The gist – I want this year to be my year of love. So I decided that one way or the other, I’m going to find love. Even if it means dating 50 different guys in one year.

So, I’m doing just that. I’m going on 50 Food Truck Dates in a year, and writing about it. This “writing about it” means a new site, a new blog, and a lot of my energy, time and focus over the next year to make it BIG. Writing focus, promotion focus, community building focus. Focus. Focus. Focus. So I can make a book deal happen. (After all, writing some sort of memoir is on my Bucket List!)

I have many back stories and layers to how I finally decided to go for this idea. The full details of which probably only two or three people know of in my life. I suppose that’s early incentive to buy my book when it comes out. I promise it’s the stuff romantic comedies are made of.

In the meantime, what does this new site and focus mean for That’s What Je Said? I will most definitely still be around, so don’t totally tune our or delete me from your reader. This blog is a big part of my life and I can’t imagine every completely letting it go. It will still be the place I pop into to share my favorite San Francisco restaurant, photos of how I spend my time, and the things that are weighing on my mind occasionally. However, the time commitment and frequency of posting that needs to happen with my new project means it will take some of my time away from here, unfortunately. I encourage all of you, however, to also bookmark and visit my new blog, 50 Food Truck Dates, if you’d like to tune into my happenings on a more frequent, weekly basis.

Thanks for the support, blog lovelies.

Currently Feeling: Happy after a successful first “Girls Book Hangover Club” meeting at my house!
Currently Anticipating: Vegas next week for work and Seattle for pleasure!
Currently Needing: To figure out how you could invent a pill to get over someone – wouldn’t that be the best pill EVERRRR?!

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//image// D. Sharon Pruitt

Personally, I’ve been particularly hyper-aware of this during my first year in San Francisco as I’ve been working to fill my “pool of friends,” as Williams calls it. I’ve met a lot of people over this past year and have had many conversations with those who are also in different stages of making new friends: either brand new to a city and what sometimes equates to desperately searching for new friends, struggling to understand the idiosyncrasies of new or changing friendships, or unfortunately, sometimes removing friendships that aren’t working.

I’ve been really lucky in life with friends – close female and male relationships seemingly have come naturally and easily to me thus far. I feel surrounded by friends who feel like my family and a good list I could dial up if shit completely hit the fan, and I needed someone to talk to, pick me up, rescue me, rub my feet and feed me bonbons (just joking – that’s gross).

But this doesn’t mean I don’t work and try really hard at each of those friendships. Work nearly every day, all year long, at it. I try to remember the little dates and moments that are important to my friends and keep up on their lives: how did that interview go on Monday… how are you feeling today… tell me about your weekend… we haven’t seen each other in awhile, let’s do dinner…did you get the card I sent you… I’ve made this part of my priority in life, whether I’m in a serious relationship or single. If you’re one of my good friends, I won’t let too much time go by before I check in or make a plan to see your pretty face. I’m far, far from perfect or from anyone that has this “all figured out,” but those are just a few of the ways I keep my friends and cultivate my friendships.

//image // Brandon Warren

But, as I charter new friendships in San Francisco (and coincidentally, my first year of 30), I find myself making more calculated, conscience decisions about keeping or not keeping friendships with people more than any time in my life. Williams nailed it for me: my time is increasingly limited. (Even though I never feel like I’m “too busy” to make new friends or to meet new people). I am, however, picky about spending my time with the wrong people. I’m also increasingly more aware of the kind of people I want to surround myself with and what I expect from my friendships. Some of the things I’ve thought about when evaluating new friendships over the past year and deciding who I want to center my energy around and spend my time with are:

• Are we somewhat similar? Do we like to do the same things, do we have good “talks,” are you “social,” can we find common ground?
• Do you treat your friendships with integrity? Will you call me back, show up, listen, and show support.
• Are we both putting as much into the friendship as we’re getting out of it (equally, from both sides)?
• Do we like each other? Do we invite each other. Do we want to stand in a room full of people with each other.
• Do you, or have you, repeatedly hurt my feelings? (This is usually my last “screening” question before I decide that a friendship probably just isn’t for me).

It might seem like a lot – and I know I’m not “dating” my friends, but sometimes we spend so much time with a friend, it’s kinda like you are dating each other. So why not be nearly, or just as, picky?

What are some of the things you look for in your friendships? Do you think I’m too picky? How have your friendships changed as you get older? I’d love to hear your opinion on this topic!

Currently Feeling: Glad my week is a LOT slower than last week – I almost spontaneously burst in flames last week from all the professional and personal plans. Whew. Coming up for air for those I owe phone calls and emails to…
Currently Anticipating: A lot of free time this week to spend on the final touches of my “passion project” that I swear was going to be done two months ago.
Currently Sick Of: Unsubscribing from every “Comments and Likes” from all friends on Facebook because I see random photos and updates of people I don’t even know on my phone. Weird, Facebook!

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• This one goes out to the ones I love
• An Ultimate Girly Weekend
• Everything is made better with mustaches

I really dig what CE Cellars stands for – CE is an acronym for “casual entertaining” – and they’re about bringing a more personal, less snobby approach to their wine through a social club. Yesterday they poured a wine called, “Fish,” which pairs with – you guessed it – fish. And a super yummy red called, “Steak…” I’ll leave you to finish that one. I’m also kinda in love with their packaging for Bash, their proprietary red blend. The bottle has repeating symbols on it, but features ONE symbol that isn’t repeated. When the wine owner, Preston O’Connor, told me this at the Clue party, I immediately had to search the bottle to find the one non-repeating symbol. It’s fun little schticks like this that I appreciate (why not make a game out of everything in life?!)

Preston hosted the Great Gastby party at his family’s estate in Napa Valley – a breathtaking homestead with gorgeous vineyards leading up to a house in the middle of gardens and a backyard set up with family-style tables for wine tasting and lunch. The grounds even had a pool, poolhouse and outdoor barbecues! How lucky to have grown up in such beauty.

CE Cellars chartered a party bus up from San Francisco, complete with mimosas and a stripper poll, how every Saturday morning should start, natch. It was awesome to have transportation to and from the city for the party, and to meet all the other party goers on the bus before we spent the day together.

When we arrived, we did a wine tasting of Fish, Steak, Levity and Bash, and then after a fun wine blending competition, the family cooked and served barbecued oysters, pulled pork, bruschetta and cheese drizzled with lavender honey while we tried to get some relief from the 97-degree weather by sitting in the pool.

It was the most fabulous day ever, and I felt super lucky to be a part of it and spend it with my girl friends Janelle, Lauren and Phoebe. Definitely one of the best Saturdays I’ve spent since living in the Bay. I highly recommend CE Cellars, not only for their wines, but for their philosophy and the chance to enjoy a Saturday at that beautiful home!

And now, a story told through quotes from The Great Gatsby and photos of the day…

“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one…just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 1

“–that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 1

“a single green light, minute and faraway, that might have been the end of a dock.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 1

“I’ve been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 3

“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced–or seemed to face–the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 3

“It takes two to make an accident.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 3

“A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: ‘There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired.’” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 4

“One thing’s sure and nothing’s surer/ The rich get richer and the poor get – children./ In the meantime,/ In between time” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 5

“they looked back at me, remotely, possessed by intense life.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 5

“Can’t repeat the past?… Why of course you can!” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 6

“He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 6

“With every word she was drawing further and further into herself, so he gave that up, and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away, trying to touch what was no longer tangible, struggling unhappily, undespairingly, toward that lost voice across the room.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 7

*Thanks to my friend Janelle for most of the pics of the day, which were taken on the iPhone and edited with the Camera+ app for the “old timey” feel.

Currently Feeling: Excited to close this weekend out with an early bedtime, Stella Sunday snuggle time and some reading.
Currently Anticipating: The Bold Italic’s ice cream social on Tuesday at this soda fountain gem in SF.
Currently Loving: The nature time I squeezed in today at Mt. Tam – the whole place smelled like eucalyptus trees and made me swoon

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• This is how you do hot days in San Francisco
• Sunbathing Beauty Pics and Deets
• Bon voyage

Secret slides! Secret slides, you guys. I probably don’t even need to explain why this qualifies for one of Je’s SF-Best Crowns. My friend Jess dug up an article on these secret slides from Broke Ass Stuart (a well-known SF blogger, for those of you not located here), and we immediately worked visiting these slides into the first weekend we could.

It’s not necessarily that they’re the best slides ever, but it’s just so random and fun to go on a hunt for secret slides. Plus, anytime someone tells me something is “SECRET” or “UNDERGROUND,” I immediately need to experience it for myself. I’m like that 5 year old child that hates naps cause I don’t want to miss out on any of the fun.

The slides are pretty hidden in a tiny park called Seward Mini Park in the middle of a bunch of houses in the hills above Castro, so it felt like a mini treasure hunt to find them. A friend let us know before we went that the slides are BYOC (bring your own cardboard) to slide down with, and according to the park sign “no adults unless accompanied by children.”

Also, when you slide down them, you need to make this face:

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• The Best of SF is a view you cannot beat at Fort Funston

But you guys, I did almost meet a male model last week on a Grouper date. I was *this* close to realizing one of my lifelong dreams. Squeal! I honestly don’t know how I got so close to perfection, and I’m still walking around this week like nothing amazing and life-changing almost happened to me.

Here’s how the story goes: I went on a Grouper date last week with two of my San Francisco ladies, Lauren and Jess…let’s just say it was one part awkward with two parts semi-decent-looking-but-really-not-interesting, one part missing-in-action-male-model and three parts amazingly-interesting-and-funny-and-irresistible.

I’ll give you a minute to figure that one out, and if you can’t, read on…

I found an article about how Grouper was launching in San Francisco, and because I’ll try most anything once all in the name of a good story for my blog (except this), we signed up. Grouper is a pretty cool concept that helps take some of the “edge” off online dating or blind dates – one girl gets chosen for the date, and she brings two of her friends, and one guy gets chosen for the date, and he brings two of his friends. Each person pays $20, and you get one free drink with your registration. All you have to do is show up, mingle with the five other people on a “date,” make some conversation, collect your free drink and VOILA instant love, or friends, or a fun night, or something. (If you Google Grouper just totes ignore those articles about it being a scam, or fishy, or how the CEO stepped down. NBD).

I went into the date a bit nervous, per usual. I think it’s the unexpected that puts me a little on edge… what are they going to be like…will they show up…am I going to be the only girl they won’t like…is it going to be totally awkward?

Well, we got “totally awkward” off on the right foot when the three of us walked into Elixir in the Mission and there was a table with a rather LARGE sign that said, “This table is RESERVED for GROUPER Group!” Like slap a Post-It on my forehead that I’m on a blind date from the Internet, and I’ll walk around the bar for shits and giggles. THIS is how I choose to spend my Wednesday nights, people.

Fifteen minutes past the meeting time, and I was convinced they weren’t showing up. Until they did, late. Well, two of them. Apparently their third friend – the “male model” – abruptly disappeared today and wasn’t responding to texts and emails. I can’t decide if he’s incredibly rude or incredibly smart. Or mysteriously interestingly elusive. But you guys, he’s a male model. So they’re totally allowed to do those things and we forgive him anyway and pine over the fact that he didn’t show up and could have been the man of my dreams because he’s a male model.

The two who did show up were pretty cute… Way cuter than I expected after my terrible no good time at a Lock and Key party years and YEARS ago (I’m still gun shy from that). Things are looking up! Way cuter than I actually want to give them credit for now, after the fact.

Because good looking only goes so far, natch. None of us really had anything in common. Here’s where I put blame on Grouper and say that they could have done a bit better with the matchmaking (which is apparently done through Facebook, but HOW, cause they didn’t know who all three girls and boys were since they only choose one boy and one girl and tell them to bring friends). Apparently I’m not alone in thinking that Grouper’s matchmaking tactics blow chunks…

I get that we probably weren’t these guys’ “types.” It came across abundantly clear that we weren’t girls they wanted to date. I think that might have rang true when the ringleader of the two told us they signed up for Grouper to “just hang out as three buddies.” As in, we’re here to just have a drink and talk to each other ladies, not you. Who signs up on a triple blind date because they want to see their dude friends?! Gay dudes, that’s who. (P.S. I love the gays!)

Guess what – you weren’t our types either, jackholes. The least we could have done was connected on some human, let’s laugh together, let’s tell good stories, let’s get to know each other or at least let’s talk biznass, way. Let’s get drunk and do something crazy and get in trouble in the city. Let’s turn this into a night for the record books or at least into a semi good story with nipples, bacon-wrapped street dogs and honey-covered fire hydrants (what?! just me on that one?). At least that wouldn’t force me to center the story of my Grouper date around an elusive male model who might have been my future baby daddy. Scratch that. Not might. Definitely was my future baby daddy. If only he showed up…

Cause I know, at the very minimum, that I’m interesting. And when I’m not even treated as INTERESTING, that’s where my red power panties get in a bit of a ruffle.

So, we ended up standing around and awkwardly making disingenuous smalltalk through about 1.5 drinks and one hour, and I got stuck talking to the super jerk ringleader who spent the whole time complaining about San Francisco. How it’s “sleepy” and there’s “nothing to do” and “New York is so much better” and if I only I could “imagine a party in like a 150-year-old building where like a sick DJ is spinning at 3 a.m. and my friend is the bartender behind the counter.”

Siiiickkk dude.

So I responded to his hate of San Francisco with: 

“If you can only have one great love, then the city just may be mine. And I don’t want nobody talkin’ shit about my boyfriend.”**

Just kidding, I didn’t say that quote out loud. But I did think it. It’s just that my mind was pretty cloudy the entire night cause I couldn’t get my mind off the male model.

**Of course the lovely and genius Carrie Bradshaw said this in Sex and the City

Currently Feeling: Excited for the two days of ahead of me at the Inbound Marketing Conference in SF. I get to hear some great speakers like Chris Brogan and Rick Bakas talk about digital marketing, and I’m pretty stoked!
Currently Anticipating: My first Girls Who Dine Out in SF dinner this Thursday!
Currently Needing: Two turntables and a microphone. Just kidding – that’s Beck.

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• An Update on Project Love

I’m always looking for new ways to keep healthy, “clean cooking” in my diet, but interesting ways to cook my proteins and new side dishes to mix them up with. This was a perfect combination of a tasty side dish and a new technique to cook chicken that I haven’t tried before. Just workin’ daily on my number one goal in life – training to become the perfect wifey.

The best thing about this recipe – it is SUPERCHARGED with super foods. I crosschecked the recipe with this list of 100 Super Foods for Your Diet, and TEN of the 15 ingredients are super foods. Super foods should be an important part of your daily diet because they fight infection, enhance your immune system, and protect against diseases such as cancer. *Steps off soap box* Specifically, the side salad is jampacked with one of my all-time fav super foods: pomegranates.

This particular dish was a success – I loved all the greens in the salad and the additions of the golden raisins, paired with the juicy, crispy walnut chicken. It was one of the only times I felt like my chicken wasn’t dried out and needed a ton of sauce to choke down. Searing the chicken on the stove in olive oil then finishing it, baking in the over, was a preparation I’ll be using again!

Let me know if you try it out!

P.S. I desperately need a white plate for recipe photos!

Currently Feeling: The need, the need for speed (via my legs, in a gym, stat).
Currently Anticipating: A free balayage tomorrow at my salon – they’re using me for a hair model and gosh darn, I can’t wait to get rid of this “ombre” look I’ve had. aka Huge, dark roots.
Currently Loving: The progress on my secret “passion project.” I can’t wait to launch it this summer!!

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• Bohemian Swank bedroom redecorating project
• How to Throw a Favorite Things Party
• A healthier version of Olive Garden Zupa Toscana Soup

After at least two weeks of hitting the town every night, or recuperating from hitting the town every night, my adult duties have been officially beyond the point of acceptable neglect.

I’ve been out of groceries for at least a month. So bad, that this week I caught myself eating stale taco shells with ground taco meat from the freezer (no tomatoes, lettuce or salsa) served with a side of applesauce for dinner. The real (single) housewives of white trash! P.S. Why isn’t that a Bravo show?!

Stella and I spent all day cleaning, cooking and organizing today. And everything is amazing* on the homefront once again…

I have a freezer full of homemade meals to grab for lunches or dinner, fresh salsa from scratch in the fridge, and stuffed peppers simmering in the crockpot overnight. I bought a new wicker trunk from Pier 1 for my bedroom (to store shoes discretely) and a fun new cream shag rug for the living room. Laundry is done, folded and put away. Lilies are in a vase, a new basil plants sits in my kitchen windowsill, and everything is scrub-a-dubbed, organized and smelling clean.

Even Stella is saying, “Ahhhhh.”

*The top photo with fun writing was taken on the new iPhone photo app I downloaded today, Quiption. You can overlay fun text on your photos and even send them as real postcards! Thanks @ronschott for the tip!

Currently Feeling: Ready to take on my week, equipped with healthy food to fuel my body!
Currently Anticipating: A fun beer launch party for Churchkey Can Co. on Tuesday.
Currently Needing: To buy my ticket to Greece! September is rapidly approaching.

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• Stella Sundays is Mustache Disguised
• Stella Sundays is the ultimate alarm clock
• Stella Sundays is pretty in GREEN

Driving down California’s I-5 is no picnic. It’s probably the most boring drive I’ve done as of yet – no towns, zero people, nothing much to look at and miles of hills and barren yellow grass for about seven hours. Blech! We did try to make it a bit more fun though, with Pandora, Spotify and iPod music serenading us the whole way. (Seriously, what did people do in the days of tapes and CDs). And we did manage to stop for some road-side margs and guacamole!

We had only a little more than 24 hours of party time in Hermosa Beach, which included a night out at Barnacles where we found a ceramic bunny and decided to take some bunny glamor shots (huh?).

And then a rooftop barbecue and live cover band at the Hermosa Pier Festival on Sunday.

The trip ended up being far too short for the amount of time the drive took, but it was nice to get out of San Francisco for a few days and finally see what Justin’s life is all about in Hermosa.

Janelle and I decided to take Highway 101 back up to San Francisco on Monday (a much better route). We stopped in Pismo Beach for lunch on a patio, and had a few funny laughs along the way. Road trippin definitely equals some weird and interesting stops in little-known locations and a few odd sights along the way…

…but it turned into a great opportunity to get to know my car mate and have tons of girly conversations, which helped the drive go that much quicker.

Next time though, I’m DEFINITELY flying! I can check the San Francisco to L.A. car drive off my list (never to do again).

When/where was your last road trip? Any fun stories? I’d love to hear!

Currently Feeling: A bit sniffly and sick all this week. I need a major recoop day!
Currently Anticipating: The Guardsman Lawn Party today at Marina Green – lawn games, barbecue, live bands and a hosted bar along the waterfront with a view of the Golden Gate! Should be sups fun.
Currently Loving: My little sister’s leap of faith to create her own happiness (in Italy!)

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• This one goes out to the ones I love
• An Ultimate Girly Weekend

I’ve really been on a poached egg kick as of late. I eat one every morning in my oatmeal, I add one to the top of polenta I make at home (with a sprinkle of shaved parmesan), and I gravitate toward everything on a menu with a poached egg. Everything is made better with poached eggs! I cannot tell a lie.

This dish was one of the best dishes I’ve had since I’ve lived in San Francisco – so simple, yet so tasty, with a little bit of naughty (bacon and eggs) and nice (no carbs). Warm, local asparagus, topped with crispy house-made pancetta, a poached egg (poached in truffle oil!) and drizzled with vinaigrette.

My dining partner and I both ordered it, and both licked the plate and then talked at least twice since then about how good it was. I’m definitely going to try to recreate it at home!

If you’d rather eat the original, it can be found at a bar called District in the SOMA neighborhood of San Francisco. District is a super cool wine bar with a great atmosphere and a good looking crowd – perfect for after-work drinks!

Currently Feeling: A little under the weather – boo sniffly nose.
Currently Anticipating: 70 degrees in SF on Thursday and Friday!
Currently Needing: About 14 extra hours in the day. Oh, and someone to grocery shop and clean my house.

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• The Best of SF is Smoked Fettuccini with sea urchin and bacon at SPQR
• The Best of SF is Hawaiian Hangover Cake at Bluestem Brasserie
• Back to basics in SF with some of my girls

I used to be in love with Lush. When I was younger, it was only in Canada and was on the top of my list of places to visit when on shopping trips to Vancouver, B.C. The store smells like a dream with unlimited girly products in fun packaging that make you swoon such as fizzy bath bombs dipped in roses and massage oils shaped like chocolate bars. It’s been years since I’ve been in one though, so I was excited to find a Lush near my office in downtown San Francisco!

Last week, I purchased two of their product that are.to.die for, so I thought I’d share them here with my curly headed gals (or those who need a little moisture in their lives). All one or two of you. Bueller… Bueller…

Curly Wurly is a conditioning shampoo that you can use every day (even if you have dried-out curly hair!) It’s like a coconut moisture milkshake with actual slivers of coconut, and I want to eat it then rub it all over my head, over and over. (Weird).

R&B (Restore & Balance) is a leave -in conditioner that smells like the best Hawaiian sunblock ever, combined with the prettiest bouquet of lilacs and lilies. It leaves my hair so soft and adds back in the moisture that’s sucked out from having a frizzy curly Jew fro on top of your head all day. I literally walk down the hall at work, shaking my head back and forth, so I can smell myself. (Weird, again).

AND, I officially reached my limit of using the word “moist” on my blog for the year. Enjoy!

Currently Feeling: Somewhat frustrated, bummed and annoyed, but surprisingly upbeat!
Currently Anticipating: Showing my cancer fundraising support at the Mr. Marina competition tomorrow – should be a bit ridiculous, but a good time!
Currently Needing: To grocery shop – gah! Not having fresh fruit and veggies at my house for meals grosses me out.

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