Category Archives: San Diego, California

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Going Back to Cali, Cali, Cali

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It wasn’t easy to get in the car and go. We had to wait for the property manager and say tear filled goodbyes. We finally got on the road at about 6pm. Utah was mad at us for leaving, so it rained most of the way through the state. You can only go about 55-60mph with a giant U-Haul trailer behind you, so it was slow going. MK drove the first three hours, then slept while I took over, back and forth until he woke me up and the sun was shining over Pacific Beach at around 9am.

There aren’t any exciting road trip pictures, we’ve made that drive so much it felt like a commute. The traffic at 2am on Friday in Vegas was crazy, but I survived it. Other than that and a little wind, it was an easy drive. We had breakfast and got our keys.

Immediately walking in the front door of our complex, you need a key to a gate. Then you need a fob to the elevator. Then another key. And there are stairs, so we couldn’t go in and out the front to unload our things. So we had to park the U-Haul out front, unpack the car in the garage, then bring those things up the elevator to the condo. Then you go take the car out and reload it. It was a rather inefficient system, since someone had to guard the U-Haul. We finished at around 2. We ran some errands and took a nap, since neither of us really slept that much on the drive.

I got to go see KE – which was awesome Number One because she’s doing well and Number Two, seriously our house is close enough to Garnet (where the bars are) that once I get my bike we won’t have to drive! Or we can take a cheap cab. Score.

I’m not taking pictures of the condo, it’s not that exciting. It’s a 2BR/2BA with a huge kitchen and dining room so it doesn’t feel as small as I was afraid it would. Plenty of room for company!

Sunday morning we went to the La Jolla Farmer’s Market. That might be my favorite thing on the planet – this time we even got a ton of fruit and veggies:

Delicious!

Delicious!

After the obligatory stocking up trip to Costco, we met some friends for drinks at San Diego’s first bar, The Waterfront – which is not on the water front. We watched the the Sea World fireworks from our pool last night. We got a great night’s rest and MK got his computers up and running in time for work. He’s unpacking his things now, I’m already done. I win.

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Fun While It Lasted

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We went out for a few runs yesterday, but it was just too warm. Skiing on warm snow is akin to a bagel in a small toaster – you’re trying to make it work but it’s fighting you. Okay, that wasn’t really funny, but I’m trying to cheer myself up here. Skiing for the winter is essentially over. We’re going to try to stop out there Saturday, and the resort closes on Sunday.

I know some of you (CH!) couldn’t be more happy to not have to hear about skiing for a while – but I don’t think I overdid it. I told you about the company and the good times. I told you about me getting better. It’s been a crazy fun six months, as always it just flew by. I’m going to miss the B’s, SB is the cutest thing I know.

I’m happy and sad to be going. We have two weeks to pack. I hate packing. I’m pretty sure my laundry room is in my living room – going to an apartment from this monster house is going to be a new and tough adjustment. MK is going to love being on the beach, I’m glad for that. And hopefully the B’s will plan a visit so I don’t get too sad missing them.

Who else is coming? 🙂

sunset on Mission Bay

sunset on Mission Bay

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The Running Club Story

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When MK and I lived in San Diego last, we joined a running club. Actually, they prefer to think of themselves as “A Drinking Club with a Running Problem”. It was the Larrikins Chapter of the Hash House Harriers. Our first run was the Red Dress Run. Yes, EVERYONE (MK!) wears a red dress. For money I’ll show you the pictures…

There are many dumb reasons I never told you just how hilarious this adventure was. Snippy knows one. My mom is another – it can get a little vulgar over there. Everyone gets a dirty nickname.* There’s a trail you have to find. There’s beer on trail. There’s beer at the end of the trail. There are silly songs to be sung. That about sums it up I think – it’s a general good time. There’s also a volleyball version of the group that meets up during the week, which MK far prefers over running. He’s super excited this time around to return to that group – our new place is within walking distance of where they play.

I’m really looking forward to getting back into beach shape, and using these super duper new and strong ski legs will hopefully make it easy this time around.

A Red Dress Run. To be safe, no one I know.

A Red Dress Run. To be safe, no one I know.

 

*I’ll share our names with you here – we were fortunate not to get dirty ones. I was named “Depreciating Asset” in reference to this story here. MK was named “No Beer, I’m Queer”** by the hash (there’s a big voting group ceremony after your 6th run where you get named by the mob). The club drinks beer. MK does not. Pretty funny.

**I’m pretty sure that when my Dad was preening me to become the SUPER AWESOMEST WIFE EVER he had no idea I’d end up with a man that hates watching sports and drinking beer. I couldn’t believe it. When I first heard of the concept of marriage – all I looked forward to was the nights at home on the couch with a 6 (12) pack and a delivered pizza, watching the game. Huh. At least I was cool for a little while in college.

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Vacation, Continued

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As I mentioned Monday, MK called me up and asked if he could drive to San Diego, and change my flight to meet him there. I had an awesome lazy Sunday shopping with SB, enjoying the sun at Cedar Door with SB KD and JC, and saying goodbye to JC KD and LC over some drinks. I slept in Monday and caught an afternoon flight.

MK decided he wanted to move back to San Diego (I’m not even making a formal announcement this time, what’s the point). You can click here and see all of our moves, and reminisce over where we’ve been. I’m sure there are other places we could try – remember that I asked you here to give us some suggestions.

MK really loved the water and the vibe of San Diego, it’s everything we love about Austin without allergies and heatstroke. We’ve secured a place, that’s why we went – on the bay (Mission Bay, Sail Bay to be specific.)

There are a ton of reasons I’m happy about this. One, our friends threw us a come back soon party to remind us that we met some great people when we lived there, that actually want us to come back. Two, I’m gonna get a beach cruiser. I get in good shape, and get tan. There were friends that didn’t get to visit that I hope will this time around. I might some day have family there…

We stayed with friends and had a great time. We drove back and were planning on hitting a bunch of National Parks and the Grand Canyon, but the thing isn’t even open yet. So we settled for Zion National Park and headed home – on word a huge spring storm was going to give us a little more time to ski.

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Here We Go Again

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We are so lucky to have so many great friends. They all came out (on a Sunday!) to say their goodbyes. Or maybe they heard we’d be giving away canned good door prizes. Not yet. MK’s doing the final puzzle of fitting our life in to the car, and we’re off first thing in the morning.

I can’t even tell you how long you’re going to miss me for – I guess it depends on if my hosts let me touch the internet. We spent the weekend saying goodbye to the beach and now all I can think about is snow!

For the record, because I “keep it real” – the clothes hangers aren’t going to make it.

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The Short Version

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I’m sorry I haven’t returned your phone calls or answered your questions. If others are asking you about me, refer them here. There’s more, but you don’t really want to hear ALL of it.

We had our place until the end of the month. In writing. The 84 year old owner failed to tell the (probably stoned) 30 year old manager that she gave our place to someone else. We found out Monday. We needed to be out on Wednesday. We kept the (probably stoned) manager that had let us lease the place anyway from being fired by agreeing to leave. Then the market got crazy. And we needed the internet. And my car can’t get a tow hitch. And I remembered that I have to go to the dentist Thursday, fully sedated, all day style. So we packed and shipped some stuff to some random addresses. Then we moved almost everything to another apartment, upstairs. That smells funny.

Then we stayed downstairs with the computers until the old lady yelled at us to get out. I stuck my tongue out at her. I don’t think she saw. MK had a rough day. We almost started driving Tuesday. But we didn’t. So, as of today, we will stay one more weekend to say goodbye, and we will leave Monday or Tuesday. But at the rate we’ve been going, I wouldn’t count on it…

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Fun Running Around

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Sometimes half the fun is in the normal stuff. Truth be told, we don’t DO normal stuff all that often. We skip the errands and get spoiled never driving during traffic. We walk around our little neighborhood and shop at the Farmer’s Market. This past week MK’s birthday necessitated me doing a little real shopping. I am lazy and got some things online, but finally decided there were things easy to pick up I couldn’t justify shipping costs for.

So I went to the mall. I haven’t been there since my little cousin visited. I don’t really need anything and have been pretty good about not wanting anything too. But it was great and sunny and the walking around put me in a great mood. The sales were good (which also helped my mood) and I found my dream purse (since I can’t NOT shop for myself – so much for not wanting anything). I went back later with MK since it was a lot of money, he had to approve. We also made a huge steal on new ski boots (mine were 400$ on sale for 74$, brand new, seriously) check them out:

After all the fun shopping we spent the end of the week and weekend watching football and doing a run and volleyball party with our running and volleyball club, kind of an end of summer party on the beach. It was a blast. We’ve made a ton of great friends here that we’re really going to miss and the change of the seasons and us telling everyone we’re leaving has had that awesome effect of just making everything really enjoyable.

MK and I took SH and JM out on the Hobie Cat after we checked out the Adams Ave. Street Fair. Then they picked up Chinese after deciding a bag of Doritos wasn’t enough while we watched football. JM said “Best Sunday ever” and even though it was a simple one, I had to agree.

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Crazy Octogenarian Antics

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With the recent popularity (for swearing?) of old people on TV (Dancing with the Stars was headline news yesterday) I figured a great topic of conversation today would be old people.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen a senior citizen do?

Remember, I live amongst most of them. I mean, La Jolla is a prime old people watching place. A common quote from either husband or I on any given day could be “Gosh I hope we’re not like that” or “Look how cute they are holding each other up so they can shuffle” or “Holy crap if I turn into that swear you’ll suffocate me with the pillow”.

These people aren’t like my grandparents. My grandparents are young, for one thing, well taken care of, and hilarious. Old people around here are a little fuzzy, a little lost, and a little forsaken. I can’t get over that last one considering the cost of living around here, but you never see these people with any family! The old people I observe are categorically the worst drivers in America. They are crotchety. They cough all over you. They can be rather rude. I don’t think my grandparents have been rude to anyone in their lives. Their long, long lives. 😉

So today I cracked up as I saw this one guy, at least 70, walking through the store chugging a Monster energy drink. How many jokes can you make?

  • Is he drinking it just to stay alive?
  • Does he drink it when his heart stops?
  • Does it help him remember his name?

I’m terrible.

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San Diego Street Scene 2008

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There are a lot of music festivals out there. I haven’t really been to that many. But of course, ACL is a great example of a streamlined successful one. People tell me Jazzfest is the same. And SXSW is the best thing that has happened to so many people for years. We tried Sasquatch. Meh. I’ll see Lollapalooza someday. I’ll never go to the desert for Cochella.

I hadn’t seen hardly any live music in San Diego so I decided to pop over to Street Scene. If you’ve lived here longer than I have you care a lot about the fact it was returning to the streets of downtown for the first time in a long time and whether or not this was good or bad. I just had a free Friday night.

The ticket price for what you get was a little iffy (75$/day pass), since the days are only 4-12, and the four stages are maybe two blocks from each other. I saw Diplo, TV on the Radio, Spoon, Vampire Weekend, and Beck. I have already seen all of those bands except for Beck. Beck was not very good.

If there was one word I had to use to describe it, I’d go with ‘cute’. Seriously. It was like a little miniature attempt at a music festival that really turned out more like a block party.The one great feature was a beer garden portion of the CROWD in front of the STAGE. If you follow me, this great invention means I kicked it with my 21 and up brethren and didn’t have to watch my step, unlike outside the beer garden, where the ground was literally littered with unwashed raver children. Yuck.

We went to the 94.9 after show at the House of Blues, which I’ve always wanted to check out. The surprise band was NOT MGMT like I had been praying since I missed them, but the acceptable reggae beats of Michael Franti and Spearhead.

So I ended up not going back for Day Two. Literally no one I knew wanted to go back. And besides Ghostland Observatory, who I can never tire of seeing, I’d seen all those bands too. Am I getting too much music at SXSW? I sure feel spoiled when I’ve seen all the bands I want to. Here’s a funny review from someone who didn’t even make it. I’m not old -yet I hope- but I get what he’s saying.

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Collegiate Memory Inspired Antics

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I’m not gonna lie or sugar coat this situation. I in a moment of insanity forgot my friend’s birthday. Her 30th birthday. SB, my college roommate, had to go so far as to call me and remind me I missed it and I suck. To be fair, we were planning a Mexican getaway to honor the event, and its cancellation is what prompted my forgetfulness. It’s not like I didn’t have it written down. Also in my defense (ask my mom), not having anything to do all day makes them all blur together and oftentimes I just honestly don’t know what day (week, month) it is.

Anyway, to apologize, I got SB here to SD. Her arrival late Friday was pretty exciting, as I hadn’t seen her since our road trip through Denver to Seattle. We commenced celebratory drinking at the La Jolla Brewhouse, ran kicking and screaming from stupid old Jose’s, and did a little late night drive through La Jolla Cove, calling it an early night so we could make the most of the long weekend. Did we, and how.

Saturday morning we had some technical difficulties with the car, as in we had to have it jumped. We walked the Cove again, stopped in at Karl Strauss (another brewery, already)

Mmmmm

Mmmmm

for a sampler and a Bloody Mary, and then meandered to Porkyland, our tourist coming armed with plans had suggested this place – it was great Mexican food.

Car fixed we drove to Balboa Park and paid 4$pp for the lamest Japanese Garden (it’s really 100ft. long) and wandered a bit taking pictures. When we were read to go, the car was not. Seriously, stupid car…so loving Super Husband let us cab it to Old Town while he waited (and waited) for the solution, which was determined to be a new car battery.

SB suggested the Jolly Boy Saloon in Old Town since she wanted absinthe. (She does not mess around). What I saw and we chose first was a sight which my eyes have never before been blessed with:

Wheel, Fire, Beer-Margarita

Great Inventions: Wheel, Fire, Beer-Margarita

Yes, a beer IN A GIANT MARGARITA. Or, a GIANT MARGARITA with A BEER in it. Whichever you prefer. It was AWESOME. Due to it’s size, we shared it responsibly. Then shared the absinthe. Then we were totally roasted. It was, maybe 2pm. We wolfed down some ice cream (yup, still gorging on that) then husband picked us up. We made it to Del Mar just in time to bet on the last two horse races before – seriously, she planned the whole trip, basically – we set off to the infield to attend the last concert of the summer Del Mar series that SB had discovered: DEVO.

Seriously. DEVO.

Seriously. DEVO.

As you can imagine, it was pretty hilarious. We topped out at about 30 minutes of rediculousness and headed home to clean up to head to the Gaslamp District. We had some dinner, some more drinks, and gussied up. I know it was a holiday weekend, but I’d never seen the bars so busy. There were lines everywhere, except (thankfully) Mr. Tiki’s, our staple starter bar. From there we hit up The Field, staple number 2, and some super cool new bar I forgot the name of.

Sunday morning we headed up to Mt. Soledad, then found the SDSU library and Dr. Suess statue (that was mostly for me). We went to the Gliderport, where it was super windy and there were a ton of paragliders out. We tried to get to Lahaina’s in PB but again, the beach was more crowded than I’ve ever seen it, even more than 4th of July. We changed-of-plans it right to Cass St., who serves up 4$ rice vodka spicy Bloody Mary’s. Are you seeing the theme yet? Back to our pool for some more drinks at sunset, a fashion photo shoot, and then off to the Pink Elephant, a pretty great neighboorhood hipster theme bar.

Pink Elephant Bar

Pink Elephant Bar

We got convinced by running club to meet up at Bourbon, where there was, no lie, a foam party. I tried my best to stay away from the madness, but we did have some fun dancing.We got home and totally ran through the parking garage, pool room, and etc. making messes like we were 19 again. Good times.

The next morning, hangover free, miraculously, we hit the Cove for snorkeling and the Shores for Body Boarding and Bahia Don Bravo’s for lunch all before getting SB on the plane ride home. We managed to squeeze quite a bit in.

Here’s the rest of the silly photos.