This year I got to spend the time leading up to Christmas in warm and sunny San Diego. While everyone back home was dealing with blizzards, I was dealing with the “cold” 19 degree Celsius winter. There were so many holiday events within San Diego that I wanted to go to. However, with my crazy workload in grad school and my lack of a car to get anywhere, I only made it out to the Holiday Market at Quartyard in East Village. 

What I wore

Because San Diego is actually warm during the holidays, I decided to trade in one of my many ugly christmas sweaters for a graphic tee. I picked up this Grinch Don’t Kill My Vibe tee from VS PINK. I love the holo sequins used for the text, as opposed to a regular silk screened tee. The shininess also tied in well with my metallic pleated skirt. I’ve been noticing lamé midi skirts everywhere and I have been on a mission searching for it in stores (while not breaking my Canadian bank account in the US). I finally came across this skirt at Forever21. I got it in silver, as it was the only colour in store. However, online they also stock it in gold. I love this skirt for the holiday season, it is so easy to dress it up or down. 

Quartyard

Quartyard is a great place within East Village. It is an urban park made with repurposed shipping containers. They host a ton of events from farmers markets to concerts. For Christmas this year, they had a two day event featuring a tree lighting ceremony with Santa and photobooths, and a holiday craft market. I made it out the second day to see the market so I could multitask and pick up some last minute gifts.

They had live music (which actually got me in the holiday spirit through all the school craziness).

They had a ton of local vendors featuring everything from jewelry, to candles and dog toys. Many vendors I have seen before at the Hillcrest farmers market, so it was nice to get some stuff that I regretted not picking up beforehand.

Due to my gastritis I wasn’t able to partake in any of the holiday themed cocktails or a lot of the food from the food trucks. However, I was able to get a good burrito bowl where they substituted all the fun stuff for grilled bell peppers.

It is well known that San Diego is a dog city, so it was funny to see just how many dogs were brought to Quartyard. This afghan hound caught my attention.