cave, snow, casino, san francisco

 group photo.  my friend pete wanted to go see a cave and so we went!  this is black chasm cavern.  the only other cave i've been in is carlsbad and this cave had nothin' on carlsbad, but it still had some cool formations.

 SNOW MAKES US CRAZY. it snowed unexpectedly, which was mildly terrifying (to drive through) but also really cool.

 i'm pretty sure you're not allowed to take pictures inside casinos, but pete got this shot of me at an indian casino we hit up cuz it was near the cavern.

 pam/sf.  nick bought a car today and it was in sf, so pam and i took the opportunity to hang and have some shabu shabu dinner in the city~

 my sweetheart

brunch!

 One thing I noticed on my road trip is that brunch seems to be more of a "thing" on the east coast than it is here in California.  However, I'd like to start brunching on my weekends!  Today I was lucky enough to brunch with some friends at Brenda's French Soul Food in San Francisco.  Cat, a dear friend from college was in town visiting from LA so we got together, along with my twin Mark and his lovely lady, Kim.

 beignet flight!

 my lunch. why yes, that is cheese melted on the outside of my bread. DELICIOSO.

 Kim def. had the most photogenic dish!  fruit & pancakes.

afterward, we chilled out at Mark's place and had some of his homemade wine (I even got to take home my own bottle, which I plan on enjoying with Nick).  I learned what ice wine is today, too.  So productive.

south first fridays

Made it out to South First Friday this week with Tracy, Nick, & Pam, some of my most favorite people ♥ South First Fridays is basically San Jose's art walk...it all takes place in the "SoFa" (South First Street. I think it's stupid too.) district, an area of downtown that tries very earnestly to be cool.

I'm just poking fun.  San Jose is cool...enough...

 before we even got anywhere I was already being handed religious propaganda

 the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles is always a favorite stop of mine because I think quilting is such a cool medium.  There were a few quilts by this lady who turns children's drawings (at least I hope they are children's drawings) into quilts.  Perusal of their website yielded nothing, I wish I knew who the artist is!  She had a couple of Dragonball quilts, and this awesome one...it's kind of hard to see, but it says "look at how gay this guy turned out to be when he joined the...ARMY"

Yeah, no idea

The other interesting exhibit I saw was this sculpture stuff by a one Derek Weisberg at Anno Domini.  The colors were really cool, cooler than in that photo that I took off the AD website because it was too crowded to take my own on Friday.

Downtown Yoga Shala also had an interesting photo exhibit (photos of a girl doing yoga, what else).

 nick♥

 the Treat Bot  "karaoke ice cream truck" is usually at South First Fridays so I finally tried it.  T'was good...can't go wrong with ice cream~

After our downtown meandering we hit up Cafe Quyen, which is becoming something of a favorite East Side spot for me.  For the uninitiated, coffee shops like Cafe Quyen are Vietnamese coffee places where you are served by waitresses in lingeree.  tee-hee! So, of course, no pictures from that part of the evening as photographs are strictly forbidden!

then we all went over to my house to test out my new mattress from woot~ it's a memory foam and very comfortable! I was sleeping on an old broken mattress (I broke it by jumping on it, and yes I am in my mid 20s :/) this is much better~~ this is a stock photo from the woot website

dear hair please grow

today was so full that for once i don't even mind sitting around at home on a saturday night.

 i asked joe (an ex boyfriend who is like a part of the family, as gross as that sounds) to pick up some macarons at pamplemousse for me because he works in the area and it's a bit of a drive for me, but he suggested that he, my sister, & i make a day out of it~ so we did.  i really love this patisserie, anyone near redwood city should peep pastry game.  i've had a hard time finding decent macarons in the bay so this place is really awesome, they have so many flavors! macarons are such a pain in the ass to make that it's pretty much worth the drive.

 

HEAVEN

macaron detail

posting the same picture i took the last time i was at pamplamousse of these delicious cannellis des bordeaux. these were delicious so i got one again because it's another treat i haven't seen in many places!

pam & i. UGH. my face is way (way, way) too round for me to pull the bangs away like that, but trust me when i say that i SERIOUSLY f'd up cutting my own bangs. WAY WAY WAY TOO SHORT AND OMG I WISH I COULD TAKE IT BACK GROW HAIR GROW. i look like scary

 this is a crappy picture but i finally had the chance to eat at the bay area famous santa ramen.  it was good, but with all the delicious ramen options in the south bay the drive isn't really justifiable.

 joe had been itching to try philz coffee (some of the best coffee in the bay. if you don't like coffee, try philz...it won't disappoint), so we stopped in.  philz is always wonderful~ 

 later that evening my sister, mother and i caught a movie (the mark of zorro) at the stanford theatre (my favorite).  the perfect end to a wonderful day!

free candle is free. i got this free candle from bath & body works today, too. coupons are my new hobby.

dtsj

My dear friend Kathy has a cousin who is moving to San Jose and she invited me to show the girl around downtown~ not that there is much to see.  I was kind of iffy about going out, but I'm glad I went because I made a homie.  It's kind of sad, but I realized that I don't remember the last time I made a friend before yesterday.  Probably at my last job, but even then those were only "sorta" friends, yknow?  Whoaaaaa

 kathy will do big or at least medium sized things some day!

 unfortunately, not actually a bar

our fair city hall

hike & sweets

no hike this sunday, so i'm wistfully posting pictures of last week's outing instead.  four or so miles at edgewood preserve with kathy, tracy & mark, some of my favorite college buddies ♥

 tunez

 bruises are hard to photograph

 tracy & banana slug

 figures in the mist. kagero-za?? it was a really foggy few days in the bay

 cobwebs in the horseshoe print--"the trail is cold"

 turned out we weren't the first people to the top of the hill

 i forget the french name for these, but they were exquisite.  at pamplemousse patisserie in redwood city.  i wish this were closer to home because they have a lot of macaron flavors! but damn, macarons are expensive.  i understand, though...i've made them and it's no easy task

 plus

the fog.  this actually turned out kinda cool, i wish we'd made an impromptu short movie or something

a couple pictures kathy took at previous hikes--

yes, i dress like this when i go hiking (when it isn't too extreme).  the hat is a godsend! keeps out the sun.