June 25, 2016 - Gladiator Run and the Best Shopping in San Diego

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 37 DAYS

Shopping in San Diego

Hey there and hello!
So sorry for my "sick" day yesterday.  To tell you the truth, I wasn't sick at all.  I just took a day off.

I decided to get up and at 'em very early yesterday, with all intentions of getting back to "wifi" to write my blog.  But then one thing led to the other and from an early walk to shopping for bathing suits for the kids, to heading over to the community pool, the day just slipped by.

So, I called in "sick" to Tanya around noon with the news that I would be MIA from my blog.  And boy, did I love her blog yesterday!!!  Did you catch it?  Well, if not, click here to do so.  

Lisbon (c)travelincousins.com

Tanya's blog featured a little "Flashback Friday" of her most recent trip, The Azores and Much More sharing a few pics from the first 5 days of her trip.

From Boston to Lisbon to Bilbao & San Juan to Carnac and Saint Malo to Saint Malo and Mont Saint Michel - it was a delightful photo story!

As you can see, I added the countdown to my next trip on today's blog.  I'll be headed to New Orleans with the girls for a few days of R&R in early August.

Although it will be quite hot, I couldn't resist the amazing rates for The Big Easy!!

Today, however, I am going to take a little trip out west to San Diego, where Tanya is headed to today.  Thought I'd get a jump on things and tell ya all about some of the great shopping experiences in this Southern California town.

With an average temperature of 72 degrees the variety of outdoor shopping malls, shopping centers, vintage/antique stores, and quaint neighborhood boutiques, San Diego offers plenty of options for the shopaholic!

I've broken the shopping experiences into three categories, depending on your preference:

1) Shopping Centers
Whatever atmosphere you desire, you are sure to find - from luxury and high end department stores to family friendly retailers, San Diego has it all.

Department stores such as Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom with designer and specialty shops including Prada, Emporio Armani, Halston Heritage, Gucci, Carolina Herrera, Ann Taylor, Joe's Jean, Kate Spade, James Perse, and C Wonder just to name a few. 

Of course, there are restaurants and movie theaters as well for additional entertainment to fill your day!

2) Outlet Centers
If bargain hunting is your thing, there area great deals to be found on designer and brand names at the several outlet centers throughout San Diego county.

From North County Coastal, South Bay, East County and centrally-located Mission Valley, stores such as Off 5th Saks, Nordstrom Rack, Kenneth Cole, Barneys New York, DKNY, Elie Tahari, Juicy Couture, Michael Kors, and more, offer discounts up to 25%-65%.  

3) Neighborhood Shopping Communities
For more original and one-of-a-kind finds, the local San Diego must-see shopping neighborhoods provide hours of exploration through local boutiques, antique stores, art, home goods, furniture, local restaurants, wine bars, and beer pubs.

Some of these quaint neighborhoods include Little Italy, Mission Hills, Hillcrest, Gaslamp Quarter, Seaport Village District, North Park, South Park, Old Town, Ocean Beach, Village of La Jolla, Coronado, Cedros Design District, and Encinitas.  

Tanya's visit to San Diego will be for the Gladiator Rock N Run, so I'm not sure how much time she will have to shop, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Go for it Cuz!!!

Westfield Horton Plaza, San Diego (credit: sandiego.org)

It's a glorious day here on the east end of Long Island!  Sun is shining and the temps are mid-70's - hey that's similar to the year-round weather of San Diego!

Just enjoying my time here at the Tanger Outlets while my girls ride. 

Have my Godson Nolan's graduation party later this evening so I'll be getting him a present while I'm here.  

Yesterday was a successful shopping day with Gianna.  We headed over to Sears to get bathing suits.  My little pre-teen found 2 suits and a cover-up and mommy managed to find one after trying on several, plus a cover-up.

Total $94 which I thought was incredible!!! I love a good bargain!!

Ok kids, I'm off to do my errands and back to the barn to watch my cuties ride!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 7 DAYS

Time to get into Beastmode!

Okay guys today is the day we become Gladiators!

We are on the way to San Diego right now (as I type). I'm so glad that technology has made it possible for me to do this! Otherwise I would've needed to wake up even earlier and for a gal who usually just refuses to go to sleep anytime even reasonably early - this just works out better!

This time around it's Dave B, Dominic "our fitness warrior", and me.
Cosette who probably knows better than all of us (in this instance) decided to not join in on the muddy fun.
You might be wondering why...well she is just not into exerting herself in this manner - she's already done 2 other Gladiators events with us and I suppose she just didn't quite enjoy herself, plus it all worked out perfectly as she is heading to a Harry Potter themed sleepover.

The reason why she might have the right idea for not joining us today in particular is because although San Diego generally has a mild and lovely temperature of 72F, but today we are looking at temps in the high 80's.
Which although rather hot and probably too hot for an event like this (maybe the mud will keep us cool), it is still sooooo much cooler than the crazy hot HELL temps that we experienced only 5 & 6 days ago - was up and over 110F - CRAZY!!

Luckily the event has called upon Dr. Bronner's party shower to help clean us up after we make it through the finish line!

You are not gonna want to miss tomorrows Daily Scoop and all the wild and crazy pictures that I'll be taking as we get into Beastmode!

And once the race and the party shower is all said and done with, we will be going for a much deserved brunch at Moncai Vegan.
​A cozy little restaurant we ate at last December that pays homage to its Normal Heights neighborhood with an eclectic 1930’s retro décor. 
I for one will be treating myself with one of their delicious Ice Cream Shakes!!! 

Once our bellies are filed up with goodness, we'll be heading to one of San Diego's gems -
Balboa Park.

Balboa Park is a 1,200-acre urban cultural park in San Diego, California. In addition to open space areas, natural vegetation zones, green belts, gardens, and walking paths, it contains museums, several theaters, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo.

Back in 1915-16 the park hosted the Panama–California Exposition and in 1935–36 the California Pacific International Exposition, both of which left architectural landmarks.
The park and its historic Exposition buildings were declared a National Historic Landmark and National Historic Landmark District in 1977, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Our trip will consist of heading into one of the air conditioned museums:

• San Diego Air & Space Museum
• San Diego Museum of Art
• San Diego Automotive Museum
• San Diego Hall of Champions
• Centro Cultural de la Raza
• Museum of the Living Artist
• San Diego Museum of Man
• San Diego Model Railroad Museum
• Mingei International Museum   
• San Diego Natural History Museum
• Museum of Photographic Arts
• Reuben H. Fleet Science Center
• Timken Museum of Art
• Veterans Museum and Memorial Center
• George W. Marston House
• San Diego History Center

I'm leaning towards with the Air & Space Museum or the Automotive Museum as well as seeing a special film exhibit that the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center is currently offering: 
The giant screen film National Parks Adventure and takes audiences on the ultimate off-trail adventure into the nation's awe-inspiring great outdoors and untamed wilderness.

Definitely something I was excited to find out was playing, so I am STOKED!

Elisa got me all pumped up in March while she was visiting her parents down in Boca Raton, FL she found out that the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale was featuring  "MacGillvray Freeman's National Parks Adventure".
              READ Elisa's Recap HERE
And is her words:
"About the film...in a word...CAPTIVATING.  Okay, I need some more words...BEAUTIFUL, EDUCATIONAL, ENTERTAINING, INSPIRING."

I'm sure that it's gonna get me in the mood to get out there once again and continue to explore more of our Beautiful National Parks!

Now how about a little SCOOP:
Yesterday was spent pretty much doing the norm - going to the gym, hanging with family, trip planning, etc...
Mika and Chaplin decided that they wanted to kick the soccer ball around and they wanted an audience, so they got one!
While Dominic and Cosette went out and played along side of them, Jet, my mom, and I watched from the sidelines cheering them on. Their audience soon grew as Andrew and Michael had both returned home from work within minutes of each other.

I also finally managed to exchange Dominic's new swimming trunks that I purchased for him before our last trip - they were a bit on the snug side.

While out in the department store I couldn't resist picking up a few more items - I got Cosette a new skirt, a new shirt for Dominic, and a new pair of cute white jeans for myself ;)

And now the time has come to say "See ya later Alligator" as we head to pick up our race packets and get our groove on! 

Wish us luck,
-T