Another San Francisco Winter

Weather has been amazingly wonderful in these parts. It's been surprisingly nice, even in San Francisco terms where it is relatively nice all the time. Here are some photos I snapped while enjoying a good start to the new year.


Enjoying a nice variety of loose-leaf teas on a Sunday morning while waiting for the sun to reappear.


I love the shelves of German groceries for sale at Schmidt's. For something that's a little different from your typical SF brunch, try their German-inspired weekend brunch menu, filled with a variety of sausages and fresh German pastries. Where else in this city can you get picked herring for breakfast?


Poutine from Gregoire Restaurant, in Gregoire's signature octagonal take-away box. Poutine is a French-Canadian dish consisting of fries topped with gravy and cheese curds. Brilliant.


This weather is great for visiting Alamo Square with Lillabelle. Lots of other dog owners had the same idea, and Lillabelle made a friend.


No trip to Alamo Square is complete without a touristy photo of the Painted Ladies.

| iPhone Photos by: Me. |

Christmas in Seattle

Nick and I wanted to do a little trip for Christmas and decided Seattle was far enough away to feel special, yet close enough to not get caught up in the hassle of traveling during the holidays. We seemed to encounter a lot of fellow San Francisco residents with the same idea. We like Seattle because it feels like a smaller, cleaner version of San Francisco, with seasons.

Beautiful produce at the Pike Place Market.


In our winter accessories, just outside of the Seattle Aquarium.


Amazing freshly-made crumpets at The Crumpet Shop. We ate there all three mornings that we spent in Seattle. The staff was super friendly and immediately caught on that we were repeat visitors.


Giant stuffed sea otter outside one of the waterfront shops.


My rain boots certainly came in handy on this trip.

Sadly missing: A photo of me with my awesome friend Abhishek who was kind enough to show us a couple cool places and drive us to the airport. Thanks, buddy!

| iPhone Photos by: Me. |

The Last Third of 2011

It's kind of sad that my last post here in 2011 was about getting a new work bag to celebrate my new job and then I was not to be heard from again for the rest of the year. As much as I loved blogging, it took up a huge amount of my spare time—a type of time that became practically non-existent once I started full-time work as a game designer. My job is super fun, though, and it's hard to complain about long hours when you're making games for a living.

Lately, however, I've become addicted to Instagram and have been using it to document every little memory I could possibly want a quick snapshot for. I realized that while I unfortunately might not have time to type up anecdotes or put together moodboards, friends and readers interested in The Yuppie Lifestyle might still find my on-the-go photo-taking fun. So, I am going to give blogging another go by posting 5 photos from my Instagram feed that sum up the last third of my 2011. And I'll try to post 5 more photos every time I have a great week or do something neat or extraordinary.

This isn't necessarily a resolution for the new year; I'd rather just call it a personal goal. But I do want to thank everyone who bugged me about blogging more—you guys are awesome.

5 snapshots:

A pretty flower at a cute cafe in the Castro.


The view from our room at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, where Nick and I spend our Thanksgiving. Our balcony was right over the Bellagio fountains.


Nick and I have been obsessing over ramen lately even though it never seems to photograph well. We love Halu and Genki Ramen. Any other suggestions for SF ramen spots?


One of my company perks is free admission to Disneyland. I didn't like Disneyland as a child but I had more fun as an adult.


Some of the most awesome gingerbread houses I've ever seen. This tribute to the Painted Ladies along Alamo Square was part of the annual Palace Hotel Gingerbread Competition. Funds raised through the contest went to charitable organizations chosen by the winners.

(And yes, I finally jumped on that iPhone bandwagon.)

| iPhone Photos by: Me. |