Julie T.'s Profile

Marit's invitations, save-the-date cards, announcements, desk calendars, and stationery are some of the most creative pieces of correspondence I have ever seen. If you're planning an event and you're looking for something really different, she is absolutely the designer to provide it. She's spent time developing thoughtful designs that fit with just about any theme. She can modify color schemes and layout elements to meet her clients' specific desires, or can design totally custom pieces that leave you assured that yours is really, truly unique. I can spend hours thumbing through her existing designs (all of which are online), simply because they're so much fun to look at.

Since Marit Hanson Weddings is a boutique design house, she is able to maintain total control over the quality. This means that the final product is simply no less than wonderful... from the quality of the paper, to the exact color tone of the ink, to the fonts, to the images, to the coordination with other important elements. Her work is just awesome, and her pricing extremely competitive. Because she works with standard, semi-custom and full-custom pieces, she can tweak her projects to meet just about any reasonable budget.

In addition to her talent and the quality of her products, Marit is educated in graphic design at the collegiate level, and continues to expand and develop her craft in every possible way. She is also one of the nicest people I've ever met. She's positive, upbeat, and funny, and an absolute joy to work with. If you're planning a wedding, regardless of where you live, make sure you contact her for a bid. You will not be disappointed.

I've known Sherri Jackson personally and professionally for almost five years and in that time, I have watched her go from a naturally talented photographer to an extremely educated artist who takes her craft more seriously than almost every other photographer I've known. For Sherri this is not just a job... it's a career that she continues to expand and develop through travel, photo shoots in constantly varying local environments, investment in top-of-the-line equipment, and as much contemporary professional education as she can possibly fit into the hours of her life.

Aside from expanding her craft, Sherri is an extremely kind and adaptable person with incredible communications skills, a fabulous sense of humor, and the uncanny ability to make people feel at-ease. She has a natural talent for recognizing amazing settings, tweaking exactly the right lighting, capturing action, and bringing out the very best in her subjects. When it comes to photography I have amazingly high standards and, despite that, Sherri is a photographer I would enthusiastically recommend for absolutely any project.

Again with the pho.

I've been to Kim's before, years ago, but I don't think I had any idea what to order. I'm sure it was good, albeit unmemorable to make me not rush back.

But now, the pho. Oh my god the pho. So far it is the best I have had. Super fresh noodles and veggies and DELICIOUS beef. Actually, side note: pho has been the thing responsible pho making me eat beef again.

This place makes me so happy, because I can get the food I most crave these days without having to drive to Mira Mesa. And I apologize in advance to anyone who lives there, but other than the IMAX I can't think of any other reason I would possibly want to go to Mira Mesa.

So I've developed this new, intense, maybe or maybe not healthy fixation on the Vietnamese sensation that is Pho. I hadn't ever had it before a month or so ago. I have now had it at least six times. Three of those times have been at Ca Dao.

We were the only white people in the entire restaurant, all three times. And, honestly, I think that's how you know when ethnic food is good... when the place is jam-packed with people of the ethnicity of the food. By the third time I went there, the staff actually had started making fun of me by saying stuff like "see you tomorrow!" when I was on my way out. They're sweet as can be, though... it's all in good humor. And I'll bet they're flattered that I love their fare so much.

I'm becoming somewhat of a Pho connoisseur, as pathetic as that probably sounds. That said, I've removed one star for steak that is not as 100% high-quality as I'd prefer when the only reason it's at all cooked is that it's dropped raw into my steaming-hot bowl of soup. It isn't bad, but in my recent Pho ventures I've found that it also isn't the best. Will I go back? Totally. I couldn't let these guys down. :-)

Oddly enough, I'd already been planning to go to La Puerta on this same Wednesday when I got the invite for the event. Major coincidence!

I love Yelp parties because they give me the chance to go to places I've never been before. La Puerta was awesome. The food wasn't terribly unique (it's MEXICAN food... I'm not sure how crazy you can go with that). But La Puerta's presentation of it was awesome. Tostaditas! Taquititos! And totally fabulous guacamole. The margaritas were also great. Perfect amount of sweetness. Huge applause to the staff who couldn't have been better at making sure everyone was well taken care of.

I'll definitely check this place out again on a normal night. Thanks for another great one, Ruggy!

Yesterday these guys did something that earned themselves a spot on my list of five-star establishments, instead of leaving me with a "meh" feeling about their customer service. It's easy to make the right choice, but not all companies do.

A few years ago I bought a Bose Cinemate speaker system. It serves as my TV speakers and it's hooked up to a Mac Airport so I can play music on them remotely.

One problem: there's no on/off switch on this mechanism. The sole method for controlling it is with the remote control (which is super stupid, for obvious reasons on which I don't need to elaborate). On Sunday, said remote control just stopped working.

I called Bose and got some guy on the east coast who spent 15+ minutes running me through ten different moronic actions (like changing the batteries and disconnecting/reconnecting the system three or four times... which I had, of course, already done three or four times), none of which worked. Then he said it "your remote control is broken." Yep... thanks dude. That's why I called. Then he tells me that I can pay $50 to have a new one shipped to me. Are you serious? If I'm PAYING for the replacement, then why did you just run me through all of that bullshit?

Oh well. Whatever. I decided to call the Bose store instead. And you know what? Dude was like "Oh, I have a new one here. I'm not supposed to sell them but if you bring your broken one in I will give you this new one." So yesterday I did. And it works. And because of this? I might just go back there at some point in the future and buy something else.

Thanks guys. :-)

I really love this place. Seriously. I'm there at least once a month if not more.

I have had two experiences at Bed Bath & Beyond that make me totally loyal to them. In my opinion they're up there with Nordstrom and Costco as far as customer service goes. A few years back I returned my defective Roomba with no receipt, and they allowed me to use the $279 towards the purchase of a much better vacuum. Then, today, my beloved coffeemaker broke. It's one of those innovative single-cup brewers, so it wasn't cheap, and it probably lacks in engineering what it makes up for in convenience. Again, I had no receipt (why don't I ever learn?). Anyway, I took it back and they were like "No problem. Do you just want to get a new one or do you want to get something else?"

Now that's seriously awesome.

I also love Bed Bath & Beyond because they have EVERYTHING. Really. I don't think there's anything in the home convenience genre that I have not been able to find there. And their 20% off coupons mean you can get SERIOUS deals on big ticket items, which I've already done with a Dyson vacuum and plan to do soon with the KitchenAid mixer I've been coveting for at least two years.

This was a fun, fun party, mostly because Bing's just KEPT THE BOOZE ROLLING to the point where I'm pretty damn sure I had absolutely no business driving home. And it was good booze... Pilsner, Stoli, fairly nice wines. I sampled most of it.

Based on Ruggy's pre-party email, I was surprised at the amount of food that went around at this party. There were two items served that I'd do almost anything to eat again (these items actually temporarily forced me off of my non-Beef and Pork-eating sensibilities). These were the stuffed mushrooms and the open-faced BLT. The BLT was ridic. I haven't had anything that good in a while.

I loved the atmosphere, also. As usual (and I'm not proud of this... I'd like to get to know more of you people better) I fell into my usual Yelp clique and hung out on the patio, on a big sofa under a heat lamp, next to an awesome table with a fire pit carved into the middle of it. Nice waitresses brought me food and drinks, so there wasn't ever any urgent reason to get up. The environment was so reminiscent of a classy Rat Pack-esque lounge that I almost didn't find myself thinking HOLY SHIT. I'M PARTYING AT FASHION VALLEY.

Almost...

I hate to give a place two stars when they were plenty cheerful and clearly wanted us to enjoy ourselves, but two is really what it deserves.

I had a teriyaki chicken sandwich and a small salad. My mom had a larger salad. Both salads were on the wilted side and came in flimsy plastic bowls that were virtually impossible to eat of out... every time you pushed your fork down, it'd tip to the side and smack back down on the table.

The teriyaki chicken sandwich was okay... not great, but edible.

I'd probably have rated it higher if it weren't for this: the food was a touch below average, and the prices a touch above average for the area. I probably won't eat here again.

Yeah, it damn well better be five stars. We waited for a YEAR to eat here. We had to order two drinks apiece... one to chug, one to sip, just to get over the waiting (in 45-degree weather) part.

Seriously, though, by "year" I really mean "about an hour, give or take" and it was well worth it. Don't go to Grimaldi's if you're claustrophobic, because you're going to be shoved into a booth next to someone you've never seen before in your life, and your butt will actually touch them when you're squeezing in and out of your seat.

It's also important to know that this place is CASH ONLY (read: shady). Unfortunately, we didn't realize this until we'd already waited through about 80% of the line. Thankfully, our hostess had some cash with her. None of us really did. And honestly, by the end of that wait, I'd have just gone ahead and eaten anyway and worried about settling up with them later. A girl doesn't wait for an hour + for nothing.

Grimaldi's is charming. It's nestled underneath the Brooklyn Bridge, just a block or so from Fulton Ferry Landing (wonderful views of the Manhattan skyline from here) and a stones-throw from a lovely little ice cream shop. We ordered a pie with mushrooms, olives, basil, and garlic. It was heavenly. I would do this again in warmer weather.