We recently hit the six-month mark in San Diego and to be totally honest, there are some things that I don’t love about this city. Lately I’ve been getting bogged down with all the negatives (as I see them), but I’m trying to snap out of it. I mean, it’s really hard to compete with New York City and international travel, so I can’t say it’s all San Diego’s fault — not to mention the fact that it’s been a mere six months.
What’s been helping me is to focus on what I do like. Here are six specific things that I think are so special and wonderful to San Diego:
I don’t know why I bother buying Teddy stuffed animals when he rips them to shreds. To be fair, I only buy his toys at Ross or T.J. Maxx so they’re much cheaper and he’s painfully adorable when he first meets his new toy, but this particular one lasted one day before Teddy ripped an ear off. On Sunday, he ripped the other ear off. Poor blue pup.
One of my favorite things about Instagram is the Newsfeed. On the one hand, it’s uncomfortable to know that your followers can track whose photos you like or comment on. On the other hand, it’s a cool way to discover interesting new people. That’s how I stumbled upon Jaymee, her excellent photography and very picturesque website and blogJayAdores. In her corner of the internet, she shares graphic design work, client mood boards and glimpses of a charming beach life.
And as I found out from poring over her blog, Jaymee lived in Honolulu for a few years, recently moved to SoCal and is a fan of the most amazing workout called TurboKick. With so much in common, I had to reach out and find out what rituals this California girl calls her own.
I come from a traditional taco shell family, but Eaman’s family is all about the taco salad. I think I always shied away from taco salads because I hate salads and am reluctant to give any a chance. But once I realized the taco salad is basically a glorified nacho — YES — I became a convert.
Recently we searched for the brand his family uses, but when we couldn’t find it, we figured it wouldn’t be all that hard to make the bowls ourselves. And guess what? It’s really, ridiculously easy. Find out how after the jump:
I’m endlessly fascinated by what people eat. And when they eat. And where they eat (i.e. kitchen table, work, subway). Not to get too psychoanalytical, but I think a peek at someone’s food diary is a (pretty telling) peek at someone’s personality. Do you love cooking at home or is your stove a mysterious, never-used contraption? Do you frequent the same spot because you crave familiarity or is visiting new restaurants how you get your kicks? Do you take your coffee the same way every day? Or do you think coffee is a heathen beverage akin to crack in a cup?
I read dozens of blogs each week, but there are three in particular I read religiously. Naturally they all feed my stalker-like obsession. Get to know ’em after the jump:
I’ve been pretty open about how it can be difficult to make friends in a new city, but that also means that when you see a familiar face or name, you get all the more excited.
That’s how I felt when I reconnected with Raluca State, a former agency publicist-turned-freelance PR consultant whom I worked with in my past magazine days. She had handled the opening of San Diego’s first Madewell, and we got to catch up there — about leaving big cities (her, L.A.; me, New York) for Southern California and if we miss big corporate life now that we’re both freelance.
Raluca is also the voice behind the amazing parenting/style blog WhatWouldGwynethDo. (Catchy name, no?) On top of all that, she’s a wife and mother of two. Oh, and she writes for The Huffington Post, too. Today she talks about meal planning, Southern California luxuries and her wild Friday nights.
Back in April, I shared a glimpse of our apartment, and with it, a look at my meager home office. I had wanted to paint the desk all white, but Eaman thought it was too severe, so we comprised by making a couple of the drawers colorful. Well, the more I looked at it, the more I didn’t like it. And surprise, surprise, I care more about interior design than Eaman, so I repainted those drawers white and had my white-on-white dreams come true.
But I needed more than just a color change. Here are 6 other ways I updated my office space — all done on the cheap:
I don’t know about you guys, but in this summer heat, I have trouble making proper meals. Anything that requires a hot stove top — or worse — a long bake time in the oven, is just out of the question on these sweltering days. More days than not, you can find me with a piece of toast, a swipe of pesto, cubed mozzarella and sliced tomatoes fresh from the farmer’s market. The summer tomatoes have been delicious, and I think they figure into 5 out of the 7 days of my week. (Sorry, bell pepper. You will be missed.)
I recently made this one-pot pasta with cherry tomatoes but didn’t like the idea of nuking something that’s so amazing when eaten fresh. So I thought I’d collect a few recipes — in the vein of this avocado post — to share with you some easy and tasty ways to make use of summer’s greatest bounty. Specials thanks to our new balcony basil plant. I couldn’t have done it without you.
