Hello's & Goodbye's.

Don't you love that feeling you get when you know people are coming to visit from out-of-town? I love thinking of all the great things we can do, the potential funny moments to have, and the great conversations to share over a nice glass of wine. I love having company over. I love spending time with close friends.

There is one part of the trip that I hate even more than cleaning up and facing reality though...

Good Byes.

Every time I go home and have to leave, I get choked up and emotional or just flat out ball. Anytime someone I love comes and visits and then has to leave, I feel the same way. Don't you? I feel like it's inevitable for me. I dread the day it comes. I even have to prepare myself for it.

Anyways...

Last week, Joseph and I had some great company. Our friends, Sarah, Jessica, & Amanda came to visit. We had so much planned but so little time. I'll give you a brief overview of our time together.

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The first night they got in, we went to this really cool wine bar called Syrah. The bar itself is really cool with the walls covered in "grass" and "tree roots" hanging from the ceiling, as if we were underground.

The theme is Alice in Wonderland. We had a couple of drinks, danced a bit, and then came home to sleep since they had spent all night traveling.



The next morning we went to Little Italy for the Farmer's Market. It was a beautiful day and just walked around and explored. After the market, we went to Coronado.

Everyone except Amanda and I got into the water and went wave surfing. I enjoyed sitting and watching and then eventually reading up on the latest US Weekly :)

We layed out on the beach, swam, and walked over to The Del.

Afterwards, we went back downtown and had a late afternoon snack and drink at The Glass Door (one of my favorite places to go) and enjoyed the sunset from the roof.



I had to work that night, but Joseph brough the girls in for an after-dinner treat :) Yummy. Sarah ordered teh Gianduia Torte. Chocolate cake soaked in Meyer's Rum, with a layer of Hazelnut Buttercream & Boysenberry Preserves, and Chocolate Mousee, all covered in Crushed Pralines. An Extraordinary Desserts must!

Sunday morning, I conviced everyone that we had to have brunch, because Sunday Brunch is a HUGE deal in San Diego. Every restaurant has their own version of Sunday Brunch. We settled on Dish at Universal because the menu looks awesome and they had $1 Mimosas! We got there and they even had a small live band playing. Perfect!

Afterwards, Joseph wanted to take the girl's surfing. Joseph was quite the instructor! Jessica was up first. After about 30 minutes, she was done.

Sarah was up next! She was a little nervous but really pulled through. She ended up going for about an hour!

That night, Joseph took the girl's to his work at Sushi Deli #1.



Who ever said it wasn't safe to go to Tijuana, Mexico is crazy :) But to be safe, we went during daylight. How could you come to San Diego and NOT go to Mexico, right?!



After walking for quite some time through a maze of a town, we must have found the center of the city!


There was this semi-shady place that also looked kind of inviting so we had lunch there! We got (2) Margaritas and (1) Shot of Tequila for $5. What a bargain! We spent most of the afternoon looking at the same junk over and over again. Finally in the late afternoon we got some tacos closer to the border and went home for the night :)


The next morning, Joseph took the girls to L.A. They did a lot of stuff like walking down Hollywood Boulevard and seeing the "Stars".


They even saw the Rachel Zoe Project building. I DIE :) I'm just happy they didn't see Rachel Zoe herself because then I would have seriously been super upset that I couldn't go.


After a long day, they finshed the night in Santa Monica and met up with some friends that they knew.

Wednesday morning, we made our way up to La Jolla (one of my favorite places on the entire planet) Everything is so beautiful up there. I wish I could live there. We had lunch at Cody's, and then walked down to the Cove.

The girl's were in luck, there were plenty of seals sun bathing. Joseph even took them into the caves and they explored for a bit.

Per my request, we made it over to La Valencia Hotel for an afternoon Mojito. The best that I have found thus far. I love sitting up there and enjoying the view of La Jolla. Britney Spears stays here when she is in town, so of course it's fabulous (which explains the $13 Mojitos price tag!)

Later on, they all went kayaking and had a nice bonfire, while I worked :(

The last thing we did was take a walk through Balboa Park. It was the best topping to the end of a great trip. The girls really enjoyed it and after walking through the park, we stopped at The Marketplace and ordered some sandwiches and had a nice little picnic in the park.

Sadly, I then I had to take them to the airport. Yes, I got a bit choked up and started to miss home but had to look back and see all the fun we had :)