Orfila.

After spending most of the day at the Wild Animal Park, we decided to make a little pit stop before we drove back down to the city and since we had passed a cute little winery on the way up...

We said, "Why not? We are in California after all!"

The little boutique winery was called Orfila. The logo looked familiar to us but knew that we had never bought it before. We didn't take a tour or anything, we were just interested in drinking it!

We bought the Cabernet which was about $20 and walked over to their garden area where you could setup a picnic or barbecue on their grounds. We just sat in the grass and enjoyed the view.


They even let us "borrow" their wine glasses. If you did the $10 tasting you got them for free... so we figured we had spent just as much and took them home :)

It was really fun and now we have more of a motivation to make a trip up to Napa Valley... hopefully soon than later!

San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Last weekend, I had Saturday off so Joseph and I decided to make a trip up to the SD Wild Animal Park. It's a division of the SD Zoo and since we are members, it would be free admission. The 30-minute drive up was beautiful. The scenery was mountainous and all the plants were blossoming (not good for my allergies but luckily I had some Zyrtec in my bag!)

As soon as we entered, we decided it was pretty much the same thing as the zoo, but then quickly realized that the difference was that a lot of the animals get to roam free all around you. Joseph wasted no time being silly!

The picture doesn't do it justice but the scenery that this HUGE bird was in, was really pretty and serene. Wouldn't you love to have this view in your backyard?!


I don't remember the name of this animal but it had the funniest body. It was eating/licking a salt rock thing and almost didn't seem real.

We stumbled upon a rooftop cafe and enjoyed lunch with the view of the back of the park. It was the perfect day. You can see all the people down below and the mountains in the way back.

The elephant exhibit was my favorite. The baby elephant was just recently featured all over the news for it's birth and another had just been born a couple days before.

While walking around I found a little nest of baby duckies, so cute!

With your admission you get to take a free trolley ride within the grounds of certain exhibits that gets you even closer to the animals. Can you see the lion on top of that Range Rover?! There was one laying inside of it too!

They took our picture before we got onto the trolley... maybe as a souvenir for your family in case the animals killed you during the ride... just kidding :)

It's definitely worth a visit for anyone who hasn't been!

Cucina Urbana.

Last week, my friend Caitlin and I were looking for somewhere new to try for our weekly lunch get together. We sat and thought about it for a while and then I remembered that I had been dying to try Cucina Urbana, which is down the street from us in Banker's Hill. We hopped in her car and drove down (we probably should have walked BUT Caitlin doesn't do that).

The decor was so cute. It was kind of a mix of modern meets Anthropologie (the clothing store). It was kind of rustic but warehouse feeling too. I really liked it, and the seating in the window booths were way chic.

We ordered the lunch special that came with a pizza and salad for about $20, which is not bad at all. I ordered a Mango Iced Tea, which was really good and Caitlin had a Pinot Grigio. Everything was amazing.

Since opening Cucina Urbana has been featured in so many magazines across California and it definitely lived up to the hype. I'll be going back very soon :)

Herb-Baked Eggs.

As I raid the refrigerator and try to find ways to use all of our food up (really so we have less to move), I decided to make a French recipe by the Barefoot Contessa that you can find here.... I'm sorry but she's my go-to chef first! Usually if there is something that I can think up, she usually has a recipe for it.

So, with luck I had (4) eggs and most of the fresh ingredients that I needed. I substituted cilantro for parsley and left out the rosemary because mine was dead. But simply put, it certainly hit the spot. Take a look...

I toasted some bread and pretty much just dipped, scooped, and enjoyed. I would recommend this recipe to anyone who loves poached eggs or eggs over easy. I can't wait to make them again for a group of people (Joseph and I shared this larger dish, but you can make it in individual ramekins too!)

Zoo-Ma-Lew.

If you remember this post about the my first San Diego Zoo experience, then you will remember that we didn't wait in the hour line to see the Panda bears and didn't have the chance to see the Polar Bear exhibit because it was still a work in progress...

So, last week Jospeh and I decided to go back since we both had time off (for once) at the same time! We drove the Vespa over to the zoo and had a nice late afternoon stroll.

Since we had the time and it was a weekday, we decided to wait in the shorter line to see the Panda Bear exhibit...

All in all it really wasn't worth the wait. They were cute, don't get me wrong but you had to be super quiet and they had their backs turned the entire time. I don't get why people were crazy about this exhibit. You can barely see the little baby Panda laying in the tree.

Afterwards, we walk to the other end of the park to see the new Polar Bear Plunge exhibit. It wasn't that exciting either... It was cool seeing them right in front of us but like before they just had their backs turned to us. So, we called it a day!

J.Crew: Special Occasions.

Erica is probably going to kill me for posting these pictures of her because she wasn't in the mood to try the dress on but I made her...

We have been working on picking out bridesmaids dresses for her wedding this fall and decided to try J.Crew's Special Occasions dresses. The particular one that she picked out was the Silk Taffeta Bow Monde dress found here.

However, she isn't sold on it.

What do you think?!

Let Me Upgrade.

This week, I can't help but be nervous, anxious, and excited all at the same time. After months of debating our next move (staying within San Diego or moving back to Des Moines) we reached an agreement to stay... on one condition.... that we move to a new apartment, and the only way I was moving was if it was going to be an upgrade from what we have now.

Well, the time has come... we're moving!

The timing just seems right. We're moving into the aloft building further into downtown. The location is much quieter and the amenities make the higher rent so worth it. If you remember our current apartment in this post... then you'll see that we don't currently have a dishwasher, washer/dryer, air conditioning, a work-out room, or a pool/hot tub.... but.... we will this weekend!

I am just hoping that everything goes smoothly. Wish us luck!