morning. A warm house that smells like spiced ham. Friends with kids dressed up in red velvet dresses. A three hour brunch with our nearest and dearest.  Babies on fruitless but never-ending quests to chew on Christmas tree ornaments. Hostess gift of homemade fudge. I love so many things about our…

A embarrassingly large element of deciding to start my own business was my desire to not get out of bed in the morning. I love that I have leisurely mornings right now, reading the news and watching Colbert clips, with coffee before going to work in the home office. I come from a long line…

Our Victorian apartment in San Francisco looks adorable all decorated for the holidays but our drafty bay windows and high ceilings make it impossible to stay warm. On a cold winter day working from home, Rob and I are bundled up in layers and drinking tea constantly. For lunch in December, it feels like something…

The classic San Francisco bistro, Zuni Cafe, is just a few blocks for our apartment and I pass it all the time but I hadn’t been in before today. They’re famous for their roast chicken with bread salad, as well as being the elegant spot for architect and gallery-owner types to drink wine and eat…

Perfect timing for this What to Wear request! My sister Jean just had a gorgeous (almost 9 lb!) baby girl, so EmilyStyle HQ has been “thinking pink” all week. Here’s the note from Jill: I need some help! My niece’s christening is quickly approaching… less than a week away! I am not into fashion and…

Our 4th Daisy Troop meeting – our crew of nine future world leaders were in great spirits and seemed to be much more comfortable with each other. For this meeting, we continued our travel theme from last week’s passport project.  The goals this week: talking about places we’ve traveled, more about feelings, adding in lessons…

It’s finally cooling off a bit here in California. On Monday, we had our biggest rainstorm in years. The stormy day made me so appreciative to be working from home, and craving a carb-heavy lunch in a bad way. This mushroom pasta is a recipe I’ve been making and adapting for years. Mushrooms are meaty…

Our third Girl Scout Troop meeting was the best one yet! Although, the girls seem to no longer be intimidated by Margaret and me and are becoming a tiny bit less well-behaved. We focused on a travel theme for the start of our year’s “journey” as a Daisies. I’ve been finding that all the fun…