It shouldn't be a surprise that we celebrated the Year of the Monkey by feasting on fried Chinese…read morefood. There were other Asian influenced food booths, but I made sure that we stuck to Chinese for the celebration. This was my first time at a Chinese festival. It was cool to see performances, the dragon parading around and all of the great cultural items for sale. Can't wait until next year. When going downtown for a festival I found that it's easier to bus or trolley. This way you don't have to deal with all of the traffic and parking hassle. We took the 2 bus from North Park right into the heart of downtown. It was perfect just a short walk and we were at the festival. Definitely leave your car at home to save you some of a headache.

On the way, I heard a scrub (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfS1ghM9mwY) holla "I know Kung Fu!"…read more A good reason to have this event. Glad I took a break from my Leather Search (Location B) and I came here to enjoy the festivities. Discovery: Would be good to bring a friend to enjoy it together. This fair was small but I'm definitely going to give it more chances and continue to come back. Vendor-wise there wasn't a lot and food-wise, there were only a handful of them. They were moderately priced. I hope more vendors join next year. At least the food that were there looked good and if you check the website, you'll know what to expect before coming. There is a detail list of vendors and sponsors. Would love for it to be bigger and I'm sure and hopeful it'll continue to grow. But it's not about size, it's about SPIRIT. YAY for the YELP booth! I stopped by the YELP booth and got a Yelp key chain/bottle opener. Sadly, I came a little late in the afternoon and missed a lot of the entertainment like dragon dancing and lantern parade. Parking recommendation: Horton if you can be done in 2 hours.

Another successful Spring Pageant has just concluded, and all hail the new Miss Cabrillo 2010…read more Crowned on March 28, 2010 at the Portuguese Hall down in Point Loma. The lucky winner is Miss Alyssa Goncalves-another in an a long, illustrious line of lovely young Portuguese ladies who represent the Portuguese community. This beauty contest is part of the annual Portuguese Festa (Festival) that takes place every spring and is sponsored by the Cabrillo Civic Club and Portuguese-American Social & Civic Club. Essentially the contestants are judged similar to Miss America -where they are graded on their personal interviews, questions-and-answers during the judging, and various presentations of formal attire. One thing that will always do a young Portuguese lady well here is wearing a bright or gaudy-colored gown. Though previous winners look ravishing in virginal white, this year's crop took a colorful adage to the next level-in bright fuchsia or vibrant blue formal choices. Not one to suffer looking like a wall-flower, these gals went all out to get noticed in some splendor-ish fashions with the ultimate winner gushing about how she has been going to these festivities since she was a little girl. The responsibilities of the winner include presiding over the annual Cabrillo Festival-which takes place in late September and honors the discovery of San Diego Bay by Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo on September 28, 1542. In general the Festa Queen acts as a liaison and ambassador for the Portuguese community-which has a uniquely proud ethnic tradition in their enclave of Point Loma and the Roseville neighborhood. I fight against the inclination to go to the Festa only because when I was a young girl, my parents would drag me and my brothers down there. I remember a noisy, boisterous gathering where strange people spoke Portuguese that I didn't understand and served nasty Portuguese Kale soup! I dreaded going and still must fight the urge to roll my eyes and say OMG when I am down there. Still, it is something fancy that all the young girls ohh-and-ahh about; their mothers wish that their daughters would catfight for and the old grandmas are reminded of their younger and firmer days of yore! So there exists a generational sweetness about Miss Cabrillo that cannot be denied. Now would someone please call a stylist !

Once again, the Miss Cabrillo Pageant was a success! Well organized, and a full house, the…read morecontestants well exemplified the good the community has to offer. Dedicated to the late Mary Giglitto, who since its inception, was the Cabrillo Festival's most dedicated supporter and President Emerita. Under her tutelage, the festival has become one the most respected historical festivals in the United States. Especially poignant, were the testimonials that were written by past Miss Cabrillo, relating their experiences and relationship with Mary Giglitto and read during the evening. Congratulations to all for a job well done.

We participated in this year's San Diego Fight For Air Climb. I received an email with a discount…read morecode and it caught my attention. I booked a couple flights, then realized that the code was invalid and email was in error (it was past the date you could get the discount). Then learned there was mandatory $125 fundraising on top of each entry. But I paid the fee and then the fundraising costs and my husband and I showed up with excited smiles. 34 flights in 9:30! We did great considering we didn't train at all. We received free shirts, but they were out of the XL I had requested for my husband. And there were no finishing medals. And not a lot of vendors or stuff to do afterward. We climbed at 11 a.m. and even the stand with bagels and Kind snack bars had run out of bars by the time we finished. The staff were very nice and I was happy I met the person I had been in contact with the most, leading up to the event. I wouldn't participate again, but I would definitely donate to any friends asking for fundraising support. Weather was beautiful yesterday in San Diego, so we did enjoy a nice weekend down there, and the One America Plaza building is very close to the waterfront so it was easy to walk by the boats and water after we climbed.

It was my first time at Gaslamp's Holiday Pet Parade with my two doggos. It was so fun to see other…read morepets march the parade around downtown and seeing everyone's costumes, parade floats, and Christmas cheer! Check-in station was easy to spot as the Gaslamp arch is easy to spot and I received a goodie bag filled with treats, some bandanas, complimentary wipes trash bag, and a rope toy. As for the parade walk, it was a short walk around 4th and 5th Ave and we encountered no problems as the streets were blocked off. There was also a marching band leading the way! I didn't get to stick around for the rewards, but it was definitely tough competition I'm sure as everyone was so creative with dressing up and decorating their floats. The event was pretty organized, water bowls were provided at check in and at the Hilton for the after-Pub Party. This is a great parade that's family friendly and I hope it gains even bigger attraction! I would love to see more different types of pets as majority was dogs. This would be an event I would participate in to get my dogs out more!

One of the other holiday staples of downtown San Diego, is the Pet Parade. Free for spectators,…read morethis is a fun opportunity to see so many pets dressed up for the holidays. Starting under the Gaslamp neighborhood sign at 1pm, the parade kicked off with a local school's marching band followed by clusters of mayhem, jk sort of. The clusters of pets and owners dressed up having a great time paraded down 5th avenue. There are some folks that go all out in their themes and costumes, and some with only a themed collar all with one goal, enjoy marching down the street. I love to come and see all the dogs in their outfits. If you like dogs this is a fun time. The whole spectator time goes by super fast. We positioned ourselves near the start of the parade which did start promptly at 1pm and by 1:10pm the last parade participant had already past us. In 2022, we went to the after pawty with our dog and they had photo ops, the awards from the parade, a booth for a dog rescue (Yey The Animal Pad!!) and a bar. In 2023, we didn't go to the Pets in the Pub party but tried to check out the market or Holiday Expo. I was a little bummed that it shut down at 12:30 prior to the parade starting. I think they would have gotten more business if they stayed open, because we headed there right after the parade ended. There were two booths still open while they were packing up, and I ended up getting 3 bandanas for our pup.

After seeing the earlier postings on yelp Events and the Talk threads, I visited the DOFL website…read moreto learn more [http://www.diningoutforlife.com/sandiego]. I was considering where to have dinner when I saw a weblink about volunteering my time and efforts for this. What great way to get involved with the community, fill my belly as well as my karma meter. Oh, and not having to cook, do dishes, or settling for junk food, either. The Center was well organized about having their informational and material packets available. I didn't have any new questions because their reference and FAQ guides were included. Although I felt a bit out of my element as the lone volunteer at the restaurant, I didn't feel completely lost or have a need to call The Center for assistance. Regardless, I still got an opportunity to meet with one of The Center's representatives who was making the rounds in the area to make sure we had enough volunteer supplies and to thank us for volunteering on behalf of The Center. Being a DOFL ambassador isn't so easy for a shy introvert, but rewarding once you get out of that shell. I don't care so much for imposing upon strangers, but with The Center's brief training seminar, a product with great value, and the right circumstances...well you know. I'm not sure what the final fundraising count is because they're probably processing cc numbers and personal checks, but I was pleased with the turnout at the restaurant I was assigned to [http://www.yelp.com/biz/alchemy-san-diego#hrid:DQqybfixmzLmoyOt0sdJdQ]. The staff was fantastic and made me feel comfortable while they did their restaurant magic. This was a fun and rewarding experience that I would consider doing again depending on scheduling and if I am available to volunteer.

One of the best four hours of planned dining ever! When else are you going to try to spend as much…read moremoney as you can. I even drank one drink (a rarity for this super-sober dude) for the occasion at Hash House A Go Go (http://www.yelp.com/biz/hash-house-a-go-go-san-diego#hrid:RKT_SNa9SRfalBo5rDArGg/src:self) before heading to the main event, dinner at R Gang Eatery (http://www.yelp.com/biz/r-gang-eatery-san-diego#hrid:kuLj3zL3uC5RyK4EXJgOzA/src:self). Props again to R Gang Eatery for committing 100% of the day's sales to charity.

One of my favorite car events in San Diego…read more Always free admission which is awesome. Usually tons of vendors, nice cars and food. They have drag races too. You can either be in the show, or just throw your own party or gathering in the parking lot with you and your friends rides. I always have a fun time here, although it does seem the car show scene in SD is slowly dying. Just went this past weekend and it wasn't as exciting as to how it used to be. But still, it's free and you can check out all the nice cars.

For being what I assume is an inaugural event, the Cocktail Championship was organized pretty well…read more It was advertised as a way for San Diegans to try cocktails from some of their favorite bars and vote to recognize those who stepped up to bat (go Padres). I left early, so I wasn't able to see which bars were awarded which awards, but there were 21 bars in the running initially and five awards (which were super cute golden cocktail shakers): Best Presentation, Social Media Star, Best Cocktail, Most Innovative, and Best Name. All except for three bars showed up to the competition, and I decided to try all of them (except one whiskey cocktail), so I got 17 mini cocktails for the $50 general admission price. Pretty good deal! The event was open for tastes for four hours, but I was able to get through everything in 2 hours (after showing up an hour late and pausing to eat mid-way through the tastes). The event was spread out between the first and second floors of Rustic Root, and Swing Social next door. They had security at the front checking IDs and tickets and a separate exit with additional security. The two venues were open only for attendees during the course of the event, and there were no in-out privileges. Most of the cocktails were pretty sweet, and where I usually like a lot of the bars, I didn't love many of the drinks. I think that making enough of a cocktail to pour samples for 300-500 people makes it a bit difficult for quality control, but there were definitely a few that still stood out. Some drinks, like those for Rustic Root and Swing Social, actually made me want to try places that I wouldn't have wanted to try otherwise. It was an awesome event for socializing with other cocktail lovers and meeting some of the people behind the bars at some of San Diego's best. However, I probably wouldn't attend this again unless I have a friend who wants to join me (I went solo this time). It was cool that Swing Social seemingly had their games available for people to play for free during the event (idk how much it usually costs). I will say that next year's event needs to have better food options. Because there were no in-outs, you were limited to food within the venue space while consuming 18 different cocktail shots. Most people probably needed food, and the only option was a catered lunch of either Caesar salad, a spicy chicken sandwich, or a pulled pork sandwich, which were around $15 each. I got the spicy chicken and it had either been sitting out for too long after being cooked or it was simply over-cooked--the breading was disgustingly dry. Also, why the heck was it on a Sunday? The venues were good about going around and refilling everyone's waters, which I really appreciated. People generally seemed to be enjoying themselves and no one seemed overly intoxicated. It was smart of them to implement the marks-for-cocktails on attendee pamphlets so that people mostly stuck to trying only one drink per bar. I finished up the event with a pour of Stella at Swing Social, and because Stella was a sponsor, they were giving away the glasses for free with the pours (which were also only $5). Hope to find out who won the awards soon!

Kinda a neat concept for a music festival. You are able to experience a great variety of music and…read moredifferent venues. When I first heard of this, I thought that it would be more of a typical street festival. However, the bands were playing at various bars, restaurants and cafe's up and down Adam's Ave. Some of the side streets had stages set up. I believe that there were four stages set up. One of the live band stages was in a grassy area that you could sit and listen to the music and still enjoy the day. There was a sampling of food trucks. And of course the Unplugged venues were all open. Parking was limited as usual in the area. However I saw trolley's going up and down the street. This was a whole weekend event. If you like live music like I do, this is a good event to hear some good live music. I was unfortunate to not be able to dedicate a lot of time to be able to stop into each place and listen to all of the bands. Also it was hard to tell what types of music and bands would be at each location. I saw some people walking around using their cell phones for a guide and or to map the places that had the live music. Next time, i will be more prepared to spend a longer amount of time at the festival to be able to fully enjoy more of the music. Several hours was not entirely enough for me. It felt good to be outside and walking around on a beautiful day.

What a cool way to spend a Sunday afternoon by strolling down Adams Ave, listening to some local…read moretunes and munching on goodies from the local eateries. Today we found Adam's Ave Unplugged festival where there were a variety if stages as well as bars and restaurants showing off some local musicians. Down some of the side streets were different vendors selling their goods as well as some food trucks parked along the street including Ono grinds and Ms patty melt. There was even a beer garden. I feel it would have been a better venue if the street was blocked off so more stages or vendors could set up shop. But it was still entertaining.