Strawberry Loves to Dance....

(This post has been updated and is permitted publicly from last year's shoot.)  Last year, I did a commercial photo shoot for Nespresso. I have never drank that many shots of espresso in one day and I was so hyper the whole time when we were shooting photos inside Nespresso boutique San Francisco. "Overly joyous" is probably the best word to describe me that day. Well, in fact, not only because of the espresso I had from the whole morning, but also the fun charisma inside Nespresso boutique that made me super ecstatic. Everything displayed in the boutique is so neat and chic including colorful and various coffee capsules, and pretty cups, mugs and saucers...etc. If it weren't because I was sort of working, I would have bought me some cute espresso shot glasses home already. Wait, I almost forgot to mention that they also serve full range of dessert and some savories along with fancy coffee drinks in the upper, street level. The store intends to ply their custo...

It takes a lot of effort and talents to be a brilliant dancer and I absolutely admire those ballet dancers who performed on stage from SF ballet. The Nutcrackers ballet we experienced is one of the perfect performance I've ever encountered. It is fantastic!!! Love tistheseason~ xoxo Rachel 

It was a very successful trunk show and we met a lot of friends. Love you all, California girls. We will see you soon!  Keep warm and wear your winter knit!! xoxo Rachel 

All the fashionista, it is this Friday 11/15 from 6 PM to 9 PM at Bay Club Silicon Vally. We would love to see you in person there!!! Thanks to all above vendors/beauty and skin care/patisserie who participate in our trunk show. 

The randomly throw together pieces like these totally stole my heart!  Onto the next corner of my home's remodeling.  xoxo Rachel 

The weather definitely crisps up these days in San Francisco. I was out and about doing chores and realized that a tank and a hoodie are not going to keep me warm enough anymore. For some reason, when I was walking on the street, someone's waft of perfume instantly reminded me a holidays' coming.  Not sure if it is an ordinary scent that I sniffed all the time when walking by cosmetics counter in the mall. ha~ Holidays, hum,... I know some friends are doing their Christmas shopping already. Well, yes, you hear me right: Christmas. I think I might start looking just to get a head start. Other than gifts preparation, holiday's cooking is another big task. Now is definitely the time to horn my holiday cooking skills.  Today I am going to share the easiest recipe I found online with my personal twist to make the perfect succulent BBQ Garlic chili Ribs and BBQ honey chicken drumlets and wings with you.  Ingredients: 1 medium ...

Missed my girl friends so much while I was away for my yoga teacher training. Then I found this painting with glamorous women with powerful attitude the other day while shopping for furniture for our new house.  The colors are so vibrant and the additional touch ups on this printed painting makes each character so vivid and fun.  At the mean time, Prada blue tortoise baroque sunglasses came in time, they both are beyond perfect for the state of my mood right now!  Both Prada, left Prada 2013, right Prada 2012 Life goes on and on, cherish every moment of it.   xoxo Rachel 

I will be down in Santa barbara for Yoga teacher training from 6/15-6/30. I am sure I will come back full of energy and be inspired in every way.  Before my next post, hope you will have an enlightened summer as well.  Namaste~  White Lotus  xoxo Rachel 

There are a lot of works needed to be done prior us moving in to the new house in Los Altos Hills. The kitchen countertop, the backsplash, the stairs, the hardwood floor, the custom wardrobe, and the guest powder room...etc.  The kitchen and the powder room is like our business card, they give the first impression to our guests who come in our house, so the looks and functionality are so important IMHO.  My dear friend, Elfi, is currently working on this remodeling project with me.  Thank GOD that she is so resourceful that I will be able to trust her completely to do some purchases as well as to supervise the progress in our house. I will be at Santa Barbara for 2 weeks for Yoga teacher training and hopefully while I am done, my house is also ready to be moved in.  As you can imagine there is stress whenever there is a house project. The schedule, the orders and the works, all progress needed to be coordinated well. Since Day 1 we bought the house in Los Al...

There are so many shades of gray and finally I decided MY gray on the fire place: Stormy Sky by Benjamin Moore.  As for those adjacent walls next to the fire place, I will also paint them in different gray alternatively. I fancy GRAY these days but definitely not in the GRAY mood. ha~  A picture I found from HOUZZ.com inspires me and I cannot wait for the contractor to demolish and to restore and to decorate my house in the next couple months.  Pic. from Houzz.com  Try painting one of the walls in your house gray? xoxo Rachel 

My girl friends and I enjoyed an incredible evening yesterday as we went to see ballet " Rodin " by St. Petersburg Efiman Ballet. The story is about a romance but tangled with hatred, artsy, jealous.  As far as the choreography is concern, I was entirely penetrated by the intensive body movement and the dancer's despair facial expression all the way till the end. A great performance that you definitely can enjoy it twice.  Eifman ballet  4 principles  Mary, Me and Elaine ( You can check out her own start-up company: Falosophie )  Enjoy a special Mother's day!! xoxo Rachel 

It is suffice to say that pictures can do all the talking here. Before our reservation at French laundry in Yountville at 6 PM, we went to Bouchon Bakery to enjoy a glimpse of Paris pastry.   At French Laundry, we did wine pairing and just to try different tastes of wine selection by their sommelier.  It is interesting to see all the glasses piled on our table and we couldn't help but had to take pic. of it.  I enjoy all the courses and wine pairing just bring out the best of each dish.  I guess it is their signature style that all the dishes are presented and cooked at its freshest flavor. I am a heavy taste eater and the entire night is like a challenge to my palate. But I am positive to say that I am very much satisfied that entire dinner I didn't add  single grain of salt nor pepper but simply enjoy every bite of my food that chef presented.  To our surprise that the manager gave us a kitchen tour at the end of our dinner. It is un...