MojoPages VIP: CorePower Yoga

Hey There:

I was invited to another MojoPages VIP event, this time a little different than what we are used to. The event involved yoga, food and of course some booze. We met at CorePower Yoga, in their new location in Encinitas, CA

My previous experience with yoga has been doing it at home with a video, so it's nothing more than stretching. And doing it at the gym with bright lights, the faint sounds of pop music and weights clanking. I normally avoid yoga because my tummy and big thighs get in the way of the poses.

From the moment you walk into CorePower Yoga, you have a feeling of calm and you immediately feel far away from the bustle of the day. There is a very nice flow from the entrance to the reception, the small lounge, the lockers, their boutique and of course the yoga rooms.

We had one session of Vinyasa type yoga for beginner's, there was quiet a bit of movement with the room slightly warm, dim lights, candles and soft music. Even though there was a competition among three of us for the worst in class and a pregnant lady next to me was doing most of the moves, I didn't feel self-conscious at all. I felt free to just do what I could and not feel inadequate. There was one instructor and an assistant helping us with the poses.

The session itself did give me a good challenge and when the instructor said we would be doing the last downward dog I felt like cheering out loud. Another thing I noticed is that as I began the session some of my muscles protested, but by the end of the session I was able to bend all the way and place my hands under my feet with my legs straight. I was very proud of me and my new found flexibility. I felt the session for days afterwards, especially in my core area.

Once we finished the workout we were treated to a very good and light champagne and some really yummy protein bars. We sampled several flavors like Banana Chocolate Chip, Chewy Macadamia, Lemon Vanilla and others. The bars were offered by a local nutrion company called FitzeeFoods, they are in the process of re-branding themselves and launching their new site, as soon as that happens I'll be updating this post.

FitzeeFoods' goal is to provide a nutritional makeover with ready made meals prepared daily with fresh, organic & all-natural ingredients. Depending on your budget and nutriotional needs they offer packages of up to three meals a day plus protein bars. There might be a possibility to have a MojoPages VIP event with FitzeeFoods, I hope that happens so we can learn more about them. In the meantime I can say the protein bars were very good.

So once again, Thanks MojoPages for another very interesting event and I look forward to the next one!

San Diego Beer Club Pub Crawl

Hey There:

Last weekend I went out on my first ever pub crawl. I joined the MeetUp group of The San Diego Beer Club, it was their fourth anniversary and the team organized a pub crawl in Dowtown San Diego.

I was worried before the event for several reasons, since my injury two weeks ago (One of Those Days) I still can't wear my pretty shoes and that really eliminates lots of clothing choices. Of course other than the clothes I was concerned that all the walking would make my foot worse. But my main concern....what if I didn't make it all the way? I'm not as young as I used to, maybe I would be ready for a nap half way through the event. But no matter, with clothes I wasn't too happy about and with a slight limp I arrived.

The first stop was The Tilted Kilt, that's where we all met to check in, got our pretzel necklaces, our beer n food tickets, were designated to our teams and given some trivia questions. The theme was crazy hats and there were several really good ones. We had our first and second beer there as well as lunch and then we headed to our second destination.

We went to Bar Basic, which is this really cool converted warehouse, very basic, but so chic with the warehouse doors completely open, very nice comfortable seats, a private area for reunions, pool tables and even though this time I didn't have any pizza, it smelled really good.

Here we had our second round and played the first game, which had to do with bouncing a ball on the table and making it land on a piece of bread with peanut butter...our team came dead last.

Then we were off to The Corner, where we had more beer and some hot snacks that hit the spot just right. I really liked this bar as well, we were upstairs the area looked very modern but comfortable with big windows and a breathalizer, which had a line of fellow pub crawlers checking out their alcohol level. The music was great and by that time we were all on the tipsy side. 

So of course, the games got more difficult (sneaky organizers!). This time using an opened clip at the end of a make-shift fishing rod we had to pick up keys that were on the edge of the table. Very tricky and I had to do it twice since one of our team members left....again, dead last.

Then it was a big walk all the way to Maloney's Tavern where the thing that impressed me was not the huge wall stacked with booze bottles, but the huge wall stacked with books. At Maloney's we went downstairs and here I actually felt sleepy. The basement was so dark and gloomy, the chairs so comfy that I could easily had taken a nap, but I didn't. Yay Me!

The game we played there was trying to stack on golf ball on top of another. I had to do it twice, the first time I was able to do it, but not the second time. Have no clue what place we got, at that point didn't care anymore.

Finally we had another big walk to get all the way to Downtown Johnny Brown's, I had no idea this place existed. It's in the middle of big buildings like a little house in the middle of the woods. This place is somewhere you can have lunch or dinner, play pool, enjoy beer and have a good time with friends.

No more games here, but we did get out prices. Among the hats that got prices were:

Bird Hat

Holiday Hat

Rainbow Hat

And Me!!

AND our team won for best Team Name: "Accidentally peed my pants". We got beer cozys for that.

Thank you very much to the organizers, it was an amazing event!!

Balboa Trails - Golden Hill Part 2 of 2

Hey There:

Many many many months ago I posted photos about one of the Golden Hill Trails, promising to post again once I did the whole 4 mile trail. And I've done it (several times) and I have the pictures, but I have the makings of a procrastinator and if I don't do something right away, it won't get done...for weeks or months in this case.

Now that we'll have more daylight it's time to leave the gym treadmill and use the natural really hard trails nature gave San Diego. So here are some of the photos I took of the path and I hope they are useful to you since I made quite a few wrong turns the first time I completed the whole trail. The pictures were taken late in the summer and most of the greenery is dried out. But this time of year and thanks to all the rain, the trail looks much nicer.

Continuing from my last post, once you get up that little hill, you'll end up walking for a bit on a residential street.

You'll pass through a park where you can normally see people on picnics and once I saw a wedding there and another time I saw a guy peeing in the bushes.

Then you continue on Upas Street just following the signs.

You will pass through another dog park, go across it to reach the next sign. This is where I made a mistake that cost me going up and down a hill.

Now starts one of my favorite parts of the trail. I know it looks like all dirt and desolate but....

...you can always count on cute military guys using the trails either jogging or on bikes.

Eventually you'll get to the intersection of Pershing and Florida/26th street.

And you continue on 26th street until you reach your destination. There are no signs here, and this is were I made another wrong turn, wanting to take a shortcut that nearly killed me because it was so steep.

Finally you'll reach the starting point, it takes me about 1 1/2 hours to do it. If you jog, have a long stride and don't stop to gawk at other joggers then you can make it in less time. Click Here to check out the map of the trail. From the map you'll see I've completed Trail #22, next one to complete will be Trail #23.

One of the most memorable things about walking these trails was the time I had to think about the book I'm writing. As I walked I thought about the plot, characters and many scenes. Had time to listen to several Audio-books and thanks to all those hills, my butt feel great!

Mardi Gras Dinner at Wine Vault Bistro

Hey There:

Last night my friend Bree, another friend and I went to Wine Vault Bistro, located at 3731-A India Street pretty much hidden since I go to Shakespeare's all the time and I've never seen this place.

The three of us met for their Mardi Gras Dinner which consisted of 10 courses paired with beer, wine and coffee.

The evening was very fun, since of course all we did was talk about men and interrupted our conversation in order to enjoy the amazing food.

First & Second Courses

Asparagus "Benedict" - Biscuit - Bearnaise - Poached Egg - Bacon Jam

Prickled Apricot - Hazelnut - Creme Fraiche - Watercress

Abita Amber Lager

Abita Amber Lager

Asparagus "Benedict" - Pickled Apricot

Third & Fourth Courses

Shrimp "Po Boy" - Braised Lettuce - Hot Sauce "mayo" - Pickles - Crostini

Dungeness Crab Cake - Creole Mustard Aioli - Pickled Pepper Relish

2008 Halter Ranch "Ranch White" Rhone White Blend

Shrimp "Po Boy" - Dungeness Crab Cake

Fifth & Sixth Courses

Gumbo - Crispy Braised Pork - Micro Celery

Andouille Sausage - Black Eyed Peas - Okra

2008 Sextant "Wheelhouse" Zinfandel (I bought a bottle of that!)

Gumbo - Andouille Sausage & Black eyed peas

Seventh & Eight Courses

Charred Strip Loin - Red Beans n' Rice - Onion Chutney - Fried Broccolini

Braised Short Ribs - Grits - Goat Cheese - Smoked Paprika Chimichurri

2006 Saddleback Cellars Merlot

Charred Strip Loin - Braised Short Ribs

Ninth & Tenth Courses

Brioche Beignet - Espresso Ganache - Steamed Milk

Housemade Cappuccino Truffle

Cafe Brulot Diabolique

Brioche Beignet - Truffle

Needless to say, every plate was almost licked clean. They offer this type of dinner on Saturdays as well, excellent food at great prices.

San Diego Fashion Bash 2011

Hey There:

Thanks to my connections as a MojoPages VIP Reviewer I received a free ticket for a Fashion Bash event in San Diego. These types of events are promoted by Sassy City Chicks and are offered in LA, NY, SF, Miami, Dallas, Las Vegas, Chicago and San Diego.

"Since 2001, The Sassy City Chicks Fashion Bash has grown from a typical trunk show sample sale, to a national shopping event held in 8 cities that showcases upwards of 50 + designers and over 100 labels at one single event."

This is the first event of this type that I go to and it was a lot of fun. It was held in a warehouse type building closer to the ballpark, very little foot traffic around that area until you reached your destination and there was a big line to get in. In spite of the amount of people everything was well organized. The lines went very quickly, the booze was great and everyone looked very fashionable.

Even though most of the clothing was in small sizes, I still managed to find some really cool tops and accesories. This time I didn't go near the spa area, but from outside I noticed people getting massages, airbrush makeup, hair-dos and the works.

The best part was the goody bag, when you go to one of these events make sure to get the ticket that includes the goody bag, well worth the extra $10. I got nail polish, samples of candy, gummy vitamins, panties from Frederick's of Hollywood, several things for nails, eye drops, lip balms.......and a Jack in the Box antenna ball (yeah, I know!)

So next year when they come back, go with lots of patience, your most comfortable fashion heels, plenty of spending money, deck yourself out in fashion and enjoy the evening!