Fall Forward for Fun

 

      So I've reached that off point in the year where I gear back up to apply for grad schools and I may have only a year left of school free time here in San Diego. So here's my list for fall!

     -Julian is a great little town in east county, and somehow I've never been. So what better time than apple picking season-aka apple pie season!

     -Even with all this fun, I need to make sure I've got my list ready to go when apps get released on October 1.

     -With everyone going back to school the beaches finally won't be as crowded but it's still plenty warm to frolic around!

    - I've gotten pretty comfortable in my breakfast, brunch, brinner routine. But that's no way to live, time to get a bit more adventurous in my food realm!

     -Any article of about moving to a new place will tell you that the hardest thing is that you're on your own when it comes to exploring. So I want to push myself to do one new fun thing each week so that I can finally start crossing stuff off my SD bucket list!

     -Between working 3 jobs, modeling and going on weekend trips, my room is a mess.  It'll be nice to start with a clean surface before heading into application time.

    -Last week I was able to walk for a San Diego designer in LA Fashion week. It was kind of incredible to walk for a packed house at a big event. Hopefully the open calls are on days I can actually make this time!

     -San Diego has heaps of Dia de los Muertos celebrations, so I'm hopign to make it to at least one this year!

     -I'm chronically late with deciding my Halloween costume. This year I'm aiming to decide a month before to allow the max amount of thrifting and creativity!

So that's my list for Autumn! If you want to join me on any of these activities, or think that there are major SoCal activities that I'm missing, let me know!

Keep Adventuring!

Cat Cafe. Cosplay. Comicon.

     I got the opportunity to work downtown during ComiCon at San Diego's Cat Cafe (cosplaying as Catwoman)! So here's a run down on my first experience with both cosplay and cafes with kitties!

     The Cat Cafe in San Diego was one of the first in the United States and since January (when they opened) there have been 54 adoptions! All cat cafes work differently, but this one works with the local humane society and functions as basically a foster. The only prerequisite for a cat going to the cafe is that they get along with lots of other cats.

Campbell loves any lap!

    There are currently 12 kitties at the cafe and they are all up for adoption.  After 90 days at the cafe they go back to the Humane Society. This has only happened twice and both of those kitties immediately adopted as soon as they went back.  It's a great place to interact with cats in a semi normal environment, but they do go through the same cycles of activity and cat naps as kitties in a house do. So there is a chance that you could get there when all the little babes are sleeping. I recommend going between 8 and 10 when they're most active.

Pocahontas loves a good nap after sprinting around the room.

     Over the 4 days of ComiCon we probably had about 400 people come through to see the kitties along with all the people that just bought coffee or grabbed a flyer. I hope that this idea continues to grow because it seems to be a great way to give these kitties more exposure to different people and to spread the message that adoption is the best option!

On to Comicon!

     Basically Comicon is a mix of Halloween and Disneyland,  except there's more free stuff and less crying children.  The streets of Downtown are full of people dressed from every fandom imaginable.  From Marvel and DC comics to Disney to obscure anime shows, you will see someone in a costume you recognize and you will get extremely excited. For me it was a girl dresses as "Fantasy Tina" from "Bob's Burgers".

I also got super excited about this guy, I bet you can guess why.

     These 4 days of events bring 135 millions dollars of revenue into San Diego County.  This year, 130,000 tickets were sold each day, but with so many fun things to do outside the convention center, you don't need a ticket to get in on the fun.  From what I saw, a large amount of "being at the Con" consists of waiting in lines, usually 4 to 8 hours, to go into a panel or exhibit.  I don't think I'm a big enough fan to put up with all that, but I certainly enjoyed people watching.

My advice for next year:

     You can try to get tickets, but they sell out super fast.  They're relatively inexpensive compared to other large multi day extravaganzas. If you don't get tickets, don't worry!! Take the bus or the trolly to explore around the outside.  There is stuff going on in the streets from Petco park to the Embarcadero.  You can play games in the adult swim complex, take a walk through the America Horror Story Haunted Hotel, or just grab a free ice cream from one of the carts doing a promo for and MTV show.  

    Overall Comicon was a crazy, overwhelming, awesome experience and I'm so happy that I got to be part of it.

Kepp your claws out,

 <3 Catwoman

Morro Bay

The view across the bay to Morro Rock

      This past week I finally got some free time to head up the coast to Morro Bay. I don't think I'd been there since I was a wee tot.  Here's some highlights from the trip!

     We camped at Morro Bay State Park, which was lovely. Personally I recommend trying to get a campsite on the upper loop, as we did for our second night. The campsites there are in a stand of eucalyptus, rather than out in an open field, so it feels more private.

     We spent our first day setting up and wandering around the marina.  We made our way up to Cayoucos to the Brown Butter Cookie Company.  These guys have amazing cookies!! I really regret not taking a picture inside, because you can see the cookies being baked right in front of you.  They even had 3 gluten free options!

     We made a delicious camp dinner (especially considering this was our first camping trip on our own) and a little campfire and that's about it.

Steak, Salad and Gluten Free Mac & Cheese. Keeping it low FODMAP on the road.

     The next morning we work up to mourning doves and got a jump start on our day with some breakfast burritos!
     Then we threw everything in the car and moved to our second campsite. Surprise, booking a campsite in the summer is difficult, so we're lucky we got  2 consecutive nights, even if it wasn't at the same site.

 

The second day was pretty packed.

     We grabbed kayaks and went across the bay to run around to the sand dunes that I had been dying to play on since the moment we'd arrived. Apparently there was a beached whale somewhere that was attracting a lot of harbor seals and other wildlife, but I've been down wind of a beached whale once before and it's not something I'd like to repeat.

     After a quick paddle back with the tide helping us along, we made lunch and set out for Montano de Oro State Park.   It's only about 10 minutes away from Morro Bay and well work the drive.  The scenery changes vastly when you get out the the area that faces the ocean. 

The little hook coming off Mondano de Oro is surrounding Spooner Cove

    We ended up at Spooner Cove, with is stunning. It's covered in perfectly smoothed beach stones (sorry southern California pals, this is not a sandy beach). And when we were there were heaps of beached Velella Velella.  They're basically like jelly fish that use a sail on the top of their body to skim across the waves, but if the winds change, they can get blow onto the beaches in hundreds.  The perfect treat for a bio nerd.

A dead Velella Velella

   But outside than biological oddities, it is still a great place.

A natural rock "pier" that you can walk out on, as long as the tide is low enough for you to get back.

The signature hole in the rock and my wonderful camping buddy.

     The second night we were relieved from our duties as camp cooks by the SLO Farmer's Market.  If there is a way to arrange your trip so you're there on a Thursday, you have to do it.  The market is 5 big blocks long, with musical performers at every intersection.  There's barbeque, fresh veggies, and most importantly, all sorts of sweet treats.

     But none so sweet as a view down their famous bubble gum alley! I remember putting my gum on this wall when I first came here at 5 years old, and I was probably just as excited this time! We left our mark on SLO in the shape of a lucky green mint clover.

We packed up or happy little camp the next morning and headed out to our next adventure.