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Where to: The Healdsburg SHED

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I would typically title a food post, “Eat here: The Healdsburg SHED” but this place is a much more than a restaurant, it’s a destination.

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No joke, I’ve been dreaming of visiting The SHED for almost 2 years now, and I’m pleased to report that it lives up to the hype. If you’re heading up wine tasting in Healdsburg it’s a MUST stop for lunch, or dinner after tasting. Through the doors, engulfed in a (V extra) trendy atmosphere, I knew this was going to be the California “farm-to-table” chic meal I had envisioned.

If I wasn’t beyond starving from the long drive I would have immediately been distracted by all the craft liqueurs and sauces or the ceramic upscale knick-knacks that make me feel like I’m a true “adult.”

I’m gunna let the pics do the talking (because I took 500,000) and who wants to read about food anyway?!? 😜😜

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The ultimate trendy vibe with the ultimate fresh ingredients make for a lunch that cannot disappoint. BTW most of the food served is grown within a 10 mile radius! Ummm can we talk about fresh!? Cause the definition of “fresh” is now just, “the shed.”

FAVORITE DISHES:

Mezze Plate – what I thought was the underdog of our order turned out to be in my top! All that hummus and beet mixtures with olives were a delicious and saucy starter. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Heirloom Beets and Stone Fruit – I can be hit or miss with beets but this was a home run! The beets had a curry-esque flavor that paired perfectly with the yogurt underneath (and slightly masked the usual overly beet flavor, an extra plus).

Summer Melon and Cucumber – an elevated watermelon feta salad, I could eat this every summers day and not get sick of it.

Halibut Ceviche – the freshest and lightest ceviche I’ve had. I felt skinnier and healthier with every bite 😂

Honestly there wasn’t one thing on the table that I didn’t enjoy, even some of the more adventurous anchovy and pate tartines. Can’t go wrong washing it all down with a cold rosé either, but we also got a few French 25 cocktails, because why not! we drove 2 hours to get there after all! #rewards.

Now… WHEN CAN I GO BACK?!!?!? 😩📆🙏🏼

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Stuff

My Favorite Hair Products

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Welcome to my hair care regimen (aka the PART 2 to last week’s post).

I meant when I said “I didn’t know I had good hair until IG told me so” haha. I’ve always just kinda done my thing, not paid too much attention. But since my face is now plastered across social media everyday I’ve been receiving lots of love around my hair.

It could just be the outstanding balayage (check out last week’s post for where I get my hair done 💇🏼‍♀️), but I’d also like to think it has a thing or two to do with my hair care regimen and favorite hair products. 💆🏼‍♀️✨👍🏼

My hair care 101:

TIP: Wash your hair once or twice a week at most. I probably wash it once every 5 or 6 days.

EXPLANATION: Most people gawk when I say how little I wash my hair. “I could never do that,” they say “my hair gets wayyyyy to greasy” HMPH. “Wrong!” Is what I say! You just have to train your hair, build it up to a certain tolerance so that your scalp naturally produces less oil. How? Each week, try and stretch your daily wash just one more day. Use Living Proof Dry Shampoo to push it 1-2 days longer, even wear a hat. Do what you gotta do, just don’t wash it! After a month or so, with longer time in-between each wash, your hair, (like a baby) will learn to self sooth. 😉

TIP: If you prefer to shower at night, use Living Proof Night Cap afterwards.

EXPLANATION: For some reason when I go to bed with wet hair, it can feel kinda matted or sticky the next morning, and frizzy as all hell. Like all of a sudden all that soft silky conditioner I put in, disappeared overnight. The Living Proof Night Cap is my savior! It protects my hair at night from extra frizz and keeps it soft in the morning.

 

Favorite shampoo (from fanciest to 👉🏼 still kinda fancy 😂):

My other must have hair products: 

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Where I Get My Hair Done in SF

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I’ve never really been a “hair girl.” My hair was just my hair… no one complimented it, I rarely styled it or washed it (ok this part is still true 🤫, more on that later). Literally the most I knew how to do was run a straightener through it if I wanted it to look better for going out at night, otherwise just let it air dry. 🤷‍♀️

But latelyyyy, I’ve been getting tons of compliments on my hair and questions about where I get it done – so I figure I finally must be doing something right? Aka it’s time to SPILL and I have a feeling it all comes down to my new hair routine…

Only got 10 seconds?👉 I go to Population Salon, see Heather Salmons, ask for a balayage and BAM 💇‍♀️💥

Got 5 min?👇

After moving to SF, I knew driving to the South Bay for my previous diPietro Todd appointments wouldn’t hold up, so I took the plunge with Population Salon. I knew they were popular and trendy (and served🍺🍷☕️ 🍵 during appointments, key) so I figured why the hell not! 💁‍♀️

I landed Heather Salmons and she has been an absolute STAR ever since. I’ve even recommended multiple people to her, who have had nothing but good things to say. We all keep coming back. Well done, Heather! 👍💇‍♀️

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[*if you know what balayage is just skip ahead 😆]

My treatment of choice? The infamous “balayage” that floods the feeds of Pinterest and heads of California girls everywhere. 😉 So what is it?? Balayage techniques seamlessly blend the highlight with your natural hair color, using Seran wrap and no heat, resulting in a beautiful fade as hair grows. Traditional foil highlights have a more defined starting point and grow out becomes more obvious as time goes on…personally, not my fav and way more high maintenance. 👎

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[*resume*]

My secret balayage ingredient? Golden hues. I always gravitate towards warm colors and wanted my hair to be no different. So whenever I get the color done, I specify (one too many times), that I’d like the blonde to have a golden tint, more of a 70s feel.✌️☺️  Comparative to the cooler toned, ashy blondes.

For cut – I always play a bit with the layers but mainly leave the cut/style up to Heather. Instructing her to cut my hair “cute, on-trend, and if all else fails, just make me Jane Birkin” LOL. She does, and I’m a happy gal. 😜

Scroll to the end  to see the final product!

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What’d ya think?! A la Jane Birkin turned Kenny modern vibes? 😜🤞 Hope so!!

Stay tunednext week, I’ll share some hair care tips and favorite products! 👏👏👏

Also, please comment below if you have any specific hair questions or needs! 😁😘

Booze Cocktails

My Blueberry Lemonade Cocktail Recipe

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Fresh off the 4th of July! Which obvi got me thinking a lot about the state America is in right now… Typically a day for celebrating our nation, it didn’t quite feel right this time around. Of course that didn’t stop me from enjoying a blueberry lemonade cocktail on the longest pier in Lake Tahoe haha but it did start a conversation among my family around what it means to be proudly American.❤️💯🇺🇸

I may not be particularly fond of the leader of this country atm, BUT I am proud of the people that make it up. We are more than just our leader. I’m proud of the diversity, the colorful people that make up my country, who stay so strong in the face of adversity. People like Ru Paul who are rallying more than just queer people to take back what it means to be proudly American.

Companies, like SKYY Vodka, are also rallying behind this message and redefining what it means to be proudly American, which is why they seemed appropriate for my 4th of July cocktail of choice – the blueberry vodka lemonade! 😎

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Ingredients (for 1):

1.5oz  SKYY Infusions Pacific Blueberry
1oz fresh lemon juice*
.75oz ginger simple syrup (recipe here)

blueberries & lemons for garnish

*and if you’re lazy AF (no judgement 😂) just find the most delicious looking lemonade (I tried Fentiman’s and it was outstanding. Goal = organic, not too much sugar etc.) and mix that with the SKYY Infusions Pacific Blueberry. 0 steps involved. 👌🏼👌🏼 More portable for enjoying lakeside too. 😛🌊

Process:

  1. Put vodka, lemon juice and simple syrup into a shaker with ice and shake 10 seconds.
  2. Pour in a collins glass, over ice.
  3. *Optional* If you want a little fizz, top with a splash of ginger beer! 😋
  4. Garnish with a lemon wheel, and a few blueberries on top!

It’s honestly a perrrrrrrfffeeecccctttttt summertime cocktail for serving at parties.☀️ Just ask my little bro, it was a HUGE hit at his birthday. 😜🍋💙

I’m proudly American, Ru Paul is proudly American, SKYY Vodka is proudly American, so celebrate being American with us!! And if you need a lil sum’ sum’ to ease the pain, try my blueberry vodka lemonade! 😉

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Discover Stuff

Alexa, Make My Life Easier! *DONE*

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I’ve been dreaming about the day I could finally talk to a robot…Something else to blame for my shortcomings in my unreachable personal goals. After all, excuses are the best! JUSTTTTTTT KIDDINGGGGGG. I absolutely jump for joy at the chance to use another tool to help me manage my personal life. The more help and management I can get from technology the better! Pleaseeeeee, take less of my brain power and more of your RAM.  😉

*Enter Amazon Alexa*

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Plugged in, app downloaded and bluetooth connected. BAM. Just as stoked about the easy set-up as I am being able to talk to a robot! 😝After all, it wouldn’t be stress-free if the setup was a challenge. WOOHOO! Super excited about my new toy. 🙌

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Now, for some of my favorite Alexa skills….😄😄😄

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Budget Bot

Without going into toooo many personal details, there has been some recent financial developments in my life and I’ve begun budgeting majorly so my Alexa couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve never been great about tracking expenses, it always seems so daunting. Now, Budget Bot helps me easily figure out how much I spend a week on groceries, track Katie and my spending together as a couple, and unfortunately how much I spend on clothes — something I’m reallyyyyy trying to work on. THANK YOU budget bot.

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Start Nagging Me

Hello new best friend (and worst enemy?). In gearing up for summer travels I told Katie I was going to do 100 sit-ups a day. Guess how many I’ve done? 0. Ok fine, maybe 25. But still not enough! I’m ready for the daily reminder….Alexa, start nagging me! Now I’ll have my abs in check for summer vacations! 😛💪☀️

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House Tracker

We’ve developed a system. Katie fills the dishwasher, I empty it.✔️ Katie does the laundry, I put it away.✔️ But this system is not full proof. And sometimes one of us ends up pulling more weight. Using the House Tracker Skill allows me to catalog who’s done what – and hold each other accountable! 😈

Chop Chop

Chop Chop teaches you how to chop vegetables! More idealistic than realistic for me at this point, but an enticing feature nonetheless.  In being honest with myself, I could should really use this since Katie constantlyyyy makes fun of me for the way I cut vegetables in the kitchen. One. Bby. One. (But between you and me, maybe I don’t improve so that she still continues to do it for me. 😉

I could go on and on…so many fun skills to test out with my new Alexa! When I’m ready for a new life hack, all I have to do is say, “Alexa, make my life easier!” and she’ll offer up a series of new skills for me to explore!

So, thanks Alexa for making my life easier. 🙏

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This post in partnership with Amazon, all opinions from my own experience.

Discover Stuff

Living My Best Ride with Uber

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This post was made in partnership with Uber, but all opinions are my own.

It’s no secret, my life is always in motion. Literally running from one place to the next is a daily occurrence. Struggling to find enough time to work on the blog before going to my 9-5 and even still on the weekends between required social hours with friends or Katie. There just never seems to be enough time in the day, but making quick transitions between events definitely eases the pain.

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Starting my day off with stress-free transportation is so important to the overall success of my day. It’s really the game changer in what allows me to be this busy. Just this past weekend, I got up early to work for awhile at a cafe, rode with Uber home to change, then rode with Uber over to the completely opposite side of town for a few fun hours out with my girlfriend at the West Coast Craft fair. We actually have a car and still chose to ride with Uber there because we didn’t want to worry about parking (a city challenge that makes me sprout 3 new grey hairs every time it’s attempted lol).

We’ve all been there… running late, can’t find parking, super stressed out …so then you get to the destination and want to just scream. It’s not relaxing at all! It would be a completely different experience to show up to the West Coast Craft fair, frazzled and stressed and then try and put up with the crowded aisles and long lines….yikes is right!

But because of our amazing ride experience over the hill, we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon at WCC, browsing the aisles for our next handmade treasure. Moods were fabulous and spent way too much money haha. Bought some art, a custom designed hat and even treated ourselves to a glass of rosé.😋🍷 Talk about minimum time wasted and maximum relaxation!

Probably the main reason I use Uber is to reduce stress. So when I request a ride, I have a certain expectation about the experience I’m going to get. I think the ability to share real-time feedback with your driver during your ride, through Uber’s new On Trip Ratings & Feedback tool improves the quality of rides and  is a great way to feel like you’re getting the best experience possible. If not, you can have your voice heard and make an impact more quickly. 👍👍

There is really nothing like getting out of a ride with Uber thinking to yourself “wow that was a really pleasant experience” or having an interaction with a driver that left you feeling better than when you got into the car. When those rides happen, it sets my day off on a new path and can totally change things around… Better ride means better mood when I arrive, and everyone deserves that. 😉

I truly believe riding with Uber should be an above and beyond experience, which is why I appreciate Uber’s commitment to improving every trip through these new 5 Star Rides measures. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Booze Cocktails

Watermelon Spritz Cocktail Recipe

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Summer is so close I can taste it! (Quite literally though since I’m sippin’ on this spritz 😂). With the start of summer comes the start of spritz season, and to prep for this moment I decided to try a newww spritz recipe: The Watermelon Spritz! It’s no secret, what a massive fan of Aperol Spritz I am, and this cocktail is a play off that, adding in SKYY’s new Infusion flavor – Sun Ripened Watermelon – for a fun fruity twist (and boozier at that 👍🏼)!

We got SO lucky with the weather last weekend I was dripping sweat while shooting this drink on my friends roof, best believe I was in my bikini top! 😆☀️I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to enjoy some much needed sun and gorgeous views of the city – the same San Francisco skyline that inspired SKYY Vodka to be created in this city over 25 years ago.

Looking out at Twin Peaks, Mission Dolores, the long stretch of Market St. with rainbow flags raised,  I felt so grateful to live in such a special and beautiful city. I think I’ve been reflecting more that usual recently since it’s Pride month and my 5th year anniversary of living in The Castro. I’m so grateful to live in such an open and accepting city and be able to share a life with my girlfriend that’s so normalized. 🙌🏼👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏳️‍🌈

Anyway, enough mush, onto the Watermelon Spritz recipe! 🍉🍹

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Ingredients (for 1):

1 part SKYY Infusions Watermelon
1 part Aperol
3 parts Sparking rosé
1 part soda water

Process:

  1. In a large wine glass, pour the vodka, Aperol and rosé champagne in over ice. Let it settle and then top off with soda water.
  2. Give the glass a few stirs so that all the carbonation doesn’t sit on the top of the cocktail.
  3. Garnish with a lime wheel, watermelon and/or cucumber ribbon!

Even though we’re only 2 WEEKS AWAY from the official start of summer, SF lags in this department (hi Karl, yes I’m talking to YOU 🙄). So…I return to one of my main mottos, fake it till you make it! Aka regardless of the weather, I’ll be pretending it’s 80 degrees, flip flops on, tropical house playing and spritz in hand from this moment forward.

Happy Sippin’ Sunday! 🍉😁🍹

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This post in partnership with SKYY Vodka

MY STYLE

SHOP MY INSTAGRAM

COCKTAIL RECIPES