Week 109: A Mission Valley Moment
- elenalilamartin
- Feb 1, 2025
- 3 min read
Week 109: January 26th - February 1st, 2025
This week, I truly embraced living in Mission Valley and walked 10,000 steps before 2pm on Saturday. First, I ventured over Friars Road to the luxury apartment campus of Civita, and finally got a chance to check out their Saturday farmer's market. I also got to go to Westfield Mission Valley's first Lunar New Year celebration.
At the Civita farmer's market, I checked out everything the many vendors had to offer, but decided getting just two things. I got myself a brie and fig danish from a booth that caught my eye and of course, I had to get the millennial staple, avocado toast.
If I had gone later in the day, like around lunch time, I think I would've picked very different food options, but I was feeling very breakfast-y. I normally don't believe in the societal limitations placed on mealtimes and eating certain foods (spaghetti for breakfast is a regular thing for me, and no, it is not weird), but I was in a breakfast food mood. The brie and fig danish was $6 from Bonjour Patisserie. The woman who helped me was super sweet and invited me to come try their coffee and other pastry offerings at their brick and mortar store in Little Italy. My $14 avocado toast from Smashed Avocado Toast was BLT-style, which meant it just had bacon and a tomato on top. I assume the microgreens were their trendy version of lettuce. It was good, but definitely something I could make at home. Like I always joke, foods usually taste better when someone else makes them.
While I waited for my avocado toast, I also bought two tea towels from a very adorable young artist named Chiara Rose Skabelund. She had a very impressive booth with a ton of handmade prints. Check out her creations on her Instagram @wild_rose_prints. One of the tea towels I bought has strawberries and the other has vegetables :) I have a small obsession with fruit-themed items. I'm extra excited because they are machine washable and dryer friendly!
After recharging like a solar panel in the sun for a bit, I walked back (the long way, eye roll) to the other side of Friars and dropped off my purchases at home. I reapplied some sunscreen and headed out in the other direction toward the mall.
I walk to Westfield Mission Valley a lot, because my boyfriend and I are huge CAVA fans. The walk there is a bit more practical and doesn't require any silly doubling back. On the way, there is a gorgeous river walk that feels way more pedestrian friendly than the stinky Friars overpass. I found out about the Westfield Mission Valley Lunar New Year celebration on one of these regular CAVA evenings.
The event was sponsored by the SDSU Chinese Cultural Center and Panda Express. They even had free Panda Express and arts and crafts for kids.
Overall, it was a nice first attempt at a Lunar New Year celebration for Westfield Mission Valley. I liked that they had truly free activities for kids and live performances. The cellist I saw was pretty good. I kind of wish they had an MC or a calendar with the performers and performance times listed so I could know their names.
You might be wondering how I got 10,000 steps before 2pm if everything is so close together in Mission Valley... You're right, it shouldn't have taken that many steps, but the reason this required so many steps is because San Diego is not pedestrian friendly. Instead of taking a 5 minute walk directly across Friars Road, to get to Civita campus, I have to go down a few blocks down Friars Rd., under the overpass, and back toward Civita, which takes about 15-20 minutes. I might've already mentioned this since my friends live over there, but I have already written to the city of San Diego asking for a pedestrian walkway across Friars. They have yet to respond... For now, I'll keep getting my steps in as I explore more around my apartment :)
Happy Lunar New Year!
See you next week.
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