Thursday, August 18, 2011

¡Olé!

For my vacation within a vacation, the family and Tia Diane headed down to good ol' San Diego. I couldn't believe it had been well over a year since I'd been there, and an incredible 8 months since I'd seen Brittany. We did our usual beach-walking, BX-hopping and seafood-indulging, as well as the traditional Tour de Del.

We reunited with Brittany for dinner in Old Town, at the restaurant formly known as Casa de Bandini, and (not so) newly christened The Cosmopolitan. How's that for vanilla? It was very handsomely decorated and had delicious tacos.

The waitress didn't write down any of our six orders, assuring us she has "a very good brain". She then proceeded to mess and mix up Britt's and my tacos. But it was ok, we got a good laugh and extra tacos out of the deal!


After dinner, we strolled around Old Town, finding lots of local flavor to entertain us.


One day, we left the boys to fend for themselves at the hotel and hopped over to the only real resort on the island, the Hotel Del Coronado. It just never gets old! We peeked into the shops, walked the grounds, and even tried on thousand-dollar cashmere and mink capes (not too shabby).



Another night we boarded the Coronado ferry and met Brittany at The Fish Market, where I induldged in my favorite seafood cioppino, bib and all.

Who knows what this was about:

Them there be fightin' words!

On Saturday the family headed home, but I stayed on to visit with friends for a few days more...

Monday, August 8, 2011

I missed BBQ sauce...and my family

My aunts and uncles recently came over to visit me while I'm home, and we had a lovely barbeque at the house. I unfortunately haven't been able to see everyone on this trip, but hope to make that happen next time! I'm just lucky the whole gang hasn't disowned me yet for traipsing around Europe.

My cousin Ashley just got engaged, and she asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding next fall-what an honor! I've never been in a wedding before and am so excited for all the fun activities that are sure to surround her big day. Here's the five cousins that were present, celebrating the exciting news:

It took us all a while to recover from ribs and other southern delicacies and to gird ourselves for dessert, but it seems there's always room for strawberry shortcake.

And here's my favorite family member, Emma, modeling for the camera!