What could be more festive than showing up at a party, bundled up against the cold, carrying a 12″ tall chocolate toy soldier or santa? Joseph Schmidt is a small truffle shop in my neighborhood that specializes in handmade chocolate figurines for the holidays. And they’re not just for show, the dark chocolate is really…

I love that moment right before a party. You’re dressed up, you have a great hostess gift, you know as soon as you ring the doorbell it’s going to be non-stop hugs and cheer. Right before we went in to Jill and Peter’s party on Saturday, I took a photo with a long shutter of…

This weekend was a great combination of fun parties and sheer laziness! On Friday, we went straight from work to our office party at a Portero Hill sports bar. Solidarity with co-workers, excellent buffalo wings, a salsa band and a taxi home after midnight. Saturday morning was dedicated toward my Christmas cards straight after breakfast.…

Update: We’ve passed the $1,000 mark already! Keep it up! Here’s my only request of you this weekend: donate. The holidays are the perfect time to reflect on how fortunate you are and how far even a small donation can go to helping others. I’m pledging to donate $300 this weekend to charities. Will you…

Brrr. It’s a cold day in San Francisco, in the 40’s on my walk to work this morning. It really feels like Christmas now. Here’s what I’ve learned this week: I’d rather never go through a series of business meetings like this week’s ever again. Gordon Biersch has good garlic fries. When needed, it’s important…

It’s so fun to walk around San Francisco at night during the holidays. All those bay windows in Victorian apartment buildings get put to work displaying Christmas trees. This particularly festive tree can be found near the laundromat on 14th. We don’t have a bay window at our place, but the tree is finally decorated…

Karly wrote in a few weeks ago with the following request: I was wondering if I could get some help. My mom wants to buy a new Sunday outfit, but she always buys pencil skirts and blazers and I want to get her away from that. She is pretty frugal, so the pieces would have…

I’m running a little late this holiday season. I have a tree up, but it isn’t decorated yet. I haven’t baked anything. And I just started on my Christmas cards last night. It’s only in the consumption of spiced and mulled beverages that I’ve managed to excel so far. Mulled wine, mulled cider, mulled brandy,…

Our neighbors across the back driveway have a really nice garden. During the summer, it’s full of fruit trees and daffodils and in the winter their giant poinsettia really goes to town. The bush must be more than 12 feet high and about 20 feet wide. Impressive for a plant that was probably purchased at…

Shopping for men is quite often hard. Things they want usually fall into two categories: inexpensive items (that they’ve already gone ahead and purchased for themselves) and unfeasibly expensive items (boats, planes, jet skis, dump trucks etc.). There’s a third category of lame things they don’t want at all, and that’s what they usually get.…