{boots :: Steve Madden | socks :: old H&M | tights :: Hue | shorts :: Levi’s via Marshall’s | sweater :: Old Navy via Goodwill | denim jacket :: Climate Control via Wasteland | shades :: Clobba Haight St.}
Crossed the bay over to Oakland yesterday to meet up with some friends for dinner and drinks. The moon was huge and yellow as it came up over the Oakland skyline and I immediately regretted not bringing my camera with me. I am hesitant to bring it out with me since my last one was stolen. I have this wierd anxiety that I am going to set it down somewhere and it’ll just be gone. I need to get over this.
I caught Bart over to West Oakland and met up with my friend Dani, who bartends with me at my work. She’s a fantastic Floridian of the non-crazy variety. Or at least the good crazy variety. She scooped me up in her darling little orange rollerskate of a car and we headed over to feast upon the visual and culinary deliciousness over at Mua Oakland bar and restaurant. Their industrial/warehouse space is fantastic and huge, full of interesting art, attractive human beings, and outstanding libations. A tiny, elderly asian woman in a green dress seated us at one of the small round tables in the center of the dining room, where we had a full 360 degree view of the restaurant, with it’s double-height ceiling and exposed brick walls. Their bar is beautiful and well populated, even on a Tuesday evening. We started out with the burrata and the beef bone marrow, which were both mouth watering. Our other coworker, Povi, joined us with her brother and not long after my friend Prudence arrived. We caught up over another round of drinks and an order of the citrus-chili chicken wings, which might have been my favorite of the evening. I got the duck confit for the main course and completely devoured the whole thing. The cocktails were scrumptious, my personal favorite being the rosemary martini, which was so refreshing and light it was a little bit dangerous. So easy to drink!
We moved on to Plum on Broadway, which was dimly lit and beautifully appointed, with mirrored light fixtures and walls papered in poetry. The bartenders were friendly and entertaining and the drinks were excellent and well recommended. It was a quiet evening, with maybe eight or nine other people at the bar with our group, most of whom seemed to be on dates; it was a tuesday night, after all. We lingered at the bar for a bit before moving to an open window table and carrying on conversations on all manner of things as the few people out on the street passed our warm little bubble of inebriated conversation.
It was a pleasantly crisp evening, with the christmas lights twinkling on the oak trees all over town. I was comfortable in these Levi’s shorts layered over a pair of tights, with some wooly warm socks keeping my toes from freezing in my boots. I ended up swapping this jacket out for my vintage velvet trench and my new favorite scarf (which I wore together here).
All in all a lovely night full of grand adventures with friends new and old. I don’t get over to Oakland enough, so I’m excited to have friends that live over there and know their way around. It’s funny, I have loads of family in the East Bay, but I never really explored it much. It’ll be fun discovering what it has to offer.
GYPSI 