Get your Spa On : The Travelling Spa (until November 25)

Ever feel like you have NO time to actually give yourself some YOU time? Yeah, me too. Never fear work a holics (or in my case reruns of Charmed a holic) you can now have your pampering, grab your lunch and head back to work because THE TRAVELLING SPA is in town. San Diego Magazine has a nice write up about the drive up services.

The massive RV’s walls depict a pale blue silhouette of the Eiffel Tower and a gorgeous woman with the skin of my dreams. In the center of it all reads, “L’Bel: The Power of Your Beauty.” I’m greeted by a plethora of smiling faces, including that of L’Bel skin care expert John Krites, and I’m curious about what’s in store for me. As we board the mother ship, I can’t help but imagine my uncle’s fishing gear and ’70s motor home décor might be waiting inside.

I couldn’t be more wrong. The interior is sleek and modern, and equipped with every luxurious detail of a high-end spa. In the front are two colossal mirrors, a full make-up counter and a computer. I take a seat in a plush white leather stool and before I can ask what a computer has to do with my facial, John busts open a drawer lined with science-fiction-looking gadgets. He explains that L’Bel Paris’ unique approach to skin care mixes a deeply rooted Parisian tradition of fine beauty products with cutting-edge technology.

The L’Bel Spa Mobile will be in San Diego through November 25. For locations and times, visit eltondesigns.com/Lbel_IPK/mobile/sandiego.html.

Now if only they could invent a mobile office and assistant, how much fun would that be? You could park it right outside of Fashion Valley, spend some time working and the rest of it catching up on all your shopping needs.

Does the San Diego music scene have a sound?

A Transfer sound MAYBE... That's the way you find local music here in San Diego, you just go out and find it, it's EVERYWHERE.

I've dated a few San Diego music-abees (musicians I suppose) and the scene is quite an experience to behold. You can't get away from it, San Diego is proud of their local music and it's everywhere. I got a chance to see behind the scenes and, FYI, Almost Famous was a little too on the money. This one guy I dated was pretty tied in, and sometimes it seems more like a little club of people, once you're in, you're in and you know EVERYBODY (this guy had once been in a band that was courted by a major label only to have the band implode right before they went into the studio to record, would probably make a really good movie if Cameron Crow wrote it). The key to San Diego's music scene seems to be diversity and not "one sound." Say Seattle and people scream "grunge", say LA and people yell "STD's!" kidding, they probably yell "Rock and Roll!" But despite it's reputation, San Diego doesn't have a sufer sound or an acoustic sound or even a hipster music sound, San Diego has something for everybody.

San Diego Magazine wonders if this prevents the scene from taking off.

“There’s a ton of people in bands, a ton of people coming to see bands, a lot of places to play,” Casbah owner Tim Mays says of the local scene. “I think it’s very healthy.” Many insiders echo Mays’ optimism, but exactly how that health should be measured is open to debate. Is it calculated in sheer numbers—of bands, venues, record sales, awards? Is it an aesthetic question, as when a city develops an unmistakable signature sound, like grunge or garage rock or hyphy (Bay Area hip-hop)? In an era when digital distribution has led some to declare record labels obsolete, does anyone still define success in terms of major-label signings? Or is vitality determined by a more ineffable quality, a certain je ne sais quoi they call “buzz”?

They also give a shout out to Cat Dirt Sez (Scott Pactor) who has his own label and his own blog!

The support offered by these smaller labels can range from strategic (distribution in record stores) to financial (paying for CD production expenses, studio time and other hard costs) to symbolic. Attorney Scott Pactor, the head of Golden Hill–based Cat Dirt Records, concedes that, apart from some legal perspective, he offers his tiny, two-band roster “pretty much nothing, except a flair for getting them in the local media.” Pactor does so via his blog, catdirtsez, which is among a handful of sites that have fast become required reading among local journalists and scenesters. Monitoring the music coverage of outlets including the Reader, CityBeat and The Union-Tribune, Pactor’s sarcasm-heavy blog is a mix of media criticism and rah-rah enthusiasm for bands he likes, including (not surprisingly) those on his label.

San Diego Magazine's Guide to Shopping

Lori should have written this; she's the best shopper in the world (hence the reason why she gives us her "fashion reaction" here on My San Diego...Your San Diego). Unfortunately neither of us have reached the heights of knowing all things shopping about San Diego. And San Diego has it all, you will never want for shopping in San Diego and with Fashion Valley ever expanding and new boutiques popping up it looks like shopping will remain a favorite pastime.

During this holiday shopping season take some time to enjoy the surprises San Diego has to offer. Some highlights from San Diego Magazine:

• Africa & Beyond in La Jolla (1250 Prospect Street, 800-422-3742) Sculptures, masks, weapons and textiles appeal to both the collector and the curious.
• Antiques on Kettner (2400 Kettner Boulevard, Suite 106, Little Italy, 619-234-3332) sells an array of art, glass, pottery, kitsch and other miscellaneous objects.
• San Diego’s incense-imbued Buddha for You (6360 El Cajon Boulevard, 619-582-1100) carries numerous iterations of the Buddha figure—from $5 figurines to $5,000 statues. Proprietor Alfred Baron, 80, claims to have the state’s largest inventory of Buddhas, which he imports from Tibet, Nepal, China, India and other Far East locales.
• Looking to satiate a serious sweet tooth? Treat yourself to a slice of 1950s Americana at Elizabethan Desserts in Encinitas (155 Quail Gardens Drive, 760-230-6780), where baker Elizabeth Harris serves up mouth-watering cakes, pies, cookies and cupcakes “just like Grandma’s,” but with her signature elegant flair.
• High fashion has found its San Diego home at Fashion Valley (7007 Friars Road, 619-688-9113) The outdoor shopping center houses 200 stores and six major department stores—Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, JC Penney and the long-awaited Bloomingdale’s.
• Ocean Beach People’s Organic Food Market (4765 Voltaire Street, 619-224-1387)—San Diego’s only member-owned grocery store—has a vast selection of organic produce, grocery, dairy and bulk foods and herbs, as well as vitamins and homeopathics, cruelty-free bodycare and aromatherapy products.
• Hear ye, hear ye: Coronado’s Ye Olde Flower Shop (1330 Orange Avenue, Suite 115, 800-323-0885) is a family-run business that boasts buckets of charm in addition to its large inventory of fresh flowers.

PS. Fashion Valley is getting an H&M, more on that later.

On the cover of San Diego Magazines: Hot Doctors R Us

This month's San Diego Magazine cover goes to... The 408 Top Doctors in SD.

Our voting process, which has always been and will remain transparent, consists of SDCMS member physicians voting for board-certified doctors who practice within San Diego County and to whom they would refer their patients and family members. Recognizing that physicians often know more about those in other specialties to whom we refer our own patients, SDCMS has evolved our process from allowing physicians to vote only within their specialties to allowing them to vote across specialties.

Hey, shouldn't we just give the people what they want, a list of pertinant stats? Tell me who's hot, who's married, who's unhappily married, and WHO has a six pack hidden underneath their scrubs. I've seen Grey's Anatomy, I know how this doctor thing really goes.

San Diego Magazine sizes us up.

San Diego Magazine (not the cover, that's coming up soon) has compiled various lists to let people know just how cool San Diego really is. We can now find out where San Diego stands in the ever cutthroat world of Best Dog Towns.

Best Dog Towns: We’re number 1. (Tell that to my friend and her boyfriend who are leaving their current residence because of the lady next door who keeps coming over and yelling at them "Your dog is too loud! TOO LOUD!"

Best for sleep: Number 3 which apparently means that we have low unemployment and overall happiness which leads to a good nights sleep." I'm gonna add a third reason we sleep so well, perhaps because we're #3 on the Best for Dating, which means... we sleep well, after our really good dates.

We're also #6 for safety. New York is better than us at #4, go figs (tell that to LAW AND ORDER) .

On the cover of a magazine...

San Diego Magazine has never really been my go to magazine for, well anything really. But, one must be up on their "for those San Diegans who have money and philanthropic interests."

On the cover of this month's SD Mag (ha, I'm giving it a nickname): How do our schools measure up?

Well, there are six that seem to make the grade (out of how many SD Schools I don't know. But here's the six)

Our highest six performers include three elementary schools in the Del Mar Union School District: Ashley Falls, Sage Canyon and Torrey Hills. Poway Unified School District’s Creekside Elementary, and Carmel Creek and Solana Pacific in the Solana Beach School District, complete our list.

Start your lines now, even hotter than the Iphone... an education.

Stay smarty San Diego...

San Diego is one of America's Smartest Cities... according to San Diego Magazine... which has no bias whatsoever.

According to the article:

We hold the distinction, for example, of having housed the most Nobel Laureates in the world; 14 have called San Diego home over the years.

For every girl in a short skirt and really big platform shoes who tells me she only reads US Magazine (and People cause they have real stories in there too) there is a Nobel Laureate who also wonders what the hell happened to Britney and thinks it probably all started when she lost Justin, so why don't those two just get back together already. Perhaps there will be a study on that some day. (Called it! I want a cut!)