This morning Ben and I decided to explore the Seaport Village before we needed to check out of our hotel. I grabbed an iced coffee and was ready to go!
I don’t know if I had mentioned it, but I drove down to San Diego solo for Blogher on Friday. Ben took the train here yesterday afternoon to spend the rest of the weekend with me since it’s just 80 miles north of us! It is just $23 on Amtrak from Irvine to San Diego and this way we can drive back together.
I spotted this statue on my walk yesterday and wanted to come back and visit with Ben <3
Our pose is not nearly as romantic…
By then we were at least a mile and a half from the hotel and had to turn back.
Back at the room I had an apple. It looks small in my massive hand, but it’s normal sized.
Then, the first “Ah-ha!” moment of my documenting = I had half this pack of mango bites. Stuff like this misses the camera all the time. This is exactly what I want out of being more accountable. Not that I’m making changes yet, just getting aware.
After checking out of our hotel Ben and I went on a wild goose chase trying to find a good Mexican restaurant. The one we found on Yelp ended up being closed.
At this point we were super hungry and opted for the next thing we saw Plan B.
I have been craving a massive salad all weekend and knew that’s what I wanted. I got the Cobb Salad with a bunch of modifications including – tuna salad instead of grilled chicken, hold the blue cheese. LOVED IT. 
It had everything I love in a salad = mixed greens and bibb lettuce, chopped tomatoes, cucs, avocado, hard boiled egg and tuna!!!
This was the best restaurant salad I’ve ever had. Promise.
Since Cobb Salads come with bacon (and they don’t charge you less if you opt out) I asked for it on the side and gave it to Ben. 
He got a carne asada cheese steak and sweet potato fries. I stole a quarter of them for good measure 
The.Best.Salad. I’ve ever had at a restaurant. And it was massive. I considered asking if I could buy the bucket bowl, but opted to save a shred of my dignity after I had already devoured 5 pounds of food at this place.
After lunch we headed back to the water to visit The Midway Museum 
The USS Midway is an aircraft carrier with a ton of planes and historical information.
Ben was so excited.
Me not so much, but it did end up being a lot more interesting than I expected. Entry comes with an audio tour and I loved hearing stories from the actual pilots! 
I felt like I was getting sun burn and decided to rock my sweater as a blanket. I know you’re impressed with my fashion sense.
Ben is a Mechanical Engineer and was in machine heaven. He took almost 200 pictures of the different planes super close. 
My memory card is now jam packed with stuff like this (as opposed to 200 pictures of everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-salads).
Remember that statue we saw earlier? Here’s the view from the ship:
I’m still super tired from the craziness of Blogher and last night’s blog troubles. I ended up falling a sleep on a bench! Ben says I looked like a Hobo. If that’s true – he’s a hobo-sexual 
After my nap we finished up the tour and headed back to the car.
I had great snacks for the road trip home! Kath gave me 2 packs of Oikos that I froze earlier so it would last.
Ben and I also shared these snacks…
I’m still “all in” with intuitive eating (just going to be more aware) and have realized preferences and dislikes lately. For example – recently discovered I don’t care for carrots that much and like everything except Doritos in this bag. 
I’m exhausted – can’t wait to get home!
Oh, to everyone asking about the “Little Black Dress” from last night… It’s from Nordstrom Rack, but I bought it in December for a Christmas party. I didn’t end up wearing it and it’s been sitting in my closet since!
I just wanted to let you know that you look fan-freakin’-tastic!!! Last ten pounds, wait, whaaaat?!
LUCKY! your on the midway! always wanted to go on it fellow sis!at least i went on the bowfin AND the Missouri.
Dont froget the arizona museam and the hanger of ford island
thanks for the dress info!! It looks fantastic on you! 🙂
I do the same thing when I want food excluded from my salads. Gotta get the $$ worth!
I LOVE your SD pics! SD is one of my fav places to visit, so your pics made me super nostalgic. I love the Midway tour, mainly because my Dad spent some time on the ship while he was in the Navy. PS, love the LBD. Super cute! 🙂
Very cool about your Dad!!!
I love that you packed your own snacks for the road trip home! We do the same thing! Fresh fruit, raisins, pretzels, and baggies of Kellogg’s FiberPlus(R) cereal usually make our “must eat while road tripping” list.
If you come to NYC for BlogHer next year, you have GOT to try the salads at the Waldorf (not as pricey as you think) UMMMMMMMMMM.
Monica-
That statue looks ginourmous! I didn’t realize it was so big from your first picture.
Love the black dress you got at Nordstrom Rack. You rock it! The sleeves are great.
Love massive salads at restaurants. One of my favorites here in Boston is at the most surprising place called Charlie’s in Harvard Square (which is technically Cambridge)… everything is SO inexpensive and it’s a late night drinking spot. They have double lobster rolls for $12!!!, veggie burger ruebens (craziness. So good) and the most massive Greek salads for $6. They are huge, loaded with veggies and cheese and olives and are super fresh.
I am SO with you about not liking any meat from pig. It’s weird… I’m not a vegetarian but never ever eat any meat from pig (ham, bacon, pork, etc.) My boyfriend doesn’t understand this at all. I mean, I appreciate that pigs are smart and all but that’s not why I don;t eat them… I just don’t like the taste of pork, or ham… it’s all too piggy I guess?? haha
I always joke that maybe I should have been Jewish or something since I’m weird about pork. Random.
hahaha Same here! I work in a Jewish neighborhood and most of my friends are Jewish. It’s essentially in my blood to avoid Pork. I think my Boss actually hired me because he thought I was Jewish haha
I just found your blog and see that you love massive salads! I have this same love and will start following along to see what fantastic creations you come up with!
-Sara-
http://mylessseriouslife.blogspot.com/
Hi Sara! Welcome 🙂
You rock your sweater head girl!
Ryan travels to San Diego for work quite a bit–let me know if you ever need restaurant recs there 🙂
We did the Midway tour once when I went with him and like you, I thought it was more interesting than I had expected!!
I am all over salads when dining out. They are the only time I really fall in love with salad. although mine would certainly have had the blue cheese. It’s my favorite!
I absolutely love Munchies (although here, the bag is blue and not red- odd). I bought a bag for our road trip last week and have been wanting more ever since…
I think the blue bag has “regular” flavor and these were “cheese”?
my fiance is the exact same way when we go on vacations. He’ll take 200 pictures of the same building when all I want is a picture of us at the cafes.
Looks like you guys had a great trip!
Tuna on salads is so underrated. And restaurants have the best tuna salad. I don’t care that its probably full of fat, just can’t recreate that at home.
Yes! I cannot make the same tuna at home either. It’s so good out!
I’m a regualr reader of your blog (i love it!) and just HAD to comment and say your dress is so pretty! that statue is amazing as well, i’d love it see it up close!
Thanks Bee 🙂
I eat massive salads. My definition of a good restaurant is when they serve a salad that I deem able to satisfy my hunger. However, here is the problem: usually I leave a restaurant still hungry because the salad portion is usually half the size of the one I eat at home!
what a nice way to wrap up your san diego weekend! 🙂 if you are ever in town again, let me know, i’d love to meet up for a run! glad you had a good time exploring downtown – you found the quintessantial statue of our city!
Love your statue photo!
Do you think that taking pictures of everything you eat will make you not snack as much? I’ve thought about doing what you are doing because I’m a big snacker and find that it does help me not snack, I guess I have to think about it more than just grabbing something mindlessly. Btw, have you ever read mindless eating? I haven’t started it yet, but I got it from the library and was just wondering if you had, what you thought of it?
Once I get the hang of taking pictures of EVERYTHING again I hope it will help me with snacking. But, today it was a disaster and I still snacked like normal and remembered I’m trying to document AFTER.
I haven’t read Mindless Eating. I’m kinda over reading about eating stuff at this point though 🙂 I need to get my mind off of it.
Oh yeah, I totally get what you are saying. I think sometimes we read about food or obsess about it that for me, I need to take a step back. It can make you start doing the opposite of what the book wants, eating while reading the mindless eating book! A bit ironic. 🙂
That salad looks FANTASTIC! I love massive salads at restaurants, it’s so frustrating when they barely give any veggies.
I’m glad you’re having a fun time in San Diego! I went to school there last year and absolutely loved the scenery, culture, weather, and food (obviously)!
I can not believe you gave away bacon! I am tearing up thinking about it! Bacon is love in fried meat form!
It’s super random, but I don’t like any meat from that animal. Not sure why.
I’m weird about meat so it’s ok. My brother also doesn’t like meat from that animal either but he says, ” I imagine that’s what people would taste like”!!!! LWhy? What a freak! 😉
I’m a bit offended by your “hobo-sexual” comment. Grow up.
HA – I lied, I can’t stop laughing. 🙂
Ha! I knew you would love it 🙂
Munchies are so aptly named. The Cheesy ones (the ones with the Quaker Oatmeal Square, ironically) are my favorite, but they are oh so much more my husband’s favorite. He can eat through the large bag without coming up for air. It’s pretty fun to watch, actually. Haha.
Good idea subbing the chicken for tuna – since I’ve recently become pescetarian I’m still getting used to asking for substitutions instead of just opting out when I go out to eat.
Avocado in salads are is the bestttt