Part of being a great hostess is keeping your guests entertained and stimulated.  A great way to do that is with a game that either stimulates the brain or gives you insight into your fellow guests.

I recently was at a fantastic baby shower where after the main part of the shower we played the board game Encore.  It is so much fun.  The main point of the game is to form teams and be able to sing at least eight (or six) words of a song with a particular word in it.  You go back and forth until a team can’t think of any more songs with that word.  Normally people are a little nervous about singing, but once they get started other players join along and it really isn’t about how good you can sing, it’s about the lyrics you can remember!  I really think you could even play this game without a board, but it makes it a bit easier.  When the word “love” was up I was very glad I had such a strong love affair with everything Beatles for years when I was younger.

Then we were up at Autumn Glory in a rental house.  I am sure if we looked around there would have been a board game, instead we played a game similar to Apples to Apples without the board.  It was super easy to do just on a whim.  First we thought up a list of category/questions e.g. What shouldn’t you say to a cop? OR What’s your favorite Disney Movie?  Each turn there is a reader, who doesn’t play that round.  We let them think up the category/question after the first few practice rounds.  You then write down your answer.  Then the reader collects the answers from people and reads them aloud twice.  Then the participants clockwise from the reader try to guess whose answer matches who.  The reader doesn’t re-read the answers until the turn comes back past them after one round.  If you guess someone’s answer they are out for that turn, and you get to guess again.  If you guess incorrectly your turn is done if and until it comes back around and the reader has reread the remaining answers.  People try to set up other people or just have outrageous answers and it is pretty funny.  You get one point for every answer you get correct on your turn and five points goes to the person who wins the round.  It is great because you really learn a lot about your guests.  And you just need some paper and pencils.

Neither game is overly competitive, and it is a great laugh so it keeps the mood light.  And remember when playing games it normally is best not to put couples as team because that can cause tension, and guests don’t have the opportunity to get to know other people.  Hubby and I were so happy to have such fun occasions to be able to relax and play games and laugh with our friends.  We are so busy right now I think it’s going to be a while until we get that kind of time again and it’s just so fun.

I have had my eye on the talented designer and metalsmith that is Blanca Monros Gomez since she had a small etsy shop.  Now looking at her beautiful website with composed collections I am more deeply in love with her designs than ever.  In college I took metal smithing and jewelry making classes, so I have a very deep appreciation for hand crafted items.  I can see the work and talent put into the pieces.  I also love having truly unique and interesting items as part of my jewelry collection.  I think people notice how neat hand crafted items are, even if they don’t know why they find them so appealing to the eye.

What I think I like about her designs so much are that they are organic and while well made and not simple, they have an easy-ness to them that I find really appeals to my sense of style.  So readers here is what I am currently drooling over:

There is also a gorgeous necklace that matches the flower pieces above, that I couldn’t find a postable image of.  I really love her stacking rings, I have really wanted stacking rings, but I want a unique design that isn’t something just anyone would wear and I think these definitely fit that bill.

The other weekend I was at the Ballston Arts and Crafts Market.  I visited a favorite Etsy shop of mine, which happened to be at the market.  The Bumble Bee Studio, with owner, designer, and goody maker Julie Diers- which specializes in body care products for man, woman and pup.  Her shop even at a street market is set up so beautifully.

I just love her products they use fruit and plant oils, butters and natural botanicals, which means they are great for all skin types.  And they smell like real plants, not something artificial or over the top.  And they fit in well with my lavender obsession.  This weekend I purchased the Lavender Lotion Bar, Laevender and Eucalyptus Body Butter and the Salt Scrub.  I had the best intentions of giving at least one of those items as a gift, but that didn’t work out.

I do crossfit, and I garden, and cook to the point where I really wreck my hands quite frequently; the Lavender Lotion Bar provides deep moisture to restore even the tough areas like hands, feet, elbows and knees.  But it is light enough that you can use it on your legs and arms too.  It isn’t messy and it is really easy to apply.  The fragrance is just phenomenal and just makes me think I am running my hands through my lavender bush.

But the Body Butter, which is more like a really hydrating lotion is what I use more day to day, after a shower, type of thing.  Again- phenomenal scent.  And it keeps my skin hydrated, even with this weird weather, for a whole day.  When we stayed out at the Royal Palms in Phoenix there was Eucalyptus all around, and this smells just like that memory.

The real coup d’etat is the salt scrub.  This has been featured in Allure magazine, even.  It really makes your skin smooth, without then covering it in too much oil which would make you break out.  It is easy to use and apply.  It is a really well made product that I like so much more than anything you can get in a drugstore or body product shop.  All the products are really nicely packaged and made by hand with care.  And they make great gifts- if you can bear to give them away.

I can vividly remember walking through the Five and Dime in Petersburg, WV with my Mother.  It was a place filled with high aisles and higher possibilities.   And the Five and Dime had these neat craft kits with patterns and lists of what you needed for the project to make the end goal a little more obtainable in a day or so.  One of my very fond memories was making these felt and button santas with my Mother.  I still have one, although the arm is falling off a bit and it needs repaired.  They were really cute! Although I am an atrocious sewer, somehow, they turned out alright, probably due to my Mother’s magical touch with crafts. I loved craft projects with Mother, in fact I still do.

I happened upon these fantastic kits from The Cheswick Company and I immediately thought about our santas.  These are really neat kits and the end products are so cute.  These would make a great project with someone you enjoy spending time with.  Or a great homemade gift for someone worth some effort.  They have holiday themes, or themes from novels, or just cute little characters from nowhere in particular.

And last but not least, this adorable little monkey:

With the weather cooling down I am thinking how fun these could be for a weekend project.

I have a bunch of friends just having their first wedding anniversary and it had me thinking about the paper anniversary.  Yes, yes custom stationary is very posh and makes you look like a hoity toity bad-ass when you are writing letters and notes.  But, if you don’t want to go that route, consider these amazing origami creations by Ruti’s Roots, which come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors:

Origami Bowl from tea bag wrappers:

Origami Paper Swan:

Pleasantly Plump Origami Swan:

Origami bigger bowl:

It’s correct in color Origami Swan:

Stationary is just not very original compared to these cool works of art.

Day Three started with a Mini winding across the Bay Bridge and up through Mill Valley to Muir Woods National Monument.  It reminded me of an old growth forrest on the East Coast that was fed lots of Miracle Grow.  The trees were immense and the earth just smelled good.  It was a nice diversion to be out of the city and among giant trees.  Although there were still lots of people.  And we had to walk as far to parking and back as we did through the national monument.  Many of the side paths were closed during our visit, but the main path was still open; however, I wish more of the side trails would have been open where you could have left the crowds behind and done more serious hiking.  But none-the-less a beautiful thing to see.

We drove back through Saucilito, but it was so crowded we just drove right through and back into San Francisco.  We parked between Golden Gate Park and NOPA where we brunched.  I had Butter Basted Farm Eggs – Roasted Spring Onions, Romesco and Crispy Polenta, with a side of bacon, it was decadent, crunchy, but not overly filling or heavy. MMMMMM. But Hubby really beat me, he got the Chili Braised Pork –Purple Runner Beans, Chard and Buttermilk Biscuit and that was killer good, rich in flavor, but nicely balanced with the beans and greens that weren’t done in a heavy way. I want to try to make this at home.

After our quite filling, but not heavy brunch we explored the portions of Golden Gate Park that we previously hadn’t gotten through.  We visited the conservancy of flowers to look at their orchids and the exhibit on Wicked Plants.  We walked through the dahlia gardens and explored for a bit.  We then went back to the car by way of Osso & Co a fantastic dog store where we picked up some goodies for Max.  We did not get him one of the amazing dog houses they had there, but you never know, he might get one in the future, they were amazingly chic.  We then drove and checked out the shops around Hayes Valley, a very hipster area with great boutique shops.  There is a very good guide here.  I really loved Stark Home Furnishings.

We were so tired from all the walking we crashed at the hotel for a nap.  I had really considered visiting the excellent Nob Hill Spa, and looking back I can’t imagine why I didn’t.  The spa is beautiful with an amazing view from the pool.  And the treatment rooms really pretty.  Next time this will be a done deal.  My sore legs and tired feet could have used some pampering!

That night we had reservations for Boulevard, but neither of us felt like fancy, so we went and had spring rolls at the Slanted Door, which were killer good (we should have just eaten dinner here) and then we had fish tacos a hot dog and fries at Gott’s Roadside, which was good, it was, but not anything as good as the rolls at Slanted Door and the amazing smells emanating from that place. I am still regretting not eating at the Slanted Door right now.

We then wandered our way back up Nob Hill, we stopped in Chinatown to pick up a few goodies before the stores closed.  I got a silk pouch and jewelry roll for travel that pair exceedingly well with my Michael Aram Hartman.  And got some cute gifts for friends and loved ones that you can’t get in our area.

The next morning we wandered Chinatown and I bought some jewelry from an exceptional little jewelry store off the beaten path where you can find nicer things than the junky shops that are mostly visible.  I also drooled over a beautiful gold desk with with cranes for my guest bedroom.

We had a chinese pastries, a mung bean cake for me and a bbq bun for Hubby, and ate an early lunch before the airport at San Sun, which I highly highly recommend. They have some amazing noodle dishes, and that’s what I would order here. The broth, noodles and meat choices were great. You pick the broth-meat, then you pick your noodle type rice noodles, thin or wide, egg noodles, etc, etc, and you can do a combo, they also have some specialty noodle dishes. They have a huge menu so there is other stuff, but most people around us were also slurping up different noodles. Even at 11:00 a.m. people of all ethnicities came wandering in for a meal.  The flavors of the broth were complex, but so comforting.  We then headed off to the airport where I picked up  some dinner at the Napa Farm Market in the airport which had some really nice looking meals- for me roasted chicken, roast potatoes and asparagus.  They even had gluten free cupcakes.  Surprisingly fireworks from a plan are not as cool as you would expect.  Just little poofs of light far far away.

So I was just perusing the Ferry Market Building, looking for some good eats, and there it was McEvoy Ranch a very neat shop with an interesting line of products from their ranch.  They start with their fantastic organic, sustainable olive oil.  This then translates into a host of beautiful products including food and body care, and their family story is just wonderful.  They pride themselves on good stewardship of the land and being a farm girl I like that.

But what really interested me was their 80 Acres Body Care Line.  Created in small batches, recycled packaging, trying as best to use organic sustainable materials, yadda, yadda, yadda.  But the products were just amazing.  As a lavender fiend, the lavender scent was really lavender, not a blend or fake lavender smell.  The other scents were fresh and very vibrant.

Their Body Balm is an incredible product. I adored it from the second I sampled it in the store.  This is a blend of olive and jojoba oils, beeswax and vitamin E is rich in natural antioxidants.  The thing is it absorbs into the skin well, leaving your skin soft, but not oily.  The moisture and fantastic scents last throughout the day and I just adored it.  If I make it to heaven, Geisha’s will give me a bath and coat me in this daily.  It is that good.  They have a whole line of products in either traditional, orange blossom or lavender:

The hand and body lotion was lighter, but it did absorb quickly and wasn’t oily and the scent again, oh that scent.  Not as moisturizing, but not as heavy as the body balm.  It would be better in the hot humid summers here when you don’t want anything heavy on you at all.  I also really thought their candles were fantastic.  You could smell the scent against all the competing scents of the building, and they were just fresh without being sweet or vanillay or just not real.  Being someone who loves to garden and loves real plants and flowers, I like very natural, real to earth scents.  These just make me feel like I am smelling the lovely things growing in my garden, or at the market.  I am so happy to have discovered this place and even happier that THEY SHIP. WOOHOOOOO.  And my birthday is less than a month away (nudge nudge wink wink).  My shipping address is….

And while your at it, try their Mille Fleur Honey too.  I love different honeys, they are so varied country to country, region to region.  It is so neat to smell and taste all the differences.

So I have been struggling to find a good iPad case that was thin, looked professional, but was still stylish.  I really liked my husband’s DoDo Case, and I love their story, but I didn’t want it in black. I know that seems odd, since I really like black, but it just wasn’t the look I was going for.

If I didn’t already acquire an iPad wireless keyboard then I would definitely get this Zagg case, a combined case, dock, keyboard, which I really like.  I am not very good at typing on the iPad, so when I do a lot of work, I really need it.

I searched all over Etsy and didn’t see anything I liked.  I wanted more than a sleeve, didn’t want it to be bulky and wanted something book style.  Finally I came across M-Edge Accessories Go Jacket, which fit my needs perfectly. I got the brown letter, which is professional and nonchalant enough to use for work, makes it look a lot like a book when sitting on the coffee table, but gave it good protection while being very thin.  It will also now stand either horizontally or vertically.   They had a lot of thin, leather cases, some with pockets, some without, some that are also stands, etc. etc.  And they had some cool colors, but done in a modern, tasteful way, with no tacky logos on the outside.  But now I am rethinking the silver crackle leather color, too.  If they did the gold crackle it would be all over, I LOVE the gold crackle.

It just so happens that one of my absolute favorite persons lives in Chicago.  And this post is a little late, but we traveled there for a conference that Matthew had in March.  I came for a long weekend that happened to encompass the St. Patty’s Celebration madness, which was a hoot.

We stayed at the Sofitel at the Chicago Water Tower.  I really love this hotel, and would strongly recommend it.  It sits a few blocks back of Michigan Avenue, so it is a little quieter, but right in the middle of things still.  It was easy to walk or use public transportation to most everything in town that we wanted to see.  The rooms were nice and very clean, and just minimally decorated in a way I find relaxing.  There were awesome full length mirrors covering the closets so it was easy to style yourself.  And to top it all off the bathrooms were huge, with a wide array of really nice amenities.  What more can a girl want you ask?  A lobby filed with fresh flagrant flower displays, helpful staff and a great lounge and restaurant that’s what, and they got you covered there too.

So the night I landed, Hubby took me to the most beautiful place.  The Bloomingdales Home Store in Chicago… YeeGods this place is awesome.  Four or five floors of nothing but beautiful home decor, in an old Synagogue that itself was amazing.  Not only that, but they had the new Diane Von Furstenburg plates and bedding.  Heaven, heaven, heaven.   Then we had dinner at Moto.  The super modernist, molecular gastronomy restaurant of Chicago.  And it was so much fun!  I can’t even describe the food and the courses, but I have pictures!  If you like fun dining and don’t take your food to seriously I would recommend it.  There are places rated much better food-wise, like Avec, but this was fun and Hubby and I like all the work and creativity put into the dishes.  The staff was so nice, they were low key and down to earth, and it made the whole thing relaxed and fun.

Friday we ate an early lunch at Grahamwich, Graham Elliot’s sandwich shop. This was really, really good. YOU MUST EAT HERE!  I had the jarbrito tacos which had nicely flavored soft meat and crunchy plantain bits, they could have used a touch more acid, but that is a light quibble.  I also had a bite of my Hubby’s Reuben, which was really good, juicy and just succulent as can be. We also got the short rib sandwich and I ate all the guts out of my half. That was fantastic, the pickled onions, chip pieces, short rib that was rich and soft, but not runny and sauce that was creamy, but had a nice acidic balance pull it all together and it was so rich and crispy and tart all together. That was a great sandwich. It was very hipster in terms of scene, but I liked it, a lot.

After our tasty lunch I convinced Hubby we should walk down Michigan Avenue to see some of the great buildings.  This turned into quite a long walk all the way to the Field Museum, but it was a nice day and we needed to burn off all those Grahamwich calories.  On the way we stopped into a poster store that had amazing old vintage posters on the bottom floor that were amazing and rare.  It is one of those big online shops, but just seeing some of their neat, rare art deco posters up close was fun.  We also stopped into the Chicago Architecture Foundation store which is neat too.  After finally arriving at the Field Museum (and as a note if you don’t love to walk don’t try this it was a long walk), we had a great time seeing the exhibits in their neat vintage boxes with hand painted backgrounds.  I felt like I was in another era walking through the botanical section learning what families plants and veggies I love are from.  I did not know the apple tree was in the rose family.  I don’t think this is probably a favorite museum for kids, but I would certainly recommend it for any adult that enjoys art and botany.

That night we had our obligatory Rick Bayless at Frontera Grill. I started with Duck flautos in a tomatillo sauce. This was just fantastic. Slightly spicy, crisp outer shell, rich meat, but the tomatillo sauce with toasted herbs and spices was just amazing. I am sure it is in his cookbook and would be worth it if you had some time to make it. It was an excellent dish. Hubby had chorizo tamales which were good, but it had so much sauce, meat, greans and etc you couldn’t really taste the tamales, so while it was good, my starter was better. For entrees he had an entree with chicken, rice and spinach which had a light sauce that I want to say was tomato based. His entree was really good, I liked it a lot. The spinach was fantastic and the sauce was light but flavorful. I had chicken enchiladas in mole poblano. It was very rich and sweet, but nicely balanced with black beans. The meat and tortillas were very good, the mole was very complex, but good. It isn’t something I could eat often, I couldn’t finish it just so rich, but it was very good. We were too stuffed for dessert. I also had a very good blood orange margarita. The service wasn’t stellar. We waited a long time for drinks, silverware, our order to get taken we ordered second drinks, but finished our entrees before they came so the waiter asked if we still wanted them and we declined. I understand it is exceedingly busy there all the time, but at the same time, it is always like that so I expect them to be able to better deal with the madness.  If you can get the reservation for Topolobampo, I would bet it is well worth it.

Later that evening we had fun catching up with Megan at her very chic apartment.  A place I wish I could just teleport to with a bottle of wine and stories to tell.

Saturday was St. Patty’s madness. We ate breakfast at Cafe Grand Deluxe, which I believe is owned by Cheesecake Factory brand. Places were so crowded at this point we just wanted some food and they could get us in fairly quickly. I had an egg white omlette and it was good, I mean nothing to write home about, hee hee hee, but definitely an adequate place to stop with lots of variety.  The river was green, people were crazy.  But it was fun to see the madness.  We met up with Megan and toured the Chicago Cultural Center which is just stunning.  If I got married in Chicago this is where it would have been.  The beautiful Tiffany domes and detailed mosaics covering the building just make it a magical place.  We walked through Marshall Fields, toured Millenium Park then ended up at the Art Institute of Chicago.  Wow this place is gigantic, we couldn’t come close to seeing everything.  I also found the layout very confusing if you just wanted to pop in and out to certain exhibits and not follow their routes.  The coolest part of the museum were the mini-rooms which shouldn’t be missed.  I love the Art Institute’s massive collection- well worth paying admission (something us DCers just don’t understand).

That night we went to the lounge at Sixteen at the Trump Tower for cocktails and a snack. I love this lounge, I think it is akin to drink at the W Hotel in DC (which used to be the Hotel Washington, but this place has better drinks).  I bet the hotel rooms are amazing too, especially if you get a view looking up or down Michigan Ave.  The view from the lounge is really beautiful, the cocktails were really well done, I had a ginger cocktail, Vodka, Domaine de Canton and perhaps something else, with a candied ginger rim, it was very well blended with a nice mixture of flavors. My friend Megan had a whiskey, maple syrup and bacon cocktail with some other things to balance out the sweet and that was really good. Hubby had the least appealing, I can’t even really remember what it was, he didn’t get a second of it, he had something else. But sitting there drinking cocktails, watching the skyline light up, and catching the fireworks was a great evening. If you want the iconic cocktail with nice view this is the place. We ate samosas and beef satay both of which were really tasty.  We spent a good portion of our night talking, laughing and just enjoying life from that beautiful lounge.  In the summer they open up the terrace there and I am sure then it only gets better.

That night we ate dinner/more snacks at Bin36. This place had a fantastic wine list, a very good selection of wine flights, a huge selection of cheese and was a great place to hang, casual, but buzzing with a great open feel. We all got different flights, I had the Habla Espanol which had wines from the new world and old, they were all very good. We had a lavender and coffee encrusted cheese, mortadella, salami platter which was very good. Hubby had a cheddar flight which was awesome. Then I had a beet and crab salad, which had a touch too many beets and not enough other components to balance them out. But was pretty good. My friend had sausage, polenta and an egg which was like having really good breakfast for dinner. Hubby had fondue with soft pretzels and apples which was good. We mainly just wanted snacks and hangover food to suck up all the liquor from the day. We then drank at some different bars that night trying to find a good St. Patty’s place but they all seemed to be packed to the gills.

Next day we tried to go to Yolk which was packed, so trying to hit up some museums quickly we just ended up at Potbelly. We then headed up to the Museum of Science and Industry.  This is an amazing museum.  It is the place to take kids, or anyone like me, who likes to be a kid whenever possible.  I watched in awe as trains went through the replica of Chicago, walked up  stairways filled with working pumps, motors and machines you could turn on and off, create a tornado, tsunami and avalanche in the lab, and so much more, this place was epically cool.

Later that day we went to Marshall Fields/Macy’s which was a ton of fun. I wish their cafes had been open that day. We got lots of chocolate from the candy department- I had never seen Moonstruck chocolates before and they are so cute, especially the little animals. I got a bunch for my Mom as a thank you for watching Max and a couple for me including penguins!  They had an amazing selection of anything and everything. That store is just nuts! We ended up grabbing a quick dinner before heading to the airport at Flacos Tacos which was surprisingly good, the chicken tamale was incredible and the tacos were really good. In retrospect we could have eaten somewhere nicer, but we didn’t know how long it would take us to get to the airport, through security and all that jazz, but it ended up being a breeze.  The whole trip was so much fun, I wish we had more time, but another trip now that the weather is warmer wouldn’t be bad either.

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So after perusing their selections on One King’s Lane I found this group, the Lost Art Salon.   Their art collection is comprised of over 5,000 works of rediscovered and historically significant artists.   Every piece is researched, reconditioned and catalogued for art historical records at their Salon in San Francisco.  They use restored period frames combined with archival framing techniques. I love this piece, it would go perfect with my dining room wall colors.

If you are looking for interesting and good quality art for your home it is a great place to start that search.  With collections from abstract to landscapes, etchings, illustrations, commercial and everything else.  I have a love-hate relationship with art collecting, I love finding interesting pieces, but it takes so much time to find something- trips to antique stores galleries and there is so much that isn’t my style.   This place has an online site, it’s like a huge gallery at your fingertips.

The best part is that the art is reasonably priced.  Seriously.

This G. Heald oil on canvas board is priced at $315.00, it reminds me so much of hiking in Yellowstone and the Tetons.