Five Things

Posted on July 15, 2015 by 4evamaria

Hey all!

Welcome to Five Things, the vacation version! Even though it’s been a while since I’ve gone on a legitimate vacation outside of California, but my pictures lately certainly make me feel like I’ve gone on my share of adventures lately. You could also think of this week’s Five Things as a visual vacation- I like to think of chocolates,wine, and the beach when I need a zen moment.

Commence relaxation in 3, 2, 1…

I can’t get over the color of the water by Santa Barbara’s East Beach. It was also so clear, you could see the kelp forests coming up through the water.

I visited Mumm Napa for the first time recently. It’s set up just like a restaurant, with groups of tables and assigned servers, except the only thing on the menu is sparkling wine. So, it’s pretty much my favorite new place. I’m contemplating being a real adult and joining their wine club.

Photo c/o instagram.com/zoella

I’m excited to give my hair a much-needed cut, and a little extra blonde to get me through the summer. Adorable Brit blogger, Zoella, has been my go-to for ombré hair inspiration.

This beautiful piece of art hangs in the entryway of Hall winery, and is made entirely of vintage beaded costumes and sweaters. It’s quite large (floor to ceiling) and stunning in person.

I fell in love with the chocolate case at Dean and Deluca this last weekend. While I have no problem eating entire boxes of chocolates in one sitting, I couldn’t imagine eating one of these beautifully detailed little marzipan animals!

Happy almost-Thursday!

EVA♥

Weekend Adventures: Santa Barbara Edition

Posted on July 9, 2015 by 4evamaria

Hello all!

This past few weekends have been rather crazy, and I seem to have the bloggers dilemma of having plenty of adventures to go on, but never enough time alone with my laptop to document it all. For those writers who have the self-discipline to get up early everyday just to write, I applaud you. Let’s be honest, I can barely get up in time for work every morning. The struggle is real.

Any-who, this last weekend I spent some time in my old college town of Santa Barbara. I hadn’t been back since graduation, which was a total fallacy on my end. It was nice to explore the place I once called home through “real person” eyes. My friends and I kept laughing whenever I referred to us as “real people,” because, you know, college students don’t count. I’m not ashamed to say that I was afraid of things having changed so drastically that nothing was familiar, and that things might no longer feel like the place that I called home for years. Things had changed, but everything still, reassuringly, felt like the Santa Barbara I knew. It’s still one of the best places to be, in my humble opinion. Now, brace yourself, here come all the beach photos!

This little outcropping over the ocean was steps from my house, at one point.

High tide at the beach in Isla Vista.

East Beach in downtown Santa Barbara.

A view from Santa Barbara pier.

We also had some very patriotic fun over the weekend- fireworks, picnics on the beach, and red-white-and-blueberry jello shots.

I was amused by the presidential seal coincidentally stamped on my shot glass. You also can’t get more Santa Barbara than a sandy surfboard and a bike in the background.

and, of course, here’s the obligatory picture of fireworks! It wouldn’t be the Fourth of July without them.

The best way I can describe Santa Barbara is purely through photos and anecdotes (though the ridiculous anecdotes might be for another blog altogether). While it’s not a small town by any means, you can walk down the crowded streets and still see familiar faces. There’s something special in that. Plus, everyone is ridiculously tan. While I felt really pasty in comparison, thanks to the nonexistent San Francisco Sun, I remember those days when I had a permanent flip flop tan stamped on the tops of my feet. The vacation vibe you feel around town is what you get- even if you’ve lived there for years, you can still throw on a swimsuit, head down to the beach and feel like you have no worries. I’ve decided I certainly can’t let another six years pass by before my next visit.

Cheers! Until next time,

EVA♥

Five Things

Posted on July 8, 2015 by 4evamaria

Hello everyone!

This week has been a week of many firsts. I recently returned from a long weekend in Santa Barbara, which marks the first time I had been back to visit since I graduating from UCSB. I went to my first yoga class in a while, and was referred to as a yogi by the teacher(!) for my exemplary shoulder stand. So…I can basically add “Yogi”on my list of skills on my resume now, right? In less fun news, I also set something on fire in my kitchen for the first time. RIP potholder, you were a good one. And with that rather odd introduction, here are some more things, all of them firsts:

I give you: the Brian Boitano, frozen yogurt blended with coconut and fresh blueberries. It was the name that sold it, really. It was my first time visiting Loving Cup in Hayes Valley, and I’m certainly going to have to go back to sample some of their amazing looking rice pudding.

I recently discovered this music video on Youtube by Money. I just think it’s a beautiful depiction of the strength and dedication of ballet.

This moment of weirdly color-coordinated accessories was a complete coincidence, I swear! Not pictured: my matching blue phone case. Gee, I must really like this color.

This last week I went to Whole Foods to pick up something healthy, as most people do, and ended up getting this raspberry-filled 5 pound doughnut-thing, also known as a Berliner. It had fruit inside, so I kept telling myself that it totally was well-balanced breakfast. One of my co-workers left our office recently, and while we’re all going to miss him, I’m sure he’s off on big adventures! I thought there was no better time than the moment to order a dozen fresh-baked sea salt and chocolate chip cookies from Doughbies as part of his send-off. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area may be tricky at times, but where else can you get a man to deliver cookies to your office in just a few clicks?

Until next time!

EVA♥

Five Things

Posted on June 24, 2015 by 4evamaria

Hello all!

It’s time for Five Things, yet again. Quite honestly, life can get so cyclical sometimes that collecting my Five Things of the week acts as a time-stamp of sorts. Oh look- another week’s gone by! To give you all a quick, unbidden update, things have been quite interesting over the last few days. With the dance studio on summer schedule, I suddenly find myself working only one job. You know, a 9-to-5, like a normal person. What is this nonsense? I get to go home, and sit down? Highly unnatural behavior in Watch-Me-Juggle-land. It always takes a bit of getting used to, but the positive side is that I can sleep in two days in a row now, if I so choose. I can also check out that stand-up paddle boarding lesson off my to-do list this summer. I’m determined. It’s going to happen. Stay tuned for embarrassing photos of me falling off a surfboard.

In the meantime, here are this week’s Five Things as entertainment.

Once upon a time, I worked in a flower shop. I spent my days arranging flowers and even creating bridal bouquets. Though I found myself only with bunches of flowers and some ribbon (no floral tape, no pearl-topped pins) I made it work! There is something amazingly therapeutic about working with flowers, and I must do it more often.

In between answering phone calls, chugging coffee, and staring at spreadsheets today, I managed to find time to buy these spunky red flats from Topshop. They’re dead-ringers for Aquazzura’s Christy flats that retail for a whopping $675.

Did you know that my little island town is home to a winery? Because it is! Rock Wall winery has incredible views of the San Francisco skyline, and a mighty fine happy hour. While I’m not one to jump on the rosé bandwagon, their sparkling rosé is delicious.

I’ve found myself reminiscing over the goodies at Gayle’s Bakery in Capitola. A day trip is very much in store this summer.

Ever wonder how the marzipan in the Nutcracker get their multicolored shoes? Pointe shoes come in very few colors, and most companies have to special order their shoes if they need something other than the traditional pink satin. But, even then the options are limited. Two words: spray paint. It’s very high tech, I know.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

EVA♥

Five Things

Posted on June 3, 2015 by 4evamaria

Hello all!

It’s Wednesday! (Hooray…?) This halfway point in the week tends to bring out a little crazy in the best of us. To reference that infamous Geico commercial: it’s Hump Day! One thing I do look forward at this point in the week is being able to put all the little things that I collect on my phone in one place. I enjoy that my Five Things doesn’t have to be thematic, or even make much sense. They’re here just for the heck of it, sort of like an inspiration board, or, for those of you social media fanatics, a vastly simplified version of Pinterest.

We’ll start at Thing #1, and go from there!

I had the most wonderful latte pick-me-up this afternoon at 20th Century Cafe in San Francisco. This European-style cafe is only a few blocks from my office, and couldn’t be more charming.

After a particularly long few weeks at the office, my kind coworkers surprised me with this card and some flowers. I love that we’re an office of many talents; my coworker Ruth does the most amazing pet portraits, and, knowing about my mild obsession with French Bulldogs, created this original ink sketch for me! This sleeping puppy lives at my desk and makes me happy.

On my latest trip to St. Helena, I visited the tasting room at Merryvale Vineyards. Aside from their very likable staff and lovely wines, they had some very interesting literature on display. Yes, there’s an entire book dedicated to the cats that prowl around the local vineyards. There’s also a Wine Dogs, just in case you were wondering.

My friends and I recently had a blast-from-the-past with dinner at Woodstock’s Pizza, one of the popular college haunts in Santa Barbara. What I love the best is their Cinnabread. I would always order way too much and eat the leftovers for breakfast the next day. I have no regrets.

IMG_3672 (1)

While I’m lamenting the lack of sun here in the Bay Area, I can still reminisce about my recent beach vacation. Did you know that the beaches in Capitola (pictured above) have been a tourist destination since the early 1900s? Not much has changed, really. It’s still such a beautiful place.

Here’s to another week well done!

(Almost!)

EVA♥

Baking Fails & Just an Average Sunday

Posted on May 31, 2015 by 4evamaria

Hello all!

I’ll admit that I was overly ambitious when I woke up this morning.

I was also craving some sort of baked good. Like most Sundays, I try to cram as many activities as possible into one day, so after fueling myself with coffee, I hoped on the trusty Google and began a search for a “lazy biscuit” recipe. Lazy was probably an understatement, because, at this point I didn’t even have enough motivation to reach for the recipe book on the top shelf of my kitchen cabinets. Lucky for me, I stumbled upon Bran Appetit’s “Lazy Biscuits for Two.” It was perfect! The recipe was straightforward, and with a little finagling, I even whipped together a substitute for buttermilk with some regular milk and a little lemon juice. I mean, aside from the fact that I was just one person making a “for two” recipe, I was feeling pretty confident. Anyway, who could resist the possibility of having something like this for breakfast:

Photo c/o Bran Appetit

Looks delicious right?

Well, being fairly competent in the kitchen, I quickly realized something was horribly wrong with my version of these biscuits.

I give you, pancake-cookie-biscuits with an aluminum foil crust!

Mmmm, so delicious!!

I lamented these resulting “biscuits” so much, I even pulled out a spatula and tried to pry them off the foil in an attempt to eat whatever I could. After the 20 minutes I spent gently cutting the butter into flour to make these dough blobs, they would have been actually edible had I bothered to fully read the directions. I’ve honestly never had a baking endeavor go so wrong so quickly. Unfortunately, I know some of you can relate to my kitchen disaster- sometimes the things that come out of your oven are just destined to be a hot mess, both literally and figuratively. So, I did what any normal 20-something would do: I salvaged my day with an impromptu road trip to Napa for a glass of wine and some amazing food.

(Not made by me, obviously. I learned my lesson.)

May your week ahead be a lot prettier than today’s breakfast.

EVA♥

Five Things

Posted on May 20, 2015 by 4evamaria

Hi everyone!

After a slight hiatus, Five Things is finally back! This last week, or few weeks, rather, has been a parade of gloomy weather, breakfasts on the run, and re-runs of my favorite tv shows. Not too inspiring, I’ll be quite honest. I have, however, had a bit of time to catch up with some of my favorite blogs before bedtime. I’ve been particularly enjoying The Other Juliette, buy now blog later, and Hello October, just to name a few. There’s a wealth of amazing blogging inspiration out there. Although, there’s nothing quite like writing your own.

On that note, here are this week’s Five Things!

Nothing is a better end to a long day than spending time with a few friends and a couple of chocolate milkshakes. I’ve long written about my “happy place” in St. Helena, and it turns out there’s a little bit of it in San Francisco proper.

I recently treated myself to a manicure with Essie’s A Splash of Grenadine polish. It’s such a happy, orchid sort-of purple I decided to paint my toes to match. On another note, I’m in desperate need of a new organizational system for my makeup. Or perhaps just a little spring cleaning?

I’ve been newly introduced to the popular Mac Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft & Gentle. It’s such a pretty highlight- I’m sure I probably abuse by generally applying it everywhere.

Swimsuit season is upon us! I recently purchased two new swimsuits at Nordstrom, both from Blush by Profile. I just love their flattering styles and fun prints. I’m determined to get as much use out of them as possible in the coming months, gloom or not!

One of the perks of my work schedule is that I can take the San Francisco Bay Ferry at least once a week, if not more. It’s really a great way to get to and from San Francisco. The ferry typically ventures through the port of Oakland before going under the Bay Bridge and docking at the Ferry Building in San Francisco’s Financial District. This last week, I even had the pleasure of seeing the USS Potomac, FDR’s historic presidential yacht usually docked in Oakland, out and about in the Bay.

Something new every day!

EVA♥

Redneck Jokes & a Fancy Hat

Posted on April 27, 2015 by 4evamaria

Hello everybody!

A while back I tweeted that my blog should be renamed “Watch Me WatchTooMuchRealityTV/DrinkTooMuchCoffee/Shop.” Not too much has changed. Despite my constantly running off to new adventures, from a thematic perspective, I’m a creature of habit. Ironic? Perhaps a little.

Which is why when my father’s most recent birthday rolled around, I had to take my family along for a return trip to Bar Agricole in San Francisco’s Soma neighborhood. I must say, it’s quite odd to wander around your old Saturday night stomping grounds in the daylight, on a Sunday. While it was quite a bit more of a low-key experience than my first visit, the food was still amazing.

We started with this pan-friend bread and puréed beet concoction that was delicious, and an odd mix of Middle Eastern and Easter European flavors. We also had the lamb special to share, which was obviously fantastic, since I didn’t even bother to stop to photograph it.

We ordered a few desserts to share, and they kindly brought us a plate of celebratory cookies as well! As you can tell, my father likes to close his eyes in every picture I take of him.

The dessert at the far left was a rosemary panna cotta with meyer lemon topping, and the ice cream to the right was a house made orange sherbet alongside avocado-tequila ice cream. Sounds strange, yes? But I firmly believe it’s impossible to make avocado not delicious.

My father’s a funny guy, and very much two sides of a coin, in terms of personality. Growing-up, he was full of the typical dad jokes and watched cartoons every Saturday morning. There was also the occasional telenovela, whenever he thinks no one is looking (he doesn’t speak any Spanish, mind you). On the other hand, he’s a wealth of information who collects non-fiction books, mostly on historical or current events, constantly watches or listens to the news. He enjoys wearing his pakol hat everywhere (the kind of Afghan hat that was described as “a tea cozy” in the movie Amélie) and is mildly obsessed with the squirrels that constantly uproot all the flowers he and my mother plant. Despite having come to the U.S. for political asylum in the late 70s, he has a deep-rooted fondness for redneck jokes that I will never understand. Knowing all these things, my mother gave him both a squirrel-themed and redneck-themed card that made him laugh so much he started coughing at the dinner table. He’s a funny guy, my dad. We’re fundamentally very different people, which doesn’t make things easy, but at the end of the day we have a lot to learn from each other. I can teach my father about his iPhone, and he can tell me all about any historical event known to man. I kid you not. Trouble is, I don’t even know that much about the iPhone.

Luckily, we both can tell pretty good stories.

EVA♥

Out West…

Posted on April 22, 2015 by 4evamaria

Hello all!

It’s Wednesday and that means one thing, right? Five Things! Well, I thought I would mix it up a bit. The self-proclaimed foodie in me wanted to do a bit of a thematic “Five Things”…

I recently discovered that my office is ideally located-walking distance from three very different, vibrant neighborhoods in San Francisco. Since Wednesdays tend to be one (of many) long work days, I like to plan the occasional, get-together with my friends when I can. Today, we went to West of Pecos in the Mission district. I’ve walked by this southwestern-themed restaurant quite a few times, and it’s always packed, so we decided there was no time like to present to check it out.

Luckily, we got there early enough to take advantage of the happy hour. Delicious, incredibly chunky guacamole. And I would describe their chile-dusted chips as “high-brow Doritos.” That’s a compliment, I promise.

I also had some of the best corn covered in some sort of amazing chipotle-butter concoction and flowers. I was in love. To be noted, there is no dignified way to eat corn-on-the-cob.

My corn was accompanied by some of their tuna crudo tacos. Really refreshing and flavorful. I almost wish I had gotten the bigger portion!

It’s “my good friend Rachel,” modeling the fabulous tacos. Because that’s what you’re supposed to do at the dinner when you’re a 20-something: take pictures of your food. I have no shame.

We all decided to split some churros for dessert. We all seemed to have different, positive connotations with churros. They always remind me of going to the flea markets in San Jose when I was a kid. My friend Courtney, who’s originally from San Diego, said she would frequently buy churros from vendors at the beach as a kid. They would always instruct you to hold your churro close to your chest. Why? Apparently too many small children found out that seagulls can apparently spot you gleefully waving your churro from miles away, and won’t hesitate to steal it right from your hands.

In all seriousness, those churros and the accompanying sauces were so good, I found myself debating how to discretely lick my plate when no one was looking. Which I may or may not have done. I blame the strong sangria.

In other news, happy Earth/Administrative Professionals Day! I clearly celebrated.

EVA♥

Five Things

Posted on April 16, 2015 by 4evamaria

Hello everyone!

Of course I’m not writing to you today already in my pajamas, in bed, watching horrible TLC reality shows. And I certainly didn’t do breakfast-for-dinner today either. I’m much to refined for that.

In all seriousness, I’ve heard a number of people (including myself) say that it’s been quite the crazy week. Is it the weather here in the bay area? Something in the air (besides pollen)? I don’t know. What I do know is that it doesn’t feel quite the same without my Five Things. In the meantime, I’m sitting on a number of posts that are long overdue. Remember the 20th Anniversary Smuin Ballet Gala I attended last year? Well, yours truly worked at this year’s very same gala. I’ve also conducted my very first interview ever, and have done quite a bit of thrifting and cocktailing as well. In the meantime, take a look at these five things from my life:

I had my first pavlova ever at my family’s Easter dinner. At first an entirely meringue-based desert seems like it might be a little bland, but I was totally wrong. Topped with lemon and berry mousse, it’s like eating delicious air. Which means negative calories, right?

I scored some fantastic seats for San Francisco Ballet’s Program 7 this week. Go check out The List, if you’re not already on it. Who can say no to $25 ballet tickets?!

While dashing through life, this beautiful rose given to me by the boss lady somehow ended up in a coffee cup. I meant for this to be only a temporary vase, but liked it so much I decided to leave it be. I can’t get over how beautiful the colors look together.

I’ve been hearing a lot about these trendy Quay Sunglasses from Australia. I snapped this selfie the other day hoping to get a friend’s opinion on them, and I must say, I quickly realized they were a little too over-sized for my pea head. I do love how unique their designs are, nonetheless.

It’s been a while since my plus-sized cat, Buttercup, found her way onto Watch Me Juggle. I believe she made her first appearance on my very first “Five Things” ever. She’s so photogenic, I’m convinced she knows exactly when a camera is near.

Until next time,

EVA♥