August 27 - 29: Chicken & Waffles, Beer, Breaking Bad and Air Conditioning

This week I had an early weekend.  Thursday, Damion came to town so I had an awesome time with him while he visited.  

We went to Sonic's Drive-In so he could get his beloved Banana Milkshake.  I got a Coke Zero because I LOVE their ice.  It's the tiny crunchy kind like this: SONIC ICE.  Then I went next door to Wendy's cause Sonic's food, while yummy, likes to attack my insides and turns my stool to mush.  I know it's disgusting, but it is fact.  Then we went home and started a Breaking Bad marathon because Damion has never seen it.  That had to be rectified.  

Friday morning was a late morning.  I've wanted to go to this restaurant that I went to during my trip to Chicago last year called Hash Hash a Go Go.  To my surprise there is one here in San Diego!!  So we got up to go there and of course there was a wait outside.  The wait was quoted at 30 minutes but it ended up only being about 10 minutes!  Yay!  So we sat at the bar.  BAD place to sit if you love booze.  Every single drink the bartender made was drool worthy.  So we ended up ordering a blood orange mimosa to go with our Sage Fried Chicken and bacon waffles.  It was incredibly delicious.  They have the BEST chicken and waffles ever!!  The serving size is ridiculous.  We split this one plate and there were still 2 waffles left and we were full!

After brunch we went home, since I had a 12pm meeting with a prospect for my Online Presence Consultation business.  It was a GREAT appointment.  They signed with me immediately after our call!  YAY!  The best part for me is that this client is giving me nearly 100% free creative reign over their site.  I'm SUPER excited about that.  So after that call I woke Mr.Bellows and we went to Starbucks for some java.  That lunch at Hash Hash a Go Go was the kind of lunch that punches you in the face putting you into a deep napping coma.

It has been CRAZY hot out here in San Diego.  So naturally, we planned on being hermits in my air conditioned apartment.  My bill is probably going to be about the same as my car payment this month.  *sigh*... But seriously, it is worth it.  

We found this AWESOME liquor store right down the street from me.  It's walking distance, people!  They have every craft brew you can name.  And if by some miracle they do not, they will order a couple cases just for you!  They even have my beloved Xingu!!!  So we figured we would take advantage of their, buy 6 get the 7th free deal.  So we picked out a bunch that we wanted to try and this ended up being the line up:

Man alive were these beers delicious!!!  

• We started with the Cappuccino Stout from Lagunitas.  It tastes almost identical to Goose Island's, Bourbon County!  It has that same scent (It smells like soy sauce to me!) And when you drink it, it is this creamy espresso and vanilla taste.  It's absolutely delicious and is one of my new favorites.  I'm just sad that it's a limited release!!
• Then we moved on to the Marshmallow Milk Stout from Garage Brewing Co.  It truly does smell and taste like marshmallows!  It has a smooth taste to it and was the beer I drank the fastest!
• We then went for my favorite brew from Ballast Point, Victory at Sea. It is another coffee beer that also has a touch of vanilla in it.  It's so delicious, but honestly didn't hold a candle to the first two we tried.  Yet, it still remains my favorite Ballast Point brew.
• To clean our palette we switched it up with the Smashed Blueberry beer from Shipyard Brewing Company.  The first time I tried this beer was at last year's Brew HaHa.  They served it with fresh blueberries but honestly that is a bit overkill.  The beer already has a very strong blueberry scent and taste.  It's one of the best summer beers you can buy if you want something clean and fresh but you are tired of citrus.  I still prefer the KBC Blueberry Wheat Ale that Trader Joe's sells to this one.  That KBC brew is just in another league.
• So we didn't get through all 7 beers.  We ended the night with the Oatmeal Yeti and honestly, it was just TOO potent for the both of us.  I'm all for high ABV in my beer, but this beer was so thick and dark that I couldn't handle it after all the others.  I drank about 8 ozs  and then called it quits.  I'll have to give it another chance at some point.
• So the last two that I have yet to try are the Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter and the Paradise Moon Coffee Porter.  Perhaps when my body forgives me for the other 5 I will get to try those two.  Until then, I will detox.

So this morning, Damion headed home and I started prepping for another important meeting that I had with the Executive Director of Young Arts San Diego.  This is a really exciting project that I am considering.  She is looking for someone to take lead of their re-branding and website.  We also discussed some marketing tactics that I thought would really get their name known so that it becomes a household name.  They are a really fabulous organization that provides arts education to children that otherwise do not have access to it.  They rely on donations to keep these services going.  I want to help them get the message across more clearly because I think their current site just completely loses and confuses the site visitors.  Anyways, it went REALLY well and thanks to the E.D.'s suggestion to meet at a coffee shop called Lestat's I have found a new work space for my future projects!  This coffee shop is super awesome!  I mean look at it!!

There are so many tables, places to plug in and everyone there is really welcoming.  I met someone named Giovanni that works for Twitch.TV.  He does streaming videos for gaming and stuff... we ended up discussing League of Legends which was pretty funny.  Then I told my 'Almost' tale about how I nearly had an AWESOME position with Riot just to have it stolen by a Rioter that stepped up at the last minute.  That was a very sad day.  I think I cried for like a month.  It's fine though, I would have never had this San Diego experience if I had been given the position there at that time, and I really think the person they chose was indeed also a great candidate.  I do believe that there is more than one path to happiness if you choose to see it.  I am choosing to see it.

My dear friend Brenda messaged me tonight and blamed me for her pho cravings  (It is a fair allegation).  I blamed the Vietnamese for making their pho so darn delicious and proposed that we satisfy the craving immediately.  So we did.  Only, I was too hungry to stop and take a picture of our pho.  I had even mentioned it and took out my phone to snap the photo but I was completely enthralled by our deep conversation.  That is what I love about my friend, Brenda; we get all philosophical when we get into it.  I think we just need togas and a sitting rock to reflect upon our thoughts...and someone to make statues of us.

So this is what I can remember of these past few days.  There were a few other things I wanted to share... like I received my LootCrate and it is one of the best I have received!  Look at this Breaking Bad apron!!:

I mean, is that awesome or what??  And the Joker inside the box is so shelf worthy.  It looks like this: 

Pretty Geek EEK, right?  

So that is all for tonight.  I made a pretty big dent.  If you read this whole thing you are seriously awesome.  Seriously.  You are.