Last week on the actual day of my birth, I had a really fantastic Birthday Dinner with some really special people. It was at my favorite Mexican spot and that coupled with the presents I got, made for a very spoiled Birthday Girl.
At Maudie's in the Galleria with a whole lot of fun people...and presents!
Then it was off to San Diego with my boyfriend for the weekend where...
A goldfish was delivered to my hotel room.
I ate cupcakes in bed.
Saturday included a massage and a nap in an animal print robe.
And I finally saw the beautiful that is La Jolla, California.
I'll start at the beginning.
My guy and I hopped on a flight to Cali mid morning on Thursday. When we got there it was sunny and 70 something degrees...aka "gorgeous." We made it down to our hotel way before check-in, but we were happy the folks at the Hotel Solemar were ready with a fabulous room anyway on the 8th floor of their Gas Lamp District property. Our corner room overlooked the terrace pool and bar. Within 5 minutes of setting our bags down in room 835, there was a knock on the door. I answered and found a house-keeping lady delivering our pet fish for the weekend. She asked "Do you want fish for the weekend?" I obviously answered "Well, hell yes we do!"
His bowl was put on the table next to the bed. As the words, "what should we name him" were falling out of my mouth I noticed the two bottles of water set on the table too. The name of the bottled water: Fred. So our little weekend goldfish became Fred right then. And just for the record, although we did consider it, Fred was not smuggled, nor was there even an attempt to smuggle him back to Texas with us. I learned my lesson with Tica Tammy the Costa Rican dog, thanks Doc. (See this post for a refresher.)
Anyway, after receiving and naming Fred we decided a nice lunch was in order. We googled a few different ideas and settled on Neighborhood a few blocks away.
Now let me stop here, and say that before embarking on our trip I had declared that all I wanted to do for sure was to go by a cupcake spot I'd seen great reviews on called Heavenly Cupcake.
Well on the way to Neighborhood for lunch, we notice ACROSS THE STREET FROM OUR HOTEL, Heavenly Cupcake. We went in, obviously not worried about spoiling our imminent lunch, and ordered up two. This would be our first two cupcakes, of NINE, we ordered over the next 4 days. Yep, you read that right! We got Pumpkin Spice and Chocolate Vanilla on that first stop. The next day it was Peanut Butter Banana and Cookies and Cream. Saturday we went with Smore, Snicker doodle and Banana Chip, and finally on Sunday we had another Chocolate Vanilla and an Orange Chip. None of the cupcakes were bad. My favorite though, was Cookies and Cream. This cupcake was in fact "Heavenly." It was a chocolate cupcake with icing that tasted like the cream filling of an Oreo. And an actual Oreo was cooked inside the bottom of the cupcake. Pretty intense and pretty delicious.
Ok, going back to the Neighborhood lunch. When we got there I ordered up a chicken flat bread Panini with roasted red peppers and feta. It was perfect for lunch. My boyfriend ordered the house favorite Seared Tuna Sandwich. Not a fan of tuna, I thought he might be disappointed, but I liked his vacation courage to try something different. It worked. The sandwich was a hit and went nicely with the Jalapeno Mac and Cheese we shared. Neighborhood, while a little foo-foo in food and atmosphere, was a great choice for some lunch especially on their patio!
Upon arrival back at the hotel we checked out the amenities. The heated pool on the terrace was nice, but not quite as heated as I'd like. We swam for a bit and strolled through the cardio room before heading back upstairs to get ready for our night out on the town.
We started back on the terrace level at the hotel bar where we were treated to a random fireworks show to the south of us. Then we ventured over to Fourth Avenue where most of the Gas Lamp District activity is located. Over there, we stopped in an Irish Pub with a fun playlist and then grabbed a slice of pizza at what looked to be a popular spot among all the bars. After a short stop at Lime Tequila Bar, we ended the night with a drink at a bar called Analog. This place was really cool. The DJ had a pretty good playlist, but it was the drink list that made this place special... Olde English, Colt 45 and Mickey’s tall boys. Now I am not that gangster, so I just had a Michelob Ultra, but my boyfriend had Olde English. It was a different touch to an area that probably has a lot of the same with so many bars next to one another.
Friday morning started with breakfast at Broken Yolk. This popular spot less than a block from Hotel Solemar, was featured on Man vs. Food not too long ago. Adam, on the show, attempted to eat the "Iron Man." I'm not sure if he was successful or not, but I do know that it is served on a 15 inch pizza pan. And after careful consideration of the rest of the day, my boyfriend decided not to take a stab at the epic meal. Instead omelets and chilaquiles were ordered. Both were excellent, but probably not as blog-worthy as if the challenge had been won.
That afternoon was spent lounging at the hotel. We had massages scheduled that afternoon and it was a dreary day. Naps and movies in bed were definitely in order. When I got back to room 835 I fed Fred, then put on some comfy clothes and bundled up in my animal print robe that every room in the hotel has waiting for their guests. How cool is that? It was such a relaxing afternoon.
Well until we set out for the massages. We found the place we booked online. San Diego Massage Center has great online reviews, and it was located within walking distance of our hotel. So after getting our daily cupcake, we headed to the area we saw the Massage Center was in on the map. After walking around for an hour and calling the place at least three times, we finally talked to a gal there and realized we were walking around an address that did not exist any longer. They had moved and their listing with Information had not been updated. So after explaining that we would not be able to make it any time soon, we rescheduled for first thing the following morning and were even offered a bottle of champagne to make up for the confusion. That was a pretty good deal, so we took it and headed back to our hotel.
That evening after we watched a couple get married from our window- they were down on the hotel terrace- we got ready and went downstairs to the hotel lobby for their complimentary wine happy hour. They were featuring some Argentinean wine and it was a nice way to start a pretty fun night.
When happy hour was over one of my college friends picked us up and we headed out of the downtown area for a Mexican dinner. We all had tacos and margaritas and all of it was exceptional. I can't remember the name of the place, but they had Pomegranate Jalapeno Margaritas and steak/fish/salmon tacos. It was a really fun dinner that ended with a Happy Birthday Sara moment that yall know I absolutely loved!
To cap off a great dinner we headed over to a house party our lovely California dinner hosts knew of going on nearby the restaurant. The house was unreal. It is owned by an architect, and that showed. All the details were flawless from the fire pits on the covered deck, to the artwork hanging throughout the house, to the views from the different levels of the house. I was more than impressed and felt like I was hanging out in an episode of The OC or some other Californian show.
The next morning we made it to our massage on time, and I thoroughly enjoyed my birthday present from my boyfriend. We joked all day about being "totally blissed out." (My Costa Rican travel buddies will appreciate that.)
Breakfast came after the massages. We took the recommendation of my college friend and walked, in the misty rain, over to Cafe 222. This place has been featured on the Food Network for its peanut butter and banana stuffed French toast. The boyfriend ordered up that specialty and I had the Biscuits and Gravy.
The combination of a filling breakfast after a luxurious massage meant all I could do was go back to my animal print robe and let nap time take over. This was truly a spectacular birthday celebration. I mean at this point I had taken multiple naps, eaten at several really phenomenal restaurants, had a massage, hung out with great friends, and lounged in an animal print robe next to Fred my weekend goldfish while eating (at this point) 4 cupcakes. Come on folks, this is the life!
After the, what was now standard nap/cupcake combo, the boyfriend and I decided since we couldn't go walk around in what had turned into a very rainy afternoon, we should take a drive.
And where did we go? Well over the San Diego Bay Bridge of course. And why? Well because it reminded us of Anchorman of course! Seriously it did, and we did. But we continued on after crossing to explore around Coronado Island. After getting excited about some pretty big waves (definitely the biggest I have ever seen) we headed back to the Gas lamp District because the rain was turning into more of a storm.
That night we ran over to the Hard Rock Cafe for a light dinner before hitting up a few bars with my college friends again. One thing particularly noteworthy from dinner was that the restaurant DJ came over to our booth and asked us what song requests we had. Moments later we were rocking out to some of our choices while enjoying our dinner.
The final two Gas Lamp District spots for us were Nicky Rotten’s and La Puerta. The first of those two was a long narrow restaurant/bar that was playing some fun tunes. A lot of college throwbacks came on and it felt like I was at Howl at the Moon. If you know me and my college gals, you know this is never a bad thing.
La Puerta was a block or so down from Nicky Rotten's and was a blast. We sat in a high backed booth and watched a family of four dance drunkenly on the small dance floor. As the night went on, different groups of people came and went from their dance party but one thing remained… their moves. The mom was definitely the highlight. She was easily in her 50s and making out with the dad like a 16 year old, while shaking her booty like she was 21 with her 20-something daughter. All in all it was the perfect entertainment for the night cap.
Before returning to the hotel at the late hour we had to run by our parking spot. And this is where I will offer my one serious complaint about my birthday get-a-way weekend in San Diego. It's the parking. Parking at the hotel was 36 bucks a night. So my boyfriend and I thought since there were parking lots on every corner it seemed, it would be easy to find a much more reasonable option for our weekend rental. Well after a few laps around the block we found the best deal. 25 bucks for 24 hours. However, after going back after the first 24 hours we realized it was only 5 bucks for 10 hours. So for the duration we would just run over to the parking lot and throw in 5 dollars for another 10 hours. It was not that hard, but by the end of the weekend, we spent almost 85 bucks or something on parking alone. That is a little ridiculous if you ask me.
Oh well. Our final day on my birthday weekend started at a breakfast spot called Brian's 24. This place was great. The menu is a little overwhelming with about a million options, but after settling on two different omelets we were served a giant breakfast. I had a sausage and peppers omelet and my man had a bacon avocado omelet. Both were yummy as were the hotcakes and toast served with them.
After checking out of the hotel, which I'd give a very high 8 out of a 10 in stars, we jumped in the car and headed north. The destination was La Jolla. It took almost no time and we were walking around on the beach watching surfers catch some gnarly waves. We drove back down the coast, winding in and out of some really beautiful neighborhoods. By the time we were back down by the airport it was time to return the car and start the journey home.
And after a rather uneventful trip home, my birthday weekend was over. Today has been tough. I want to nap or go grab a cupcake, but I'll have to wait until the next weekend get-a-way for that.
Oh and going through my pictures, I remembered one thing I MUST share...
Once when leaving the hotel, I saw two little puppies. There were identical to one another and dyed GREEN. They were ardoable and I almost stole them both. PETA chill out, these doggies are definitely well taken care of...
Happy Monday Folks!
xoxo Sara Marie
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