exploring san diego / my birthday!

my birthday was last week! i'm twenty freakin' five and i don't think i'm complaining. i'm pretty sure i feel exactly 25 at this point; i don't really want to be younger or older. i think that's good, right? when i was younger my goal was to not get married till i was 25. that obviously didn't happen. i had big plans for myself when i was in high school. i was going to be a heart surgeon. i did not want to get married until 25 or later because i wanted to accomplish a lot before i took the plunge. obviously all of that changed! i went to college and, though i absolutely loved my major in biology, realized i wasn't that committed to do well enough to ever make it to med school (and, let's face it, throw up is actually my biggest fear and the constant worry that people around me are going to throw up has given me bad dreams and even a panic attack once. plus, i hate most gross bodily things). i studied abroad in london and siena and found my love for art history. i changed my major, got married when i was almost 22, graduated at 23, had a baby at 24, and at 25 i am a stay at home mom with a part time job, an amateur photographer, and a lame wannabe blogger who slacks quite a bit. but honestly, and i hope this doesn't sound too disgustingly cliche, i'm happy with where i'm at and am so glad my high school plans didn't come to fruition. i do still hope to go to graduate school someday, but i'm fine not being outstanding or amazing in any way at this point. a couple of years ago a boy asked me if i just wanted to be a stay at home mom. i refused to admit to him, and myself, that it was what i wanted. i thought wayyyy too much of myself believing i was better, that i deserved better. but here i am, totally and completely satisfied being just a stay at home mom to the only person i could stand taking care of day in and day out.  i'm totally ordinary and i think i'm finally ok with admitting that. 

anyways, i didn't really mean to write this post as a reflection on my life. no, my original goal with this post is to share some pictures i took walking around down town san diego on my birthday. i miss living in dc (and london and siena), and being close to so much history and so many cool places. although i will never move from san diego county (knock on wood), i love taking travel pictures soooo much. so here are some that have me longing to explore a new city:

^the santa fe train station was so pretty. it was connected to the museum of contemporary art and had such classic california architecture.

^i kind of love this oversaturated doorway. i seriously want to frame it for my house.

^tony smith!!!

^my favorite part about the museum may have been the building itself. i know white washed brick is so trendy right now, but i totally get it. it's just so pretty. and those giant windows and tall ceilings are heavenly.

^close ups of the current exhibit: gravity and grace by el anatsui. he took bottle caps and scrap metal to create fluid and fabric-like monumental sculptures. i couldn't get enough.

^because one must take a picture with a wall of bougeanvilla, even if the lighting is terrible and you have a fussy and hungry baby and your car won't start. 

^he slept like an angel all day as his present to me. i want to eat his face.

^we found the best gelato place but jay seriously could care less. he's super uppity and only eats italian gelato.