Winter In San Diego

I hesitate to even call what we’re experiencing in San Diego as “winter”.  It is unusually cold and unusually rainy for SD, but really nothing as far as what a true winter is.  We moved from Ohio to San Diego in mid-December back in 1999.  I remember both of us exclaiming with glee that we were “skipping winter” from now on.  We still feel that way, and feel so fortunate to live in sunny San Diego.  Oh, don’t get me wrong.  There’s plenty of wrong things with San Diego.  The traffic.  The lack of parking anywhere you go.  The crowds everywhere.  But boy, do we have year-round good weather, beaches, and great food!

We watched a bunch of birds (pelicans?  we couldn’t tell from afar) nose-dive into the water for fish.  It was so cool!

Todd bicycling in January on the coast.  In JANUARY.  At the COAST.  As he always says, “This ain’t happening in Ohio.”

So, after we both recovered from being sick for about a week at the beginning of January, it was full steam ahead!  I started planning monthly release products for my handcrafted store on Etsy.  It was actually quite time consuming to plan out all the product releases for each product category from January all the way through June.  And then source the products and buy all the supplies and ingredients, and tools/equipment/packaging.  But it was also fun.  And FUN is why I’m doing this, because lord knows I’m making a mere fraction of what I was earning in my previous career in corporate finance.  Like tiny fraction… much less than minimum wage when you consider all the time I put into it.  But hey, it’s fun!  And I’m exercising my creative brain again.  I saved money for 25 years so I could quit and do something like this before I was too old.  So you know, here I am!

So far I’ve sold out of many things in January & February.  This is mainly because everything is handcrafted by me, in small batches.  I really can’t make big batches, because I don’t have big equipment.  And because I can’t really afford to have inventory sitting around not sold.  I’d rather miss out on revenue than have inventory sitting around unsold.  In January my best selling item was this 3 oz lavender coconut lime scented heart-shaped body butter bar.  It had a luxurious blend of shea butter, coconut oil, beeswax, and vitamin E oil. 

My February best seller that sold out pretty much overnight after my newsletter went out was the Cotton Candy Emusified Sugar Scrub.

I will write a post later this week on behind the scenes at Pacifica Grace Studio. 

I started to exercise again, only to be foiled by my “busy-ness” getting my product releases out.  I plan to make it a priority, but it really needs to be scheduled and put on my calendar to make it happen.  I always feel so GOOD when I exercise though!  I was watching an exercise video and following along.  Noodle claims he was exercising.  But look at him.  I don’t think so!

One day a while ago, he begged for lap sitting so I picked him up and he sat on my lap. 

I petted his head.  After a few minutes he suddenly jumped off and ran away.  Thus the ensuing text conversation with Todd, LOL!

Noodle loves Todd.  Noodle will hang out with Todd, even if it’s on Todd’s keyboard.

We have discovered a few new-to-us places to eat around town that I’ll share.  I think if you’re local you’d enjoy them too!

On Sunday 1/20 we went to lunch at Bluewater Boathouse Grill on Coronado.  We had never been before.  I had seen the crab BLT sandwich on Beach Bites with Katie Lee on the Cooking Channel, so I knew I had to try it!

Todd got the salmon sandwich.

We also really enjoyed the sourdough bread loaves that they bring to the table!  So good!  After lunch we headed to the Coronado Playhouse to watch our friend Cecile in the musical “Guys And Dolls”.

It was such a fun show!  She was so good in it.  We love community theater, especially when our friends are in it!

After the show, we went to Moo Time for our favorite ice cream.  They had both salted caramel AND apple pie flavors!

The 2nd restaurant that we discovered and have been to TWICE since the new year is Taste of Hunan.  This is the real deal Chinese food!  As in “the only non-Chinese people in the restarant are accompanied by Chinese people” authentic.  The first time we went, only Todd and one other person was not Chinese.  But the food is so good! 

We’ve had a noodle soup with pork and pickled veggies.

Sauteed Chinese greens.

Spicy stir-fried Tofu

Chicken noodles

And both times we had the pork and chives dumplings because they’re so delicious!

The third place we discovered last weekend is Atlas Market in Poway, next to the Target.  It’s hard to describe it, but it’s like an international market with a food hall, with emphasis on Persian and Korean food!  We tried out Korean fried chicken at Furaido Chicken and it did not disappoint!  I’ve never had Korean fried chicken before, but the coating is rice flour instead of wheat flour.  And they fry it twice, so there’s no fat left in the skin and everything is crunchy!

I got the glazed garlic soy chicken and I deemed it delicious!

Todd got the red savory glaze.  He thought it was ok, he liked mine more.

They give you gloves to eat it with your hands, ha ha.

There’s also a Persian bakery there and we tried out these filo-dough pastries with savory beef and onion in them.  Delicious!

In February we celebrated both Todd’s birthday and Lunar New Year.  We drove in the rain up to LA to visit my dad and Shelly.  It was fun and I gave them some of my handcrafted candles, wax melts, soaps, lip balms, and body butters.  I forgot to take photos though. 

For Todd’s birthday celebration (he took the day off the day before his bday), we went to URBN Pizza in North Park, one of his favorite pizza places. 

Afterwards we went to Extraordinary Desserts, where we got a tres leches chocolate cake to share.  And Todd got an entire Truffe Frambois cake to take to work the next day to celebrate his birthday with work friends.

So Todd’s birthday this year was smack on Chinese New Year.  And it is the Year of the Pig.  Todd is a Pig in the Chinese zodiac.  It’s every 12 years.  So if you do the math, you know how old he is!  My dad’s wife Shelly got Todd this popcorn-eating pig.  It’s Todd exactly for this birthday, the Year of the Pig!

On this actual birthday, we went to Phil’s BBQ for dinner to celebrate him.

Later that week, I got invited to a Lunar New Year dim sum lunch with some of my friends from my ex-job.  I found this festive Chinese jacket that my mom gave me YEEEAARS ago and wore it.

The dim sum was so good, and it was so good to see those friends again.

The jacket.  My mom.  I miss my mom so much.  My mom passed away from cancer on Valentine’s Day in 2007.  Todd and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day anymore, because not only is it a Hallmark holiday, it is also too bittersweet of a day for me.  I miss her every day of course, but even more on Valentine’s Day and her birthday. 

This catches up from the holidays to the present!  On Thursday I will write a “behind the scenes” post of my Pacifica Grace Studio handcrafted business.

Thank you for being here still and reading, by the way.  I know I haven’t been the most consistent blogger recently.  I’ve definitely regretted not documenting my life and forgetting all the details.  I love writing and I love to share, so hopefully I can get back on a regular track for blogging.  I put it on my calendar!