Discover San Diego | Architectural Salvage

Love, love, LOVE, Architectural Salvage. Have you been? Part vintage design mecca, part treasure hunt, it's the best shop around for finding just the right vintage piece. The glass doorknobs and leaded glass windows had me drooling. The door and cabinet hardware sections can't be beat. And the lighting...don't get me started. My next house will have a chandelier or schoolhouse light from here. I found myself wishing I had a spot for the "WOW" sign and flower light fixture. Bear had his fingers crossed that the resident shop cat was for sale. That cat was large and in charge.

Next time you're in San Diego, swing by Little Italy to shop at Architectural Salvage. Save time for lunch at Burger Lounge or Bencotto. Perfect end to your architectural shopping spree.

Discover San Diego | Oakbridge Edition

Once the last bus of campers pulls out of Oakbridge, it's a mad cleaning rush to squeeze out every possible moment of free time before the next buses arrive. 

This week the itinerary was full of San Diego's finest experiences, jam packed into about 6 hours. Starting out with a visit to the finest Yogurt shop in town, Cup of Yo. 

Note the gigantic grin on my face as I arrived to find not only my favorite flavor, Taro Tart, but it had been named in my honor. Happy day, I tell you. 

Everyone had their fill of fro yo (thanks Currans!) before we headed out to Cabrillo Monument. This led to lots of oohs and ahhs from our out-of-towners.

Next, a trip to Ortiz's for California Burritos. This was Lincoln's first, and it left him speechless. (for those of you that know Lincoln, speechless is not a word commonly associated with my first born)

No trip to San Diego would be complete without a Padres Game. Great seats, good food and perfect weather almost made up for their loss to the Diamondbacks. Good livin'. 

Bring it on week four, we're ready!

Golden Hill Farmer's Market

I love, love, LOVE having a Saturday morning farmer's market in my neighborhood. 

My favorite new booth is from Alchemy, a great South Park restaurant. I had the Pad Thai and it was a little slice of heaven. Bear got to touch a live crab, the boys loved the live band, and we stocked up our veggie drawer + flower vases.

The eggs in different shades of blue and green not only taste delicious, but the blown out shells will look beautiful in a nest on my living room shelf. 

If you come to stay with us, be sure to book over a Saturday and we'll go together!

Buy Local

Hooray! The newest Farmer's Market in San Diego is coming in April three blocks from my house. Now I've got no excuse to not buy local every week. Even thinking about having a booth along with some of my crafty friends. 


Are you a Farmer's Market fan? What's your favorite purchase?

Discover San Diego

My sweet husband treated me to a tuesday morning facial at Coronado Bliss. The perfect gift after not feeling great for awhile and a busy weekend. Did I mention that I LOVE facials? I'd pick a facial over a massage any day of the week. 

Coronado Bliss is a new day spa & salon that was opened a few months ago by fellow former-Arizonans, Cindy and Bill Reitmeyer. It was gorgeous inside, and the facial room was incredibly peaceful and calming. My estetician, Audrey, did an great job asking questions about what I needed, my skin's condition and chose the scents I wanted used. She even went over my "hour" to do all of the things that my skin needed. 

This is definitely a spot to put on your list of things to do next time you visit. I'll definitely be visiting again soon! 

Barrio Star

If you have the word Barrio in the name of your restaurant, I'm a fan. My favorite restaurant when we were Phoenicians was the Barrio Cafe. The guacamole. Oh, the guacamole. In fact, here's an awesome video of how they make their guacamole that I know will have you running to the grocery store. 

But back to my new favorite restaurant that utilizes the word Barrio so well. Barrio Star in Banker's Hill. I've mentioned it before, but feel it deserves a proper review now that I've eaten there. 

John and I "date-nighted" there a few weeks ago with the Scofields. I'd heard from Jessica & Kelly that the Jalapeno Margarita is something special. Sweetened with pureed blackberry....incredible. Next came homemade tortilla chips with guacamole. One of my favorite things of the night was the Mexican Chopped Salad...corn salsa, greens, cheese, tortilla chips, cumin vinaigrette and cilantro ranch. So good. Finished off with Salmon Tacos. (Yes, I really did eat all that.) 

Best of all, the owner of Barrio Star has six different restaurants. Check them out here. Looking forward to trying them all...

Discover San Diego - Botanical Garden

This weekend John and I were invited to attend the San Diego Botanical Garden's annual fundraiser. We'd never been to the Botanical Garden before, and I was amazed at how beautiful it was. We'll be bringing the kids back another day to explore. 


I loved how the event was set up to encourage guests to see the entire grounds. Perfect for a date night. There were thirty different restaurants from around San Diego set up in stations. They each had something unique and delicious to sample. I couldn't stop talking about the macaroni and cheese with lobster and truffles. John hit the sushi table until they started giving him dirty looks. Plenty of drink stations around every corner. We loved being about hold the exotic birds and hear about them from their overly-zealous owners. (One lady said her entire dining room was filled with bird cages. Huh?) The event wrapped up with dessert, a short program and dancing. 


It was a completely eco-friendly event. All of the plates, utensils, napkins were made if compostable materials. They anticipated that the event of 400 people would only create one five gallon barrel of trash. Amazing. 


On our way out of the event every guest was given a beautiful lavender plant. The perfect end to the evening. We'll definitely be back. 

Discover San Diego

Have you tried Restaurants.com? Found this great promo deal yesterday on StephModo and thought it was time to give it a try. There were over 300 restaurants to chose from within 20 miles of our house. I ended up with $150 worth of gift certificates at six different restaurants in San Diego for just $31. That's just crazy. 

Here are a few we've tried and know we love...

Village Pizzeria &  MooTime Creamery in Coronado

The Broken Yolk Cafe, downtown location

And a few new spots for date nights...

Olivetto in Mission Hills

Cafe Sevilla in the Gas Lamp

Old World Restaurant and Deli in North Park 

There are some rules to the certificates, so I'll check back after using them. I'm pretty sure I'll abide by any regulations for that kind of savings. Cheers to eating out on a budget. 

Discover San Diego

Today started out cloudy and looked a bit like rain so we decided to abandon our  Zoo plans and try out the New Children's Museum here in San Diego. 


I'd heard good things about it, but I was thrilled at how much fun Linc and Bear had. Plenty for all ages to do and see. We purchased a family annual pass ($85) so we can go back often. 


Bear really loved the watercolor painting, building blocks and art easels. Linc was a big fan of the clay station, rainbow bouncy tunnel, rope climbing and rock wall. I loved the toddler play area, complete with rocking chairs and right next to the Espresso Cart. Good thinkin' museum planners. Do you have wifi?  


Looking forward to Toddler Time, the Film Festival and wish I could go to the Rock Star Gala. We'll be putting our annual pass to good use.

Walkabout

Ever since hearing about John Locke's walkabout, I've been taken with the idea. Definition: "walk with no particular goal" or "a walking trip or tour" or in Locke's case "to wander through the Australian bush". 

I feel like for the most part we are all in a hurry to get everywhere we're going. Maybe this revelation is the result of my newly-found time after resigning from my job, but I'd like to enjoy the "journey to" as much as the "arrival at". 

Practiced this low-stress philosophy on Saturday night at the South Park Walkabout. We stopped to watch a 20 minute flea circus at Vagabond, pet a herd of great danes by El Camino, admire mini-cars, check out My Three Sons onesies at So Childish and eat ice cream from The Daily Scoop. Up one side of the street and down the other at a 2-year-olds pace. John even sat patiently on a bench with the boys while I shopped around at Make Good. 

Less cars. More walking, biking and scooting (Ben). 

Discover San Diego

We're home! It's great to be back in San Diego just in time for some sun. 


My favorite part of the weekend was taking the boys to Petco Park. When the Padres are out of town, they show the games on the Jumbo-tron. You can watch at the "Park at the Park" free. The park has a big grassy area, playground, giant sandbox and practice baseball field. Great for kids.


We brought a picnic lunch and played for hours. Super relaxing and fun. 
During home games you can pay $5/person to watch the game from the park. 


Nice ball-park planning Padres. I like it. 

Discover San Diego

I've polled the San Diegans at camp this week for their favorite restaurant "spots". A few are well known and others are hidden gems. Here we go...

Name: Eric Scofield
Camp Job: Camp Director 
Secret Life Dream: Pro Golfer
Favorite Restaurants: 
Jake's & Poseidon (Del Mar) - Suggests a drink and appetizer on the patio at Poseidon and then dinner at Jake's. Eric's wife, Marni, suggests the almond-crusted Halibut and crab cakes.

Name: Luke Walther 
Camp Job: Head Leader
About Luke: Gave up beautiful Santa Barbara for San Diego (tough life) to start Young Life in La Jolla. Glad to have you Luke. 
Favorite Restaurants:
Sushi Deli (Downtown) & The Spot (La Jolla) - Suggests going to Sushi Deli at 5pm on Sat. night to avoid the rush. Try the Keith special roll, the Ninja roll and the Crunchy roll. Loves the burgers at The Spot. 

Name: Neil Eckerlin
Camp Job: Program Director 
Camp Alias: Captain "Jack Yo' Stuff" 
Interesting Neil Facts: Neil can play any program character from flamboyant movie director, hip-hop back up dancer to jack sparrow pirate. 
Favorite Restaurants: He wanted to say Islands, but I have a no-chain restaurant policy, so Jalepenos it is. Good Mexican joint right by his house in Rancho Bernardo. Try the carne asada fries and California Burrito. 

Name: Martin Cuchero
Camp Job: Program Director 
Camp Alias: Mr. Bojangles 
Loves: his adorable bride, Angela. 
Favorite Restaurant: Pizza Port in Solana Beach, also recommended by several others. Looks like the San Francisco and the Carlsbad Pizzas are good places to start, with a CA blonde beer. Cheers!

Name: Jordan & AJ Pitkin
Camp Jobs: Program Director & Work Crew Boss
Interesting Facts: Texas girl meets California boy at Lost Canyon as interns. AJ says it was love at first sight.
Favorite Restaurants: They love many restaurants in this town, but boiled it down to C-Level for a nice dinner, and Johnny B. Burgers in La Mesa for a great beer and burger. Jordan suggests the pecan-crusted brie at C-Level.

Discover San Diego

Spruce Street Footbridge

As you've probably guessed by now, I love old houses. The older the better. Living in San Diego has given me ample opportunity to admire many that are 100+ years old. My mom and I took the kids to do this "self-guided" tour of Banker's Hill on friday. About 1.5 miles of easy walking, beautiful footbridges across canyons and gorgeous houses. 


Banker's Hill is also home to my favorite dessert and coffee place, Extraordinary Desserts. Here's two other local favorites that are on my list to try. Cucina Urbana and Barrio Star. 


I'll just dream about getting my hands on one of these old places and decorating the snot out of it. (sorry about that visual, but it fits)

Discover San Diego

Have you been to Ocean Beach when you've visited San Diego? There are lots of fun things to experience here in this eclectic little beach community.   


You might want to walk the Ocean Beach Pier. Stop in the Pier Cafe 1/2 way down for a cup of clam chowder or a lobster fish taco. Watch the surfers next to the pier.                                       


Have a boardwalk breakfast with a view at the New Break Cafe. 


Visit their Farmers Market on wednesdays, 4-8pm.


Come and experience their annual Street Fair, June 26th. 


Shop their antique stores. Here's a sample.

Discover San Diego

While San Diego is definitely a vacation mecca, I've really fallen in love with the things I've seen off the beaten path. Hence, discover San Diego. 


I'll post pics and comments weekly about something special I've found. Hope this feature will help you picture what we're up to, and give you some ideas for your next trip to town. 


Starting out with my own neighborhood, Golden Hill. This pic is the view from my Bear & Ben's bedroom window. The jacarandas line our street and are in full bloom. The park at the end of the street has one of the best views of downtown I've seen, huge climbing trees, and canyon hiking trails surrounding it. 


Golden Hill, our hidden gem. 
(Next week we'll venture a little further from home)