Have You Heard? // Lewis Del Mar - "Loud"

I keep forgetting about this song, and as soon as it starts playing... I'm like, "Yes! This one!"

So, so good. Ugh, just so good.



I'm excited to hear more of his music!- he's a bit unknown for me!

What have you been listening to?

Any fun plans this weekend?!

Other Posts This Week: The Evolution of KC's Man Bun ( :P ), and Snapshots of San Francisco // Piers, Margaritas, and Sea Lions.

Happy Friday!

Alexandra

Snapshots of San Francisco // Piers, Margaritas, and Sea Lions

Happy Wednesday friends! I hope that you are surviving if not enjoying summer! :) 

Back in April, KC and I went to San Francisco for business and also vacation. During the conference we stayed in the city and did fun things in the evenings, and on other days we explored even more. Today I'm sharing some of the pier areas, and some of the downtown restaurants we ate at. Stay tuned for more, we did a lot! :)

This is food heavy since it has so much "conference day" food in it! haha

Eat: We ate at a diner, but all of the photos came out blurry. It was ok. Pretty standard food. But very close to where we were staying. We ate at a Mexican place called Colibri Mexican Bistro, which was also near to where we were staying. It seemed kind of "fancy" but... not really in a good way. A lot of the food didn't sound great, and it was kind of overpriced. The little chicken tacos were great, and margaritas are always good. ;) Here the margaritas are strong, served in a short cocktail glass, and $12. Jesus Cristo! The Mexican molten cake was right up KC's alley and pretty good. We took our time there, but it wasn't my favorite meal. I did like the traditional decor though. We also went to Zero Zero. A pizza/Italian place somewhat close to where we were staying. They had a really cool bar scene. It seemed to think it was pretty cool by using 00 grade olive oil... which really doesn't matter to me. Anyhow, the cocktail menu was really fun. KC got a good one! We also tried the Margherita pizza - which is our fave and was really good. Soft Serve seems to be an "in" thing in SF. So we tried some with a molten-y brownie after our pizza. We shared all of those things. Thank goodness. :) My favorite place for eating during these days was The Ferry Building. It is like a big open market with food stalls and vendors. There were shops and restaurants too. We had cookies and milk at the cookie bar at Cow Girl Creamery and they were GREAT. We also had coffee. :) 

See: Hyde Pier. There was an adorable group of swimmers who were mostly 60+ a bunch of men in speedos, and one lady with a surfing top. They were swimming laps out in the bay. Holy cow that must have been freezing! They were so cute, and vibrant. Hyde Pier is also neat you can see the old ships and various parts of ships. There are museums and gift shops. The wind makes it pretty cold over there. If you want to see the Sea Lions you have to head to Pier 39 - which is a trek away. It is very touristy (shopping, kid stuff, arcades...etc.) but also has sea lions. If you can't figure out where they are just follow the smell. They are very very very stinky. You can hear people in all languages saying "stinks" or "smells" it was too funny. Though they are fun to watch. They are like large sea dogs. Clearly I was excited as evidenced by above picture. We took the cable car out to the piers.

Shop: We didn't shop a lot here, but The Ferry Building had some lovely market-y / boutique stall shopping. We got postcards here, there is also a bookstore. :) If you like touristy shopping Pier 39 has that and Hyde Pier is near to the Ghiradelli store. 

Do: See the sea lions, the swimming club, the old ships, the cable cars, the ferry building and the pretty views of Alcatraz/The bridge from the water. :)

Favorites: The Ferry Building and the cute elderly people at the swimming club. Also the sea lions!! :)

New Experiences: Seeing that swimming club (you guys it's just adorable)! Seeing sea lions up close (not in captivity), ordering soft serve from a sit down restaurant.

Random Tip: We did The MUNI passes in SF. We purchased them at a Wallgreens near our hotel. They were $40 each with unlimited (bus, cable car, trolley, etc.) rides for 7 days. No one ever checked them, but it was cheaper than paying each time. After all the cable car is $6 each way!

Anybody else think elderly people are the cutest? I hope I am that cool when I am 60+.

Have you ever smelled sea lions? LOL

Anybody else love markets and market shopping?!

Upcoming California Posts: Japanese Tea Garden and The DeYoung, Japan Town & The Beats, Conservatory of Flowers & Mission, Stanford & Google, and Pacific Coast Highway! 

Happy Travels!

Alexandra

The Evolution of KC's Man Bun // Just for funzies

I wanted to start by saying that I don't particularly blog about KC frequently. Sure I mention him, I wish him happy birthday, show photos that include him from trips. But I don't blog about our relationship a lot. 1) maybe I should, because we're pretty good at it, I've thought of doing date night posts... (takers?) 2) I love this man more than you love oxygen. He's my best friend. And well, we get kind of mushy and disgusting. So, I try to spare you all. ;) On we go....

Why A Man Bun?

Well, about a year ago KC stopped cutting his hair. At first, I don't think he had a plan to grow it out, so much as he didn't schedule a haircut....

One night I had a random dream that he had a man bun, and it was "kinda hot". Upon hearing this he must have decided he was going to grow it out.

This is a long arduous process, certainly not for the faint of heart (or for MIL's who detest long hair ;) hehe).

Over the (almost) year his hair has taken on many "looks" during the various phases of growing it out, which I will now compare to figures from pop culture.

His last hair cut:

To give you an idea, this is the length/style that KC was rocking for about he first 8 years I've known him:

This photo was taken when we were in Florida last (late) July. It was for a family wedding... and so he had just gotten it cut.

Getting Longer:

Next he was kind of rocking an emo-kid and/or season 4 Dean (GG) kind of look. Long and kind of unruly, but still not that long. KC's hair is very straight though, and doesn't tend to get as bushy as season 4 Dean's hair. Also, clearly at Target in the left picture, no he didn't buy the shirt. ;'(

Not my favorite Dean haircut. But also not the worst. Poor Dean...

It's also a little like these. Shaggy, shaggy, shaggy. I like to call this "long unruly prince" hair.

Getting Annoyingly Long:

Eventually that was getting kind of annoyingly long and in his face, so he started doing one of two things:

1)  putting in a small clip to get the front out of his face, eventually looking kind of faux-hawkish. But on a smaller scale.

Or 2) putting on a hat...

Which was Ok... not my favorite look. Kind of reminds me of this:

Why are they all making hand gestures?!

But with sportier less ridiculous hats... I guess it worked in the sense that it was easy for him to keep hair out of his face and not have to mess with mini man buns yet, because this was as close as he could get: 

Mini Man Buns:

Then he was able to put his hair back into a mini man bun. It sort of depended on the day / what process he used how well it would stay back. His hair is really straight, so it didn't really like to stay back all day. It would fall out, and so KC would often put a hat on midway through the day.

As you can see, depending on the day it might be right on top of his head or a little further back. But the sides of his hair weren't long enough to pull it back more. How cute is that Christmas pic?! Just dying over here. Babies and kids of all kinds flock to KC because he's fun and cuddly. During this phase he kind of had warrior hair ala Li Shang from Mulan... but less floppy.

Finally Long Enough: 

Now his hair is pretty much long enough to put all of it back. Depending on the day his hair can look like: 

1) Longer half man bun. Pretty much the same as above, but longer....

 reminding me more of this:

Conversation the other day:

Me: Ah, going with the half man bun today? 

KC: Yeah, it's mostly in honor of Jon Snow. Partly the guy from Mulan though...

Me: LOL - fair.

2) full Man Bun, rejoice friends, it's long enough now! :P

So, getting pretty close to this:

Chris Hemsworth's won't stay all the way back either. hehe

3) what I like to call the "Ben Franklin" - he ran out of contacts and had some wispy vacation hair with his glasses on.

eh? - minus the receding hair line...

but perhaps this is a nicer comparison. Somewhere between Ben Franklin, and these:

4) the hat goes back on.... nooo! hehe LOL

no photo needed...

5) what I like to call "Disney Prince" hair. Which these are not the best example of, best example happens at very end of day - ya'll don't get to see him then! :P

See? 

Secret: I had a HUGE crush on John Smith as a kid. Still do?

It's also a little like this:

But I'm really glad he isn't gelling it back like b. coop's. Or like Jared's when he's wearing a hat like this:

Prince hair kinda makes me feel like this:

I digress.

What's Next?

Well who knows, maybe he's going for that longer celebrity man bun? 

Maybe he's going for something like this? :

Bottom Line:

I'm happy that he is taking an interest in his hair, and that he's doing what he likes with it. He may cut it, he may keep growing it. Who really knows? Perhaps not even him yet. Either way, he's my fella and I love him no matter what. While I swoon over prince hair, some days I miss the half man bun, and other days I even miss the silly hat. It's all good.

As long as we don't get anywhere close to these:

LOL.

It should be known that this is all written in love, good humor, and with KC's A-OK. ;) 

After all... this is me and my hair, on the daily:

Do you have thoughts on man buns, braids, hair, any of these characters, or life in general?

XO,

Alexandra

Have You Heard? // Broods - "Free"

Broods is one of my current favorite bands. The catchy and dreamy alt-pop with brother-sister vocals is so on point. I love to listen to their stuff. They are playing at Chipotle's Cultivate Festival this weekend in KC and it's free... and it's going to be hotter than blazes so I think we aren't going to go! :/

We were lucky to see them in concert last March, and they were SO good. Now they've come out with their second album, Conscious.

Here's the first single, "Free". Very cool. I've still only heard it a few times, but goodness can Georgia sing!?!?!



I just downloaded the album as well and have listened to it a few times, it was GREAT road trip music when we drove to and from Nashville - so upbeat! I love what I'm hearing. There is even a song featuring Lorde, and another featuring Tov Lo.

What do you think of it?

Other Posts This Week: Snapshots of the Road Home from Houston & My (first) Erin Condren Life Planner - 6 Month Review.

What have you guys been listening to?!

Any fun plans this weekend?!

Happy Friday!

Alexandra

*Oh and if you made it to the bottom, just a head's up on Monday... I'm going to be posting about KC's manbun. It's a really silly post, but I hope you guys enjoy it! :P *

Snapshots of the Road Home from Houston, TX // February 2016

Happy Wednesday friends! It's time to finish up Houston posts so we can all move along with our lives. ;) 

Sometimes on a road trip KC and I get really into "getting home as quickly as possible"... however, I find that stopping to do and see fun things as well as eat at exciting places actually makes the drive more bearable. On our way home from Houston we stopped just a few times, but enjoyed it quite a bit. Here's what we saw. :) 

Eat: LSA Burger Co. in Denton was really good. It was a fun stop, they have a covered patio on the roof, which was really fun to see the city and to eat al fresco. I LOOOOVED the veggie burger. If you guys like them too, give it a try! KC's non-veggie burger was also good.. as were the fries. It's the kind of place that plays music videos as well - which was fun! I loved seeing things from the '90's and early '00's as well as the current videos. I would recommend this place for a great lunch or dinner spot! I mean... they had a Dixie Chicks poster in the bathroom. That's fun. ;) 

See & Shop: The Sam Houston Statue and Visitor's Center off the highway. In Denton: The city downtown is built on a square. Along the square are lots of little shops and restaurants. We of course had to stop at the comic/game store. It was really cool, they had tons of stuff. I got an iZombie comic and we enjoyed looking at the games, etc. I am sure there were other neat places, it was a really cool area! ... but it was just a quick stop for us! So we didn't explore too much.

Favorites: Veggie burgers! :) 

New Experiences: Rooftop dining, visiting Denton, TX.

Anybody else love music videos or veggie burgers?

Am I the only one who likes pulling off the road for oversized attractions or quirky places?

More Posts From This Trip: Snapshots of Galveston, Snapshots of Houston Day 1 & Day 2.

We also visited Texas (Ft. Worth, Austin, Corpus Christi, Kyle, and San Antonio) in 2012. And in 2013 we visited Garland and Amarillo. But we've never been to "East Texis" - as Sheldon Cooper would say. So we had lots of fun exploring this area! A mini gulf trip!

Happy Travels!

Alexandra