So THIS is what perfect weather feels like!

Approaching the Grand Canyon!

Greetings from San Diego! I arrived here some amount of hours ago but my body is all confused from waking up at 2:30 AM for a lovely 6 AM flight! I’m happy to say it was smooth sailing the whole way and I had the BEST seat on a plane – seriously people get the exit row if you can. And I happened to be on the right side of the plane for optimal scenery viewing

The second I stepped out of the airport and took a breath of the fresh, crisp air I realized what I’ve been severely deprived of in Stuffy McHumidtown, better known as DC. I couldn’t stop smiling and exclaiming to my cab driver, Ohmygoodness the weather is SO PERFECT! He didn’t speak much english, but when I asked him what his favorite part about San Diego was (hoping to get advice about attractions, etc.) he said “the weather!” I mean, I don’t even think I realized how completely terrible the weather in DC (or NY, or any east coast city) was until I had something to compare it to. I’ve been to California before (twice; once to San Fran and neighboring cities, and once to Long Beach) but coming directly from the grossness that is now my home district was a startling discovery.

ANYways, the weather was a perfect backdrop for my one “free” day in San Diego. I’ll be at the BlogHer Conference all day Friday and Saturday, meeting lots of awesome bloggers and learning a TON that I don’t know about blogging! (I’m also working… but no one believes me that a real business trip can happen in San Diego.)

View of the Convention Center from my hotel room

Since my body was screaming with hunger, I started off my day on the west coast with an 11 AM lunch! It took me WAY too long to decide, especially since I am by myself and could have gone to any of the 100 places on the handy map the concierge gave me. However, I wanted to make sure I made a careful decision since I won’t have many restaurant meals while I’m here. Some of the restaurant/ bar names were kinda funny – Tipsy Crow, Hopping Pig, Whiskey Girl, Wet Willies…

Gaslamp Quarter - where all the food options resided

Toscana - cafe and wine bar - where I sat outside to enjoy my lunch

YUMS. I'm telling you this was the best wrap ever. Rosemary grilled chicken, spinach, roasted peppers, tomato, peso spread.

After lunch, I decided to rent a bike and see part of the city that way- it’s much less tiring than walking and the streets are so well-paved with bike lanes. I rode down along the bay and stopped every once in a while to take in the beautiful view…

Note to self: Don't attempt to take pictures while steering a bike.

Safety first!

I stopped along my route because the Summer Pops were practicing!!! I looove these kinds of performances. It makes me sorely miss my clarinet days. #bandgeek

I needed at least one "I'm a tourist!" shot, right?

After a leisurely 2 hour ride, I returned my bike and I couldn’t help but notice what was next door to the bike rental shop:

Heavenly Cupcakes: nothing compared to Baked & Wired, but I HAD to have one...

Anyone who’s anyone knows you can’t go to a new city and NOT try a cupcake. Even if I didn’t research the BEST cupcake joint in the city, I pretty much had no choice but to visit one a few blocks away from my hotel! (even if it only got 3 stars on Yelp)

This is for all you red velvet fanatics out there (there are at least 4 of you, and you know who you are!)

But if you know me, you know I’m a vanilla girl- so I went with a Vanilla Caramel!

Demolished in under 2 minutes. #success

Now I’m off to check out the exhibitors at the conference! Hoping the jet lag doesn’t catch up with me just yet.

And speaking of conferences… I should probably clone myself and be at another conference this weekend! It’s the Ancestral Health Symposium in LA. I know it sounds kinda weird, but it’s for all those Paleo geeks out there And even though I don’t quite fall into that category right now- it’s still something I’m passionate about and really want to learn more about. There are some fab people attending who I follow regularly via their blogs/ twitter, and I’m hoping to keep up with all the cool things going on there, while I’m here. Challenging, I think.

Also, thanks for keeping up with my very sporadic blogging habits lately. Could use some pointers for that…