Snapshots of Winter

Today is the first official day of winter and the shortest day of the year. Bring on the hot chocolate and heavy coats!

Dinner

Homemade apple juice
Bamboo Leaves wrapped around sticky rice

Starbucks mmm

Today I had a gingerbread latte! It was super spicy and gingery, just the way I like it.

A Fairytale Wedding Unfolding

I have been obsessed with wedding photography websites, like Stylemepretty.com and Stephanie Williams Photography so when I was invited to my friend's older sister wedding at Disneyland, I was ecstatic! It was the first wedding I have ever attended in the states and it was absolutely beautiful. The ceremony itself was very quick but the setting was lovely. The walkway was framed with beautiful red and orange trees and there was someone playing the harp in the background. They played "When You Wish Upon a Star", which I thought was soo romantic.

Red and Yellow

I don't like the cold weather but I do love how the trees here are still hanging on to their bright red leaves.

Cold Rainy Day

It's been nothing but cold and gloomy weather here so I tried to warm up the kitchen by turning on the oven and baking some pumpkin muffins!
The recipe: here

Sometimes it's nice to...

take a nap among the roses...

MMM

from Le Blog de Betty

I can't think of anything more perfect than red and pink macaroons with M's on them.
(I've always loved macaroons because they seem so small and cute but I've never actually tried one. Then I saw them at Hello Desserts and bought three! They were pretty good.)

Haight and Ashbury

The creepiest store ever
Wasteland is a consignment store that also carries some of its own clothes.

I love Haight street in San Francisco. It's so weird and filled with the most interesting stores. One of the coolest and creepiest stores I've ever seen was called Loved to Death. It's a taxidermy store that also sells antiques and art. Too bad I couldn't take pictures inside to show all the super weird and freaky things they were selling. They had broken doll heads, stuffed squirrel heads, and all sorts of other weird stuff. When we walked in, it was like we were transported to Knockturn Alley from Harry Potter.

Haight street is great for shopping because they had a lot of thrift stores and clothing stores, but I didn't have enough time to find something I really wanted. There were all sorts of old hippie clothes on the racks that could have been great for costumes. I also found a cute pair of heels at Buffalo Exchange but couldn't think of a time when I would need heels. :( sad

After the Haight, we went to the Castro where there were a lot of men's clothing stores, hair salons, and health stores. I thought it was funny that a lot of stores there had suggestive names, like "The Hand Job" or "Moby Dick."

Pastel Colored Houses

Took a day trip to Capitola in Santa Cruz on Sunday and the little beach town is charming. The beach itself was pretty small but it was lined with gorgeous pastel colors that reminded me of different flavors of icecream. There was also many cute and creative shops that were interesting to look at. We visited among many, a shell shop, taffy shop, and soap shop. There is a little coffeeshop called Mr. Toots on the second floor of a building that has a great balcony where you can relax with coffee or dessert while looking at the ocean. Inside is cozy too with an old piano and shelves with books. For dinner, we ate at a Thai restaurant looking out to the ocean and there was live classical music! I want to come back here again.

Colorful

Lahaina: a cute little town with colorful shops and beautiful views of the ocean.

Golden Waters

It's sunsets like these that make me love Hawaii. Walking in the sand in the warm balmy air and watching couples enjoy the sunset as well.

Maui love

Gate to Paradise