City Switch: Sleep Edition

Next to what I'll be eating on my upcoming birthday trip to San Francisco where I'll be laying my head at night is just as important. I'm a hotel slut. A vacation is not a vacation unless a halfway decent hotel is involved. In fact, nothing kills my vacation buzz faster than hearing that we'll be staying with family or in a condo (like happened in Big Bear and South of France trips).

In fact, checking into the hotel has sometimes been the highlight of trips, just like the breadbasket before dinner, so I'm weighing my hotel choice rather heavily based on just how much hotel I want for my stay.

I stayed at The Palace Hotel for a weekend before a trip to either Kauai or Maui. (It was a for my birthday, as I remember. Man, those dot.com days were fun!) It was very nice, big room, great service and they have a glassed in pool I made use of. It's very classic San Francisco, right downtown going toward the financial district, but other than the chilly temp of the pool, I don't remember much about my stay. At around $179 a night for a Superior Room, it's a good price but I'm feeling rather blah about The Palace.

You'll never hear me say anything bad about The Mosser. Especially since its right around the corner from my beloved Old Navy flagship store on Market. It is a very basic hotel. In fact some rooms have shared bathrooms, but rooms with in suite facilities aren't much more expensive.

We stayed at The Mosser for a week or so right before we left San Francisco for L.A. We'd moved out of our flat, but the kid still had a week of pre-school to attend so we hung around and had a nice time playing tourists. The Mosser is great for an extended stay and feels as close to actually living in San Francisco instead of staying in a hotel as you can possibly get without bunking down with friends or family. An Executive Suite goes for a rate between $151-189 a night. I'm assuming executives get their own bathroom.

I like W Hotels. They smell good and have a nice minimal tidy aesthetic. They also stock their bathrooms with Bliss Spa products that, yes, I load up on.

The W in San Fransisco is located next to the MOMA and within walking distance to just about everything else. Especially the in-house Bliss Spa which I want to visit as much as possible. Plus, they usually leave a plate of kick ass cookies and milk if you mention you're coming up for something special. Room rates go from $228-309 so it's a chunk of change to drop for good smells. But the sheets and pillows are more than worth it.

Right now it's between the Mosser and the W. It's going to come down to is how many nights we stay and how much spa I want to enjoy while I'm there. Not a bad dilemma to have.

City Switch: Food Edition

My grand plans to spend my birthday in Paris have been done in by, what else, reality. Since I took an extra month and a half or so to turn in my last manuscript, it's gummed up the works. My poor overworked editor has to read the thing and like it enough to give it a place on next year's publishing schedule before I'll see a check cut for that first third of my advance.

If she doesn't like it, as is her esteemed right, there won't be a check, so ha! But it's only been a week (8 days to be exact) since I emailed it over to her and I'm going to play it cool and wait at least another week (7 days to be exact) before I make the call or send an email asking for reassurance that I don't suck as a writer.

But this (my writing career) is all beside the point. What's foremost on my mind is my birthday and where I will be spending it. Paris was a grandly romantic idea full of long aimless walks and no agenda other than to just see what vacation life is there while most residents have fled for the south to crackle under the sun. I also wanted to stay a while, no four day three night trip for me, and had budgeted all of my advance toward the costs of making my fantasy birthday a reality.

Well, there is no advance (yet?) and things like airline tickets and hotel reservations usually don't turn out as happy when made last minute and in desperation. So I've nixed Paris (for this year) and instead have turned my sights toward...San Francisco!

Yes, I'll be going back to where I lived for a decade and moved away from four (?!) years ago. And that's more than dandy with me because I've found that I really enjoy visiting San Francisco. I love the city, the sights, the food and friends I took for granted when I could have enjoyed them on a daily basis. If all goes well (my editor likes my book), I'll be spending a week and my advance there and this is how I plan to do it...

I ate Aqua when I was something like six or seven months pregnant. I took the husband there for his first almost Father's Day and all I remember was having to stop a few times on the short walk from the parking lot the restaurant entrance to clutch my belly. Things, the kid, were shifting around and I'd decided to wear high heels. In the end, I had a damn good meal that was all about fish and other sea creatures. It might be just a coincidence but the kid has turned out to be a seafood fanatic.

During the dumb and heady days of the dot.com boom, I did things with my paycheck that I really regret (a pair of really uncomfortable $300 handmade French flats? Dumb), but eating at Jardiniere on a regular basis was not one of them. It became our go-to place to celebrate things like anniversaries, elopements, unnecessary salary bumps, etc.

It is a strong contender, purely based on nostalgia, to see me again chowing down on my birthday but I also really want to finally give Fleur de Lys a try. I never got around to it, always saying "Let's just go to Jardiniere." Maybe now that I'm older, I'll be able to appreciate it. (But I'm not sure I can handle three major restaurant meals in the span of four or five days that I'll be in the city. I do plan to do a lot of walking but I'm not sure it'll compensate for all that I'll eat and enjoy. Unless I walk the 400 miles home to L.A...)

When I lived across the street from Dolores Park, I had so much wonderful eating within blocks of my door step. One of my favorite places was Slanted Door either for a last minute to-go dinner or for a Sunday late, late lunch where I'd hog the Five Spice Chicken and start every meal with a Spring Roll. To this day, I measure all spring rolls against Slanted Doors and have found them all lacking to be lacking. (Really, a tight roll makes a big difference especially when it comes to dipping in the peanut sauce.) I've been to the three of Slanted Door's homes (first on Valencia St and then on the corner of Bryant(?)) and found it's current location at the Embarcadero to be a nice walk to and around, but the inside is kind of cold and way too noisy.

This is why I almost peed my pants when I found myself enjoying the height of mall food at Slanted Door's Westfield Shopping Center offshoot. Out The Door. There I can get my Spring Roll and dine in without having to rush over before they switch to the dinner menu because, really, it feels funny to ask for a table when you're only having an appetizer and glass of lemonade for a meal. That's right, the fancy mall has a kick ass food court and is reason enough to visit the city. The last time I went, I beyond enjoyed wandering in with a book and a shopping bag and ordering a Spring Roll and lemonade for lunch. (The lemonade is the perfect blend of tart and sweet that only comes from real lemons, limes and simple syrup.) I swear, it's what I ate every single day (once twice in a day). It's what I plan to do again because they still have the best damn Spring Rolls I've ever tasted.

Next week I'll go over my bunking down options. And, yes, my options range from the thrifty to the "Are you serious?"

The Mrs. MBA Dress

The husband is counting down the remaining days until he can almost officially close the checkbook on his 2 year MBA program. His last class session is sometime in the next couple of weeks or so (I stopped paying attention a long time ago), but he won't be getting his receipt, sorry, diploma until later this summer. Right smack in the middle of summer, to be exact, when it's usually extremely hot in Los Angeles.

Because this is something of a to-do (even though I was never 100% enthusiastic about him doing it), I have to, like, wear something besides jeans and a long sleeved T to commemorate the occasion. As I have no desire to keel over from heat stroke or buy something I'll never wear again, I've been considering my choices. I'm not looking flashy (it's his day), want comfort, but I still need to look nice.

And where to find a damn dress that is MBA Wife-ish? Why at Nordstrom, of course.

My initial goal, a small one, was to stay away from black. I amended it to staying away from all black. This v-neck black and white printed sheath by Maggy London, $119, is a very nice shape and is interesting enough to make it more than just a dress I threw on. I have a thing for modest v-necks and cap sleeves. But, I would need to buy a new pair of shoes and, most likely, get it hemmed to hit just the right spot at my knee. Still, this is in my definite maybe category.


Another Maggy London dress, $104. This one is also in the all not black category. I like the high neckline, cap sleeves and high waist of the skirt. And that it pretends to look like a shirt and skirt when it's really one dress. Easy for me since I wouldn't have to worry about tucking and, as everyone knows, I never tuck anything. Again, I'd have to buy a pair of shoes but it's a nice shape and it's simple. I like simple.



This cap sleeved, high necked, seamed dress by Adrianna Papell, $122, is by far my favorite. Why? Well, it's navy blue, has those cap sleeves, a high neckline that is just slightly boat necked and the seaming and tucks makes it interesting up close. The sheen gives me a little pause, but I suppose I can deal with it. What does give me a little worry is the sizing. I'd have to order it in two sizes, 6 and 8, and will be returning the one that doesn't fit quite as right.

As for shoes, oh yeah, my Delmans would work. They are in a need of a trip to the shoe guy for some sprucing up, but they're the only truly high heels I can stand wearing for more than an hour. I should have gotten them in black as well as purple. If I had an MBA it might have occurred to me, but I don't and it didn't and I'm OK with that.