san diego

This past weekend, my mom and I took a day trip down to San Diego. We didn't do too much - mostly just shopping and some eating. Most of these places were suggested by Design Sponge's city guide. Here are some of the places we went to.

Food:
Cafe 21: we went here for lunch based off yelp reviews, but weren't really impressed? there was a decent wait outside too, so we were surprised by the quality of food.  maybe people went for the drinks? they had six selections of sangria, and huge bloody marys etc etc etc. it also took forever to get our food, and all we ordered was spinach crepes and a spicy cristo sandwich.
Rim Talay Thai Cuisine: we ended up grabbing dinner in Oceanside on our drive back home.  Yelp didn't steer us wrong with this one. we ordered their fresh rolls (aka spring rolls), an island curry (red curry plus pineapple etc), and a tom yum noodle soup.  great food for a decent price, but service was a bit slow at times.  they also do a pretty popular takeout. we parked next to a barber shop full of marines getting their high and tight sharpened up; it was amusing.

Shopping:
Pigment: super awesome store in North Park, with a "plant lab" where you can create your own terrarium with their selection of glass globes, plants, sand, etc.  
Progress: also wonderfully curated, with an awesome selection of cards and home goods.  in South Park
Bubbles Boutique: a clothing and accessories store in the Gaslamp District.  apparently they only (mostly?) stock local artists/jewelers/etc? Depending on what you're going for, may not be worth the drive and parking, but if you're already in the area, definitely worth a look
Bixby & Ball: in the Cedros Design District in Solana Beach, a little bit north of San Diego. I'd visited this place before, and wanted to show it to my mom. the last time I was there, they had spread out onto the steps and driveway out front for a sale, which was great for me. this time, it was just the shop. pricey goods, but the ambience and quality is fantastic.
Solo: just down the street from bixby & ball.  lots of great stuff, plus it's in this warehouse-y looking cement brick building that they managed to make inviting and not like costco at all.  you could probably find a lot of their goods elsewhere for a couple dollars cheaper, but it's still a great place to browse and get inspiration.  the rest of the store in the Cedros Design District also warrant a visit.

and some places we didn't get to, but wish we did.
Food:
Maza Grill Kabob: apparently they offer good, cheap food.  unfortunately they were closed for the long weekend.
Alchemy: had a delicious-sounding menu, but we weren't hungry when we got to the South Park area, so decided to move on. also seems to have a community aspect to it, which is exciting
Craft & Commerce: their lunch menu looked fantastic, but they only offer food from their brunch menu on weekends, which wasn't as exciting.

Shopping:
Vocabulary: we ended up passing by this part of town completely. =[