lillie in the city » in the city

The year of the tiger

lillie — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:00:27 +0000

One night recently, Mischa and I decided to take an impromptu and long-overdue trip over to San Francisco’s Chinatown. (Granted, it’s less than 10 minutes away by bike, but we still hadn’t been there since moving to the city!)

And as fortune would have it, that particular night was the city’s celebration of Chinese New Year—complete with a huge parade, wild firecrackers, and hundreds of people in the streets. What a fun and colorful night to stumble into!

We wandered through the festivities, found a bustling hole-in-the-wall vegetarian restaurant (Lucky Creation) for dinner, and bought moon cakes and chocolate-covered fortune cookies at a neighborhood bakery (Eastern Bakery) to end the night!

Around the city

lillie — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:33:38 +0000

This weekend took me around the city, soaking up the sunshine, including:
- My neighborhood farmer’s market at Fillmore and O’Farrell for garlic & onions, tangerines, and other non-CSA goods–and lots of tasty food sampling with Charlie
- A trip to the library for a new book from my ongoing reading list of business books
- Midafternoon iced coffee at Four Barrel, one of the best coffee shops & roasters in the city
- A visit to Needles & Pens, a new-to-me DIY shop in the Mission–plus revisits to The Curiousity Shoppe and Little Otsu
- Biking through Golden Gate Park – which is car-free every Sunday!
- A first trip to Green Apple Books (a new favorite book store) and a walk to Ocean Beach
- Good people, live music, and Lagunitas on tap in San Rafael on Sunday night

And now it’s Monday morning. Back at my desk, ready to start the week!

Rainy days and biking the bridge

lillie — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:23:03 +0000

It’s been raining off-and-on in the city for over a week now. Lots of excuses to stay indoors, to stay in bed, to find any way to stay warm and dry.

So when the forecast promised a sunny Saturday, plans were set. Bicycles tuned up. Breakfast reservations were (mentally) made. And then at 9 o’clock on Saturday morning, it started raining again. But we went out anyways. A morning bike ride through the park, over the the bridge, and into the little town of Sausalito for late breakfast. No raining on this parade! It was my first ride over the Golden Gate Bridge–my feet were soaking wet in my shoes, but I had a big smile on my face the whole time.

Oh yes, and I signed up for a 500-mile bike ride over the weekend–San Francisco to Los Angeles for the AIDS/Lifecycle. Crazy? Maybe. Exciting? Definitely. More on this soon…

How are you fighting back against this January weather, wherever you are?

The Bikeway Mural

lillie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:25:40 +0000

Just one instance of the bicycle love (and street art) in this city: the Duboce Bikeway Mural. It marks at the start of “The Wiggle,” the winding bike route through the hills (and our neighborhood) of San Francisco.

For Love of LA – a multi-part love letter

lillie — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:20:34 +0000

When I moved to LA a few years ago, I knew I would find my place in this big city somehow. But really feeling at home in a new place takes a while. Sometimes a long while. You make a city “yours” with routines, weekly habits, choosing your favorite coffee spot, visiting your local market every week, knowing directions by heart. That familiarity grows in waves–1 month, 6 months, a year, and onward. Many of my big city connections came in small and unexpected ways, and in the end, those are the things I will miss most.

So in honor of a bright gritty city that’s given me so much, I give you For Love of LA - a multi-part love letter featuring some favorites spots in this land of sunshine and stars.