I've always been a hopeless romantic. Typical girlie me gushes over anything of French origin… Christian Lacroix's impeccable designs, Charlotte Gainsbourg's chic style and the never-fail-me delicious coq au vin, just to name a few. I like to look at it this way: San Diego is my wife, but Paris will always be my mistress. And in any other instance a collision between the three parties of this dirty love triangle can be disastrous… truly tragic even! But not my loves. No, no, no, my loves have too much class to cause a scene.
When I found out that Cirque Du Soleil was coming to San Diego once again to share its beauty and talent with us I was delighted. Being able to experience a piece of the French culture that's so exquisite right here in my own hometown is a real treat. The costumes, the music, the talent! I was watching each act like a little girl in a trance. My body was here under the grand chapiteau, but my spirit, my spirit was prancing along Boulevard Saint-Germain. It lasted only a few short hours and then I was back to reality… but you know what? Stepping outside to a comfortable 69 degrees at 11 o'clock at night, hearing the waves crash over the beach of Del Mar is not too harsh of a reality. And then I remember… this… this is why I'm in love with San Diego.
What happens at an FTC sleepover, stays at an FTC sleepover.
What can fight illness and depression, slow aging, and prolong life? It's simple you see. All you need is friends!
When life gets hectic and the road gets tough, the best thing one can do is spend some quality, good old fashioned time with friends. FTC was on a good one this week.. our work schedules were suffocating us, and it felt as though our finances were at an all time low. What could make us feel better? Dinner, movies, shopping? Perhaps... but what about a sleepover? I'm talkin sleeping bags, face masks and truth or dare. Yes, FTC had our inaugural sleepover, and it couldn't of have gone any better. We got to vent about our troubles, work on some diy crafts and just enjoy a good laugh. And you know what? It worked! I woke up feeling refreshed and englightened, ready to take on a new day.
So sometimes, when times get rough.. remember that the best remedy to almost anything is just a phone call, or two or three away. Here's to friends. I love you.
Date day [deyt dey] noun: a quintessential outing with your girlfriend(s) consisting of healthy, cultured, fabulous activities.
Yup, Saturday was a perfect date day. So perfect that I felt like I had to share.
Let's start with who I am. I am a proud member of the FTC, an acronym for the "Finer Things Club". Cheesy, I know (you're probably thinking we shanghighed this idea from THE OFFICE, which we did), but it describes exactly what we represent. We are four young, professional, cultured, hungry, inspired women, who have lived in San Diego for a majority of our lives and are constantly looking to discover the finer things in life. Whether it's food, fashion or travel, we are interested in it all, and we have pretty high standards.
Back to Saturday. With only two of us in town, we figured hey, fun day Satur...day? Sounds like a swell idea. So many options, but what do we do? As we're pondering this idea on a Tuesday, we get an email notification from our new favorite friend groupon.com. 10 sessions of yoga for ONLY $49?! Click click click. Green studio?! Check (wait, what does that even mean?). Whatevs. La Jolla location?! Check. Classes offered at a variety of (or more importantly lower than when-the-hell-is-this-class-over-is-this-60-minutes-or-90-freakin-minutes) temperatures?! Check. SOLD. So we attend the 11am class on that fine Sunday morning because hey, we all know that even a "mellow" Friday night yields a few empty bottles of two-buck-chuck left on your counter. The front desk guy is a typical pretentious La Jolla yogi. Teacher, on the other hand, sweet as a pea. All that matters. 60 minutes later and we feel "one with Earth"; not too hot, musically enlightening, all in all a great way to start the fun day Saturday. Marshall's next door? Why not, it's on the way to our......parking spot. $70 and a pair of Sam Edelman and Michael Kors (kid size 4, but hey Japanese people have small feet and can YOU buy a pair of designer shoes for $20, yeah I don't think so) sandals later, and we're on our way to wash off our morning.
Reconvened, we venture over to the MOCA La Jolla where anybody who is equal to or less than 25 years of age gets in for free. This single floor of contemporary art is well suited for those artsy wannabes who often times experience ADD moments of "wow that's fancy", "wait, I don't get it, do you?" and "are you done yet? I'm hungry". The views of the ocean are breathtaking, but warning: don't try to take any pictures inside if you don't want to be blindsided by the volunteer rent-a-cop who is more than willing to give you a quick history lesson on Warhol.
On our way out we pay a visit to an overpriced "boutique" that carries, most likely, cheap LA district fashion clothes, but hey who can say to no to 60% off? A quick trip to re-up on $2.99 camis at the Pink Zone eventually leads us to Warwick's. The first books that catch our eye: WHO WHAT WEAR, A VIEW FROM THE TOP and DOGS IN VOGUE. Sneaking off to the back where the La Jolla snobs couldn't see us NOT buying books, we curl up with our Living Room coffee in hand and daydream of lives more fabulous than we already have. Why are we getting in trouble for placing the coffee cup on top of a book? We're leaving.
On our drive home we couldn't help but stop and witness a post-card worthy sunset. Regardless of if you see them everyday they still make you want to bust out your picture phone and quickly MMS your friend who lives in less than ideal weather conditions (i.e. everywhere else but here). Japanese photo op anyone?
Dinner time already? My how time flies when you're having fun. WHAT'S FOR DINNER? Trader Joe's $1.29 wheat pizza dough, $1.99 pizza sauce, various veggies and $3.99 Malbec. And here we are giggling like little school girls, gawking at every fabulous blog on bloglovin from CUPCAKES AND CASHMERE to LIFE IN TRAVEL and we're thinking WE could do this; our lives are JUST as fabulous. Inspired by our bloglovin friends and our love for all things food, fashion and San Diego.