Style Rivalry: April 2011

In a blatant ripoff of this series, I'll regularly be posting photos of my sisters and me (and, on occasion, my stylish niece!) illustrating outfits we've put together for life in Tucson, Peoria, and San Francisco, respectively.  Here goes!

Samantha is a second-year medical student living in Tucson, cooking up gourmet meals, and frequently turning up for dive bar book club.  The following outfit recently carried her through a lovely weekend, Day 1 of which was spent hanging out at a courtyard BBQ and then dancing at Festival en el Barrio Viejo.  On Day 2 of this outfit, Samantha went to breakfast at a local cafe and then took a leisurely drive through Tucson's historic neighborhoods.  {I love the way she added the unexpected white button down to this maxi dress, and knotting it made it look so cute.}

{Frye sandals, Target dress, H&M button down, earrings from Nicaraguan street vendor}

Karie is a NICU nurse living in Peoria who is enjoying maternity leave with her new daughter Charlee, likes any sort of design show, and is always up for scouring the Target endcaps.  She cooked up this outfit to comfortably take her through a lot of cuddling, feeding, and diaper changes, as well as hemming new white curtains for her living room (which look great, by the way) and having dinner with her husband.  Props to Karie for being a new mom and sleep deprived and still managing to look beautiful!  {Charlee is looking quite the stylish baby as well, in her pink and white getup with matching headband!}

{on Karie: top: Motherhood; jeans: Kohls; sandals: Dillards; earrings: Anthropologie}
{on Charlotte: Old Navy onesie}

I am a lawyer, part-time library science student, frequent crafter, and one of San Francisco's biggest fans.  I recently wore this outfit to work in the Financial District and then to do some errands on the way home, traversing the city on Muni and BART.  These Jessica Simpson flats from Dillard's in Arizona are surprisingly comfortable, even with their slight heel.  I've already worn the heels down once; my man J.J. on Mission reheeled them and they're good as new.

{Blouse: I Heart Ronson; skirt: Banana Republic; belt: Anthropologie; flats: Jessica Simpson; earrings: Anthropologie; glasses: Dior}

Do you have a favorite outfit or piece of clothing that just makes you feel good every time you wear it?  I definitely have go-to pieces--my Gap straight leg jeans, a navy cardigan, and those brown flats you see above.  I kind of have to stop myself from wearing them all too often.

Thai Chile, Honey Thyme, Secret Breakfast

...are all totally imaginative ice cream flavors available at various ice cream shops in San Francisco.  Secret Breakfast, in particular, is one that has come up in my conversations with Karie several times now.  As a result (and also due to the general Shira love for ice cream), we started joking around about doing an ice cream tour of the city.  We decided then and there that it would be doable (and not even all that guilt-inducing) if we walked between locations.  We surmised that we could hit 4 or 5 shops in an afternoon.

{photo from Daily Candy}

This is perfect timing because Karie and Sam are coming for a visit at the end of this week today!  They are making the seemingly-endless slog up I-5 as I type.

Not one to procrastinate, last week I started designing the route for our tasty tour.  Though this city boasts great ice cream shops in the double digits, I narrowed my list to five.  Our tour will take us on a lopsided loop through Noe Valley, the Inner and Outer Mission, Duboce Triangle, and Bernal Heights.  I adjusted it so that we'll go through or past some of the nicest parks in the city--Holly Park, Dolores Park, Precita Park, and Bernal Hill Park.

I'm calling this undertaking "3 Girls, 5 Ice Cream Shops, 7.1 Miles."

Which shops made the oh-so-elite list, you ask?  Well, I chose Mitchell's, Bi-Rite Creamery*, Three Twins, Humphry Slocombe, and Maggie Mudd.

Practical considerations for this tour include wearing comfortable shoes, bringing a large amount of water, and limiting ourselves to one scoop at each joint. 

Of course, as I was mapping out the route, I started to calculate the probability of us burning more calories on our walk than we were planning to ingest at the ice cream shops.  Even with our 7.1 mile loop, which does include hiking up the north side of Bernal Hill (very steep in places), I don't think we'll burn more than we take in.

But that's okay.  You only live once.

Here's my ice cream-tastic Google map of the route:


View Larger Map

*Bi-Rite is not new to us.  But we love it so much, especially its heavenly salted carmel ice cream, that it simply had to be included.