Have a very Merry Christmas!

I can't believe how quickly this weekend snuck up on me! Tomorrow Cam and I are having our Christmas together (which means that tonight is Christmas Eve, and I can't wait to watch Love Actually :), which will include opening presents and brunching at Foreign Cinema. We're also having dinner with my friend Katherine and her boyfriend, who are visiting from Manhattan, so it should be a pretty awesome day. Sunday it's Houston for me and New Jersey for him so that we can both spend Christmas day with our families, then I'm joining him on the East Coast on December 26th. I'm not expecting to blog while I'm away, so I'll leave you with some fun links and I'll be back in SF just in time to ring in 2014. I wish everyone a joyful, peaceful, and relaxing Christmas with your loved ones, and thanks so much for reading in 2013:).

I'm not married, but I think this funny, honest article is relatable for most close relationships.

My friend Frank's article went viral this week and he ended up on the Huffington Post! Pretty exciting for his website, and these grilled cheese sandwiches look amazing.

A funny gift guide for residents of various San Francisco neighborhoods. Once again, the Marina and the Mission are the butt of the joke.

It's probably just because I taught Hamlet to 12th graders, but I loved this.

Cute video: sympathy vs. empathy, as depicted by cartoon characters.

I disagree with some of what the author has to say, but this is still an interesting read: Let's Ban Weddings and, While We're at It, Baby Showers Too. (Isn't everyone voicing their opinions on marriage and weddings these days?)

Ugh, I just love Humans of New York. Good call, Time.

Guess I was reading a lot of the New York Times this week. A Formula for Happiness.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Our Christmas party

I have discovered a somewhat counterintuitive solution to productivity in the household: hosting parties. Cam and I had been dragging our feet when it came to decorating our apartment -- everything is expensive, the store's location is inconvenient, etc., etc. When we decided to host a Christmas party, I knew it would be a kick in the butt to finally get things done, and I was right. We bought frames and spent the morning creating our "travel photo wall," and purchased Christmas lights and decorations to make the party festive. I cleaned so thoroughly that our apartment looked almost uncomfortably "adult," but that was soon changed when a beer pong tournament overtook the party.

Aside from feeling happy about the look and decor of the apartment, the party was a huge hit! It was one of those nights where everyone was just 'on' -- I loved watching high school friends mingle with Yelp and San Francisco friends, and everyone got along beautifully and sang along to hits from the nineties (Cam's friend John's Spotify playlist brought everyone together perfectly!).

Yesterday Cam and I saw a friend perform in the Velveteen Rabbit, and we're looking forward to celebrating our Christmas this  upcoming Saturday. All in all, I am loving this holiday season and feel that it's a perfect wind-down to what has been a pretty amazing year. Here are some pictures from the party, enjoy!

 These took two minutes to put together and looked so festive and pretty. (Also, everyone made fun of me for having oreos out but they're Jo Jo's from Trader Joe's! Aka the best Christmas cookies ever besides homemade.)

Christmas garland and some cool shades purchased by Mark and Cam

Massive paper chain and a beautiful wreath that my mom sent us.

Have a festive weekend

I am so excited for this weekend! Tomorrow Cam and I are going to run some apartment-related errands in order to get our place looking nice for our house warming/Christmas party Saturday night. Hopefully it will look decent enough to share some photos of the party next week. Here are a few links, and have a wonderful weekend!

Photos that are uniquely 2013.

I bought these boots from Anthropologie in both colors and have worn them every day. So easy and I love how the heel is low enough to walk everywhere in, and high enough to dress up an outfit.

I love this idea: a French cafe charges extra for rudeness.

Is Instagram altering our memories?

Watch this for warm holiday fuzzies.

The three girls in front were just asking for their friend's hilarious reaction by requesting that this photo even be taken.

Ok, I posted this link on Facebook and I want to reiterate here again how fascinating this New York Times piece, Invisible Children, is. Working at a high school in New Orleans was my first real exposure to families living off of food stamps and welfare, and it took me a while to understand how cyclical and systemic poverty is. Times writer Andrea Elliott does an excellent job of showing that, while the parents in the story make very questionable choices regarding money and budget, they were also born into poverty and were never taught some of the absolutely crucial life lessons that we take for granted, like family planning and budgeting. I think that EVERYONE should read this piece in order to see that throwing money at poverty isn't the solution, and that there is still so much work to be done.

Lastly, I love Cup of Jo's Holiday Gift Guide. It is so thoughtful and she has some very unique finds for just about everyone you would need to buy a gift for.

(Photo is from my date with Olivia Monday night...we went to the Fairmont Hotel to see the life size Gingerbread house, and then saw the movie Frozen, which was adorable.)

A very Etsy Christmas: Bookworm edition

For my 'very Etsy Christmas' post today, I wanted to share fun gifts for book lovers (as Cam pointed out, these are not very sly wish lists for me, but isn't it easiest to pick gifts that you know you would love to receive yourself?).

I'm thinking about getting this print for our friend and temporary roommate, Mark, who loves Virginia Woolf and who recently gave us a copy of To the Lighthouse as a housewarming gift.

I've said before that if I ever got a tattoo, I would strongly consider getting 9 3/4 from Harry Potter. I love that this print is only whimsical and magical to those who have read the books; kind of like an allegiance of dreamers and the  young-at-heart.

Pretty bookends.

Cool iPhone case, and it's only $7! Great stocking stuffer.

Vintage books are an inexpensive, interesting way to class up an apartment.

I've held off on buying a Kindle because there are so many local bookshops both in San Francisco and Tahoe that I love and want to continue supporting. That being said, if any of the readers in your life prefer the tablet, this is a beautiful case.

A very Etsy Christmas: Travelers' edition

Last week I mentioned how much fun I've been having searching for Christmas presents on Etsy. As someone who is about to become a full-time student again, I wish I had the creative talent to have my own Etsy store to make some dough (and relieve some stress) on the side. Since I do not, but can definitely appreciate a business that involves doing what you love and making a profit, I thought it would be cool to support these artists and craftspeople as much as possible while purchasing Christmas gifts for my family and friends. There are some incredibly cool and unique items and I wanted to share some of my findings here.

The theme of today's post is gifts for the traveler(s) in your life, and here are some of my favorite finds:

Cute set of greeting cards for friends/family/significant others far away. 

I love the quote, "Oh darling, let's be adventurers"...it's romantic and exciting, and so is Christmas. Find this journal here.

I love this floppy hat. It might be difficult to pack, but it would look so perfect while walking around Paris (or San Francisco! :).

This beautiful, hand-made leather bag would be perfect for weekend getaways.

And to go with your beautiful new weekend bag...an adorable luggage tag.

This underwear bag is brilliant! Hasn't everyone wished for something like this on long vacations?

I don't know if it would be good for my patience or my wallet to have this calendar in my apartment.

I just ordered this for our apartment and I love, love it. Maps and globes are always great gifts for wanderlusters.

Happy shopping! I'll have a few more categories throughout the next week.

Have a cheerful weekend

Last night Cam and I had an awesome date night at Range and Elbo Room in the Mission. We also had drinks before at The Hideout, a speakeasy within a bar. While there, we bought raffle tickets to support Mariposa Kids and I won something for the first time ever! I'm looking forward to a double date tonight with our friends Ellen and David, and Olivia's Christmas party tomorrow. Have a wonderful weekend, and here are a few links from around the web.

Cam and I are deciding between this bedspread and this one...please weigh in!!

I laughed out loud several time at this kid's parent-annotated Christmas list.
And you deserve it, kid, because I love you and would do anything for you except hand you a thousand bucks cash, the power to control all existing matter, and an iPhone to boot. But take heart: There's a glowing crabcake waiting for you in your stocking. Merry Christmas!

I want this so badly! But seriously, please don't buy it cause there's only one and I need it. I'm going to be posting some Christmas gift ideas next week, and they're all coming from Etsy!

Have you guys gotten your tickets to Le Diner in San Francisco? It's an all-white pop-up dinner party at a secret location, and I want to go SO badly. Too bad it's the day after Cam's birthday and he's holding some kind of birthday weekend claim. -____-

I can't even handle The Sound of Music Live (I'm watching it now). Carrie Underwood as Maria is a travesty! Apparently the original Liesl and Gretl agree with me, though a little less emphatically...

There is so much cuteness in this video.

I downloaded Bill Bryson's new book with Audible yesterday and had so much fun walking around Golden Gate Park while listening to him read it. An Audible subscription would be a great Christmas gift for the readers in your life.

(Photo because I'm feeling nostalgic for the brilliant original.)

The holidays so far

I wanted to post a few pictures from Thanksgiving in Tahoe, but since we put our tree up on Tuesday, I figured I'd just share some pictures from the holiday season thus far. This week has been awesome -- Olivia, Mark, Cam, and I decorated our tree and watched Christmas Vacation, I've been hanging out with all of my cute babysitting kids, Cam and I are going on a date tonight, and I got into grad school!! I am so ecstatic to finally start my program, and it's making my lazy days far less anxious. Today I ate dessert for breakfast, watched Top Chef, and now I'm just staring at our beautiful little tree and preparing for a run in Golden Gate Park. Life. is. good. I am thankful for so much; these pictures are only a sliver of all  of the people and things I am grateful for this year (and always!).

These are a few of my favorite things: Blog swaps

I've only done two blog swaps, but this most recent was just as encouraging and reinvigorating as the first, which I did with Julie Kesti. Through Julie, I internet-met Valerie of So It Must Be True. Blog swaps are great in that you have a stranger giving you a fresh eye on your blog from an outsider's perspective (as much as I love my biggest fans -- Mom, Danielle, and Cam-- they're not exactly objective). You can check out Valerie's post on Tales for Scout here, and I loved reading her other posts as well, which I'm sharing today:

- All of Valerie's posts under her 'Books and Literature' category were so thoughtful and interesting. I love that she keeps lists of books she's read and wants to read, and I especially loved this post: The Five Worst Girlfriends in Literature. I'm going to go ahead and add Dominique Francon to that list, in honor of the fact that I finally finished The Fountainhead this weekend, woo!

- I really just loved each and every post under the Literature category, so here's another: Best Literary Love Quotes.

- I skipped almost immediately to the 'Career Happiness' category. This resume post is super helpful, and I laughed about the ridiculous email addresses. Olivia works in HR and has definitely seen some 2hot4u@hotmail.com type of resume shenanigans before....and thrown them out immediately.

Thank you, Valerie, for reminding me of what I love about blogging and for giving me today's motivation to sit down and write.

I'm always interested in blog swaps, so if you read this and have any interest in swapping ideas and advice, email me at meganlierley@gmail.com.

(Photo is of another one of my favorite things, Christmastime in the city. )

Live like you're abroad: Legion of Honor and Land's End

A few weeks ago my friend Andrew and I decided to explore a new part of the city in celebration of his last day of freedom before beginning a new job. We headed over to the Legion of Honor, an art museum that looks and feels like you've just driven up the hill from San Francisco and straight into Europe. At the base of the  museum are several hikes, most famously, Land's End. While we didn't have time for the hike that day, this past weekend my friend Jaci was visiting from New York, and we decided to take advantage of a beautiful 65-degree Friday to do the hike (more like a nature walk). Land's End has some of the most stunning vantage points I've seen in San Francisco, which is saying a lot considering almost every neighborhood has an ocean view and some place to see the downtown skyline (perk of so many hills!). Once you get to the bottom of the trail, you can see Sutro Baths, the ruins of a bath house built in the 19th century. Going to the museum and hiking Land's End makes for a perfect San Francisco day trip -- culture, exercise, and breathtaking views all in the same spot.

Bat Kid saves San Francisco

Happy Saturday! I don't have many links from around the web this week, but thought I'd share what I did find (some are from last week). Yesterday, Mark, my brother and I headed to Civic Center to see Mayor Ed Lee give 'Bat Kid' the key to San Francisco. I'm sure many of you followed the story, but 'Bat Kid' originated as a 5-year-old's dream to become Batman through the Make-a-Wish Foundation. The story went viral, and by the end of the day 20,000 San Franciscans, clad in black and yellow and boasting homemade signs, had turned up to cheer on our little hero. I usually ignore Twitter, but I cried (literally) reading through the feed last night -- every athletic team, magazine, author, and friend I follow seemed to have something to say about how Bat Kid had warmed their hearts. It was a great reminder of all the good in the world, and a wonderful break from how depressing the news tends to be on a daily basis. Thanks for making the world a little bit kinder, if only for a day, Bat Kid! 

Actors who are fluent in other languages. 

Kids react to gay marriage. 

Travel startups you might not have heard of. 

Changes women go through in their twenties. I definitely identified with many of these...

So cool: Color added to historical photos. 

Well, you could never call this girl boring. 

Have a great weekend!

A night in Austin, TX

I spent the last week in Houston with my family, and Cam was nice enough to meet me in Texas for the weekend. I was feeling a little cooped up after six days of a 9pm bedtime and countless hours of Fox News, so I suggested a little road trip to Austin. We arrived in Austin at 6:30 Saturday evening, and were gone by 10am Sunday, but we absolutely loved our 15 hour adventure.

I had my heart set on eating at Qui, a restaurant owned by Top Chef Austin winner Paul Qui (as an avid Top Chef fan, this was a must-do). We were told there would be a 2.5 hour wait, and even though Cam was starving, he agreed to adding our name to the list as long as we could grab a quick snack. We grabbed tacos from a food truck across the street, and it might have been the best taco I've ever eaten. Things were off to a good start when we headed a block over to the White Horse, a cowboy bar with live music and dance floor filled with two-steppers. After a few beers, we headed back to Qui and had one of the best meals of my life (I know I'm going crazy with the superlatives here but seriously, the food was so, so excellent). The menu was exotic but every small dish they brought to our table was delicious....from a more basic yet elevated ceviche, to the cheddar cheese ice cream sandwich we had for dessert. If you go to Austin, you MUST, MUST, MUST eat at Qui.

After dinner we met up with Colby, a friend we both met while studying abroad in Barcelona. We had already been to "trendy" (or "ghetto," depending on who you talk to) 6th Street, the up-and-coming neighborhood that's home to Qui and White Horse. Colby told us about the difference between East, or "dirty" 6th, and West 6th, which is more classy and less fratty. We went to a bar on each and had a great time listening to bands and catching up with an old friend.

My parents are retiring to Austin in 13 months and I can't wait to explore more of the city and surrounding area. Cam and I have already decided that we need to start doing Youtube two-step lessons in our living room.

I know it doesn't look like much, but seriously best taco ever.

Me, Chef Paul, and Cam

Cam and Colby on 6th St.

Big Texas sky