Drinks & Charcuterie board @ Holsem Coffee + BSW and windowshopping @ Local Made, pigment & Verbatim Books

Our last stop of D's birthday food crawl was here in North Park...

We went to BSW (Beauty Supply Warehouse) so I could get a styrofoam head and wig cap for my Halloween costume. That place is chock full of everything you can imagine for makeup, nail polish, hair products, you name it.

There is a mock "new" neon sign above Holsem. It wasn't there until recently. It pays homage to the former tenant of this space, a cobbler/shoe repair shop.
Update as of 9/1/2/16 - Here is a great article I found about the return of this vintage neon sign. It was actually resurrected and is now back. The design is of a shoe hammering elf. Every time he hammers the shoe, he "winks". It was originally designed  in 1949 for Wink's Shoe Repair in downtown San Diego. The last tenants of this particular building were Chito's Shoe Repair, which relocated to Lincoln Ave close by.  I've got to see this sign at night!
Article:
"The neon elf returns!" SD Uptown News, Sept. 9, 2016

Is it wierd that I notice or care about stuff like this? Inquiring minds want to know (and my persistence and curiosity paid off)...

Scenes from Carpinteria

Here's a few photos from our quick visit to Carpinteria...

during our recent Summer Road Trip...

Downtown Carpinteria is quite walkable and there is quite a bit of street parking...

Scenes from Kobey's Swap Meet

Astroboi is the king of sideroads...

We were able to get to Point Loma from the College Area without using the freeway...

The grey skies and drizzle this morning gave way to blue skies and warmer temps as we parked in the former Sports Aroma Arena, now renamed Valley View Casino Center (ugh)...

More random pix...this time from January to April 2015

Slowly but surely these pix are coming out of the woodwork.

Here are some taken from the first quarter of this year....

which include snacks like this..

The return of random pix from October to December of LAST YEAR

Talk about cleaning out the memory card...

These photos date back from the last few months...of LAST YEAR!

D'oh!!!

Recently enjoyed..the random food edition

It's been awhile since I did a random post...

this one will just be food instead of scenery or signs...

Recent meals and snacks...

A few weeks ago, KD gave me these lovely things....

which are passion fruits. It was my first time eating a real one,instead of a flavor that's been infused in syrup, iced tea, or ice cream...

Miscellaneous photos from the past several months

It's one of these posts again, the kind where I compile random photos that don't warrant a full post like this one....a truck I saw while at a light.

"Puro Pedo" is slang term that means"chill out" or "relax". La Ley told me it could also mean "bullshit".  If you want to translate it literally, it would be "pure fart" but that doesn't make much sense. I wonder if they are sponsored by the Puro Pedo clothing brand I sometimes see folks wearing...

In any case, here are more random pix for your perusal...

Billboards and a revisit to Big Ben's Market

Recently seen in National City...

This was somewhere along the northern end of National City Blvd. There was another one on Highland Ave featuring different musical artists. I loved that this was in Spanish and targeted their audience...Plus, the Fab Fair sounds so beautiful in Spanish - "Un Feria Fabulosa"!    Andale pues! 

Later on that day, I saw another billboard in another part of town...

Indiscriminate medley of photos...

End of the month already?

Once again, clearing out the odds and ends on the good ole memory card...

Snacks & Sweets & other random items...

Wasn't last week a scorcher?  Wednesday was also pretty windy, starting fires all over the county.

The wind was so strong, blowing down trees, branches, and making these palm trees bend as seen at the Jaguar dealership (that's my red car in the driveway, yo') on Convoy...

Recent snacks and other unpremeditated detritus...

Cathy recently stopped by to drop off a few food gifts..

such as this cute seasoning container...

Random photo roundup

This month is almost over and it's time to clear our photos that don't really warrant full posts like this one...

of a sunset a few weeks ago, along with a few others lurking on my memory card...

Cuteness Overload - The shops at Atlantic Time Square

This entire center, called the Atlantic Time Square is a combined retail and residential complex located in the middle of Monterey Park.

It seems to have it all, from restaurants, to a fitness center and walking distance to various ethnic markets...I noticed they had Curry House here. The one in San Diego by Nijiya is long gone, having been replaced by Koon Thai...

TC and I wanted to check out some of the shops before leaving, especially the candy store....

Photo medley - random meals, funny stuff and more...

It's time again for one of those posts where I compile the pics don't really warrant a full-on post, such as this bitch kickin' pair of purple patent fake Docs.

I don't remember what the brand was, but I know it definitely was NOT Doc Marten's, at only $24.99? Real Docs are $100 or more and better quality than these fake leather shoes. These boots will probably fall apart after two or three wears, but boy, I do like that eggplant shade!

Then again, it's not the 1990's and I'm not Daria Morgendorffer and can get away with wearing these....

Sigh...If only...

Around North Park - another Bunny Kitty mural, Fatboy Corner Store Deli, that random store and more

The day after Christmas was pretty quiet over in this neighborhood...

Fresh from our breakfast at lil b's (our 2nd choice after Lucky's was closed for the holidays), we wandered around on University Ave and its' side streets...

A compilation of various photos (some Christmas related) and recipes...

Have any of you heard about this?

The Sriracha shortage? Better start buying them up...

We're good with our one bottle since Bert is the only one who really uses it...

December is more than halfway done and I'd been meaning to put up these pics earlier but now here they are, a hodge podge of stuff to unload...

Empanadas de Calabaza, barrel men, black velvet Michael Jackson, wierd flavored Pringles, and more...

This is one of my post with random odds and ends from the past couple of months...

Below, TC's carved pumpkin project for her English class (this was a fake pumpkin). She carved out the face of Norman, the main character of the movie, "Paranorman".

Other kids in her classes ended up painting their pumpkins (stuff like Mickey Mouse or Clifford the big red dog, and Iron Man). She was the only one who carved, or rather, chipped off a design. She was also the only one with an animated character from a movie.  This was before she added his stand-up hair, which she fashioned from wire and felt. It looked pretty cool...

Anyhow, here's a few more photos that didn't quite merit a separate post...

Stray lunches, random pix and more

It's another one of those "random" pix posts...

This is the view of the 805 from the H Street Bridge. The freeway median is being converted to HOV lanes...

and will supposedly be finished by 2014. Hmmm, we'll see about that. I really hate how the lanes are super narrow now because of this.

It's been a super hot and humid week too....

A motley assortment of pix...

Somewere in Costa Mesa...

This donut place also sold "the best sandwiches in the world"....really?

I like taking photos when I'm not driving. In this case, Cathy was driving...