Thank You, San Diego

First of all, I’m sorry for how overdue this post is – every time I’ve sat down to write this, I couldn’t bring myself to finish, because I feel like there are too many things that I wanted to say, and I was afraid that I wouldn’t say my farewells properly.  And the longer I waited, well, the better it had to be, right?  Then, one recent day, I heard on one of my favorite podcasts, Reply All, about this thing called “Email Debt Forgiveness Day” – a day for us to dig out an old email – or, ahem, blog post – and respond, ignoring the amount of time that has lapsed.  I thought it was quite brilliant and decided to do this, a week ahead of the official Email Debt Forgiveness Day… 

ANYWAY, podcast recommendations aside, I do have a late announcement.  Just over two months ago, I moved all the way across the country, to Northern Virginia/Washington DC area.  It was a pretty tough decision – on the one hand, there was a dream job opportunity, but on the other hand, I had grown pretty attached to San Diego.  I’ve mentioned a couple of times on the blog that I’ve moved around a lot, and San Diego is actually the city in which I’ve lived the longest.  It was comfortable, and I had really begun to consider it my “home.”  In the end, I still chose the dream job, and through a lot of tears I packed up and said goodbye to my friends and the city that I love.  

Now, even though I’m more used to living here in NoVA, even though I’ve found great places to eat and made new friends, even though I’m loving every aspect of my work, I still reminisce about San Diego a lot.  The meals that I’ve had, and more importantly the people that I’ve shared them with.  Thank you to the friends who shared birthday meals with me, who indulged in my late-night taco cravings, who were always willing to try new things with me.  Looking back, I am also really glad that I was able to document so many wonderful meals and share memories of those meals with my readers here.  Thank you all for being with me through my San Diego journey – I truly appreciate all the comments, emails, and feedback that I’ve received, and you all push me to learn new things, and to challenge myself to become a better writer and photographer. 

Last but not least, I’m filled with gratitude when I think about the friendships that I’ve made through blogging in San Diego – thank you for your support and advice, insider tips on the latest restaurant openings and what to order, thank you for being so passionate about food and sharing that passion with me.  I’m so glad that I had the chance to meet many of my fellow bloggers in person, and I wish that I had taken more initiative and met up with all of you more often, but I do hope and believe that we’ll stay in touch – after all, I’ll always be able to follow what you guys are eating, right?  Thank you all, again, for your friendship.  It’s been the most valuable part of this blog.

So with that, thank you, San Diego.  I’m excited for new beginnings, but I won’t ever forget those five wonderful years I got spend in paradise.

Some of my favorite photos of San Diego, one from each of the five years that I spent there: