This past weekend was extra special because Eaman turned 30! As a surprise, I flew his sister in from New York for a few days of San Diego fun. To fete his big day, we brunched at Fig Tree Cafe in Hillcrest, burned it off with a long hike through Torrey Pines and went out with friends to Soda & Swine, a meatball-themed restaurant in North Park, and Polite Provisions, the Prohibition Era-style bar next door. As far as sweets, I know the key to this guy’s heart and made a four-layer Funfetti monstrosity with homemade vanilla buttercream frosting. And because he’s 30 but forever a kid at heart, I put together a little goody bag of treats including Doritos, Cheetos, Goldfish crackers, Gushers and Pringles. Yes, we felt ill all weekend from all that.
For the rest of the weekend, we hit up Windansea Beach, played Bananagrams during sunset at Sunset cliffs, sipped coffee from Caffe Calabria (the best), grilled on our balcony and continued our Saturday tradition: playtime at the Grape Street Dog Park followed by coffee and croissants and Cafe Madeleine.
‘Twas a good — and indulgent — weekend. Hope you had a good one!
As I mentioned on Friday, it’s always amusing to make my monthly video recaps because it paints such a perfect portrait of life. But we all know life is filled with just as much anxiety, trouble, frustration and tears as it is smiles, laughs, skips, hops and jumps. So to balance out the perfection I portrayed I Friday, I thought it was only fair to be totally honest about something that’s been bugging me lately.
The funny thing is that this week was kind of terrible on a few accounts — work-wise, heat wave-wise, even stomach ache-wise. Yet here I am with a video that makes life seem perfect. Keep in mind 1.) It’s not and 2.) This just goes to show you that even though things can suck, you should focus on the positive. I actually think it’d be very therapeutic for everyone to at least once visually recap the happiest moments in one month. It’s a fabulous reminder of all the good in life.
This month I checked out the open streets event known as CicloSDias, hiked a bit (Torrey Pines, Mt. Woodson), finally saw the zoo, hit up San Diego Magazine‘s Best of San Diego party, introduced one of my best friend’s to my favorite fish taco, rode in a helicopter and went paragliding and welcomed my cousin to San Diego. Oh, and you’ll also see our new favorite weekday tradition: Getting ice cream for each of us at South Park’s A Daily Scoop — even special dog ice cream for Teddy. He loves it.
Blogging often means photo shoots, set-ups, props and some serious foresight. But this weekend I reminded myself that not everything has to be a well-orchestrated big idea. I decided to shift from the macro to micro — quite literally. Here’s a little look at what happens when you capture impromptu moments and get friendly with your zoom function.
July was exciting. I covered Comic-Con and an Emmy event for Entertainment Weekly and watched the gay pride parade in my neighborhood of Hillcrest among other fun happenings, but this video recap is all about the little things: watching surfers at the beach, giving Teddy a new toy, enjoying a delicious ice cream sandwich…and crashing an epic July 4th party held in a penthouse apartment thrown by the most fabulous gay couple.
I feel as though it’d be wrong to make you guys think that my life is all about beaches, farmer’s market-sourced dinners, parties, friends and domestic bliss with a new puppy. Yes, those things are a part of my life, but there’s also a lot of less fun stuff involved. Actually, some of the stuff is downright frustrating, miserable and boring.
I don’t like to air my dirty laundry here; I like to use this space to focus on the positive. But for argument’s sake — and to prove that no, my life is far from perfect — here’s a random smattering of less than happy moments as of late. I think it’s important to be honest:
I tried a couple new taco spots, swam with Teddy off Coronado Island, enjoyed watching basketball the only way I know how (via food), spent time with Eaman’s family who visited San Diego, played around for a half day in NYC and traveled to Philly for my cousin’s wedding, where you’ll see a glimpse of our cousin-filled Bollywood dance. Here’s a look at June set to my new favorite song. Watch the last few seconds for a glamorous shot of me. Just tryin’ to keep it real, people.
Music: “I Follow Rivers” (The Magician Remix) by Lykke Li
Monday was all about my blip of a trip to New York, and today is all about my cousin’s Indian-Jewish wedding in Philadelphia. For those that don’t know, Indian weddings are epic events that stretch over days. They have a tendency to go overboard, but my cousin, Akhila, and her now-husband, Will, – both doctors – managed to keep it intimate with a wedding that so perfectly captured their personalities. All of the events stayed true to what they’re passionate about: nature, healthy living and the arts.
We kicked things off with a girls’ manicure at Mi Cumbia, a super-cool Colombian-themed nail salon with organic nail polishes, and coffee and dark chocolate on tap before heading over to a mehndi party where Akhila had her hands and feet decked out in henna. The rest of us got a bit of our own, and I’m happy to report that mine is holding up nicely. (It usually doesn’t.)
Saturday was a joint family picnic in Philly followed by a song-and-dance night known as the sangeet held at an industrial-style space with a backyard garden. My cousins and I performed a Bollywood dance that I had choreographed and taught via YouTube, and despite our distances – me in San Diego, one in Hawaii, others in New Jersey and one who practiced at the airport en route to the wedding (!) – it was a hit. Though I must say, the groom’s surprise ukelele rendition of a famous Bollywood song was my favorite act.
And then came the ceremony at an arts center on Sunday. I’m always fascinated to see how people bring together two cultures at a wedding, and this one — mostly Jewish traditions mixed with a few Hindu rituals — was further evidence that there are so many similarities between cultures, a lesson I learned from my 13 months of backpacking. There’s the common act of a cloth separating the bride and groom until the first moment they see each other that day; the bride walks around her groom seven times in the Jewish tradition just as the couple walks around a fire seven times in the Hindu tradition; the ceremonial Jewish cloth the groom wraps around the bride is much like the Hindu ritual of tying the groom’s outfit to the bride’s. It was fun to see how seamlessly these two religions could work together.
We danced, we photo booth-ed, we ate flourless chocolate cake. Take a look:
