Yesterday I had the opportunity to have an afternoon of relaxation and enjoy some of what San Diego has to offer. I had plans to meetup with a college friend later in the afternoon, but had an hour and a half to kill in the area after I dropped off a coworker downtown. I hopped on the 5 and saw the Mission Bay drive exit, and decided to take it.

It was 3:15 in the afternoon and a breezy, slightly chilly overcast day. To most this would seem horrid and unappealing, but it was just perfect for me. I pulled into a parking spot near a park by the bay that was practically desolate.

Seeing the huge rocks line the shore, the small patches of sand, the green grass along the edges where a group was doing yoga, and the path that a few determined runners were traveling on made me feel at peace.

I spent a lot of time just walking and sitting and standing in silence, spending some time observing and some just being there.  It was so easy to be calm and reflective there. I haven’t felt that peaceful since my trip almost a decade ago to Bar Harbor, Maine when I visited Otter’s Point. I didn’t need or want any electronics or gadgets and I didn’t need to talk to anyone.

While I was there I also discovered a playground. It was small and quaint and old and it reminded me a lot of my childhood. Seeing as it was vacant, I hopped on one of the swings and spent a good 10 minutes swinging. Everyone needs to swing more often. Why don’t adults swing?

After I met up with my friend, we headed to see her adorable doggie and then to St. Tropez in San Diego to have all you can eat crepes and bottomless mimosas.  It was a lovely time and it was great to catch up and to enjoy crepes and mimosas. I got home rather early, about 7:30pm, but yet I was still tired and exhausted from the day. It could be that I was also satisfied after having such an enjoyable afternoon.

Things are out of my control now, and all I can do is enjoy the days I have left here before I leave for my journey.

I just have to say that while I miss Vancouver and all my IxD friends terribly, this is what I saw on my drive to work this morning:

It was so beautiful and I remembered part of the reason I don’t regret my move here one bit.

While my original plans for tonight and tomorrow included organizing my checkbook, sorting out bills, doing laundry, and writing up my thoughts on Interaction 09, they will have to all be crammed into a mega session tomorrow. I had overlooked the fact that it was my friend Bob’s birthday today so I treated him on our afternoon trip to Starbucks!

Tonight he had his birthday dinner at Cibo, and since it’s on my list of restaurants to eat at, and it was a birthday, there was no way I was missing it. When I was first told of Cibo, I noticed they had a white pizza section, which instantly puts a restaurant on my list as I cannot stand tomatoes unless I’m really hungry or in other rare circumstances.

I ended up having a pizza with sausage, cheese, and potato on it and some of it is still in my fridge for tomorrow mmmmm. I’d also like to mention they had an amazing Moscato d’Asti (reason 2 for me to visit an establishment). It was so delightful I had to capture the name for future reference:

Another thing I was looking forward to was a repeat of the many Crepe-palooza sessions I had in Vancouver. Unfortunately not only was I terribly full after pizza and wine, but I realized nutella and banana crepes (reason 3) wouldn’t be the same without Mario.

As a special treat, our party favors for the birthday dinner were vintage unopened packs of pop star trading cards as well as Yo MTV Raps trading cards. We didn’t feel the least bit odd as we looked through our cards, traded them, and had contests such as the MC Hammer Off, which was a competition for the best MC Hammer card. Dinner was followed by gelato cake (mmmmmmmm)and some Rock Band.

Tomorrow I finally get my dirty furniture looked at by the claims person for the van line that moved me from Detroit to Phoenix. I get to stay home a little longer, so hopefully that means I can sleep a tad bit more and maybe get some random stuff accomplished in the morning.