#we drove by my favorite pizza place and a good taco stand and

[muppeted]

just paid for a lyft w my soul (had to laugh at a tesla driver’s jokes)

[reminiscences]

today in my group text i started with demo and erin (i met demo, appropriately, on tumblr 10 years ago and i met erin at a media happy hour where we established that we were both from the same part of pennsylvania) we were talking about how none of us are good at remembering like, anything. 

i can remember every stupid thing about my first year in new york but the years where i’m 23-27 all blend together in my head. but that first year was perfect: i was experiencing everything happening in new york for the first time, and it was that thing where none of it was new new, they were just new-to-me experiences that other people had all experienced dozens of times. 

i moved into my bedroom in bushwick off of the wilson L labor day weekend 2014. i had been living with my mom’s family in the rockaways that summer, and my mom’s cousin ed dropped me and my stuff off in bushwick. “this is where you live?” he asked incredulously. there was nothing wrong with the apartment, i just think he hadn’t been to bushwick in years. the apartment itself was something of an artifact: it was a two-story, two-unit building. the 90-something-year-old landlord lived with her family on the ground floor, and our three bedroom apartment was on the second floor. it was a three-bedroom place; it hadn’t been renovated in years. the paint in the unventilated bathroom peeled, the kitchen was enormous by new york city standards, and the living room was between the two other bedrooms, so i always had to walk through someone’s room to watch tv. 

the lease on the apartment belonged to emmy, who was a year older than me and went to newhouse before transferring to the new school. she was an unpaid intern at a photobooth startup whose offices were off the jefferson L, near cobra club (instead of waiting in line to pee at cobra club, we’d just walk across the street and use the bathrooms in the photobooth startup’s offices instead). her parents paid her rent. she smoked more weed than anyone i’d ever met in my life, and my college friends were comp sci majors who sold weed as an extracurricular activity. she had the biggest bedroom and a cat that routinely hissed at me. our other roommate brooke was once emmy’s best friend; brooke was in my year at syracuse. she worked at a boutique in carroll gardens owned by the real-life equivalent of jan levinson-gould on the office. brooke’s room was also big, and mine was small, but i had the only closet and my rent was $425 a month (the landlord clearly was unaware that the neighborhood was turning over; these days, the rent on my bedroom should be closer to $1000) so it was fine. 

i was never much of a weed smoker in college. i just wasn’t very good at it. and then i moved to 1337 bushwick avenue and i started smoking out of emmy’s bong whenever she and brooke would smoke. the railroad living room always stank like bongwater because there were no windows and the doors were always closed. brooke and i would get really high and walk over to the popeyes under the Halsey J, or order burgers from ridgewood eats. i am still not very good at smoking weed but brooke is still one of my favorite people to get high with.

here are some things i learned about and did when i lived in bushwick: doing all your grocery shopping after work at the trader joe’s on 6th avenue; getting off the L at bedford, grabbing falafel at oasis and walking all the way back to bushwick; the concept of a non-suburban target at atlantic terminal; parties in warehouses that had been converted to apartments; going to shows at shea stadium; standing on the balcony at shea stadium; going to union pool with emmy and expressing mild horror as she peed right on the outdoor patio by the taco truck; listening to cloud nothings on every commute into the city at 7:30 in the morning; riding the J train just to see what above-ground looked like in brooklyn; my college boyfriend coming down to visit and not having any idea what to do with him so we went to the comic book store in union square and got ramen and otherwise sat around counting down the hours until he left again; getting my full-time offer after working as a de facto reporter on a $13/hour rate for five months; getting coffee in bushwick at AP Cafe (now closed) on troutman with annie and asta to celebrate my new job; having pizza and champagne at my friend liz’s apartment to celebrate my new job; going to taco bell in union square with emmie (different emmie/emmy) to celebrate both of us getting our job offers on the same day; being extremely single in new york and dancing on an elevated surface at tandem (also RIP); uber rides home from fort greene to astoria on saturday mornings. it took so little to make me happy in new york that year. on a friday night if i came home after work, put on a bodycon dress from urban outfitters with my faux-leather jacket and got to sing at least a couple songs at karaoke at cobra club or slip into a party at house of yes without paying a cover i was content. our nights always ended the same way when i went our with brooke: we would go to bushwick pita palace, eat our falafel in the restaurant, and then take a car home. the idea of taking a car was also new: syracuse didn’t have uber, and we didn’t have the disposable income to make it habitual, so it always felt like a decadent treat when we’d have the car carry us a couple miles down bushwick avenue at 2 am. 

i never signed a lease when i moved in. this would eventually work against me when emmy informed me the day before i went home for christmas that another friend of ours, ben, would be moving into my bedroom in five weeks’ time. i felt like emmy had been thoughtless with sharing this information with me, a person who clearly did not have any sort of upper hand in a situation where someone older than me who’d lived in new york for years and who wasn’t paying her own rent was dictating the rules. 

will, my college boyfriend, was moving down to the city in about a month’s time anyway and the plan was for him to stay with us for just a little while while we got our shit together and found a place; emmy sort of just expedited that process. still, we had an acrimonious end to our friendship. we didn’t speak the entire last month i lived in her apartment, and the night before i left, she threw out all the food in the fridge that was mine. something else happened to the apartment around this same time in december 2014: it was invaded by houseflies. at first there were just a couple, and a flyswatter or some fly tape got rid of them. but then they multiplied. there were 20. then there was 100. then i had to eat all my meals in my bedroom with the door closed to make sure the flies wouldn’t come in. something was rotting in the walls. i think it was the wood itself. we moved out on february 1, into our new apartment in ridgewood, and within a year, 1334 bushwick avenue had been knocked down. the apartment had become unlivable. i drove by it a few weeks ago on my way back from the rockaways with my friends, and in its place they’d built a new apartment. if you hadn’t known it before, you wouldn’t know it changed at all.

[eldritchsurveys]

939.

Can you talk on the phone while having the tv/radio on? >> I don’t talk on the phone, period. But no, I would turn anything noise-making off if I were going to use the phone. I can barely process phone speech as it is.

When was the last time you went over a speed bump? >> The last time Sparrow drove us back into the complex through the northwestern entrance.

What is the nearest school to where you live? >> There’s a school like a quarter-mile away from me.

What size are all the televisions in your house? >> The one television that we have is about 30″, I think.

Do you have health insurance? >> Technically, I have Medicaid, but it covers so little and has so many caveats that I might as well call myself uninsured for all the good it does me.

How many times have you been pulled over by the cops while driving? >> ---

What is one of your favorite movie lines? >> “Fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave” is the first thing that came to mind. I basically just don’t remember many movie lines. But I’ve seen Labyrinth like a million times and it has a lot of dramatic-ass theatrical lines that are easier to remember, so.

Describe your teeth: >> I don’t know what you want from me, man, they’re just teeth. Nothing remarkable about them.

How many posters are up in your house? What are some of them of? >> There’s a Wovenhand concert poster, a Sucker Punch movie poster, and a trio of Dark Tower movie posters in the living room. There’s also a Cradle of Filth album release poster in my room, and I only remember it’s there when surveys ask and then I’m like “I should take that down” and then promptly forget about it again.

How many clocks do you have in the house (including on the microwave, etc.)? >> Well, there’s the one on the microwave, and there’s clocks in every computer and phone. There’s also a Dark Tower clock on my wall, but I refuse to put a battery in it because I hate the sound it makes.

What is one thing you look forward to every day? >> Every day? Can’t imagine what there is to look forward to every single day.

What is one thing you dread every day? >> I dread the days I have to shower. It just... never gets easier. :/

When was the last time you cleaned your ears via QTip? >> I don’t use Q-Tips to clean my ears.

When was the last time you clipped your nails? >> I don’t remember. I clip them fairly often because I hate the feeling of my fingernails on the keyboard.

How many remotes do you need for your living room tv? >> One.

Ever lived through a natural disaster? >> I was in NYC during Sandy, but I wasn’t personally affected.

Whats the longest youve lived without electricity? >> I don’t know. Not long.

Name all the drugs you have tried: >> Yawn.

Name all of the alcoholic beverages you have tried:? >> Oh, dude, that’s nigh impossible.

Name all the types/brands of cigarettes you have tried: >> That might be a little easier. Newport, for sure... Camel... Pyramid, Marlboro, Virginia Slims... uhh... L&M, is that what it is? Something like that... Pall Mall, Maverick... yeah maybe this is harder than I’d originally thought. That’s all that I can remember right now, but I think that might cover it.

Do you like candles? >> Sometimes. Only certain ones.

Do you like to do puzzles (crosswords, word find, Soduku, etc.)? >> I do. Especially crosswords.

On a scale 1-10 how intelligent do you consider yourself? >> ---

What is one thing you stand strongly for? >> ---

Post a picture of someone important to you, tell me who they are and why they’re important: >> No.

Do you have a blue ray player? >> Well, I have a PS4.

If you could be the owner of one site what would it be? >> I don’t want to own a site.

What does your doormat say? >> The doormat was knitted by Sparrow’s grandmother and it has some cats on it and “best friends”. Personally, I try to ignore it. Not really my style.

What is something you always have in your fridge? >> Condiments.

Who was the last person you were on hold with (on the phone)? >> ---

When was the last time you were sick? >> ---

Who do you know thats pregnant? >> ---

Who do you know thats had a baby recently? >> ---

Do you know anyone whom got married recently? >> I don’t think so. You can imagine that there aren’t many weddings happening right now.

Do you know anyone who has died recently? >> No.

How many surveys a week do you think you do? >> Er... maybe... 10 or so?

What age can you not wait for? >> ---

Do you change songs in the car often? >> I’m not usually the one playing music in the car.

Name all sports teams you’ve been on: >> ---

Name all the drugs you’d never do: >> I think I can safely say I’d never do crack cocaine. Even when I was doing all kinds of other shit, I persistently avoided that one. Guess that’s the best thing that ever came out of that first relationship -- aversion to crack ain’t a bad thing to develop.

What is the most alcohol you’ve drank in a night? >> Oh, I don’t know. It’s not like I was keeping track, whenever it was.

What do you order from McDonalds? >> I don’t really eat there anymore. I have no idea what I would order from there now.

What do you order from Burger King? >> ^

What do you order from Wendys? >> ^

What do you order from Sonic? >> I ate at Sonic once and that was when I first moved out here, because I wanted to experience the novelty. From what little I remember of the food, I probably wouldn’t ever go there again.

What do you order from Taco Cabana? >> Never heard of this.

What do you order from White Castle? >> I don’t go here.

What do you order from Taco Bell? >> I haven’t been here in a while, and the only time I did go here was because it was the only place in the mall that I could stand and afford. I mean, A&W is all right but... generally I don’t want a whole ass burger and shit at the mall.

What do you order from What-a-Burger? >> We don’t have those in this region.

What do you order from pizza places? >> A veggie pizza. Thin crust if possible.

What do you order from most sit down restaurants? >> That would obviously depend on the restaurant.

What street sign do you find totally pointless? >> I don’t think I’ve ever seen a totally pointless street sign...

What drinking games have you played? >> Just Quarters. Never again.

When was the last time you vacuumed? >> Yesterday. I think. Either yesterday or the day before.

How many tattoos do you have? >> Three.

How many tattoos do you want? >> Three billion.

Whats something thats high priced that you just hate to buy? >> Most things, from my point of view.

[dearkidsfromdad]

Go out and see what really makes America great

Dear Kids,

The ol’ US of A is an amazing place.  Take time to enjoy all the best parts of it.  When life gets you down, take advantage of the beauty of this country. Some of the best things you can do are in small towns, be sure to stop when you get the chance.  So, in honor of some of the greatest things in this country, here is a list of some of my favorite things;

1) The Sabinal Wild Hog Festival – two man teams stuff a wild hog into a sack then take it across a finish line.  Fastest time wins, usually only a few seconds.  This festival starts with a prayer and the national anthem played by a small town band.  Go some time, it’s pretty legit.

2) Small town pie shops- including but not limited to; the medina apple pie store, Mrs. Beth’s pie shop, the pie store in Eads Colorado, and that gas station in Kirtland New Mexico I ate apple pie at once.  Small town pie shops usually have pretty good pie.  When in doubt, ask around in small towns and ask where the best pie in town is, people usually have a great answer.

3) Other sundry small-town festivals.  Get out to the Poteet strawberry festival or the Luling Watermelon Festival.  Go visit small-town ol’ settler’s reunions.  Go eat BBQ at the Baptist bluegrass festival. If there’s a chance to go see something unique, go get it.  It’s almost always worth the price of admission.

4) Cookie stops and bakeries.  Your mom and I once stopped at the thumbprint cookie capitol of the world.  Are you impressed?  Haby’s bakery in Castroville has the best jelly donut I’ve ever had, I would eat one a day for the rest of my life given the opportunity, diabetes be damned.

5) Four corners. You only need to do this one twice, once with me while you’re a kid, and once when you’re a dad with your kids. Anything more than this is excessive. Get frybread while you’re there.

6) Natural landmarks. If a landscape that is famous is within 50 miles of your route, go ahead and make the detour.  I drove past Zion’s national park like 4 times before I finally stopped to get out and say “yeah, I can see why someone would want to keep this around”  Don’t make my mistake, take the time to appreciate how beautiful this country really is.

7) unnatural landmarks. If someone buries a bunch of cars, or recreates stone-henge or giant easter island heads, go ahead and stop for the picture.  You’re gonna need to use the bathroom anyway, and there’s almost always a place to get a drink.  Don’t go to Stonehenge during the solstice though, because naked hippies is something you can’t ever erase from your memory.

8) Small-town live music. Go see small-town live music play sometime.  Some of the most heartfelt music I’ve ever heard was in a honky-tonk bar in Menard, Texas. Go listen to some of the people who really feel their music and you’ll never want to listen to pop trash ever again.

9) Immigrant food. The greatest thing about America is its immigrants.  We all come from immigrants, so take advantage of the melting pot.  Go eat pizza and kebab and schnitzel and biryani, and tacos and all the other delicious foods that are out there.  If there’s a place where the owner barely speaks English and they’re slinging Indian food out on cafeteria trays, chances are it’s amazing.  When in doubt, take someone who knows that type of food well so that you can ask if it’s good or not.  

10) Historical markers and museums- Your grandpa dragged me to a lot of aviation museums.  That’s his thing, he loves planes.  I will probably make us stop at a lot of roadside markers, because I like knowing about the places I’ve been and what happened along the way.  There’s great history out there, and you can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.

So, get out there and see some of the things that make this country great.  Nothing makes me feel more patriotic as standing on a beautiful landscape and watching the sun set on beautiful America.

From,

Dad

[napacalypse]

They say when your eyes are opened to the truth, you can never not see it. That’s how I’ve felt about air travel ever since my family somehow ended up in the business class cabin on a flight to Barcelona while the aches and pains from being wedged into economy class from Paris were still aching and paining. My new mission on all trips is to get upgraded seats, whether by booking way in advance, trading in points on our credit card reward programs, or postulating about my grave concerns about the health of cattle car travel. I argued that if we flew first class, we could extend our spring break trip and spend Easter day in California, figuring that if we had more room and reclining seats, the kids could sleep on a red eye and not miss school on Easter Monday. So we splurged on United First Class. Of course, the evil eye of vague travel headaches followed me, and after extolling the virtues of how much more relaxed and refreshed we’d feel in the premier cabin—-no blankets, no pillows, and I’m guessing it was our flight attendant’s first time running first class. After lunch, she never came back down the aisle to see if anyone wanted drink refills or coffee. Passengers tracked her down in the galley to get more soda or water, and when she passed out the little sweet treat before landing, no coffee or tea was offered .I know I’ve seen flight attendants more on a two-hour flight in coach to Orlando than I saw ours during our cross-country flight.

The San Diego airport is stunning to fly into, as it sits on the bay with the city as its backdrop. The taxi stand is right out side the door from baggage claim and no wait at all to get two taxis (5 people and we brought a lot of luggage—note to self, just because you CAN bring two bags for free, doesn’t mean you need to…) and headed to our hotel.

The Hotel Del Coronado, built in 1888, is under renovation. Our suite had a beautiful view of the ocean and the new sea-to-table restaurant under construction.

The view below the balcony of our ocean-front suite

Rooms are also being refurbished and the construction starts EARLY. But then, so did the hallway noise. Every day we were there, people in the hall were raising a ruckus between 6 and 6:30 am. It was the noise level I usually hear at a Hampton Inn on a tournament weekend when I have the misfortune of being on the same floor as the travel team with the 8am game. We may have heard them so well because our bed was practically in the hall.   The renovation is desperately needed. Our bed had lumps and valleys, and the bath with its pedestal sink and shower/tub combo was a shock from the typical walk-in shower of the spa-inspired bathrooms of newer luxury  hotels,. They added a curved shower rod which did a great job of making the shower feel less claustrophobic, but the bathroom really needed some kind of vanity for getting ready.. My choices for my blowdryer were the bathroom, where the only place to put down the dryer was the sink, or in the sitting room in front of the distressed mirror, but I still didn’t have a place to rest the dryer. The magnifying vanity mirror was kept in the closet because I guess they couldn’t find anywhere to put anything in the bathroom either..

We made it down to the beach bar overlooking the ocean where we had the best guacamole and drinks(rocking Cosmopolitan). They came around a lit the fireplaces and it was a quintessential West Coast spring evening on the beach. We ordered pizzas to go from Eno and a bottle of wine. The Caesar salad with whole leafs of Romaine and very tasty dressing was a great starter.

Tuesday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel with our HiltonHonors vouchers and decided to add the hot breakfast option for an additional $20 each. The quinoa and mixed vegetables were quite good, and the rest of the hot items like scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, were typical breakfast buffet fare. We also tried the custom orders of eggs benedict, and tasted the traditional and a southwest version. They were tasty, but it  took quite a bit of time for them to come out to the table and we didn’t order them again.

Today was our San Diego coastal tour with Another Side of San Diego (https://anothersideofsandiegotours.com/private-san-diego-tours/. ) We were picked up by our driver/tour guide at the hotel by a Mercedes Sprinter van which had plenty of room, cold water, and snacks!

great view from the van, or is it just everywhere in San Diego has a great view

We had a drive around Coronado, past the Navy SEALs obstacle course, drove up to Mt Soledad National Veterans Memorial, and on to Torrey Pines and stopped on our way back–desperately searching for clean restrooms. My husband was also curious if there was any chance of getting on the South Course, so we stopped by the Torrey Pines lodge in search of the Pro shop (and found clean restrooms!) And my husband learned that since the South Course is under renovation with two holes closed, it would be easy for a single to jump on.

View from Mt. Soledad

My favorite stop of the day was at La Jolla beach. Dozens of sea lions swim in the water and sun themselves on the rocks. They are pretty smelly, but I could watch them play and swim all day.

I would move to La Jolla just to walk down to the beach and hang with the sea lions every day

Despite the smell, we were hungry and our tour guide helped us find some tacos and the biggest cheese quesadilla we’ve ever seen at a little chain taco shop called Rigoberto’s. I was a little taken aback that my fish tacos were breaded and fried with tartar sauce on the tortilla, but extra points that my daughter’s cheese quesadilla was just cheese and tortilla, which, believe it or not, is much harder to get than it sounds. We headed onward to Mission Beach and Pacific Beach and stopped by Crystal Pier and debated the merits of staying over the ocean.

Crystal Pier extends over the Pacific and adorable cabins are available to rent right on the pier!

We drove through the Gaslamp district and saw the Padres’ home field, but it didn’t make our “must return-to list” because it seemed like mostly chain restaurants and bars. The tour was a great way to get introduced to a city. We had only been to San Diego for a couple of nights before a field hockey tournament in Palm Springs several years ago, and hadn’t seen anything other than the Del and the San Diego Zoo. Our tour guide/driver was knowledgeable about the geography and history and amenable to impromptu stops (like Torrey Pines golf lodge and the taco shop!)

  Back in Coronado, we decided to make the trek to Park Place Liquor and Deli. It carried beer, wine, liquor, and snacks. While prices were way better than the hotel, they wines were marked up about $5-$10 bottle more than typical metro DC retail prices. Based on a couple of recommendations, we ate dinner at Brigantine at the Orange Avenue location. By far the best thing about the restaurant was that another table on the patio had three dogs with them.

The dogs of San Diego are a real treat!

The dogs of San Diego are a real treat!

We ordered the haddock special and the T-bone special and neither were very special. I ordered my steak medium rare and it came out with barely any pink. My husband finally flagged down a waiter to ask for some hot sauce to try to punch up the flavor of his dish. We couldn’t find a bottle of wine that piqued our interest, but our waiter recommended their highlighted winery Michael David. I went with the 6th Sense Syrah and my husband had the Freakshow Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Michael David wine was the standout from our meal! I’ll def try to run some down on the east coast.

They were both great, but, alas, we never got a chance to order a second glass. My kids didn’t fare much better with $15 sandwiches from the little deli shop in the Del.

  Wednesday my husband got to return to Torrey Pines for his round of golf and my girls and I hung around Coronado. We walked down Orange Avenue to the Juice Crafters and picked up a green juice, berry-based juices, and a Flu Off shot for my daughter who was feeling under the weather. The juices were great, but the Flu Off shot tasted so awful my daughter spit out the first sip and we never got to see if it worked. Orange Avenue in Coronado is filled with souvenir shops, women’s and children’s clothing stores, and lots of restaurants. Seaside Papery (http://www.seasidepapery.com) was our favorite little store—lots of paper products, obviously, but also books, trinkets, and some home decor. We ended up with pencils, sealing waxes and stamps. After a challenging 16 holes at Torrey Pines, my husband rejoined us and we headed to The Tavern for dinner.

View from street level, but the restaurant is down a short flight of stairs.

We started with the mac and cheese starter and it was awesome! My kids split the ribs and said they weren’t very flavorful, which was my husband’s assessment of his fish tacos. He also ordered the roasted brussel sprouts which had a flavor profile through the roof and just delicious . I had the burger and it was really tasty. The wine list was pretty limited, but we ordered the Justin Cab and were able to cork it and take it back to our hotel to finish on the balcony.

  Thursday

Even though it didn’t have any sea lions, Thursday was my favorite day. We had rented a beach cabana and headed to beach right after breakfast. It was sunny, but cooler and the water was about 60 degrees, so it was more of beach-as-a-backdrop than a splash-in-the-surf day. With an attentive waiter and endless sunshine, we spent the day reading, playing paddle ball, and waiting for my oldest daughter to arrive from New York. One of the best dishes we had in San Diego was the surf and turf tacos from the Beach and Taco Shack on the property—carne asada and shrimp never tasted so good. My oldest arrived in time to enjoy a couple of hours of afternoon sun and a bottle of rosé.  For dinner, we called ahead to get reservations at Chez Loma, a french restaurant just a few blocks from the hotel. Solid French food in an intimate setting, and we were the last in the restaurant and never felt pressured to turn over the table or felt hurried out the door.

This was a great place for a family dinner—you know the kind where everyone is so busy talking, laughing, and eating that you don’t take any pictures…Sort of like 1992.

  Friday

Friday we headed over to Balboa Park to visit the museums. We walked through the botanical gardens which made me anxious to go home and buy every plant ever. Then we toured the Timken Museum of Art, and were wowed by its collection of old masters and Russian Icons–as an added plus, admission is free! The San Diego Museum of Art was our next stop. The admission is $15 and we like seeing Georgia O’Keefe and the exhibit “The Art of Devotion.” We hiked some trails and then Ubered back to Coronado for lunch. One of our cheapest meals in San Diego was a couple of pizzas the the Village Pizzeria on Orange Avenue. Five thumbs up for the crispy pepperoni that we got on our pizza.

Pizza and chianti—-was there ever a better pair?

Our adventure for the evening was a sailing tour of San Diego Bay (https://sandiegosailingtours.com), snacks, soft drinks, beer, and white wine (red wine stains the boat!) are provided and so is a turn to steer the boat!  I love being on the water and we got to see some more sea lions on the buoys, docks, and swimming in the bay, but you don’t venture to anywhere more picturesque because the sunset sail is only about two hours. I really enjoyed it, but my husband would have preferred getting out of what felt like a commercial sea lane. Maybe next time we would book a half-day or full-day cruise to get along the coast.

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Saturday

Saturday was our chance to return to the places that piqued our interest on Tuesday’s coastal tour. We hiked for a couple of hours at Torrey Pines and were stunned by the breathtaking views and the crowds.

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After a 10-15 minute wait, we then caught an Uber to Del Mar to hit a restaurant recommended to us by a friend that used to live in San Diego. Pacifica Del Mar, despite being knocked by our Uber driver who arrogantly advised us to talk to people other than our hotel concierge for restaurant recommendations, was a great place for lunch. We started with the baked oysters—oysters topped with cheese–and I had a delicious, juicy grass-fed burger.

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We had wine by the glass because the three of us drinking couldn’t agree on one, and it was great. We caught another Uber to La Jolla to revisit my sea lions and explore the main drag a little bit. There was one gelato joint right by the beach which had a line down the block, but we crossed the street and had what I thought was pretty darn tasty gelato with only a wait of a few minutes.

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Salted caramel and a view

Another Uber back to the Del and we were ready for our movie night on the beach. I’ll admit I was reluctant to book the event, but my two younger kids(but still high=school-aged) were sold on “Scooby Doo” on the beach. I chose the Family Movie Package which comes with a daybed (like we had for our beach day), two sand chairs, a private fire pit, and s’mores for four and a $300 price tag.

The view from the sand chair by the fire pit toward the inflatable screen

We were allowed to bring drinks from the beach bar, which was doing last call, and paid highway robbery prices for the soft drinks ($6) and most outrageously, the little bags of chips you put in your kid’s lunch were $6 too! But, our attendant did a great job tending our fire pit and checking on us throughout the movie. Anyway, that evening ended up being tons of fun and sitting at a fire pit on the beach watching a movie will be one of our fondest memories.

Sunday

Easter Sunday. In the past, our kids have demanded that we come home from spring break early enough to spend Easter at home, but we decided to spend Easter at The Del and fly home on the red eye. Live and learn. At 7am we were awoken by protesters from the service sector of the hotel marching on the beach side of the hotel, demanding fair treatment from the Del. In truth it made me uncomfortable to realize I was staying at a hotel with unhappy employees.

I reserved a table at the famous Easter brunch at the Del, a little sticker shocked from the cost — for 5 people, including tax and gratuity, it was $890!!! For brunch! I kept thinking that would be a lot of waffles and mimosas, but the the buffet promised to be legendary. It was a little bit of a madhouse checking in, but 5 or 10 minutes after our scheduled seating the five of us were shown to our table—-a tabletop for four with another place setting crammed in. Our server had to take away our coffee cups and saucers so we could sort of fit our plates. Then we ordered a bottle of wine a la cart and we had nowhere to put the bottle and our glasses. My husband asked to move an empty table next to us so we could have enough table space for our plates and glasses.

Finally enough room!

The buffet had carving stations, seafood towers, a poké bowl and ramen noodle stations, hot and cold side dishes, a lot of dessert stations, including cotton candy. Like most buffets that try to make that much food for so many people, the scale was dramatic, but taste was average. The poké bowls were a standout, however, probably because the bowl doesn’t need to be prepared beforehand.

  I had rented a pool cabana for somewhere to relax after brunch until it was time to head to the airport. It was quite chilly, so we elected not to swim and hung out in the cabana with the  outdoor sofa. For $250 we had use of the cabana, a fridge stocked with soft drinks, some goldfish and pop chips for snacks, and a fruit plate.

Seats at the San Diego airport have drink holders and outlets! #goals

  The cabin crew for our flight home was amazing—attentive, yet unobtrusive during the overnight hours, but the seats didn’t recline again and the kids bargained for a day off from school. My first class manifesto was dinged by the inattention on the Dulles-San Diego leg and the seats that didn’t fully recline on either leg, but it was nice to have leg room.

This is the first family trip where we didn’t rent a car. We took taxis from the airport, and used Uber throughout the trip and it worked out great! The longest wait for an Uber to show up was at Torrey Pines State Reserve and we waited about 15 minutes. The scenery driving around San Diego is spectacular and with Uber, my husband (the usual driver) was able to enjoy the sights, too. Not to mention, our drivers were almost always helpful with things to see and do.

San Diego They say when your eyes are opened to the truth, you can never not see it. That's how I've felt about air travel ever since my family somehow ended up in the business class cabin on a flight to Barcelona while the aches and pains from being wedged into economy class from Paris were still aching and paining.

[on-the-way-out]

Free People Love Story

Originally posted on March 13, 2014 in collaboration with Free People

Jason and I met on Valentine’s Day 6 years ago. He had recently moved to Los Angeles and booked me as a model for a shoot. I had a boyfriend at the time so when I met him it was strictly professional. Although, I did think he was pretty cute. We shot again and he invited my boyfriend at the time and I to meet up for drinks one night. That night, Jason and I had this crazy chemistry. It was undeniable. Before I knew it, Jason had thrown me over his shoulder and carried me out of the bar. I drove home thinking “oh no, I have a crush.” Cut to a week later, we had another shoot and, well, it’s been the two of us ever since. The thing about our relationship was that it was so easy. I instantly felt comfortable with him, we could talk about anything. We had so many things in common even though we grew up completely different, liked doing so many of the same things. I feel like we just complimented each other. 

Two years after we met to the day, Jason proposed to me in New York City. We were walking to the Metropolitan Museum of Art through Central Park and were taking photos in the snow. Unbeknownst to me, he  had set up a camera to take some self timer photos and I thought he was going to push me into the snow since right before the photo was about to take he got down below me. But instead, he was down on his knee opening a box with a gorgeous ring in it. The camera caught three photos in a row…him down on his knee and me with a look of shock, us hugging, and then the two us us falling down in the snow. After, we walked through the Met and then had pizza and beer. It was a pretty amazing Valentine’s Day. A year and a half later we were married in Pasadena under an huge tree hung with lanterns and lights. I had daisies in my hair and a strapless, slinky lace dress on and Jason looked handsome in his suit. We had family and friends surrounding us and danced all night. We now live in Laurel Canyon in a house that feels like a treehouse with our Sheltie, Leon. We love taking road trips, exploring new places and visiting old ones. This was the first one I had been on where we didn’t really have to been in any particular place by any particular time, we could just drive wherever we wanted. Our first night we stayed in Cambria, CA. We arrived pretty late and found one of the only places open in the sleepy beach town. It was the Cambria Ale House which felt like you were having a drink in someones house, who happened to have plenty of beer on tap.  The next day we started our drive up towards Big Sur, stopping here and there to to check out the beaches and amazing cliff views of the ocean. Got to Big Sur after sunset, so we stopped at Fernwood Tavern for some tacos and wine, and some wi-fi. The next day was up to the Russian River, with a stop in Sebastopol to have a wood carving stand make us a “Parry’s” sign. We checked into a hotel in Guerneville and walked over to the main strip to get a bite to eat. Hit up Pat’s where I put some tunes on the jukebox and started talking to some of the locals. The diner part has an amazing drawn map of the Russian River on the wall that I loved. Did a little bar hop on that strip ending with Jason and I dancing alone after a much regretted tequila shot. But it was a blast. The next morning we packed up and explored the area a bit more. I had never seen the Russian River and it’s beautiful, so many great vacation cottages and cute restaurants. After a late lunch we decided to drive straight up to Jason’s hometown of Roseburg, Oregon. Cut up through the wine country to the 5 and then drove the night away with one stop for soft serve at Foster’s Freeze. We crossed over to Oregon and decided to park for the night at the Jackson Wellsprings in Ashland, a really interesting hotsprings and RV resort we had stayed at before. The next few days we re-experienced Roseburg. We drove around the area with its foggy mornings and beautiful back roads. Did a little thrifting and visited some old friends. And had Jason’s favorite pizza a million times. Then it was up to Portland where we got our “I’ll Keep You Wild” “Keep Me Wild” tattoos, perused some records and had some beers at the Landmark Saloon after Jake Ray played. Back down to Roseburg to visit Jason’s grandfather who at 77 still takes care of a dozen horses on his ranch. Drove all night towards Reno under the prettiest full moon on the California 89. Woke up in Reno and decided to stay the night in Truckee, where our good friend is living at the moment. Made a dinner at his awesome A-frame house and sat by the fire drinking wine and catching up. Woke up and grabbed some coffee at Coffeebar and started the drive around Tahoe. Stopped the take some photos in front of that absolutely stunning lake and then hopped on the 395. I am a southern California native and I was always curious about the eastern side of the state that I had never seen. The 395 is pretty awesome…the rolling hills, Mono Lake, and the sunset was one of the best I have ever seen. We stayed in Bishop for the night, and then woke early to grab some breakfast from Schat’s Bakery. Decided to take our time and drive through every small town we passed through. Stopped to skate down a long, empty road in the desert with Leon. When we hit Mojave the emails started coming in and reality hit. Back to Los Angeles. And looking forward to our next trip. I’m thinking the South. Words- Jenny Parry Art Direction - Jason Lee Parry Photos - Jason Lee Parry, Jenny Parry, Caleb Barton 

[anaturalhigh-blog]

What up, April.

Accenture’s Live Well group in Denver is way better than any group they have in DC. They organize 'active’ events in the area - hiking, rock climbing, snowshoeing, nature walks, etc. You’re allowed to bring a friend, which definitely makes things less awkward, anddd they feed you after FO FREE. I signed Robyn and I up for a free workout class at Colorado Athletic Club downtown. It was 20 minutes of strength, 20 minutes of cardio, and 20 minutes of yoga. I had never done yoga before and now know that I suck at the breathing part of it. We all got lunch downstairs at Mellow Mushroom. That place is seriously underrated. Live Well pre-ordered multiple appetizers, including pretzel bites!, salads, and pizzas. I was a happy camper - I got to take home some leftovers too :) I stuck to my word and stayed in Saturday night! Between Saturday and Sunday afternoon, Robyn and I ran a ton of errands, including my first trip to lululemon. Robyn and Tara got me a gift card for my birthday and I had been admiring Robyn’s pants, so I decided that those would be my purchase. lulu is super expensive and we all know I have hard time making big purchases, BUT I was actually excited to get my first pair. I have yet to wear them ...but, I will muster up the courage to some time soon, haha. 

My friend, Brittani, from home was in town the following week for work. Naturally, we had to grab dinner! We met at a Mexican restaurant that I had been wanting to try in RiNo - Los Chingones. Their margs were good and Brittani’s tacos looked reallllly stuffed with goodness. I’ll definitely go back to try the tacos because my main dish was a fail. Both Robyn and I got a seasonal dish that they recommended, but 100000% failed to mention it was spicy AF. Our mouths were on fire. So much fire that our waitress had to bring us mini glasses of milk. It was fun to catch up with Brittani...not to mention, she said she fell in love with my city :) 

When I got to work on Friday, my supervisor, Nick, and co-worker, Chris, wanted to go get breakfast burritos. I guess there was a March Madness type bracket for breakfast burritos in Denver and the place that won was only a few blocks from work. We walked there and waited in line for 45 minutes. It was the smallest stand ever and one guy ran the whole show. His mom stood outside and handled the money and offered you a bag if you wanted one, lols. Survey says? I feeeeel like I could have made the same burrito myself. It was good, but nothing special. Nick told me about his favorite breakfast burrito place and I knew exactly where he was talking about. I pass it on the way to the gym. Adding Burrito Giant to my food list! 

On Saturday I biked to European Wax center and was greeted with a mimosa at 9am - okkk, I came home and got ready for, what else, brunch! We all went to The Curtis Club for Courtney’s birthday. The food was nothing special - I got a waffle - but they had the whole bottomless mimosa thing down. They brought out bottles and three different types of juice - cranberry, orange, and grapefruit (my fav). Make your own mimosas will win me over every time. We made our way to a new Denver graffiti wall in the area to take a picture. So basic, but whatever, it looks so cool. 

I left the group and went to meet David and Kerry at Declaration Brewing for David’s birthday! We celebrated for a few hours and I was home by 10pm :) The next morning, I decided i would go to Panda Express to satisfy my Chinese food fix. I’m having the worst time finding a GOOD american chinese restaurant around here, but I figured Panda was a chain, so I wouldn’t be disappointed. Oh, I was. The chow mein was hard and stringy, the fried rice was meh, and the orange chicken was actually good..but I felt like I was gipped. I needed a few more pieces, please. Don’t worry, I still ate every single bite. 

The next week was a pretty good one. I got a drink with a few friends Friday night at First Draft. I had never been there before. It has a really unique concept - pour your own beer. First, you get a wristband that is associated to your credit card. Second, you check out the huge (daunting) wall of beer taps. Once you pick which one you want, you scan your wristband before pouring your beer, so it knows to charge your card - super convenient! I walked up to the table everyone was at and found out that my friends Rachel and Nick got engaged earlier in the day! Super excited for them!! I went to the pool on Saturday and tried to get back into my reading phase; I hope it sticks. 

Easter Sunday was awesome. Robyn, Tara, and I got up at 3am and drove to Red Rocks for Easter Sunrise Service. We all agreed it was a once in a lifetime type thing, but we would prefer a traditional service on Easter. 

I sprinted back to the car to open the Easter basket that my mom sent me. I gave up all sweets for Lent, so I ripped that baby open and started taking it to the face (Thanks, Mom/Easter Bunny). Next stop...Donuts! I dropped Tara and Robyn off at home around 9am, got into bed with my donuts, FaceTimed my family, then passed out for 3 hours. I got up and went to the store to grab ingredients to make Cowboy Cavier for Alec’s, Tara’s boyfriend, BBQ. The food was amazing, there were as many dogs as people, I rocked my first game of corn hole, and everyone I met was incredibly nice. The night ended with a nice, cozy fire.