I Didn't Win An Oscar, But I...

I appear before you this morning not as an Oscar winner, and I'm just as shocked as you are, believe me! A snub, que horror! But what would you even win for, I can hear you say.

Well, hmm. Correctly guessing the bad guy in every cop show, for one thing. Who cares if sometimes it's right before they decide to reveal him and roll the ending credits? Or that my secret trick really is to consider literally every person who has even a second of screen time in the episode? This is my talent! I'd also win Most Likely to Cry at the Sight of a Puppy... that is an Oscar category, yes?

No?! What do you mean Oscars are awards for the movie industry? Here I thought it was merely an excuse for anyone to get dolled up and win whatever the heck award they think appropriate. Oh well. Their loss, not mine.

So I didn't win an Oscar and it turns out I was never and will never be close. But instead, I...

// dipped my feet in the foamy ocean on a day that was blue and warm and light. I don't know how to describe it, but it felt like living in a cloud. The waves crashed raucously and drenched us hip to toe, but it was paradise walking along Ocean Beach, laughing at dogs playing fetch, and then detouring for boba afterwards.

// was woken up at 5am this morning by a homeless man screaming at the top of his lungs for thirty minutes straight. Such is the joy of city life!

// escaped "unpack to only pack" mode for the first time (okay now I'm just bragging / being annoying, but I haven't had a chance to simply lie down for like two months)... and savored having the apartment to myself for a few hours. I binged four episodes of Castle [so now you see where the previous babble was coming from], painted my nails, ruined said nails by digging for the fattest Cheetos in the bag, and moved not even a millimeter from the couch.

// ate leftover dimsum, using my diploma as a placemat. I KNOW. STOP, OKAY?!

// dented my life savings quite a bit, thanks to my absolute dependency on Lyft.

// satiated my cafe-loving heart. This one's thanks to a lovely coworker who I spent yesterday hangin' with, and who took me to Workshop Cafe in SF, the coolest shared working space cafe (you text them with drink orders and they bring it to your seat!) with to-die-for honey almond lattes.

// overordered at Hong Kong Lounge, my favorite dimsum spot in the city. Also, I waited over an hour to overorder at HK Lounge. By "overorder" I mean I think we have enough leftovers to last us till DiCaprio finally wins an Oscar. ...oh wait.

// karaoke'd in a mostly funky, slightly seedy 49ers themed room. And I begged out of the "clubbing to follow" part of the plans and instead championed for hot, sizzling pizza in the middle of the sketchy Tenderloin and then an early bedtime.

// colored in a gaping hole where the gray suede of my favorite pair of booties ripped off with a Sharpie, and refused to stop wearing said booties, wrecked and janky as they may be. 
// made my once-every-four months grocery run and stocked up real nice. It was to Trader Joe's too, which is Disneyland to me. I'm good to go until June now!
What did you do when you weren't winning an Oscar? Well, maybe you were winning an Oscar. Congrats on that too!

2

Things About Me That Only My Friends Know

Question. Do you guys have on / off modes? Ever since the college days rudely ended and the working days began, I've come to realize just how multi-faceted I can be. (And angelic and generous and hilarious and a SAINT, obviously.)

The way that I see it is that at work I am in my "on mode" – I try to be the best version of myself – positive, helpful, on top of my game. I have more energy, more corny quips, more patience. The second I get home, though? Total off mode. It's a race against myself to be in sweats, heat up some ramen, FaceTime my mom, and sloth around.

It's interesting to think about how the clusters of people I interact with the most, can think of me so differently. My coworkers see Work Caroline, you guys see Blog Caroline (adventurous! hysterical! born to be a star! a queen! ... See I know exactly what you think of me!), my family sees Baby Caroline, my roommates see Sloth Caroline, professors and TA's saw Stanford Caroline, and my closest friends see Carol. Which, by the way, is a nickname I've always loathed, but somehow they sneakily made it into a thing a few years ago and now it's hard to think of me as anything else to them. 

Who is Caroline Caroline, though? All of the above. Some days, a little more of this and a tad less of that. Other days, more 'off mode' than 'on mode.'  Often, there are crossovers: roommates and coworkers and of course bloggers* become friends, friends become family, so on and so forth. Thus, it looks to be that I'm the sum of all the different parts I've mentioned, and perhaps some that I haven't.

*if you dare.

So today, I'm doing a character study of myself, and telling you about "Carol," the Caroline that my very closest friends know and LOVE and think is extremely intelligent and charming and right no matter what.

Carol... prefers sitting in the backseat because she doesn't like the pressure of being DJ or navigator and also she's the type of person who deserves a chauffeur.

Carol's Taco Bell order... is a Doritos Locos Cheesy Gordita Crunch, fiery and she'd like to share a big cup of the strawberry Starburst slush with her partners in crime. She likes extra corn salsa at Chipotle, and actually... please take Carol to Chipotle at your earliest convenience. Never go to Chipotle without her though because she will yell at you.

Carol... can fall asleep everywhere and anywhere within seconds, dislikes cuddling (except in emergency situations) and very much values her personal space except when she hasn't seen you in awhile. Then she's a bit needy. Also, she hates the waking up part of the morning (her brain has taught her arm how to turn off over ten alarms before she processes that she's even doing so) but once she's up, she's fine. Just dandy.

Carol... has this really gross fascination with having her back cracked. She's also incompetent when it comes to doing her own hair, so when you're with her... consider yourself the official French-braider. She won't do the same for you though.

Carol's closet... contains clothes that 90% are slight variations of the same thing. Loose, slouchy gray sweaters. But they'll grow on you because you'll end up stealing them from her. Her room is exceptionally messy too so she probably won't notice for awhile.

Here's a photo of Leah with Carol:

Do you see Carol yet? She's right there to the right of Leah... kind of cylindrical looking, wearing gray as per usual. You see her? Carol's garbage that's what Carol is. (Carol's laughing at herself for this one.)

Carol... is constantly taking photos of food and you sort of just have to deal with it, but it works out for you in the end because all of your memories and breakfasts get documented with minimal effort from you.

Carol... has nary an athletic bone in her body. She's gotten hit by a groundball that came to a rolling stop from more than 200ft away. You still don't know how it ended up hitting her.

Carol... doesn't drive so you're basically resigned to taking her grocery shopping and furniture shopping and to the doctors' office for the rest of your life. But she loves walking around, especially in cities, and that's where you have some of your best conversations. 

Carol... is impressively horrible at calculating tips. In fact, she won't even glance at the receipt and will instead pass it directly to you, expecting you to figure it out for her. In time, it becomes easiest if you simply learn her signature and handle that part of it too. Cashiers find it weird and possibly illegal, but you're not in trouble yet so...

Carol... has a fear of confrontations, serious talks (she once drank a couple of glasses of wine by herself just so she could muster up the courage to talk about an argument from earlier in the day), crossing the street when the pedestrian light isn't green, pigeons, balloons, and small talk. You might have to overcompensate for her in those arenas. Thank you in advance.

Carol... has a huge potty mouth, but she's really good at covering it up when she's not with you guys.

Carol's... favorite part about going to the movies is the previews, but she refuses to look if it's for a horror film.

DISCLAIMER: I do have other friends, I swear. Not many, but they exist. And this post is totally applicable to them too.

Carol... is hands-down giddy about surprising you with small treats. Gifts are her love language. She'll pick up coffee for you or a cupcake or send you a card just because. She likes to file your favorite snacks and knick knacks away in her mind so that she can have something for you when you're having a bad week or an amazing day.

Carol... well, alone time and personal space are also her love languages. She knows they aren't officially love languages in the first place, but just know that she'll love you that much more if you let her have time to herself to watch TV or hang out in bed or read blogs. It's what gives her the energy to do life.

Carol's perfect day... includes naps, a latte, and exploring somewhere new. Thirty million bonus points if it's in another state or country. Fifty billion bonus points if it's a result of a recklessly booked flight from a spot in time she was in a rut or feeling restless.

Carol... prefers savory breakfast / brunches, but she's also more than happy to split a pastry or pancakes if you want some.

Carol... can nurse a single cup of coffee for HOURS. But some days, she'll have three cups in the span of like a morning.

Carol... can sometimes be total crap at texting back. It's just that when you send her more than three texts in a row, she gets a bit overwhelmed and needs time to process it all. Or she thinks she's replied when she actually hasn't. She's the "mark it for later" type. Just call her. She probably won't answer, but you'll be on the top of her mind when she wants to call someone up on her walk to or from work.

Carol... loves her friends fiercely and would wait in too-long Urth Caffe lines at Laguna Beach and scarf down tiramisus and take dumb photos with them any day. 
Disclaimer from Carol's friends: she is not whatsoever extremely intelligent and charming and is rarely ever right about anything. She's far from an angel, takes a LOT of convincing to leave her room, and should spend less money on lattes. She has terrible taste in music for the most part, is kind of annoying and unresponsive when she's Instagramming, and should consider going on a run or a date or two because sometimes we worry about her absolute lack of healthy habits. Frustratingly, she thinks she's the funniest one of the bunch, but ... that's not true. 

PS. Here, you can read about what my friends think I'm obsessed with.
PPS. This was too much fun for me, and I've decided I'm going to do case studies of the other versions of Caroline as well. Stay tuned, lovelies!
What would your friends say about YOU?

7

How To Survive A Road Trip With Your Friends

Four words: just don't do it.

I kid, I kid!

I fully intended for this post to be a cautionary tale: if you value your friends, don't subject yourselves to hours upon hours of being pent up in too close of quarters on the open, winding road. Someone's bound to get testy, or carsick, or hangry, and who knows how you'll take it out on each other.

But I stand corrected. Although the three of us were hesitant to embark on two back-to-back eight-hour drives, especially as they were bookended by busy work weeks, a friend in need is a friend in need. But what we didn't realize was that we needed this roadtrip just as much as she did, and perhaps even more so. Blessedly, we emerged feeling recalibrated and rejuvenated.

Here's how we did it without killing each other:

Communicate.

Not but forty minutes into our drive, I forgot that I was in charge of navigating and we missed a key exit that cost us an extra thirty minutes. Own up if you made a mistake. Communicate. Sheepish, I asked Leah – are you mad? Do you hate me?

Maybe a little, but I'll be fine in ten minutes, she replied shortly. So I shut up for about ten minutes, and then after that we were all good. I begged out of navigating from then on out though, that's for sure.

Let each other know if you're tired or need to pee even if it's inconvenient. Ask your friend to stay awake if you're feeling groggy. It's all about keeping everyone as comfortable and safe as possible!

Surprise each other.

In preparation, I suggest having everyone buy a variety of snacks and choose an assortment of entertainment separate from one another.  This way, there are surprises a'plenty. This is the way to keep toddlers happy on flights, and this is also the way to keep adults happy on roadtrips, yes sirreee. 

Every so often, ask "what are you thinking right this second?" It'll start a deep conversation in no time. This here was key for us, and sparked dialogue that had us yapping away for hours. You see, even though I see my friends often, we tend to get lost in the shuffle of every day details. This is the perfect time to hash it all out: a random funny story, revelations about the future, the worries and problems currently plaguing you. Anything and everything. Clearing your cache and whatnot. It did wonders for our souls.
Avoid starting a long roadtrip in the evening, after a long day at work. I urge you to learn from our mistakes.
Try not to continuously check your ETA. It's torture.
Download beltable tunes. Bonus points if they're oldies. Bonus bonus BROWNIE points if it's Britney Spears.
If all else fails... donuts. Duh. 
Ooh, and get this. On our way back, we were blasting that song Bright by Echosmith and not even kidding you right now, when they crooned "did you see the shooting star tonight" ... a FRICKEN shooting star tore across the night sky. I can't even make this up, you guys. Also, I missed the stupid thing and no I am not bitter, can't you tell. Whatever. I'm claiming the story as my own, too. It was a nice little nod from the universe that this road trip indeed held healing powers.
Have you ever roadtripped with friends? Any lessons learned? Did you love it or hate it?

7

Galentine's Getaway :: Seattle Favorites

I took my own advice and headed up to Seattle for the long weekend, a Galentine in tow... and it was marvelous! I saw some of my favorite people – namely, my sister and brother-in-law, plus Jordyn (and her Jordan!) AND THE CATS.

Official reasons for the Seattle trip: long weekend, and to see my sister.

Unofficial reason: Her cats. Not sorry about it, not sorry at all.

Taking you along on a recap of our lovely trip, and pointing out some new-to-us favorite Seattle eats and sights. Welllllllllll.... okay, let's be honest. Mostly, it's eats.

Dan and Sarah left us Saturday morning for a Valentine's Day quick getaway of their own to Vancouver, and so Leah and I did what we do best:

Looked up the best donuts in Seattle, realized they were but a hop and a skip away, and went a'huntin for them:

We each picked out a donut to share from Top Pot Doughnuts, and then walked over to Analog Coffee to savor them over lattes. The library-esque vibe of Top Pot was so charming, I almost parked myself there and refused to leave all day. But first, coffee and all, am I right? And seeing the sights, too, I guess.

Off to a fantastic start, if I do say so myself!

Next up.

Pike Place Market, of course!

Mostly for the photo opp to prove we were even in Seattle at all, but also I've been dying to try the salmon sashimi from one particular fish vendor... two of my friends have been raving about it since they visited Seattle last year, claiming that it's the best they've ever had.

So Leah and I made the trek through Capitol Hill, downtown, Zara, you know. The necessary route. We arrived at the market right as it started raining, but didn't let that stop us from this:

How to find the sashimi (it's not labeled anywhere, so can be a bit confusing) – enter the market through the entrance under not the main Public Market entrance, but the one to the right of it. It should be relatively close to the original Starbucks store. Go in, turn to your left, and voila!

Ask the nice fellas for their freshest salmon sashimi, and they'll hook it right up for ya.

To get our Seattle looks:

*my new North Face jacket-coat hasn't left my body since it arrived at my doorstep a few weeks ago, and now I want another one. Obsessed. 

Verdict?

So fresh, buttery, and very, very much worth the wait.

And because yes sir, I do have a hollow stomach...

We went in search for more food. Ever since my last trip to Seattle, I've been wanting to try Pike Place Chowder Company. But the line for the Post Alley location across from the market always twists and turns itself into a two-hour wait, and this weekend was no different.

In desperation, I texted my sister for life advice. What. DO WE DO??? 

I don't think she's ever seen me so worried. Perhaps back when I was applying to colleges, but same difference, I'm sure. 

She told us to head to the location in the shopping mall downtown. No wait, same taste, and bonus! You'll stay dry and warm!

Sister knows best.

The piping hot chowder was bomb. Get to it, my friends!

Finding ourselves a bit overstuffed, Leah and I walked (waddled) our way back to Capitol Hill in search of some bookstores. Very Seattle, we thought. Think of the Instagrams!

Phenomenal bookstores, we did find.

Instagrams? Not so much. We were too busy sticking our noses into all sorts of good reads.

The delightful little stacks you find above are found at this tiny hole-in-the-wall used bookstore. There were thousands of old pages stuffed into a store that size of my closet, topped off with years and years of dust. While charming, it didn't provide us with too much on the purchasable books front.

Our favorite was The Elliot Bay Book Company. Quite the selection of new bestsellers and bargain hunts alike, and it's smartly situated above the cutest Oddfellows Cafe. My recommendation's to spring for a new book or two, and settle in at the cafe when it's particularly dreary outside.

By this time, we were so full. But there was a Molly Moon's around the corner from the bookstore, and we couldn't really pass that up, could we?

Of course not.

Soon, it was time for dinner with Jordyn and Jordan! They pointed us towards Ba Bar because we all know my love for slurpable noodles. And as amazing as our spread was, thanks to Jordan's expert ordering, the company was unbeatable.

Jordyn's blog is one of the most thoughtful, well-written ones out there. With every post, I'm like, here's a girl who gets it. Her friendship is one that I cherish, and I'm beyond thrilled that we've taken it to real-life-level. She and her boyfriend are hilarious, and so much fun. AND they share macarons with me (telltale sign of true friendship)!! (Here was our first meetup in SF a couple of months ago.)

Then, exhausted, Leah and I retreated to my sister's balcony with cheap wine and an unbelievable view (see the first photo of the post). And, this:

Sunday began with a trip to the Broadway farmers' market, with an  obligatory stop at Elleno's Real Greek Yogurt.

Um, exceptional.

Then, it was to a Taco Chuki's for their house tacos. I'm running out of superlatives here, but just know that these were BEYOND. The grilled pineapples, the guac, yum yum and YUM.

Finally realizing that perhaps our food intake and physical exertion were far from being balanced, Leah and I decided to spend the rest of the morning walking: around Capitol Hill, into stores and cafes, through Volunteer Park. I love how walkable Seattle is, and delighted in the quirks and charms you can only come across on your own two legs.

Like so:

The rest of the day was spent binging on the new OJ Simpson docu-series, napping, eating candy, meeting up with my sister and Dan for ridiculously amazing Malaysian food (at Kedai Makan... feels like you're in someone's living room, and the food is to die for), and hanging out with this cool cat and his brother:

Monday, so gloriously free of work, was booked up with casual shopping downtown, with a quick lunch detour to Ballard for more slurpable noodles, a peek and some more slurping going down at Taylor's Shellfish Oyster Bar (it was Leah's first time eating oysters!), catching up with my big sis, grabbing coffee at Starbucks Reserve...

... and the most incredible meal of our entire trip at Spinasse.

Going out to eat with my sister is half THE ABSOLUTE BEST and half OMFG. PAIN. because she has this tendency to order abooooout eight dishes too many. But it's the best kind of pain.

We had plate after plate of the most scrumptious food. Highlights included a pork belly beet salad (yes, *salad*), little Italian crepes, extremely tender beef cheeks, and the pasta.

Oh boy, the pasta. You can see them handmaking all the pasta over in the kitchen (it was another one of those restaurants that felt like you were over in someone's home) and the flavor was out of this world. My sister ordered one of every pasta (um, can you tell we're related) and the absolute, absoulte highlight was the tajarin. Thinner than angel's hair, and delicately soaked with a light butter and sage sauce, it's eyes-rolling-in-the-back-of-your-head unreal. Hands down the best meal in Seattle. 

Thanks to my two cool cats for hosting us (and the humans weren't so terrible either), Leah for coming with on this adventure, and you all for making it through this gluttonous post!

Next I'm learning how to take photos of something other than food. Stay tuned. I'll test it out while in LA this weekend, if I make it out of the seven hour drive alive. I'll let you know how that goes!

Do you have any favorite eats in Seattle (or, okay fine, activities)? TELL ME, because I'm already itching to book my next visit!

7

How I Survive The February Blues

Winters are rough, trust me I get it. I know all about it, what with temperatures teetering close to the low eighties here in California and breezy afternoons reminiscent of late spring and having to open up our windows at night lest we start sweating.
How badly do you want to slap me?
I'm SORRY. But again, all of you have an open invitation to come stay on my couch and experience this wildly mild winter for yourselves. I'll bring the ice cream, you get us some iced Cokes and a romcom. 

Okay, but hang on.

Even though it doesn't feel like winter 'round these parts per se, we still go through bouts of the February blues. This time of year simply isn't as hopeful as January or as delightful as the spring or as carefree as the summer or festive and cozy like around the holidays. It was the little month that ... couldn't.

My coping mechanisms?

Well, I'm glad you asked!

I try to make sure that I have a work-from-home day every now and then. This is when I schedule apartment maintenance, big deliveries, errands that've been on the To Do list for much too long, and

ROOMMATE BREAKFASTS. 

Because the weekend brunch scene in SF can be infuriatingly crazy, and because I'm still dying to try all the SF restaurants that I've read rave reviews about, my roommate Susan's and my solution has been this: aim for weekday breakfasts when we both have the day "off," and drag along any other (somewhat) willing roommates.

So far, we've tried Plow and Brenda's. Last week, we beelined for Mama's on Washington Square. Though we arrived a whole forty minutes before opening, the line already snaked halfway down the block!

Our favorites: the carrot cake, the famous Mama's Monte Cristo, and the breakfast sandwich. Outrageously good, and it made me positively chipper for the rest of my day answering emails.

Other go-to ways of dealing with the "blahs" of February:

Carbs.

Sugar.

Weekend getaways. I spent the long weekend in Seattle (more about that soon!) and this next one will be in Los Angeles.

Snuggle sessions with the cutest cats.

Retail therapy. February goal: un-memorize my credit card number.

Sprucing up my room. 

"Burrowing."

It's what I call holing up in bed and savoring the nothingness.

Filling the void that fall TV has left, with cheesy, soapy Chinese TV dramas and other finds such as Chelsea Does, You Me & The Apocalypse, and that new OJ Simpson docu-series.

Slurpable noodles.

Caffeine.

It's what's keeping me alive and barely thriving.

Daydreaming about upcoming travel plans. 

Friday night FaceTime dates when we all curl up on someone's bed and go about our evening with long distance friends present as well.

CANDY.

CARBS.

Repeating my mantra "at least I don't have to shave my legs" over and over and over again.

Grooming myself.

Well, not really, but I went and had my eyebrows threaded for the first time in months last weekend and emerged a whole new person, ready to conquer the world.

Buying booties. Being bootylicious. Nabbing Beyonce tickets.

Hoarding Girl Scout cookies. 

Tuesday nights. Tuesday nights are my sacred nights: I order in a favorite takeout, wait for Pretty Little Liars to come on, and proceed to decline each and every one (so, one) of the queued up Facebook invitations for happy hours and cool SF events and whatnot.
Ain't nobody got time for that on a PLL night.
Fluffy robes and slippers, appreciating the snow from afar (on this side of Snapchat), and browsing bikinis under the security blanket of knowing that's something for summer me to deal with.
Winter's not so terrible, eh?

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