San Diego

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Hello again all of you beautiful and amazing readers.

Sitting down with some delicious lemon and lime water I made, looking out my window at this rainy gloomy day. Wishing I was somewhere with sunshine, sand, and water. To say that I am ready for spring and 70 degree weather is an understatement. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely love the fall and winter feels. The snow, Christmas time, the cold, snuggling up by a fire with my family and a warm tea or soup in hand. But this has felt like the longest winter ever and after our recent trip to San Diego I haven’t quite snapped out of vacation mode yet.

I thought that I would do a little travel guide/blog post about everything we did and spots I highly recommend for those of you interested in what there is to do in San Diego. For those of you who have never been, you must go! Cali is a different feel for sure but all the people in San Diego were so nice and I can’t wait to go back.

So our trip began on a Friday, I was flying from Kansas City with a new friend of mine. I left my home in Manhattan to drive to KC and picked her up on the way to the airport. We were both beyond excited and so ready to get away from the cold! We picked up some lunch and headed to the airport. It was heartbreaking to get the news that our flight had been delayed for like three hours. We were supposed to leave around 2:45pm and our flight didn’t leave till about 6:15 now. We ate after arriving at the airport and decided to find some adult beverages and just hang out and talk.

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(snapped this while waiting for the flight!)

We had so much fun chatting about life and girl talk that the time really flew by. Next thing we knew it was time to head through security and take a seat outside our gate. I was so happy to see our plane pull up to our gate. We were beginning to feel like we’d never leave!

During this whole time, I was experimenting with our nice camera and mini tripod attempting to do my first video blog. Let’s just say I have a lot to learn. I had so much fun taking all the video that I did though.

We boarded the plane finally and even got a very generous voucher for our delay! Thank you Southwest! During the flight we talked a lot and again she really helped ease my flying anxiety and the flight went by pretty fast.

Then we finally arrived in Cali and we were so stoked! We got an Uber and arrived at the modern two-towered Manchester Grand Hyatt in downtown San Diego. The views were amazing from the hotel room and the hotel design was jaw dropping, a beautiful place really. Shortly after arriving we went to our separate rooms where her boyfriend was staying and I went to my husbands hotel room. We started to get ready so that we could go grab dinner somewhere. The guys showed up during the time we were getting ready and then we went downstairs to find a place to eat.

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Get my super affordable suitcase here. My bag was also perfect for this trip. It has two small handles to carry it like a typical purse and a crossbody strap for on the go action. Especially if you have your hands full. Get my bag here.

We ended up eating at Brew 30 which has awesome vegan and vegetarian options! I got the impossible burger that was delicious! It’s a 100% meatless burger that tastes like beef. Potato, wheat, coconut oil and heme patty, mixed greens, jalapeno tomato jam, and smashed avocado. I also got some beer they have a lot of different selections to choose from. I believe it was the Orange Avenue Wit which is 5.2% a refreshing light-bodied brew rife with citrus zing.main-gallery-779859405

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After dinner we headed over to Kansas City Barbeque which is right next to the hotel. It’s so cool because the owners of this bar are from Kansas City and they have Kansas State, University of Kansas, and Royals decor everywhere. They also have cool bumper stickers with funny sayings and the ceiling lamp has a bunch of bras on it. I thought this was hilarious. This bar has so much history but the coolest thing about it was that a few scenes from the famous Top Gun movie with Tom Cruise was shot here. They played “Great balls of Fire” at the piano and this is where Carol says “Goose, you big stuuuuuud! Take me to bed now or lose me forever!” It was awesome to be able to see such a cool piece of history and of course there is top gun stuff everywhere!

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After having a drink at Kansas City Barbeque we headed back to our hotel just a 2-3 minute walk and headed up to the top floor. There is a fancy and intimate sky lounge called Top of the Hyatt. This was an amazing place because it has spectacular views 40 stories above San Diego Bay. Floor to ceiling windows offer dramatic panoramic views of the city and ocean below. This was the perfect setting to celebrate our arrival to San Diego and a great way to kick off our trip! I got a gimlet that was very tasty. Gimlets are my favorite! Gin, lime juice, and simple syrup strained into a chilled martini or coupe glass. I always feel like Betty Draper from Mad men when I order one. All I would need is a cigarette in hand and an elegant and stylish dress from the 1960’s.

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After drinks upstairs we headed back down to the lobby where we were greeted by friends from the conference that the guys had attended in the days prior to us arriving. It was the last day of their conference and we chatted with some fun people before heading back to our rooms for the night.

The next morning we got up and got ready. I couldn’t help but take a picture in front of the huge window over looking the San Diego bay and the city in the daylight. We then headed down to the lobby to check out of the room. We went to the gift shop to pick out a few things since my husband had a credit on the room. The Grand Hyatt was sweet and gave him some credits for having to change rooms earlier in the week. We picked out something for mother in law and one other thing that I can’t recall at the moment. After checking out we walked around the downtown area along side the bay. We went into a cool little souvenir shop called The Bay Company and they had a lot of interesting things in there. They have a huge wall of socks for you sock lovers out there. They had multiple different designs, prints, sayings etc. I included this on my vlog.

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(Right next to the bay area)

I picked out a t-shirt and hat combo from the Bay Company shop that says San Diego on it and is this cool light orange color also on the vlog. I thought it would be good for running and doing things outside this summer. After walking around downtown we got an Uber and headed to our next destination, our condo at Ocean Beach!

Upon arriving at our condo location I was amazed at the scenery. Palm trees everywhere, the ocean was just a few feet away, the pier, it was all just so beautiful. Our condo was this cute little upper duplex with two bedrooms. Although it was nothing too fancy it was perfect for us and the location you just couldn’t beat it. I loved our condo the only thing I would say is it would have been nice to have a walk out porch/balcony attached to the living room or dining room area, or even attached to the bedrooms would have been cool. There wasn’t much scenery from the windows of the condo but there was a shared sitting area outside at the bottom of the stairs to our condo with a table, chairs and a grill which I really loved.

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The palm trees towering over the area added a nice touch, there was also a wall of greenery lining the hallway to leave through the gate of our condo and of course I saw the opportunity for a picture!

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After settling in we went to the pier to get our first view of the ocean at Ocean Beach. Breathtaking is all I can really say. So worth it! We then walked about 5 minutes to Newport Ave where all the shops, dining places, bars and liquor store is located. We spent a lot of time walking up and down this street! During the day it was in the 70’s which felt great in the sun. I felt like a light sweater or just a t-shirt was just fine. At night once the sun went down you definitely needed a warm North Face or something similar. It got pretty chilly at night! Especially being right by the ocean.

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The first place we went to was Mike’s Taco Club for Tacos! This place has the most amazing tacos ever! I loved the vibes at this place because it had minimal seating and everyone was just crowded around to order and enjoy! You go up to this window to order your tacos, drinks, etc and then when it comes up you grab it and find a place to sit. The sauces that come with the tacos are delicious too. This place reminded me of a taco place back home but tacos next to the beach you just can’t beat that!

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After tacos we walked around, hit up the liquor store and went into a few shops. The shops here are very random. We heard good things about this one called The Black but didn’t get anything from this particular one. However worth checking out!

Shop my sunglasses here.

The rest of our trip consisted of drinking mexican beer, we went to the bars the first night, and eating to our heart’s content. I even managed to get a cute outfit from a boutique on Newport Ave called Miss Match. I will include everywhere we went below!

Our hotel: Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego

Shops:

The Bay Company

I really enjoyed this store and wish I had more money to spend here. They had a lot of cute San Diego clothes but pricey!

The Black

This shop was entertaining to say the least.

Miss Match

This store was SO cute and will definitely be doing some online shopping here. When we go back to San Diego this will be a must for me every time!

Wings beachwear

We bought so many hoodies and sweat pants from here. I loved all of their clothing and we have a lot of comfy loungewear! It was all for a very good price too! Super affordable. Highly recommend if you visit San Diego.

Places we ate:

Mikes Taco Club

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Sapporo 

This sushi chef was amazing. The nicest guy ever. They don’t offer just sushi but a variety of other dishes including vegetarian!

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The Joint

Another delicious sushi place with a variety of menu options. I tried sake for the first time here!

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Hodad’s 

This place has delicious burgers! I got a vegan burger here and it was amazing! This restaurant was also on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives so there is literally a line outside the place every single day! I included what the vegan burger and fries look like.

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Bars:

OB Noodle House

This place was packed but such a great experience. It’s huge and has an outside seating area with a fire pit. Had some delicious cocktails here. Good bloody marys! I wish we had more time to eat here because all the food looked so good!

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OB Brewing Co.

This place had beautiful views and a rooftop bar. Highly recommend, lots of beer options.

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Tonys OB

This place was fun one night we went here to play pool, and had a great time.

Sunshine OB

Loved all the pool tables. This bar also has an upstairs rooftop area. The bar downstairs is half patio and the vibes here are really cool. Had too much fun here.

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I hope you enjoyed this little guide I threw together. Hopefully for those of you that took the time to read this and have a trip to San Diego planned for the future, definitely visit some of the places I mentioned. You will be happy you did so. To shop this blog post everything is included below.

Also check out my first ever vlog I put together which includes a lot of the scenery from our trip!

Please comment and like if you enjoyed this post. If there is something else you would like me to write about in the future please let me know! I am located on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Snapchat. Please subscribe and follow for more outfit ideas, travel guides, delicious plant-based recipes and more! It really means the world to me to be able to inspire others and give them ideas. I am always looking for more ideas so please don’t hesitate to reach out to me through personal message, and comment! Stay tuned for upcoming videos and more blog posts. 🙂

Don’t forget to shop below!

Much love,

Jordan

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