It’s time to get real real. I’m juggling a whole lot on my plate right now: working at San Diego Magazine (filling in for an editor on maternity leave), freelancing, blogging, trying to stay active (it’s good for the freelance brain), and virtually checking in with my mom, who’s undergoing surgery today for a broken ankle.
I feel totally all over the place, and each week a few things fall to the wayside. Either I don’t see friends or I don’t work out or I don’t spend any time with my dog or I eat like crap. Bah! I’m going to have to make some changes, what those are I have no idea because I haven’t even had time to think about it, but one thing that will help is taking a few days off from this blog to recharge. Sometimes you need to just sit on the couch while your golden retriever sits next to you and snores ever so softly without the compulsion to cross something off your checklist.
So I need to figure out ways to allow for more of that in my life. Thanks in advance for being patient with me! As with everything in life quality > quantity.
Succulents are as Southern California as surfing and palm trees. They’re planted in yards, sold at boutiques, and often the decor of choice in cafes and restaurants. They’re cute, they’re low-maintenance, and they come in all sorts of kooky shapes. I was sold. That said, constantly buying new succulents becomes a costly affair. Enter: succulent propgation, the process of using succulent leaves to breed new succulent plants.
I used this very handy, very visual guide from fellow SoCal bloggers, Needles + Leaves, to get started on my succulent that was beginning to take on a life of its own. If you’re looking to try this yourself, I highly recommend the Needles + Leaves guide, since they took better notes than I did. Ha! But for now, I recently transferred some baby succulents into the new pots, so I thought it would be a good time to share my progress. My number one tip? Let the mother/host leaf die before yanking it off. There were a few times that I pulled off the precious roots in the process.
Living within walking distance of Balboa Park, the 1,200-acre urban playground filled with trails, museums, restaurants, tennis courts, dog parks, and a velodrome, has its perks. One of them is getting to walk through the less-visited cactus garden, located just across Park Boulevard near the rose garden.
The garden is an enclave of quirky cacti, flowering trees, and walkways with mountain views to the east. Dr. Seuss was rumored to have been inspired by the cacti here and used the shapes as inspiration for his own drawings. And best of all, unlike the rest of Balboa Park, this nook usually remains delightfully quiet.
Brunch may not be the first word that comes to mind when I think San Diego—it’s usually palm trees, surfing, and 72 degrees—but I quickly learned that this city is passionate about the intermediary weekend meal. And San Diego offers every shade of the brunch rainbow, from boozy spots and vegan options to acai bowl stands and a place that serves pineapple upside down pancakes.
Farmers Bottega is a happy medium between everything—farm-to-table-focused without costing a fortune, simple without lacking style, and spacious for big groups. Last weekend I went to the restaurant to celebrate my friend’s birthday with a group of about a dozen, and we found the perfect spot for a group brunch: the expansive, dog-friendly back patio. It’s filled with lush greenery as well as brick walls that feel straight out of New York, albeit with much more square footage. The menu includes chilaquiles with vegetarian-friendly black beans ($10), different Benedicts ($10-14), French toast ($9), Cafe Moto coffee, and more. Sounds standard? They also have extensive gluten-free options along with bacon all over the menu. It’s like the two sides of San Diego, health-conscious plus pork-lover, coming together on one menu!
April was a blur in more ways than one. I went to Ojai, celebrated my nine-year dating anniversary, turned 30, visited Laguna Beach, and hosted one of my best friends in San Diego. It was also the two-year anniversary of bringing Teddy home. So many amazing things to celebrate, and I felt so lucky to have them all combined into one month. Those were all good.
But at the same time, I’ve also been working harder than ever before, filling in for an editor at San Diego Magazine on essentially a full-time basis by day and freelancing and blogging at night. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t overwhelmed or burned out with my routine totally thrown out of whack. But I’m finding solace in something my friend told me last year. She said some chapters of your life are dedicated to certain causes, whether they be a relationship, work, health, etc. For me, right now it’s about work, keeping my head down, and chugging along. So here I go!
Like I said, there was plenty to smile about in April. Here are 5 moments that stuck out:
In San Diego we talk a lot about North Park and Little Italy, La Jolla and Ocean Beach, Encinitas and Hillcrest, but in this city of villages, there are so many more, often-overlooked neighborhoods to explore. For the latest issue of San Diego Magazine, I share a round-up of my favorite places in City Heights, a mid-city nabe that has a garden nursery with animals, a delightfully divey concert venue, Hummingbird Huddle (above), the farmers market coffee stand with an activist mission, and plenty more food, drink, and activities to explore. Like a beekeeping class!
Lately I’ve been thinking about why weekends in San Diego feel so different from my weekends in New York. For starters, now that I’m self-employed, I’m working way more hours than I ever did, so Sundays are usually spent working at home. But there’s something else.
Being the pedestrian-friendly city that New York is, I would usually wake up in my Nolita apartment, grab a coffee from my favorite Gimme Coffee, and walk. Walk and walk and walk. I’d start in Nolita, make my way through Soho, turn a corner to the West Village, and somehow by the end of the day, I found myself in Central Park. I do miss that sort of random weekend that walking encourages. And that’s not to say it’s impossible in San Diego, but it’s not the same. Neighborhood-hopping here typically requires a car.
So this Saturday, we did the next best thing. We spent most of the day in one neighborhood—Mission Hills, which has recently blossomed with buzzy restaurants, cafes, and more—and walked from garage sale to coffee shop to garage sale to boutique to The Patio on Goldfinch, an upscale American restaurant with lush plant walls, a Venissimo cheese cave (!), and a dog-friendly patio.
I had been before for dinner and loved our small plates, but going with Teddy during the day was a totally different (and I think more fun) experience. The light flooding in is gorgeous, they offer a complimentary dog treat made from table scraps, and a daily happy hour from 3-6pm with 50% off all glasses of wine is pretty spectacular.
Coffee naps, when you take a 20-minute nap immediately after drinking coffee, will make you more alert. Great! Except for the fact that I will have to get up 20 minutes earlier in the morning.
If you love Friday Night Lights, then you will love Amy Schumer’s send-up on her Comedy Central Show.
Ann Taylor Loft is killing it, and I’ve snatched so many great pieces—including these shorts, this maxi dress, and this top—at ridiculous discounts during their recent friends and family sale. Not sponsored, just awesome.
Cosmo UK turned the tables by asking Mark Ruffalo all the sexist questions women typically hear on press junkets, while Scarlett Johansson was asked the more thoughtful questions. I like the idea, but it’s viewed as a joke when he gets asked. Women are asked those questions seriously! Blergh.
So excited try this spinoff eatery from my favorite San Diego Thai restaurant, Sab-e-Lee. It’s going to be a cloudy weekend here, and I can’t think of anything more comforting than a spicy tom yum soup. And coffee followed by a coffee nap.
It’s time to get real real. I’m juggling a whole lot on my plate right now: working at San Diego Magazine (filling in for an editor on maternity leave), freelancing, blogging, trying to stay active (it’s good for the freelance brain), and virtually checking in with my mom, who’s undergoing surgery today for a broken ankle.
