The Weekend Send-Off

July 29th, 2011 - filed under: Furthermore » Feedback

OM NOM NOM



Hello hello hello! Oi to the weekend! Oi to summer and sun and play! Oi to mini vacation weekend adventures and to lazy afternoons spent lounging! Oi to abundance and bounty and manifesting desire!

Oi to the world,
all the boys and girls,
Oi to the fishes in the deep blue sea,
and Oi to you and me!

And a special “Oi!” with a super thanks to Miss Meghan (Bonzai’s OG Meghan), who was so kind to drop a little something into my tip jar this week. Thank you so much lady, you help to make this place awesome and fun and I think you’re just the bees knees!

And now, without any further ado, on with the thankfulness!

Le Love List

1. HELLO MY BOOK IS ON PRE-SALE!!!    This is just about the most exciting thing to happen to me in a long time. I am just giddy, and honestly, I’ve rarely felt such genuine pride in something. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m always proud of the work I do because I always do my best, but this book . . . well, it’s just my passion, and mostly I think it’s really, really going to be useful for women – both informationally and inspirationally. And I’m just pleased as punch about that. =)


2. San Francisco/Bay Area – Here We Cooooome!    Next weekend/week the little family and I will be going on our first real vacation (ie, not “home” to visit family). We’ll be galavanting all around the bay, where I did some of my growing up (UC Berkeley “Village” family student housing, what what!). I haven’t been to the bay since going vegan, and I am seeeeriously excited to try some of the amazing eats there. We’re thinking a fancy-pants dinner at Millenium and a meal at Cafe Gratitude (which location is best??) and Damian is definitely getting a Cinnaholic and I’d love to visit the all-vegetarian sushi restaurant. But, we’ll have a ton more meals and I don’t even know how to choose, so please give your recommendations! What’s your fave veg restaurant, and what’s their best dish?! What are the “must see/eat” stuffs? Raw foods? Breakfast spots? Best coffee? Also, fun things to do! Cheap museums/attractions? Kid-friendly outings? Awesome shopping? (thrift and vintage of course) We’ll be spending time in both SF and in the east bay, so gimme all you got! Thanks guys!


3. Yesterday I was driving home and I saw this business man in a super-nice suite pull his 60+ thousand dollar car over to the side of the road, hop out, and buy a cup of lemonade from some kids on the corner, and if that’s not the sweetest thing ever, then I don’t know what is.

~~~

Alright guys, now it’s your turn – tell me what you’re loving this week!


My darlings, this happy little post will stay at the top of the page all weekend, so stop by any time to leave your Love List, ask a question, or offer some feedback! Or if you’re new, please introduce yourself and say ‘Oi!’! This is your community, so get involved!

Have a grand and glorious weekend, m’ dears!

  • http://windycityvegan.wordpress.com Monika {windycityvegan}

    Hooray weekend! I’m still reeling from my family’s road trip and can’t wait to spend my first full weekend at home in a month.

    1. I start coaching for another race and our kick-off run (or walk – lots of walkers!) is TOMORROW! The enthusiasm floating around the office is so powerful. Also, Nina will be joining us. Our little half marathon mascot!

    2. We transitioned our three cats to being fully outdoors (they’re probably going to have their own kitty barn for when the weather cools off, otherwise they’ll be back in the house) and they are really digging it. What cat wouldn’t love having a 15-acre playground?

    3. Nina prefers to word arithmetic to math. It’s so. stinking. cute. And she’s picking it up pretty quickly, too.

  • Bee

    Have fun in the Bay! I live in the area and STILL have yet to go to Millennium and Cinnaholic, although both have stellar reputations! Here are some of my must-have Bay Area vegan eats: uhh-mazing vegan Mexican food at Gracias Madre (owned by Cafe Gratitude) near Dolores Park (a fun family hangout!). Think: cashew cheese tameles with steamed collard greens and black beans. YUM. There’s an ice cream shop down the street with yummy vegan ice cream, but I can’t remember the name… Other than that, Big Lantern in the Mission for vegan dim sum; Mojo or Bean Bag Cafe on Divisadero for coffee; and sandwiches at Love N’ Haight on (duh) Haight Street (definitely NOT raw, though). Enjoy!

  • Moira

    oh mannn.. I’ll start a list for you. I might have more in another post!

    San Francisco:
    1. Millennium. a MUST. I looove their black bean/plantain torte on the app list.
    2. Herbivore. a great anytime food.
    3. Gracias Madre in the Mission District. I haven’t been (why.. NO clue but I hear its fab).
    4. Rainbow Coop. awesome coop for all folks who entertain themselves with wandering aisles of cool grocery stores. They also have a great selection of vegan meals to go in the fridge case.
    5. Saturday’s farmers market at the Ferry Plaza – one of the Vendors sells excellent vegan sushi rolls made with love <3 (also at Berkeley's farmers market on Saturday)
    6. I've been meaning to go to the Plant Cafe. It is fairly new and I walked by it recently. http://www.theplantcafe.com/index.htm But I think it is by the same folks as Lettus – if so, it won't disappoint.

    Berkeley:
    1. Cha-Ya. Hands down my fav. They have lunchtime specials. I love their soba noodle salad. Tempura sushi rolls are divine. Spinich/broccolini salad is fab. I hear the Berkeley location is better than SF but I can't say that myself.
    2. Gather. Very veg and vegan friendly and completely delicious!
    3. Cafe Gratitude. Here or in SF.. just go!
    4. Zatar restaurant. Beautiful food, vegan friendly. Totally worth it. They aren't open everyday, so check in advance.
    5. Epicurious Garden. They have several little restaurants here that are worth going to: Soop, Imperial Tea Court, Picoso.
    6. Chik-o-peas. It's good cheap eats (not great but good).
    7. Berkeley Bowl. Great grocery store. Enough said.

    If I think of more.. I'll put it in another post.

  • http://exoticdonkeymeat.com Kate

    Thrift shopping in San Francisco – the Mission district gave me some of my favorite duds!!!

  • Griffin

    Like others have said, Gracias Madre is amazing. Ike’s is an amazing sandwich place with vegan renditions of all of their sandwiches — the line is usually really long, but it’s so worth it.

    Thrifting in the Mission is a must. Look at Mission and Valencia between 17th and 20th streets, all the good shops will be on those blocks.

    Have fun!

  • http://salonnaturelles.blogspot.com/ Evelyn

    My name is Evelyn and I’m new to Bonzai. I love this site! I’ve been telling everyone about it and trying lots of your recipes. Oi!!! ;)

  • Rebecca

    Never did make it up to Nor Cal during my 1 year stint at UCLA…sounds spectacular though!

    1. A lovely thank you note from the family I have been babysitting for (I have worked for them for a year now and the mom wanted to mark the occasion). Seriously, people don’t realize how far a thank you goes (so often we THINK the thank you but never express it…note to self, note to self!)

    2. Finding out that my dog’s many bumps are completely benign, sebaceous cysts (I think I will spare you all the grossness of how I discovered what they were…man, I don’t get easily grossed out but WHOA).

    3. Kids starting out as non-readers and now bringing 10 books right to my lap and then resting their head on my arm as I read to them on the bench in the library….

    4. Cleaning other peoples’ houses—no, really!

  • Rebecca
  • http://www.love-life-project.com Stephanie

    I’m happy today because the rain is pouring down, and I have nowhere to go. It doesn’t get much cozier than that!

  • Danika

    Happy weekend, and wishing you a fun week of vacay!
    1. Sons of Anarchy. I don’t get into many television shows, but this is on our netflix and it’s *real* good.
    2. Running. This is a big deal from a girl who would only think of running if being chased by something/someone really scary up until two weeks ago. Today: I ran three miles without stopping! Felt good.
    3. Summer vacation. This was the first of my three week school vacation and staying home with my three girls is *so* wonderful.

  • Amanda

    Have a great vacay in the Bay Area! Millennium is sooooo delicious! :]

  • http://www.jenzalewski.com Jen

    Just found your site and am having an awesome time reading through entries. Keep it up! :D

  • http://www.zerowastelifestyle.blogspot.com/ Sonja

    On my love list are my butternut squash which are ready to harvest and so many cherry tomatoes-how will we ever eat them all? Will have to give some away.
    Also on my love list is good old NYC. How I love that city. I have never been to the West Coast-on my love to list is: would love to visit California someday-I would start at the top and work my way down all the way to San Diego-a girl’s gotta dream right?

  • http://kaleandkumquats.blogspot.com cathy

    Definately check out cha-ya. Afterwords go down to cafe gratitude for dessert. I worked at both the san fran. and berkeley locations for several years and they have the BEST. DESSERTS. EVAH. If you’re in San Fran. Millenium is a great for a fancy shmancy meal. Dosa has some amazing south indian food, not soley vegetarian, but tons of options. I wasn’t super impressed by herbivore, just sayin. Also…rainbow grocery and the farmers market at the ferry plaza on Saturday.

  • http://vegmomof4.blogspot.com/ April

    When my hubby and I went to SF for our honeymoon, we dined at Millenium. The final bill was a bit of a shocker, but it was soooo worth it :) Hope you love it!

    My Love List:

    (1) My garden – i’ve been enjoying the fresh basil, yellow beans, kale, zucchini, peppers and cucumbers. Waiting on the tomatoes, beets and eggplant to be ready. mmmmmmmmmmmm

    (2) My 10 month old Dylan popped 3 new teeth yesterday, now doubling the number of teeth he has. That explains all the crabbiness :P

    (3) Pizzas on the grill – the kids and I made these last night for dinner. Homemade pizza without heating up the house? Hellz Yeah!!!!!

  • http://vegmomof4.blogspot.com/ April

    Oh a place that my hubby and I loved when we were in SF was Brenda’s French Soul Food. I know they have a few yummo Vegetarian dishes, but I am not sure about Vegan. The menu is on their website http://www.frenchsoulfood.com/
    I fell in love with their Coffee with Chicory, and now its the only way I take my coffee!
    http://shop.cafedumonde.com/coffee.html

  • Emilie

    Hello!
    In line with some of the previous comments, you should most definitely drop by Cafe Gratitude and Herbivore!
    Also, maybe check out Cultured in Berkeley (http://www.culturedpickleshop.com) since you love all things fermented, raw, and full of life!
    Have a great trip! :-)

  • http://joyfulyogawithtara.blogspot.com/ Tara

    Have fun on your vacation! I’ve never been to the area, but always wanted to visit and now thanks to the comments have several great places to go when I finally make it out there. Now on to the list of love…
    1. My little man’s smiles. Yes, he started smiling this week and although they don’t seem to be directed at anything or anyone at this point just seeing joy on his face is about the coolest thing I have yet to experience.
    2. A night out with good friends. Friday night the hubby and I were able to go out with some wonderful peeps we haven’t seen in awhile. Our first night out with friends since the babes been born was a big success! Yay!
    3. Lazy weekends with the family. After our little adventure out Friday night the rest of the weekend was spent lounging and cuddling with my boys. We’re settling into this parenting gig and it feels so good!

  • Beens

    A little late to this, but better late than never

    1. Living alone! OMFG, amazing!
    2. The fact that I can throw a few things in the car and a 20 minute ride later, I’m at the beach. I love living here.
    3. Settling in and getting my kitchen mojo back: freezer is now stocked with lunches and blanched veggies. Not to mention the yummy green smoothie that I’m tucking into right now :D

  • http://www.sarathomas.etsy.com sara thomas

    sayward! have fun in SF! if you have time you should check out haight & ashbury. there were awesome second hand stores, coffee shops & yummy thai food. thanks for sharing that lemonade story. seriously, it made my day & i didn’t even see it.

    so i am a little late on the list, but we are on vacation! so here we go:

    1. being on vacation, spending time with family & friends!

    2. daring to take risks and make changes. my husband and i have decided to put our house up for sale and move. we realized we are feeling trapped where were are. there aren’t any opportunities for us or our son, and we want to be around more like-minded people. we are so excited about starting over!

    3. august. my favorite time of year is coming!! i LOVE the end of summer & fall! (even though people hate on me for wishing away the summer!) i love the cool refreshing weather, the colors, foods, comfort & coziness of fall right into the the holidays. of course, i am ready for summer by january! ha!

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    THANK YOU guys! These are exactly the kind of recs I was hoping for! And now I’m even more excited, muahaha. YAY!

    And of course, as always, your amazing Love Lists are an absolute joy. Love you guys!

    @ Evelyn – Welcome, oi! =D

    @ Rebecca – That was hysterical, and soooo Portland, haha.

    @ sara thomas – Where are you guys moving to??

  • http://catnip13.blogspot.com/ Catnip

    My favorite places to eat in the Bay Area are not vegan but both very vegan friendly – Picante in Albany and Cafe Mediterranean in Concord. If you were heading in the direction of Sacramento, I’d have a ton of suggestions (and our local vegan store would love to have you come do a book tour stop there …)

  • http://catnip13.blogspot.com/ Catnip

    Oh, I’ve had really great luck with the Valencia St location of Herbivore, not so much luck with the Berkeley one. The SF location was super awesome the last time I was there with my little one – she didn’t like her meal (mac and ‘cheese’), they took it back, brought out samples of both soups, then brought out a bowl of ‘buttered’ rice and tofu and charged us like $2 for her meal in the end. Super nice.

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    @ Catnip – Aww, love that you mentioned Albany. I grew up there, in the UC student family housing. =)

    I’ll have to check that place out!

  • http://www.sarathomas.etsy.com sara thomas

    @sayward- we are hoping to move to grand haven, MI where pete (my husband) is from. it’s a cute little town right on lake MI. super nice & many opportunities for our family. right now we live in upstate NY & have been ready to get out for a while now!

  • Katherine

    Hi, Sayward, I am a new poster, and I love everything you have to say, I have had a trying weekend and I would love to here how your weekend went. I am a transitioning vegan and I need some encouragement. Thanks so much for all you write. It is wonderful.

Subscribe to my RSS feed Follow me on twitter Find me on Facebook Find me on Pinterest