This gingerbread candle from L’Occitane is my new favorite thing! It smells just like you are baking a huge batch of gingerbread cookies. This candle is part of their special dessert scent series. Plus, if you buy one in November, they donate a certain amount to charity. Double fun!

Sarah, always an interesting gifter, gave my this funtastic napkin holder for my birthday last night. Mine is dressed up with cute green and red napkins and is quite stylish indeed. You may remember Sarah from other classic gifts such as the eastern European pecking chicken toy.

Last night, my friends Sarah and Charlie came up from Santa Cruz for my birthday dinner. We had a great meal at Catch on Market Street that included lots of seafood, fried olives, white truffle aioli and the best butter pecan ice cream ever. After dinner we lumbered home with big bellies and the conversation…

Some people are afraid of snakes, some people hate spiders, others are afraid of heights, for me it’s always been aliens. I can’t remember when or how this phobia started but I do remember refusing to go see ET. Now that I am a not-silly, full-grown adult I can keep this phobia under wraps…most of…

Last night, my sister gave me this fun set of tiny (and tasty!) juicy tubes from Lancome. I love the little carrying case and the fun colors. This is a total girly-gift! I am wearing the gold one today and love that it tastes like cake! Jean and Trent also gave me this fabulous pumpkin…

It’s official, I am now 26! It’s not as bad as I expected.

Rob got me a bunch of REI gear last night as an early birthday present. Along with a perfect backpack and a dufflebag for weekend car trips, he found me the cutest chalk bag in the world. Most chalk bags are either super-manly or really “Amazon” woman. This bag is a nice feminine compromise. It…

One of my all time favorite foods is pumpkin ravioli with a sage butter sauce. No matter what else is on the menu, I always end up ordering this at Italian restaurants. So, for tonight’s rainy day comfort dinner I am going to try this recipe from Martha Stewart for a casserole made with winter…

I just discovered that the San Francisco Public Library has a really cool collection of online historical photos of the city. Plus, you can search the archives by neighborhood to get a good look at your street way back in the day. For example, this photo is Market Street between Sanchez and Noe in 1897.…

My favorite snark-about-the-New-York-Times-wedding-announcements blogger is back and posted a really good one today.