Seeing as how I’m not a big drinker, I’m not one to get excited about a pub crawl. But a food crawl — where you hop from restaurant to restaurant with a group of strangers-turned-friends — that’s something I could get excited about. So when Dishcrawl invited me to participate in one of their events, which takes diners to four different restaurants in one night, I said, “Yes, please!”
The restaurants are kept secret until the first location is revealed 48 hours before the event; the rest of the food spots are revealed as the night goes on. In the meantime, meals are eaten, connections are made and friendships are formed. I believe wholeheartedly that food is what brings people together best and during Dishcrawl, Eaman and I made some great connections and new friends. Seeing as how we’re still new to the city, it was a wonderful way to meet locals.
Somewhere between a freelance writing career, social media position, this blog, puppy-rearing, friends-making, relationship-nurturing and home decorating, I gave up on me time and the things outside of the home that make me happy. But with summer upon us and a 6-month San Diego-versy looming, I thought, what better time than a new season to get back on track?
I very much thrive on lists, so I thought I’d share the 15 things on my summer checklist. They’re not ground-breaking activities, but they are the things that make me happiest. When life gets in the way, you sometimes have to put the fun stuff on a to-do list.
For me, Buona Forchetta was love at first Instagram. I had seen the new Neapolitan pizzeria shared on Instagram by some San Diego locals, and I think it was the combination of twinkling string lights and location that got me. The restaurant is located on a quiet stretch of South Park and boasts a minimal, but authentic menu and a fresh-off-the-Italian-boat staff. In fact, the night we were there last week, the owner’s mother was in town from Italy, serving up her own dessert menu. That was our first hint at the deliciousness to come.
Every city has a typical day that’s almost cliche. In New York it was going out hard on Saturday night, waking up in a haze, heading to brunch the next morning, shopping your hangover away and then ordering takeout while watching bad TV on Sunday night. Does that or does that not sound like an episode of Sex and the City? Well, it does happen.
I felt like I finally had my cliche San Diego day on Saturday, and you know what? It was my favorite day here since we moved in January. We ventured over to Coronado Island, a pristine, Pleasantville-like neighborhood with well-manicured lawns, gorgeous homes, a famous hotel and popular beaches. Our destination was Coronado’s dog beach, a place where dogs can romp leash-free and go wild in the water. I haven’t yet been to Ocean Beach’s dog beach, but I hear Coronado’s is much nicer. And I can see why.
Dogs are well-behaved, owners are responsible (a.k.a. they pick up poop), the area is clean and parking is plentiful. (I hear fleas are a bigger problem at OB, too.) Everyone at Coronado’s beach — humans and canines alike — is just so nice and easy-going. In my experience, the water is also warmer off Coronado than off the popular La Jolla’s shorelines.
How did Teddy like it? Well, golden retrievers are major hydrophiles — and Teddy is no exception. He wouldn’t voluntarily frolic in the ocean at first but had no qualms about us putting him in there and swimming himself out. (I particularly enjoyed seeing his hair get frizzy post-swim — picture after the jump). Teddy also played with a 10-week-old border collie and got chased (in play) by an adult dog who freaked him out. (He hasn’t yet grasped the concept of rough play.)
Going to the beach, playing with our dog and then grabbing tacos afterwards at our favorite spot, El Indio? As cliche as you can get and for me, as perfect as it could get. Days like Saturday are the reason we moved here. Pictures and video ahead… read more
Weekends around these parts have lately been plan-free and ultra lazy. Even though we still log in some work hours on Saturdays and Sundays — that’s the life of a freelancer — we’ve also had the best time gliding from the park to the market to the couch to Teddy’s puppy breath. Here’s what we’ve been up to:
I’d love to say I have a particular style, but it tends to change with every new city I live in — and in a big way. I loved dressing up in New York, where it’s perfectly normal to head out to work at 9 a.m. in a ruffle skirt, chartreuse silk button-down and ankle booties. My tops went from dressy to dressier. My jewelry ranged from big to bigger. The only t-shirts I owned were the ones I wore to bed. I once went to work in neon pink tights.
This past weekend was our first taste of street festival culture in San Diego with Adams Avenue Unplugged, a two-day live (and free) music festival where 130 acts performed in restaurants, cafes, parks, bars, galleries and churches. Two double-decker buses transported people from one end of the street to the other, and food and clothing vendors filling out the day. But the coolest part by far was watching actor John C. Reilly (of my favorite movie Cyrus) perform with his folk band John C. Reilly & Friends.
There we were, standing on a pew in the back of a jam-packed church, watching a movie star jam with talented musicians on a Saturday in San Diego — definitely not something I expected to happen when I left New York for this small big city. Also, I now love the banjo.
Take a look at snaps from the festival. And check out my love for Adams Avenue here.
I’d like to think that my first birthday in San Diego — I turned 28 on Friday — was a huge success. One of my best friends and her husband came to visit, I dined on my birthday food staples (brunch, pizza and cookie cake), clocked in outdoor time despite gloomy weather, went to my neighborhood farmer’s market and played around with Teddy, the ultimate birthday present — even though he’s begun to bite us like crazy.
