The last time I tried to write a blog, WordPress deleted it, so let’s try this again:
Also, I’m in denial I only have one week left here.
7/23: My Register mentor, a senior copy editor named Gerard, took me to Bruxie, a waffle sandwich place in Orange. Why this hasn’t caught on in other places, I’ll never know. I opted for “sweet” instead of “savory” with a s’mores sandwich. Yum.
7/26: I went to another Register U session, this one about labor unions. I didn’t know anything about labor unions, so I’m glad I went. Also, it actually made me want to work on some investigative reporting I’ve been thinking about for a few months.
7/27: Before I had to work, my roommate Marie and I went to the OC Fair. Now, I’ve never been to any kind of county fair, but I’ve copy-edited a lot of articles about it, so I somewhat knew what to expect. Somewhat.
It was swamped, which I wasn’t quite expecting. Our first stop was the livestock area, where we saw some cute kids. And not just cute human kids, either.
For brunch, I hit up an incredible crepe food truck. This has strawberries, bananas, Nutella, whipped cream, almonds, chocolate sauce and powdered sugar, and every bite just got better.
My first deep-fried Oreo, on the other hand, absolutely didn’t live up to the hype. But maybe that’s because I’m just not that into fried food.
After we ate, we walked past countless merchandise tents, saw winners of crafts and collections contests and heard part of a gospel concert. But perhaps the quintessential part of this Southern California fair was this giant sandcastle made with the fair’s theme, “Come and Get It,” in mind:
We spent more time looking at livestock. Marie was all about the oxen; I was all about the bunnies. This guy is the fluffiest I’ve ever seen:
Then, we walked around the carnival area and went on a ride that spun us around and flipped us up and down. It was fun yet a bit terrifying, especially after we had eaten all of that food.
For our last stop, we saw a llama and abnormally large vegetables. Very fair-ish.
7/28: I went with three friends — Marie, Sally and Steph — to San Diego. This trip was much more organized than the previous week’s Los Angeles trip.
We stopped a bit outside downtown San Diego to grab some caffeine and look for sea lions. The first beach we tried didn’t have any sea lions, but it certainly had rocks on rocks on rocks:
We went to another beach that did have sea lions, so that was pretty cool.
Then, we went to the Gaslamp Quarter, the historic heart of San Diego.
We had a wonderful (and inexpensive) lunch at a Mexican restaurant there. I’ve never had a veggie quesadilla so good or so large.
After stopping in a Ghiradelli shop, we walked around this other downtown area near the water, where we saw a giant Dole boat, a guy balancing rocks on top of each other and several nice convertibles on display.
Then, we returned to the car to cross the bridge to Coronado. Hotel del Coronado is very famous — and very historic.
We saw a wedding party at Coronado Beach. This sandcastle was even commissioned in its honor:
8/2: My aunt came to visit for the weekend! It was so great to spend time with her.
We spent about an hour at Balboa before it got too cool, but it was gorgeous all the same:
For dinner, the two of us and her friend went to Canaletto Ristorante Veneto at Fashion Island. The bread was wonderful, and so was the ravoli dish I had that I still can’t pronounce.
Then, Marie and I had a Emma Stone movie marathon with “Crazy Stupid Love” and “Easy A” — two quality chick flicks I had forgotten about.
8/3: My aunt and I spent the morning at Fashion Island. She got me these black Kate Spade heels for my birthday that I’m kind of in love with and know I’ll use lots — I’ve never really owned heels, and never any as comfortable as these.
I went to Native Foods for lunch and had this incredible meatless meatball sub — and, of course, lavender lemonade, sweet potato fries and the chipotle sauce. If only there were one in Columbia.
Then, we went and laid out at the hotel before I had to work, which was relaxing.
After work, a few of us watched “Gilmore Girls” because the others hadn’t seen it, and I decided that I couldn’t allow that for another day.
8/4: I met my aunt for lunch at Fashion Island. I had this incredible grilled cheese on a baguette with brie and another French cheese, rosemary and honey.
After she left, I strolled around for a bit. I also had my first macaroon, which was delicious.
This afternoon, Sally took headshots of me for my website, and I’m so excited to see how they turned out! She was a photojournalism major at MU and does great work — check out her website to see some.
Tonight, we’re hosting a potluck at our pool and going to watch fireworks in Downtown Disney to ring in Sally’s 21st!