Tea Time in San Francisco Japantown

Last month, Cat and I met Eva (@Miss_Eva) and her friend from Calgary, Alberta for a mini-tour of Union Square and Japantown. After a session at the Tom Ford counter at Neiman Marcus, we headed over to the Crown and Crumpet Tea Room in Japantown.

Crown and Crumpet has a delightful selection of teas, coffees, and an afternoon tea menu. It's a very delightful place, and the quality is excellent - sort of a mini - Fortnum and Mason (but a LOT cheaper!)

The tea room is charmingly decorated - funky and not too sugary. I loved the clock, above.

This is our afternoon tea service - Crown and Crumpet also lets you pick and choose from their "Trolley Dolly"a la carte menu. There is a Gluten Free option, and children's selections, too. (Yep - that's Cat Instagramming and my phone charger is under the teacakes).

We took a walk around Japantown, and visited lots of shops carrying Kawaii items.

Of course, no tour is complete without checking out Rilakkuma and Co.!

We visited Sanrio and enjoyed the sea of Pink.

We also went to Daiso and spent forever looking through the cute kitchen and household items. I never get bored there! To top off the day, we went to a Ramen place for dinner. All in all, a great day out.

Jamilla

San Francisco Ferry Building Marketplace

I love the San Francisco Ferry Building Market! The building opened in 1898 on the site of the wooden Ferry house, and has been a transportation hub ever since. You can catch the ferry to Sausalito from the Pier. Today, there is a thrice-weekly farmer's market as well as lots of dining and shopping spots.

Blue Bottle Coffee is extremely popular, and there are always long lines. Cat and I had lunch instead at the Cowgirl Creamery, which has fantastic grilled cheese toasties! Their cheeses are amazing.

 If you don't want to wait, you can always try the Blue Bottle at Mint Plaza, which is in a quiet location with only a picture of a blue bottle for signage. It's near Union Square and San Francisco Centre.

On Saturdays, there are numerous food vendors cooking up delicious food, like the salmon, above.

The Ferry Building is also a great place to take in views of the Bay Bridge and beyond.

The Ferry Building Marketplace is located along the Embarcadero at the foot of Market Street. The marketplace is accessible by MUNI, BART and Ferry Boat. The historic trolley cars (Line F Market) stop directly in front of the Ferry Building. If you drive, you can park cheaply at the Golden Gateway Garage on Clay. I paid only $7 to park all day.

You can take the Ferry to Sausalito for a fun day trip - I made may memorable visits there with my Grandpa.

Union Square is an easy 1 mile walk up Market, or you can always take BART if you're loaded up with shopping bags.

Hope you enjoyed the mini-outing!

Jamilla

Nordstrom Trend Show - Westfield San Francisco

On June 1, I went to the Nordstrom Trend Show at  Westfield San Francisco with my friend Cat. Since the show started at 8 a.m. on a Saturday (!) I stayed overnight in the City on Friday night at the Pickwick Hotel. My room had great views - that's the San Francisco Examiner Building, above.

My room was pleasant and comfortable and great value = $165 per night, next to Westfield San Francisco.

 As long as I have good in-room coffee and free wireless, I'm happy. I spent the afternoon doing work on my laptop.

 I packed my travel-sized Jo Malone Colognes, another GWP from another Nordstrom event.

 The Perricone MD Best of Perricone kit is perfect for short trips. All the essentials are there, including a tube of original No Foundation Foundation (now available in FAIR).

 The night before the event, Cat and I met up for dinner at Straits, a Singaporean fusion restaurant in San Francisco Centre. There are also branches in Santana Row, Burlingame, and Houston, Texas. Love this place! We had some Roti to start (please excuse the blurry Instagram food pics).

 I had the Singaporean style Chicken Curry - Yum!!

 It was difficult to decide on dessert.

 I went for the Vietnamese Coffee Creme Brulee - again, apologies for the fuzzy Instagram pic. It was incredibly delicious - sinfully so :)

 I wore my new FitFlop Summa sandals with NARS Pierre Hardy Vertebra Left on my toes.

 In the morning, Cat and I met up for breakfast at the Pickwick's SOMA restaurant for breakfast - big lattes, please, for an early start!

I finished as much of my Huevos Rancheros as I could.

The lines at Westfield San Francisco started well before 8 a.m. It was just insanity, above.

The Beauty event was set up using a runway theme, above, with representatives from each of the featured brands "modelling" their products - including the rep from Laura Mercier, who actually applied a red lip as he walked the "runway".

Attractive men dispensed product samples throughout the event. There was also a prize draw.

A goody bag was distributed, which was quite a nice one. Can't say the same about the coffee - Cat ditched hers, lol!

Freebies in the goody bag

This is Rhona, a National Makeup Artist from Giorgio Armani Beauty. Rhona has the magic touch!

This gentleman works for Laura Mercier - and applied the LM red lip as he spoke! One of his team mates also sang to us!

I had an appointment at the Armani counter, and the first thing that happened was a major accident with the Maestro Foundation 4.5 - this product is NOT removable unless you use an oil-based makeup remover (or commercial stain remover, like the Nordstrom Alterations department!). I had to sit in a dressing room in my underwear while the nice ladies from the Alterations department worked their magic and removed the stain. After waiting 1 hour, I finally had my makeup done by the incomparable @RhonaGA (Twitter).

On the bright side, I did field test this foundation in 84F weather this week, in San Francisco and Palo Alto, inside and outside. This product does not shift. It wears like iron. It resists heat, humidity, and perspiration.

 I DID receive a lot of goodies from the Armani people after my foundation-on-shorts trauma ;-)

Cat and I post-makeover. We were ready for lunch!

We went to La Boulange under the Dome at Westfield San Francisco for some food - their macarons are lovely!

Of course, we got two big lattes to go with our delicious macarons.

I had a delicious Provencal BLT with Quinoa salad for lunch.

My purchases from the beauty event - the new Armani Eye Make Up Remover, Maestro Foundation 4.5, Master Corrector 1, and Maestro Eraser 3. I bought the dual-phase Eye Make Up Remover because Rhona removed two coats of RMK Separate Curl Waterproof mascara with this - it works every bit as well as my beloved Suqqu, which I've run out of. This remover passed the acid waterproof Japanese mascara test - it's better than Lancome Bi-Facil, which irritates my skin with it's perfumes.

We had a great day! Now, we're going to hit Neiman Marcus Camp Gorgeous and Bloomingdales Beauty Treats at Stanford Shopping Center....

Jamilla