On Saturday after Jay picked up his race bib, we had a couple hours to spare so we decided to have lunch ~ just the two of us.
Since we were downtown, we wanted to go to The Old Spaghetti Factory, but the parking situation was a little crazy.
We thought about going to Hash House A Go Go, but the line looked a little too long.
Then all of a sudden sushi sounded good, but we couldn’t change lanes fast enough to get to one of our favorite places in Hillcrest.
Then we remembered {our sushi place} in La Jolla…a little hole in the wall that, honestly, we didn’t even remember the name of. We ventured up that way. Being almost 6 years since we left SD, we managed to take a wrong exit off the 52 which ultimately led us to two {road ends in 500 feet} signs.
Hmmmm.
We got back on the freeway and back on track only to roll into the parking lot and find that {our sushi place} was no longer…
Jay was quick to remember tried and true, Niban, which was close to our old HSBC offices in Clairemont.
It was worth the hour plus it took for us to make a decision and get there…
Saturday sushi + sunny San Diego = perfection
{Thanks, Gramma for keeping an eye in the kiddos!}
I was just marking some things on the calendar and realized that we have all sorts of good stuff already lined up for the rest of 2011.
T-ball starting tomorrow. Easter. Birthday parties. Baby showers. End-of-the-school-year celebrations. Dance recital. Summer camps. A trip east to Myrtle Beach. Yosemite. Back-to-school. Blog Sugar. Fall goodness. And then the holidays all over again.
As much as I love having lots of things on the calendar, I love to be home almost as much. I really do love my Mondays & Wednesdays around the house getting caught up so that we can have fun on the weekends. Laundry, cleaning, organizing, sitting out in the patio having breakfast and lunch with Holden. I am happier when the house is in order and I am caught up on the laundry ~ yes, I am that mom. I know that chores and cleaning can wait ’til tomorrow, but I just cannot let our little nest get too out of control. That is when I get irritable and all around unhappy.
It’s daily that I try to find the balance between {having fun} and {taking care of business}.
A busy calendar vs. productive days at home.
I am content with both, but one cannot take place without the other.
Checking into your {hotel} and finding this on the dresser:
Sitting out overlooking a full Lake Hodges, flipping through months of Coastal Living mags and sipping wine while Gramma and the kids are at the park.
Putting the Sea World passes to good use:
{if a wedgie prevents your child from ending up in the dolphin tank, I’m all for it}
Spring Break means meeting up with dear friends from back in the day and realizing that you could stay up all night chatting:
{OK, so some cell phone pics are better than others…..}
Spring Break means visiting your {almost} 102-year old great great cousin at the old folks home and forgetting the camera {shame on me!}. The kids blew bubbles in the dining room while the residents looked on, laughed and waited for lunch to be served.
I overheard two little ladies exchanging thoughts and information…one asked, “How long have you lived here?” The other answered, “Forever and two days!” then laughed a little as if she knew there was nothing she could do about it but make the best of it all.
{Pardon me while I go off on a little tangent}
When Elliott was only about 2 months old, Jay accepted a job in San Jose. It was a new chapter we were excited about, but at the same time leaving San Diego was hard. We wanted to share all our favorite things about America’s Finest City with our new daughter, but soon found ourselves creating new memories in the Bay Area.
Moving from SD was the LAST thing I wanted to do after just having Elliott, but it’s what came to us and with no regrets we made the most out of 3 years in Nor Cal. Now, after two and a half years back in So Cal, we’re knocking that out, too. But it’s always good to go back to visit and reminisce.
{OK, we’re back on track}
Spring Break in San Diego also means grabbing Happy Meals and sushi and heading to the very park that you rollerbladed by a million times back in the day {15+ years ago to be exact}…
Spring Break means doing a drive-by of the {beachy slum} apartment you used to rent and finding out that it’s getting a facelift NOW {rather than 15+ years ago!}
Haines Street
Spring Break means stopping at Mr. Frostie for a chocolate dipped cone {the same one mommy went to 30+ years ago!}…
Double-frosty fistin’ it…
And while in Pacific Beach, we drove by the little townhouse that I lived in until I was almost 8 years old…
Wanna know something cah-razy about this little townhouse? Per zillow.com it was valued at almost a million dollars a few years ago!
It does have a gorgeous view of SD bay, coastline, downtown skyline and beyond.
Location, location, location! View, view, view!
Hard to believe that is where I came home from the hospital to…
Spring Break means watching your kids b-line it to the pool and find that they’ve remembered {how to swim} from last summer. Still not water safe by any means, but didn’t forget what they learned 8 months ago.
*****
Spring Break is just a little halfway over and already it has been more than I ever imagined.
Getting together with friends that you haven’t seen in {YEARS!} like it’s nothing. Just meeting up at the same hole-in-the-wall, bellying up to the same place at the bar and getting caught up. Pure and simple. That’s how all friendships should be.
Taking your children back to where you lived and showing them where you went to elementary school, for me, is such a treat. Spending a couple hours at the “beach park” beats Shamu any day!
These things that we did with Elliott and Holden are a mere drop in the San Diego bucket. But the older they get, the more fun it is to show them {my town}.
Although it has been {forever and 2 days} since our address was in SD, it feels just like {yesterday} when you meet up with good friends and return to the places where beautiful memories were made.
And that’s just the way it should be!
Off to see what fun we can have during the rest of Spring Break…
It was a darling mid-30s Craftsman in an old neighborhood of San Diego called Talmadge. This little, almost 1500 square foot house was full of character & charm and had LOTS of potential…Jay and I were both working full-time and all we had time to do was some interior painting and tile the entry way. We lived here for 2.5 years before Jay took a job in the Bay Area and we put it on the market.
This little house is still very special, though….it was our first place together, we got engaged in it, celebrated many holidays in it, and brought our first born daughter home here.
This little house enabled us to get into a brand new, upgraded home in the Bay Area.
This little house holds a lot of memories.
We figured we’d get more “lookers” (and more offers!) if we painted it a more neutral color on the outside. Whoever bought it must’ve not been afraid of a little color on the inside!
Our time on 46th Street was short lived, but the memories are fOrEvEr happy in this quirky little “turquoise” house!
