A Week In San Francisco

(Etsy)

Ahhh San Francisco!  Such a fun city.  Seeing as how Billy is living there for 6 months, I've had the opportunity to visit several times over the past few months.  Including a full 10 days last month - and let me tell ya, we pretty much checked off every single touristy activity possible!  My trip coincided with my sister and her husband being out there for a show he was filming, so I spent a few days with them too.

Day 1: Rossi day!

The first touristy day was spent with just my brother-in-law Rossi. Billy was in training and Kacey was still performing in "Ring Of Fire" Up in Sonora, CA.  After a delicious meal at The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen down by the Giants Stadium (yuuuuummmmy grilled cheese sandwiches and roasted tomato soup), we ran around Fisherman's Wharf pressing pennies and wine tasting at my favorite wharf tasting spot Wines Of California Wine Bar.  We ended the day with drinks and food at Paragon, a restaurant back by the stadium that has an awesome porch, atmosphere, and American brasserie-style food.

Day 2: Alcatraz, Chinatown, Lombard St, Oh My!

When Kacey finally met us, she was ready for some serious sight seeing.  None of us had ever been to Alcatraz, so we took the 10:30 am ferry over to the rock.  The tour was fantastic! And the day couldn't have been prettier - gorgeous views of San Fran...

Then it was dim sum for lunch at Great Eastern Restaurant (I mean, the President has been there...you have to go.) in Chinatown.  We walked off our meal by visiting some little trinket shops looking for porcelain chopsticks...surprisingly hard to find.  

We finished up the day by driving down Lombard Street (really amazing to think of the people who live off of this street! Crazy!), relaxing with old fashioned drinks at The Rickhouse, and watching Kacey open her birthday present from me and Kara...

I highly recommend all the above mentioned spots - great atmospheres, great food, all over the city...you can really get a taste of San Fran!

xo,

k

La La Land, Here we come - oh and Lasagna!

Today, the man and I are headed to Los Angeles!  Back to the place we met and fell in love :>) haha!

So young!

It will be nice to be back in California for a few days, though.  Considering it's 19 degrees in Nashville and mid 70's in L.A.......it will be really nice!  I'm especially excited to FINALLY get to see my sistah's new apartment!

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Yes, please!  Ahhhhhh Venice beach - hard to believe this used to be our front yard.  Why did we move away, again?  

 It's going to be a busy weekend...tonight as soon as we land, I'm running to a girls dinner while Billy hangs with the boys.

I'm sure there will be NONE of THAT going on ;>)

Tomorrow we have all sorts of wedding "stuff" to do with my dear friend Ali, who is getting married in July!  Tomorrow night is the engagement party we are hosting for her and her groom-to-be.   Sunday will be breakfast with Billy's parents who are also in L.A. for the weekend, then taking Billy to the airport (work just gets in the way of these things :<().  Then I'm spending the rest of the week with Kacey doing all sorts of California things I never get to do anymore...

Anyhoo, I thought I would post a delicious lasagna recipe I made Monday night that we ate ALL week (it makes A LOT).

Enjoy :>)

Chicken and Arugula Lasagna

1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 lb of ground white meat chicken

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

1 garlic clove - chopped

1 tbsp dried basil

2 eggs

2 15 oz containers part-skim ricotta

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

handful of shredded mozzarella cheese

4 cups prepared Marinara sauce

12 cooked lasagna noodles

1 bag baby arugula, steamed and drained

1.) Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.  Heat the oil in a large skillet over med-hi heat. Season the ground chicken with the red pepper flakes and salt and pepper.  Add chicken and garlic to skillet and cook until done.  Remove from heat and set aside.

2.)  Combine the basil, eggs, ricotta, and Parmesan in a large bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.

3.)  Mist a 13x9 inch baking dish with cooking spray.  Spread 1/2 cup of marinara on the bottom of dish.  Arrange 4 cooked noodles over the sauce and top with half the ricotta mixture, half the chicken mixture, and half of the arugula; top with 1 cup of marinara.  Repeat layers ending with noodles and remaining marinara.  

4.) Sprinkle a handful of mozzarella cheese and some Parmesan on top.

5.) Cover and bake 45 minutes.  Let lasagna stand for 10 minutes before serving.

It is really light and fresh tasting!  I made my own marinara over the weekend for pizza and chicken Parmesan, so I just used that for this dish.  But any marinara would work!  I also sprinkled a little garlic salt on each layer - because I really love me some garlic salt :>)

xo,

k

Whirlwind Wedding Weekend Number One!

Billy and I just got back from 2 whirlwind weekends in San Francisco.  I Love San Fran.  It is such a beautiful city...so much culture, art, busy people, beautiful buildings, shopping!

Two couple friends of ours got married - the first was friends from college, the second friends from Vanderbilt Business School.

Two completely different groups of friends and two completely different weekends!

We flew into Oakland and Billy's father and brother picked us up from the airport.  It was so nice to get to spend so much extra time with B's family while we were there for the weddings!  The Leiva's are gutting the downstairs of their house right now (it's down to the studs!), so we stayed at a hotel near their house on Thursday.

Welcome to the Sofitel San Francisco!

AMAZING hotel. It was absolutely stunning, and a BIG THANK YOU to my amazing in-laws for putting us up in such a swank-ified place! We are so blessed.

They even upgraded us to a suite!  I got these pics from the Sofitel website (silly me was too busy gawking to take pictures), and I'm pretty sure the following is the actual room we stayed in:

And the living area:

I never wanted to leave!  The bed was one of the most comfortable beds we've ever slept in.   We're seriously considering one of those feather bed tops for ours at home now :>)

The gorgeous, modern lobby:

(above images here)

It's so funny - I would never go modern/contemporary in our house (well I guess I should never say never), but I love hotels and restaurants that are designed like this.

The blues and greens are so relaxing.  I loved the patterned carpets and the over sized hanging pendants above each seating area.  

The next morning was great - a big breakfast at the local bakery (pumpkin coffee cake included!) and plenty of time to sit and talk with Billy's family.  

Then it was off to the big city!  Here was my first stop:

WOOT WOOT!!!  I have been planning my entire fall clothing budget on this San Fran trip!  Tiny as it is.

But that's why I wanted to spend it where I'd get the most bang for my buck.   Nashville doesn't have very many options when it comes to shopping...especially budget shopping! 

H&M didn't disappoint...I got the few pieces I really wanted for this fall - even Billy found a couple things to pick up!

Shopping in San Fran, however, is exhausting.  There are so many people - it's unbelievable!  You literally have to fight your way through the racks and the dressing room.

Needless to say, as soon as we were done, we headed straight to our hotel bar for a glass of "decompression" wine :>)   And it was delicious.

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Then it was off to the rehearsal dinner "after party" at Limon.

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Saturday was Wedding Day!  Lydia and Tommy looked amazing, and their wedding was beautiful. 

The ceremony and reception were both at The California Golf Club:

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Stunning, right?

And the even more stunning couple:

Wedding Number Two to come :>)

xo,

Amanda and Brian Tied the Knot! Finally :>)

Billy and I spent last weekend in Sandusky, Ohio for the 

BEAUTIFUL WEDDING 

of our dear friends Amanda and Brian (now) Tolbert!

After many lunches, cocktails, and dinners (a years worth!) talking about this wedding, it was so much fun to finally see it come to fruition!  The wedding was absolutely beautiful, the weather perfect, and the couple so in love :>)

Raleigh Anne and I trying to steal our wedding gift back!  We can't take credit...Amanda had been wanting these for awhile....

Toasting flutes!  Really amazing toasting flutes....kinda wish I had them!

The centerpieces were stunning.  Tall glass cylinders filled with water, topped with Hydrangeas, Roses, and lovely circular wreaths!  And candles.  You know I love me some candles.

Stealing Brian's champagne...naturally!

First dance...

The other newlyweds!!

Oh Billy in a tux!  He's such a good groomsman!

The whole Nashville crew - obvi we were the classiest and most mature table.  cough. cough.

Amanda and Billy in all his suspender glory!

The gorgeous bride and her equally gorgeous mama

Um yeah.  I have no words.

I think we have about 200 pictures of us looking just like this!

This one cracks me up!

My gals :>)

It was such a fun weekend!  

And the October wedding ridiculous-ness begins!  One down, Two more to go!

San Francisco, here we come.

xo,