San Diego

We just returned home from a whirlwind trip in San Diego. Andrew had a couple Doctor appointments which resulted in surgery Friday, so it was definitely a much needed trip. He is doing so great now, just laying low recovering. We had a lot of down time in between appointments so we tried to make the most of it. Here is what we did:

• We spent our first night near the hospital because we were going to be coming in out of there for the first couple days for appointments/procedures.
• The next night we tried to spice our life up a little by staying in the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego. Boy what a culture shock. We had zero knowledge about the area so we let tripadvisor pick our hotel for us. I am such a control freak so this is way out of my element. You basically punch in how many stars you want and the area, and you don't find out which hotel you are staying in until you pay. Ah makes me cringe just thinking about it again! Luckily for us it all turned out well. We actually really loved our hotel, it was called the Palomar.
  
• While we loved the hotel, the area took some getting used to. I totally thought I could be a city girl, but now, not so much. We spent the morning window shopping the outdoor mall and the evening at a cute Italian restaurant called de' Medici. To go along with our "city experience" theme we walked to dinner. Yes, I was terrified. Just as we were finishing up our meal the fire department and an ambulance pulled up because apparently Chef Gordon Ramsay had gotten the best of another chef while filming his new show (I think the guy is okay now though). We decided to watch all the commotion for a while and eventually Gordon Ramsay came outside. I then realized now would be the best time to walk back to our hotel and take advantage of all the cops nearby.
• After our city experience we headed back to our hotel near the hospital to get settled before surgery. We had a yummy meal and did some more window shopping at another outdoor mall. I got to explore Restoration Hardware for the first time, so much better in person than online. There also was an outdoor skating rink according to the directory but we never found it.
  

This is the front door of the Palomar. I don't think it gets any cooler than that.

We didn't have an authentic city experience until we saw the "occupy everything" art work.

Now this is much more my speed. As we were leaving our hotel near the hospital and heading toward our hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter I spotted a Sprinkles Cupcakes.

This was my very first Sprinkles Cupcake. I picked out Coconut and Andrew picked Red Velvet.

For a week revolved around something not fun, I think we managed to enjoy ourselves quite well. This handsome boy kept smiling like so, with his bright eyes, not complaining ever. I just love him to pieces. He is so optimistic its contagious. I think that it's definitely helping his recovery go smoother than expected. Thank you everyone who prayed during all of this, it means the world!

PS: My parents were so nice to come by today to bring us some food. We really appreciated it! I hate to leave the house right now. In return I took their photo. It was nice to have new faces to shoot. And is it just me or do they have some real modeling talent?