playing host is totally fun. and exhausting. but mostly fun.

I feel like I'm just now catching up on regular life things, and can now do a proper blog post. I've been totally slacking this month on keeping up with this space, but hey, it wasn't like I was sitting around doing nothing. The mister and I were enjoying our duties as Official San Diego Host & Tour Guide for a good friend who visited us from the east coast. Yay! We love when people visit!

Okay, less talking, more photos.

The nice thing about still being kinda sorta newish to San Diego is that some of the places we showed our visiting friend were new to us too. Like the San Diego Zoo! We were totally impressed and had a blasty. Also, I just realized that in the photos above, there's only one in which the animal is real. Ha. Hint: it's not the one where my husband is being petted/molested.

We like to dine and wine our visiting friends. It's only polite, right? There was obligatory tequila-sipping at Cafe Coyote in Old Town, and sushi boat coma time at Zen 5 in Pacific Beach. AND! We found out through a neighbor friend that La Mesa has its own food truck gathering every friday. WHAT? How did we not hear about this sooner? Cheap food, four or five different trucks. We are so going back. And of course, a visit to our city would not be complete without visiting a local brewery. It seems like you can't throw a rock in any direction without hitting at least one. So we hit up the Ballast Point Brewery to sample some very tasty beers and take a little tour of their operations. A word of advice: the Habanero beer is exactly what it sounds like. Oh. My. Word.

At some point during the week, I got the idea in my head to get my husband and his bff together in a kiddie pool. With lots of Yuengling. And assorted props. And take a picture of it. Just normal dude stuff right? You can check out the final image (plus two more) on my flickr page. 

flashback // Spanish feria

Sometime last week, a friend on my facebook feed who still lives in Spain mentioned going to the local feria, and bam....I started missing Spain again. I know at some point, I'm going to have to stop with all the España posts, because obviously, I live here now, and the whole point of this blog is to share my new adventures in California, but dang, it's hard sometimes.

Back to feria though. It's basically the country's week-long party held a couple weeks after their Easter Holy Week, and in my humble opinion, it's full of the best parts of Spanish culture: Sevillana dancing, sherry, tapas, friends, huge jugs of rebujitos, dancing your little butts off, and those delicious chocolate buñuelos.

Here are some photos I took at last year's feria in Puerto de Santa Maria (taken with my Diana Mini film camera).

The Spanish women get dolled up in the most gorgeous Sevillana dresses, and for them, it's a huge deal. Many will get them custom-made like, months in advance. Even pushing a stroller, that woman looks super classy. In fact, I barely even notice the stroller.

The best part of feria? A delicious pitcher of rebujito (a dry sherry mixed with Sprite). There I am, holding my prize. The second best part of feria? Walking anywhere you want with your pitcher of rebujito, because this isn't America where they section off a drinking-only zone because they think we can't handle ourselves (I'm looking at you, Cinco de Mayo festival in Old Town).

Pardon the blurriness, but I do love this photo. It's a group of little girls (and maybe a boy or two) dancing a traditional Sevillana dance. Yep. They get in on the feria action too, and they kill it.

Feria's motto should be: "You won't leave hungry." And if you come to feria on a full stomach, you're an idiot, cause sometimes things just taste better served fried and under a tent.

Amigos buying tickets for a ride. Adult-friendly rides. Rides that were set up within a day. Perfectly safe.

No, it's not a Tron movie. Just that perfectly safe ride I was talking about.

Speaking of rides, here's what several seconds of bumper cars looks like to a camera lens.

Do you like cheap shopping? I do. And feria has cheap shopping. Mostly clothes and bags and jewelry. Lots of jewelry. Granted, every bracelet I bought from feria broke after about a year, but that's okay, cause it was only 2 euros.

Double-exposure/blurry goodness. But I actually love it like that, cause it kind of embodies what feria was like for me. Chaotic, crowded, dusty, bright lights, and just damn FUN.

happy friday!

Uno: I have a feeling it's gonna be a rad weekend....tomorrow the Mister and I are heading to Old Town for Cinco de Mayo festivities, cause there's no way I'm living in this city and letting such a holiday pass me by. No sir.

Dos: And on Sunday, I'm doing a shoot for Pacific Magazine, photographing a local artist in her studio. Should be good times!

Tres: Annnd, not to get too ahead of myself, but I'm in the process of organizing a collaborative model shoot with a few other photographers in the area, and I couldn't be more stoked/excited/all-those-other-feel-good-words. Yay!

What are your plans for this weekend? I wanna know!