Giants = my first love.

So if you know me, you probably know that I am an absolutely huge, undying San Francisco Giants fan. I have been raised in an avid baseball family (my mom was 8 months pregnant with me when my dad took her and my older brother to the 1989 A's/Giants World Series game when the Loma Prieta earthquake happen! They had just reached the top of a ridiculously long escalator when the ground started rumbling) and have had it in my blood all my life. Baseball is by far my favorite sport to watch on TV, and I will pretty much watch any game that's on, even if it's not a Giants game!

In the fourth grade, I took as my elective class a class about fantasy baseball. I don't think my team did all too well, but I sure as heck learned how to read box scores!

So you're probably wondering what I wear when I'm going to game. Well, here goes!

I've got my Giants jersey, my hat, (a sweatshirt on the ground) and best of all...

My baseball Keds! I hunted these babies down on Ebay earlier this summer... As soon as I found out they existed (they're from some time in the early 90s), I knew I had to have them! I was lucky to have found them in my perfect size so easily! These shoes are now reserved only for baseball games.

Luckily for me, I got the opportunity to go to lots of games as a kid at both Candlestick Park and AT&T Park. Now I typically make it to about one game a year when I'm home for a visit during the summer. I need to move back to somewhere with a baseball team!

OotD! For a nice dinner out!

Get ready for a picture-heavy post, readers!

The main purpose of my quick trip home to California at the end of August was to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday. Because my dad's birthday falls right around the start of school for me every day, I haven't been there in the past few years at all. So I was glad when I was able to make the quick trip home for a long weekend to be there for it!

On his actual birthday, before my redeye back to the east coast, we went out for a very nice dinner at the Moss Beach Distillery. Here's what I wore:

Dress AE; Cardigan, Shoes UO; Scarf H&M

I brought this outfit back with my (I flew carry-on only, a big accomplishment for me!) because it had easy pieces that wouldn't get crushed or wrinkled in my bag. I love the bold, saturated colors the dress and the cardigan have, and this scarf that I picked up while I was abroad in Austria from H&M adds the perfect touch!

All in all we had a lovely dinner with a beautiful view:

I had the sea bass for dinner, which unfortunately didn't taste as good as it should have for its cost. But it looked nice!

My brother had the salmon, which I immediately kicked myself for not ordering!

But overall, the outcome of the dinner was a lovely time spent with good discussion with close loved ones. Happy birthday, Dad! To many more to come!

The Story of Two Egglings.

The Story of Two Egglings: Part One

There once were two Egglings, lovingly purchased by one blog writer, myself. They made their arrival a couple of weeks ago, and boy was I happy to see them! I'd wanted to start a little Eggling garden for a while, and now finally had my chance. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Egglings, they are little egg-shaped ceramic growing containers. They arrive whole (see above), and then you tap the top with a spoon to break it open, where soil and seeds (flowers, herbs, etc.) lie within. Then water, provide sunshine, and wait!

The two Egglings (one basil, one mint) were promptly set up and watered, and then set side-by-side in the windowsill in my kitchen. I started to wait anxiously; I have never been known to have a particularly bright shade of green on either of my thumbs.

Then it came time to wait. The suspense was killing me from the start. Would the little egglings sprout? Would I be soon on my way to having fresh, homegrown basil and mint?

Stay tuned to find out!

Of A Revolution

For those of you who do not know me very well, my favorite band is a certain band named O.A.R. (aka Of A Revolution).

My freshman-year roommate introduced me to them soon after we met, and I literally listened to them non-stop for the entire duration of the year. (I tend to do that with new bands I discover that I really like, although I'm fairly certain no one has beaten O.A.R.'s record of consecutive listenings) This band definitely has a giant lead in number of plays if you were to look at my iTunes, and I have no shame about that. They also are the owners of my favorite song of all time (if you wondering, it's "Hey Girl"--see the video at the end of this post).

So, this past Thursday (August 11th), I had the amazing pleasure of getting to see them live. They played the opening night of the Lake Champlain Vermont Maritime Festival, which is located right on the water:

Anyway, this was the best (and granted, the only) concert I've seen in a very long time. I have had the privilege of having seen O.A.R. live four times now, all over the place: twice in Burlington, once in Norfolk, VA, and once in Maryland (where they come from). So let me tell you, previously the best concert of theirs I had seen was the MD one, because it was in their home town! Of course they're going to rock it extra hard. But let me tell you, Thursday's concert was AWESOME. As in, super, super amazing. So good! I cannot gush enough. They played the two songs I'd wanted them to play so desperately, so what more could I ask for? Not much, really.

But honestly, I gotta say, if you ever get the chance to see them, do it! They're really good live, not at all a band that needs all the help a studio can provide to sound good. Their music is so feel-good, so easy to sing to, so amazing. Please check them out if you haven't already!

And I'll leave ya with a video I took of part of "Hey Girl" -- so good!

--Laura