The move to Italy (Little Italy that is)

I've been bad at keeping up with this new blog... but I was moving!! And I went home to Virginia for Thanksgiving which was wonderful. It had been 5 months since I'd be home, I think that's a new record for me! Am I the only one who feels like it shouldn't already be December?!? The holidays seriously creeped up on me! Where did the year go?? When I look back a lot has happened this year and a lot of changes. New city, new coast and a new career. I feel so lucky to be where I am.

As some of you may know, the place I rented when I moved out here was owned by an individual owner - who got foreclosed on! So, in the matter of a little over a month I had to find a new place and move. What a hassle. But, the silver lining - being the optimist I am :) - is that I knew San Diego better and got to take a little more time exploring where I wanted to live. I chose a great condo in Little Italy, a neighborhood of downtown. It's close to the harbor, and has tons of awesome restaurants, cool architecture, quaint coffee shops, art galleries and boutique shops. All my favorite things! Maybe it's my love for Italian food, or affinity for city living, but I'm in love with the neighborhood! The pictures in the blog are from my phone, so they're not the best quality, but enjoy!

Last Saturday was the big moving day, so my weekend was consumed by packing/unpacking. But almost a week later and the condo is feeling like home :) I've had a good time decorating and trying to give my place a different feel than my last apartments... on a budget. I find it fun to use things I already have in ways that I haven't before and seeing how it gives a room a totally different look and feel. The biggest decorating changes I made were my bedroom. Since my freshman year in college I've had a pink and green color scheme for my room. I love pink and green! But 9 years later (whoa, that's hard to believe!) I feel like I've outgrown it. So, I'm completely redoing my room in a black, white and lime green theme - with a hint of pink so I that I don't have to totally grow up :) I also have recently become a little obsessed with birds for decorating. It's become so popular and I think they're so elegant and pretty! I got these cute little lanterns that look like bird cages (they're everywhere right now!) from Z Gallerie awhile back and the theme for the room has grown from there.

My sweet Mom sent me an early Christmas present for my new place, a new bed spread! I think it's much more grown up looking than my Lilly Pulitzer pink and green bedding I've had. But it still has some lime green in it which I love!

I went into West Elm the other day, another one of my fav. home decor stores, and they have a collection by the fabulous party planner David Stark. Most of the stuff is made from recycled pages from garden books. I found this precious little bird for only $10 and had to get it!

I think Max likes the new place too. The noise and bustle of living downtown is a lot different than La Jolla, so he barks a lot at firetrucks, people walking outside, etc. Hopefully he'll calm down soon and get used to it all :) He's had to sport a sweater around because all his hair got shaved off last weekend since his long fur got to matted. He looks pitiful. But it will grow back soon!

Once the place is completely done, I'll post pictures. Tomorrow I'm hosting a Christmas/Housewarming party, which has seriously motivated my usually slow to unpack self. I'm mostly done but will definitely be scrambling to be ready for tomorrow night. I love to entertain and am excited to have my friends over. I'm making candy cane martinis! I'll let you know how they turn out.

Stay Classy San Diego

For all you Will Ferrell fans, "Stay Classy San Diego" was his signature sign-off in Anchorman. And it's also the name of a great organization Stay Classy that helps non-profits raise money and promote their fundraising events. http://www.stayclassy.org/  Here's a quick bio from their website:
StayClassy was founded in 2006 by a couple of average guys who wanted to support a cause they cared about, but didn't know how. They decided to host a fundraising event in San Diego, CA called the "StayClassy PB Pubcrawl" to raise money for cancer research (yes, it started with a bar crawl... and yes, the name was inspired by the movie Anchorman). Over time, more and more nonprofits started reaching out to the founders asking for help in engaging a younger audience. One event turned into dozens, and the idea for an online platform that could empower anyone to support the causes they cared about was born. 

The organization has now expanded to 16 cities nationwide. They held their Second Annual Classy Awards in San Diego on November 7th and honored non-profits from across the country. I attended with my friend Sheena and it was a really inspiring evening. They even rolled out a red carpet... there were a lot of "stars" from the non-profit world. 

I was thrilled to meet some of the guys from Invisible Children, an amazing organization which started with a few Southern California guys making a documentary on the war in Uganda. It sheds light on the abduction of children by the Rebel armies to use as troops in the war, and how many children are night commuting to avoid abduction. If you haven't seen it, get a box of tissues and watch. It's heartbreaking.  It now has expanded to an incredible organization helping put a stop to the conflict in Uganda. Invisible Children has brought so much awareness to the issue through its grassroots movement. It's inspiring. Invisible Children won the award for best awareness campaign, and couldn't be more deserving.
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/homepage 



La Jolla Playhouse where I work is opening a play Sunday night called RUINED, which is about the struggle of women during the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play is devastating but at the same time uplifting and hopeful. We are honored to have Invisible Children as community partners for the production, and as guests Sunday for our opening!



So, back to the night of the Classy Awards. In addition to some amazing people from the non-profit world, there were some reality TV stars in attendance. Tenley and Kiptyn from the Bachelor and Bachelorette were there who I met at the after party. They "found love" on the Bachelor Pad, the horrible spinoff from the franchise that I'm sad to admit I watched. Kiptyn is a big philanthopist/businessman in San Diego, and presented one of the awards. Also, one of the top 10 finalists from Season 9 of American Idol performed, Andrew Garcia. He was known for his acoustic rendition of Straight Up by Paula Abdul - which he performed that night along with Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson. He's an amazing artist! The amazing night concluded with a swanky after party at the nightclub Sway in the Gaslamp quarter of downtown. Here's a picture of me and Andrew Garcia - now the third American Idol finalist I've met :) When living in Charlotte I met both Kellie Pickler at a shoe store at the mall, and Fantasia at a restaurant. 

I left the night reeling with ideas and things I wanted to do to get more involved in the causes I heard about at the Classy Awards. The night solidified my desire to work in fundraising and in the non-profit world. I'm glad I can do what I love for a living. I'm really blessed. 

Miss Scarlet in the Library - and Turning 27

It's hard to believe Halloween has come and gone, and we're already in November. It's especially hard to believe in Southern California where the sun is shining and it's 80 degrees today! I've always loved fall, and October in particular. My birthday has something to do with that :) I turned 27 on October 23rd, and was lucky to have my parents here from Virginia to celebrate. We started the weekend on Friday by having a great breakfast at the hotel my parents stayed at, Estancia, and then Mom and I headed to the spa for some relaxation! After a great massage we headed into downtown La Jolla, with Max in tow, my energetic 1 year old Maltese.

We strolled along the beautiful Cove before eating lunch outside with an ocean view. It still amazes me that I live here. The scenery makes me feel like I'm on a constant vacation. Well, except for that 9-5 job and all. Then we walked in a few shops and stopped for dessert at a cupcake shop, aptly named Cups. They even had doggie cupcakes or "cuppies." Max enjoyed his first peanut butter cupcake, which he devoured in five seconds.

That evening we joined some family friends that live in San Diego for a great dinner. And to my pleasant surprise, there was a live jazz band playing at the restaurant that night. The restaurant is on the 11th floor of an old hotel with glass windows that face the ocean. I enjoyed my last night of 26 in style!

So, I woke up the next morning to texts and calls from friends on the East Coast wishing me a Happy Birthday. It was a great way to start the day! My parents and I headed for breakfast at Chocolat, a creparie where I had the most incredible nutella and banana crepe (trés délicieux!) and carmel latte.

We then headed to the Zoo, one of my favorite all time places. I've always loved animals since I was I kid. And the San Diego Zoo is one of the most renowned in the world. Their wildlife conservation efforts are amazing. We had fun hanging out, like this guy.

Then I got ready for a night out. My parents and I had dinner at one of my favorite La Jolla restaurants, George's on the Cove. There is a main dining room, but then a open air rooftop dining area with heat lamps and view hanging over the ocean. (Can you tell the trend of me liking to eat places with an ocean view?) I opened presents and had a great dinner topped off with delicious cheesecake - my fav. dessert!
Then I met up with some fabulous girls for drinks on another rooftop across the street. The highlight of the night was a neighboring table of young men making a bet on who got their next round of drinks by guessing the age I was turning. Luckily none guessed higher, and the first guy guessed exactly right. We danced to a great DJ, and even got free tickets to big Halloween party for the next Saturday.

Fast forward to the next weekend, and Sheena and I kicked off Halloween by dressing up for a party as classic board games. She was a twister board (pretty hysterical) and I was Miss Scarlet from Clue. (In the library with a rope) Then on Saturday night we put our costumes on again for that huge party we got free tickets for on my birthday. It was called "Heaven and Hell" and was held on the Del Mar fairgrounds. There were multiple bars and DJ's. Everyone had awesome costumes - my favorite was a gingerbread man. It looked like the one from Shrek.

Once we tired of the techno-music, we headed to a house party of someone Sheena knows on a roof top that was like no other house party I'd ever been to. (Welcome to La Jolla!) It was a gorgeous house with an ocean view. It was decked out, with bartenders and all. We hung out there to the wee hours of Halloween morning. After sleeping in, I enjoyed the afternoon by taking Max for a walk on dog beach. It was a gorgeous day! He had a blast running around with the other dogs, but isn't too fond of the water. Then I took a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to an outlet mall that's all outdoors. Children were trick-or-treating at the mall, it was really cute!

So, that concludes my last two weekends. And it's Friday again! Tonight my friend Mike and I are going to have a chill Scrabble night. We both love the game, and have yet to challenge each other. I will update who wins :) I'm saving up my energy for a big downtown night tomorrow. And on Sunday I'm going to the San Diego Classy Awards, honoring top philanthropists from across the country. There's some celebrity entertainment and presenters too :) I will post pictures next week!

Well, that's a pretty lengthy first blog post, so I'll sign off for now... xoxo