Among the Wildflowers

pc: @megankobrien

Adding this to the things I love about San Diego: after a rainy "winter" in Southern California, we tend to get what's called a "Superbloom" around mid-March.

The first time I heard about this phenomenon was around 2016/2017 when I got to experience my first desert Superbloom in the Anza Borrego desert. And this year, our rainy season was rewarded with an entirely different Superbloom experience: the Walker Canyon Ecological Reserve poppy fields in Lake Elsinore.

You Eat Clean, San Diego

I don't remember when it started happening precisely and unlike most major changes in my life, this one can't really be traced back to a decision or a moment. But at some point last year I slowly but surely started taking meat out of my diet.

I still ate meat during the holidays and on special occasions, but for the most part, it just hasn't even appealed to me. And in the absence of cooking meals around meat, I started to default hardcore to carbs... pizza and pasta more often than not.

While I wouldn't call myself a vegetarian just yet, I am definitely trending that way. And now that I've noticed this development, I realized I needed to start figuring out how to craft an actual plant-based diet instead of nervously retreating to pizza when I'm not sure what to make.

So I was really glad when Eat Clean Meal Prep reached out offering me a trial of their meal prep service. I've always been interested in meal prep services, but wasn't sure if I would like the food or if would make the most sense financially. Most importantly I was concerned about the abundance of plastic packaging as I'm trying to go plastic-free. But the trial seemed like the best way to give it a shot and break out of my carb-loading rut.

I requested a plant-based meal plan and came home from a girl's weekend away to a ton of delicious food and cold-pressed juices. Here's what I ended up with and what I thought...

Desert X 2019

A few weeks ago, my friend Megan texted me a link to an article about this year's Desert X exhibit, a biennial art exhibit that debuted and last took place in 2017, during our last year at Coachella. I remember meaning to check it out on the way to Indio that year, but the excitement of our #LastChella drove us straight to the polo fields to soak up as much of the festival as possible.

This year, Desert X runs from February 9 to April 21st and showcases 19 artists in a variety of mediums, all using the desert as their canvas. The pieces cover a range of environmental, political and social issues from immigration to climate change, and span across the Coachella Valley, from Palm Springs down to the Salton Sea, with a few pieces in Tijuana and Ensenada this year as well. 

Not wanting to miss it again, Megan and I hit the road, sand storms and Big Horn Sheep crises be damned...