A New Project

Hi, readers. I'm sorry about the slow down in posting lately. I've taken on a new project that I love and it's been filling up a lot of my time. I recently signed on to do some work for a social game developer that makes a pretty hidden object game called Gardens of Time. The first part that I helped work on went live last night and I am really excited about it.

Having a blog that's out on the web and getting comments and feedback from readers is already an amazing experience and it's so meaningful to me that I've connected with people all over the world that way. And now, to have something I've worked on professionally be dispersed to millions of players who actively play Gardens of Time daily is almost surreal to me.

Do you play social games on Facebook? If so, which ones? I would love to know if any of my readers also spend time with Facebook games.

| Art Credit: Screenshot from Playdom's Gardens of Time game. |

The Last Time I Went to a Sporting Event

I'm going to my first Giants game tonight and I am pretty stoked. You can read about why I jumped on that bandwagon here.

The last time I attended a pro sporting event was in 2008. I was a little traumatized by what happened to me then, which is why it has been so long since I have attended one. Back in April 2008, we were visiting our good friend Brian in LA when a small handful of VIP tickets to the Lakers games fell into his lap (such things tend to happen to him); Nick was very excited about them so I agreed to go. Our seats were in the first row of the club level, and I could see the back of Jack Nicholson's head not too far away. I'm not a Lakers fan in the slightest but I appreciated that Brian had shared his nice tickets with us. So, I was trying to enjoy the game when suddenly, I felt hands from behind me grabbing at my hair. I turned around and saw that the woman sitting behind me had nacho cheese all over her face and her hands. And because she had decided to use my hair as a towel, my hair was also covered in nacho cheese. I starting crying, I think because I was just so shocked at what had just happened that I didn't know how else to react emotionally. The woman was later firmly encouraged by other people sitting nearby to contain her public drunkenness on account of the children sitting in our section, and the guy she was with sat silently and visibly embarrassed. So, what I can only guess was the situation was that an elderly gentleman had brought a younger woman on a not-so-serious date, and that the woman showed her appreciation by consuming as much alcohol (and nachos) as she could that night.

I get that spills happen at sporting events and I would even expect a spill to happen here or there during an exciting play. But getting so drunk that you get nacho cheese all over yourself and wipe that nacho cheese onto the hair of the person sitting front of you is never okay. I can laugh about the story now though because it was just so outlandish. I'm going to assume that this was a one-time-only occurrence in my life and I am optimistic about being able to enjoy the Giants game tonight from our non-club level seats. I'm very proud of the sign I made and I'll post photos of it next week. Happy weekend!

| Art Credit: Me. |

Happy Weekend and Hello!

This month has been awesome so far for The Yuppie Lifestyle. Many new readers have been sent my way through my feature on 100 Layer Cake, which is really cool, and several of you have even dropped me personal notes to say how much you enjoyed the tutorial and this blog, which just makes my inbox feel filled with joy. I thought this would be a good time to re-introduce this blog and also explain the name.

I started this blog back in 2007 as an old-school journaling sort of blog. It had hardly any photos and its inside jokes were not very entertaining for anyone but myself and a few friends. So, in October of 2010, I scrapped everything and started over, keeping the same name but building a new blog to share the things that I love—things like food, style, themed collections, and crafts. It says "beta" in the header because I feel that it allows me to change things on this blog as I grow. (And because I'm a nerd.)

The "yuppie lifestyle", to me, has nothing to do with money or class. Yes, I do consider myself young, I do live in an urban area, and I can be professional (sometimes). But on this blog, the yuppie lifestyle is one where I encourage you to do what makes you feel youthful, find delight in wherever it is you live, and become a pro at being awesome. By this definition, anyone can live the yuppie lifestyle. I'm just trying to be a good example.

And now, here is a photo of me, so you know that I am not just a cartoon character or an anonymous voice on the internet! (Nick is in it, too. I mention him sometimes.)

And because this is a lifestyle blog, if you enjoy what you read here and think my style jives with yours, I encourage you to check out the other aspects of my daily life that I share on these other social networking sites:

• Like this blog on Facebook to get blog updates and coupon codes!
• Follow me on Twitter where I attempt to use shorter sentences!
• Follow me on Pinterest where I keep track of things I think are cool/pretty!
• Become my friend on Last.FM to see my embarrassing taste in music!
• Add this blog to your Google Reader, which I don't actually know how to use!

(Links to all of these are in the right sidebar as well.)

If there's anything you'd like to ask about that I didn't cover, or you just feel like expressing your own opinion, always always feel free to comment. Or, you can send me an email because I ♥ email.

| Photo Credit: Aubrey Trinnaman. |

California Poppies

I took this photo a couple weeks ago at the edge of Mission Dolores Park while we were waiting for the J train line. As a little kid growing up in the dessert, I always wondered why the poppy was the California state flower because the only ones I ever saw had been planted in people's flower beds. Now I see how they make our state pretty by growing wild in unexpected places. I love being constantly reminded of how magical this city is—there are poppies blooming all over even these ruddy old train tracks.

Here are some other ways to bring the brightness of poppy orange to your life.

| 1. Penguin Group, Postcards from Penguin | 2. RJ Graziano, Chain Hoop Earrings | 3. Jack Spade, Leather Flask | 4. J.Crew, Retro Dot Underwire Tank |

| Photo Credit: top. Me; 1–4. See links provided. |

My Wedding Is on Style Me Pretty!

I am very excited to announce that my wedding is being featured on Style Me Pretty today. This is a pretty big deal for me because I poured a lot of heart and soul into styling my wedding last year, and it is so great to have an opportunity to share all those little details with other brides looking for ideas. You can check out the full post right here. And to those of you who helped make that day such a lovely one—thanks again for being awesome.

Here are just a few shots of some of the details from that day. If you are looking for someone to design party invitations or style your wedding, shoot me a note at theyuppielifestyle@gmail.com and I would love to find out how I can be of help.

| Photo Credit: Wedding photos by Aubrey Trinnaman and Blake Henderson of Jerry Yoon Photography. |

An Illustrated Guide to Unusual Advertising

I don't know how I got on their mailing list but somehow I received a catalog from The J. Peterman Company in the mail the other day. What was odd about the catalog, or "Owner's Manual" as it was labeled, was that rather than there being photographs of the products being sold, there were these adorable illustrations. They remind me of paper doll clothes that I played with when I was little.

I've been reflecting on effective advertising lately because a sweet marketing student contacted me last week to ask for help with learning about marketing to the yuppie demographic. And while I think that J. Peterman's illustrations are incredibly charming, I don't think anyone these days would buy an article of clothing that they'd never even seen a photo of. There's no practical way get a sense of fit or fabric with this approach. To make things even more laughable, each item in the catalog has these hilariously verbose descriptions, which are allegedly written by J. Peterman as he either philosophizes about the item or recounts the exotic adventure on which he found the inspiration for it. Here is the description for the striped Russian Navy Shirt above.

Wait a minute. Does Russia really have a navy?
They do. Of course they do.
Watch the news on TV tonight. If they're wearing striped shirts like this, it's the Russian Navy.
Unless you see a dark-eyed girl paddling a green boat and her boyfriend laughs and smokes and laughs and his cigarette is slightly less than one inch long and permanently attached and he is wearing a not bad-looking striped navy shirt, then it's France.
Unless it's New York.
But if the girl and her boyfriend are both blonde, and pale smoky-eyed, and he, you notice, is deeply tanned and wearing a striped navy shirt, then it's Finland.
Or the island of Sylt.
Or Krk.
Or Sukhumi.
Under a suit jacket, it's L.A. Or maybe Munich.
But when they're both wearing striped navy shirts, it's Zihuatanejo.
Or Sochi.
If there are two girls and one boyfriend and all three are wearing striped navy shirts, then it's definitely Russia.
Unless it's Central Park.
Russian Navy Shirt (No. 1017), for men and women. A faithful copy; like the original, it's “unimproved.” Pure cotton. The blue is wonderful: dark, deep, moody. Maybe it's the Russian soul, coming back.

Who needs to buy children's toys when you can cut out the clothes from J. Peterman's catalog for paper dolls and read your children stories like these at bedtime? They certainly made for a good evening of dramatic readings at the dinner table at our house.

| Art Credit: From The J. Peterman Company. |

Veggies Are Good for You and Pretty Too

I am kind of obsessed with monochromatic art so this print caught my eye on Pinterest. Pinterest is a neat site for creating virtual pinboards for beautiful things you stumble upon on around the internet. You just put a little bookmarklet in your browser toolbar and you can "pin" any image right away. They're a startup out of Palo Alto and I was lucky enough to snag an invite from a friend in the first couple months of the site, when people were really using it for what it was intended to be and it was awesome to see what designers, photographers, and other creative types were sharing.

This fantastic print is called "Hello Spring" by an illustrator named Heidi Schweigert; she has a shop called Red Cruiser on Etsy that has other great work like this. But for some reason, when I saw it on Pinterest it was credited to Eric Carle with no backlink to the Red Cruiser shop listing. Not cool. Like a game of telephone, it got repinned over and over with the wrong information because people assumed it was labeled correctly in the first place. So, this is a little reminder about how important it is to give people credit for their work.

You can follow me on Pinterest here.

| Art Credit: Red Cruiser/Heidi Schweigert. |

Dear Kate Spade, Please Give Me a Job

Remember when I did this post on pops of pink and how they are totally the flavor of the day? Well lo and behold, fast forward to a few weeks later and this is the latest email ad from one of my favorite labels, Kate Spade.See how the headline matches my post practically verbatim? Here at The Yuppie Lifestyle, it is certainly a goal to keep readers prepared for upcoming trends, so it's nice to see proof I am doing my job. Don't forget that you read it here first!

Hello! I'm Going on a Vacation.

Here are some photos I took around my neighborhood as practice for becoming a tourist. This will be my last post for a little while, because I have some other things to take care of before I dash off to London later next week. Updated on 03|05|11: Just kidding!

I hope that you'll all stay tuned for when I return and report back on living the yuppie lifestyle in London and Paris. In the meantime, here are some things to entertain you while I am away and help you partake in the spirit of my trip.

• Listen to (Baby) Hold Me Tight by Kitty, Daisy & Lewis—a London-based sibling trio with old-school charm. I'll be rocking this on my iPod during the plane ride.
• Pretend you're touring Versailles right alongside me, with help from the very cool Google Art Project.
• Watch the video for the best Harry Potter fan tribute song I have seen to date: Like it's Quiddich.
• Check out this cute little interactive map of the Boulevard Raspail market in Paris. I'm so sad I won't be there on a Sunday for the organic market.
• Watch Jeremy Clarkson attempt to score a goal with a giant football (soccer ball) and a Mini Cooper at the beginning of this clip from BBC's Top Gear.
• Learn about as much French as I know by watching Flight of the Conchords's Foux Du Fafa video.

| Photo Credit: Me. |

Golf and Cocktails: This is Not Normal, Even For Us

Over the weekend, Nick and I attended the 2011 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Apparently the group that invited us is the only sponsor that the PGA allows to throw cocktail parties right along the green during a tournament. Bill Murray came by and started tossing (our) beers into our picnic area; luckily all the cans were caught and no one was injured.

Cameras were not allowed on the course, sadly, but after seeing all the celebrities we were interested in seeing, Nick and I took off to the nearby Monterey Fisherman's Wharf for some calamari and chips, and then to the beach to watch the sunset. Here are some photos from the trip. (The top photo is completely undoctored—everything was really that blue.)

P.S. If you have been enjoying the content here on The Yuppie Lifestyle, please like this site on Facebook! You can do so by either clicking the "Like" button in the sidebar on the right under "Other Places on the Web" or by visiting the Facebook page and clicking "Like". You'll get updates in your News Feed (I think) and lots of gratitude from me (for sure). I'll also try to post coupon codes for yuppie-oriented labels. And if you've already liked The Yuppie Lifestyle on Facebook, you can still like individual posts by clicking on the "Like" button in each post footer. Thanks and ♥.

| Photo Credit: Me. |

Why It's Great to Be Living in SF Right Now

This is to give an idea of what a gorgeous night it was last night.

Sometimes I completely forget that it is still the middle of the winter. I guess massive snowfall in Dallas has been causing problems with preparation for today's Super Bowl? It feels like June in my living room right now. Sorry, rest of the country.

| Photo Credit: Me. |

Tourism for Locals

Nick and I are going to London and Paris in March. London is my favorite city in the world because of my massive Anglophilia. It'll be my first time visiting Paris, and while I am not nearly enough of a romantic to buy into all of that "City of Love" business, I'm betting it'll still be a nice treat. Other people in my life seem to have been caught up in the excitement of my trip-planning too, which I think is adorable. My boss bought me these cute little books full of fold-out maps for Christmas and my friend Taleen bought me a sheet of Ladurée stickers in anticipation.

I have been spending a lot of my spare time researching things to do and I am finding sites like this and this to be extremely helpful; they feel a little more like they are written by a kindred spirit of mine than a professional travel guide writer. It makes me wonder, why doesn't someone make a site like this for San Francisco? While I'd love to make the time to take on such a project, I am not sure I can, or that I am hip enough to be that person. So in the meantime, I'll keep posting here about my lifestyle tips and observations as a local San Francisco tourist. Stay tuned for my neighborhood profile on Cow Hollow based on the lovely afternoon Nick and I spent there on Saturday.

| Photo Credit: Me. |

Getting a Yellow Card.

I got this adorable card from my friend Jess in the mail, and I had a pretty strong hunch right away that her little sister Stacie made it. I love it though—especially the yellow paper with the awesome dot texture.

Jess tells me that Stacie is a fan of my blog, so I hope she doesn't mind that I am featuring her card here.

| Photo Credit: Me. |

Remember, remember, a sunny November.

Do you ever wonder why Urban Outfitters has ridiculous photos of people wearing tank tops while hanging Christmas lights in their catalogs?
It is because this is seriously what it looks like in San Francisco in the middle of November.

| Photo Credit: top. Cass Bird for Urban Outfitters; bottom. Me |

Introduction and Purpose Statement

It has been about three years since I originally started the The Yuppie Lifestyle blog, and I decided it was time for a change. After struggling to make a comeback from my several-month wedding-planning and post-wedding-planning sabbatical, I realized that the older Me was having difficulty trying to conform to the writing style I established when I was three years younger. In other words, I am too lazy to write long entries, and I am sure you are too lazy now to read them. Learning how to be like me may not be a simple but the instructional materials should be. And so, dear Readers, I am presenting to you a somewhat new (for me) blog concept where I plan to bring you shorter sentences and more visuals to capture how I live my life*. (*Subject to change and after this entry, of course.) I don't really know what that means or where I am going with this yet but I do know that I am awesome, therefore I need to document my awesomeness by way of the Internet.

I leave you with an excerpt from today's Wikipedia article on "Yuppie", in which neo-con political commentator and Fresno raisin farmer Victor Davis Hanson defines "yuppism" as:

a late-twentieth-century cultural phenomenon of self-absorbed young professionals, earning good pay, enjoying the cultural attractions of sophisticated urban life and thought, and generally out of touch with, indeed antithetical to, most of the challenges and concerns of a far less well-off and more parochial Middle America.

I also leave you with this photo, where you can clearly see that the city of San Francisco cleared out Market Street for my photo shoot.

| Photo Credit: Aubrey Trinnaman |