Tag: smile

Elie spreads hope and love in San Diego!

I met Elie Kennedy today. She was at a table painting small, smooth stones inside the UC San Diego Park & Market building. She was participating in today’s Destination JOY event, which would bring San Diego Trolley riders into her smiling presence.

Elie makes lives in San Diego better. She does this by spreading hope and love with positive, affirming messages painted beautifully on stones. Perhaps you’ve seen Elie at art and craft events around the city. I also met her seven years ago in Balboa Park.

Elie has helped sick kids at Rady Children’s Hospital paint happy, hopeful stones. Above all, she’s an advocate for Suicide Prevention and Awareness. Her own family experience, and a day of painting stones on the beach for a loving memorial, propelled her down this road. The selling of her stones raises funds to bring awareness to the issue of suicide prevention.

Today, seeing the stones arranged on that table and her smile lighted my day. Chased away dark thoughts. Reminded me of important things.

How many lives she has touched?

Many.

Please look at her Instagram page here.

Always be kind. You matter. Hug.

Sometimes you forget that you’re awesome. This is your reminder.

You light up my life.

You are not alone.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Harry Potter cosplay returns to Comic-Con!

Are you a fan of Harry Potter and the Wizarding World “Potterverse” characters, as they were portrayed in the popular movies? Enjoy these cool cosplay photos taken today in San Diego outside Comic-Con 2024.

Comic-Con’s fun Harry Potter cosplay group has returned!

I spotted the witches and wizards on MLK Promenade, not far from Children’s Park. They would afterward walk through the Comic-Con crowds, casting their magic wherever they turned.

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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

Photos of 12th Annual East Village Block Party!

The 12th Annual East Village Block Party is being held today along several blocks of J Street, just north of Petco Park. The event, usually held on the San Diego Padres opening weekend, was originally scheduled for March 20, but rainy weather that day caused a postponement. In 2024 it’s a summer block party!

I walked along J Street late this morning to absorb some of the festive atmosphere. Many of San Diego’s other sports teams were present. There was music and art and lots of smiling Padres fans. And there was a ton of food, too!

If you read this in time, you might head down to the East Village Block Party before it ends at 4:30 pm. It takes place on J Street between 7th and 10th Avenue.

A sunny day in San Diego’s East Village.

Kid has fun at San Diego Legion rugby challenge.

Special shout out to the San Diego Mojo professional volleyball team. I won a cool t-shirt!

One of many smiles! That Topo Chico sparkling mineral water was great!

Peter Seidler in an awesome Padres baseball spray paint mural created by @dyseoneclothing, @hasler.88 and @bigchill8825.

A blessed smile at the East Village Block Party in San Diego!

Providing block party music!

Lots of Padres merchandise could be found.

Larry Turner, candidate for San Diego Mayor, smiles for a photo!

More smiles!

A fine Saturday in downtown San Diego.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Creative fun outside the Fringe Festival!

All sorts of creative fun can be experienced during the annual San Diego International Fringe Festival. I found some of that fun today on a patch of grass in Balboa Park!

When I happened to walk by, a puppet show was being enjoyed on this particular patch of grass near the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater. Artists who aren’t officially part of the festival are encouraged to “bring your own venue” and that’s what I had stumbled upon!

Steve Sanders with his The Wandering Umbrella’s puppet was reciting powerful poetry. Steve would later break out two additional dancing puppets, delighting surprised kids.

When I arrived, his audience was composed of other Fringe Festival performers: those folks with the furry, colorful hats. They are the theatre group GUMBO. They’ve come all the way to San Diego from Japan! Later this week they’ll be performing Forest of Truth at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park.

As I watched, smiling Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater puppeteers came along carrying their happy puppet named Melody.

Wonderfully creative people and puppets! What fun!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

C Street Keeps It Green for Earth Day!

A special Earth Day event was held today in downtown San Diego. C Street Keeps It Green was the name of the fun environmental event, which took place–surprise!–on two blocks of C Street.

I saw inspirational art being created, spoke to representatives of the Downtown San Diego Partnership, checked out info presented by I Love a Clean San Diego, San Diego Community Power, and the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, and enjoyed learning more about the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum–did you know every second Sunday they are open free to the public? There were smiling vendors, too, and music!

Enjoy some photographs and read the captions…

Inspirational art and messages are created on C Street in San Diego.

Three Falls Brand had all sort of cool merch–many of the designs were a fusion of lucha libre wrestling and hard rock music.

I learned the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum has an exhibition titled Poem ‘ Li Sao’, Qu Yuan & Dragon Boat Festival. The featured, very famous poem, by the father of Chinese romantic poetry, consists of more than 2,470 Chinese characters!

Old photographs show how the Chinese played an important role in early San Diego history.

Smiles by representatives of San Diego Community Power, which provides cleaner electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind at competitive rates.

Another smile! Oside HandMade provided fun small potted plant projects for the Earth Day event.

Creativity in action.

San Diego County Bicycle Coalition provided all sorts of useful information.

I Love a Clean San Diego told me about their recent Creek to Bay Cleanup. Tons of trash were removed from our precious waterways.

I’m shown how small positive choices we make add up! And another big smile!

Music for the event across C Street!

Our beautiful planet Earth.

A quote about nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Shayna Goodwin, a San Diego Clean and Safe Ambassador, creates her first mural. And it’s absolutely incredible!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

San Diego’s world-famous Donut Bar expands!

San Diego’s world-famous Donut Bar has moved its downtown location and greatly expanded! Their fresh new location at 1 Columbia Place opened yesterday, and early this morning I swung by to see my friends in action! Chef Santiago and staff were smiling and ready for another busy day!

All the usual great donuts were on display at the front counter, and a new section up front will soon be featuring cakes and other sweet bakery items! I saw that every sort of coffee awaits those who need a morning injection of caffeine, and the fun vibes are stronger than ever!

One super fun feature of Donut Bar’s new location is . . . the walls. That’s right!

The walls are covered with black-and-white graphics depicting San Diego. The cartoony graphics turn into a dynamic, colorful, augmented reality experience when you aim your phone at them! Donuts fly through the sky! A boat crosses San Diego Bay! Jets fly off the USS Midway! A baseball flies out of Petco Park!

The new Donut Bar location is 401 West A Street on the ground floor of 1 Columbia Place, a block west and north of the San Diego Central Courthouse. They’ve got outdoor seating perfect for sunny San Diego, too!

Now which yummy donut to choose…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Smiles and Irish green in the big parade!

This morning the big annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade was held in San Diego!

Almost a hundred separate entrants in the parade would entertain thousands of people lining sidewalks in Bankers Hill.

Can you believe it? Over the course of almost eleven years, this is the seventh (lucky?) time I’ve taken photos of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. And this year it was just as wonderful as ever!

What is it like before the parade begins, as smiling people gather for the joyful green spectacle?

These photos provide a glimpse…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Excitement before Women’s Gold Cup Final!

The Fan Zone outside Snapdragon Stadium was alive with excitement before the start of today’s Women’s Gold Cup Final. The winner of the game would be historic first champion of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup!

Which team would prevail? USA or Brazil?

Soccer fans from around the United States and the world were arriving in droves, streaming in from parking lots and the Stadium trolley station. I saw flag capes, crazy hats, colorful scarfs, enthusiastic fans holding handmade signs, and many smiles. A lot of red, white and blue was visible. Some yellow and green, too!

Inside the Gold Cup Fan Zone, families took part in many activities. Kids dribbled soccer balls, tried to score a goal. Fans posed for pictures with the Gold Cup. San Diego’s own soccer teams–San Diego FC and San Diego Wave FC–had booths and greeted everyone.

Fans were pumped!

Who would win?

Who would win? USA!

Guess who scored the winning goal?

Lindsey Horan!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

4th Annual City Heights Multi-Cultural Festival of Love!

These photographs are from today’s 4th Annual City Heights Multi-Cultural Festival of Love. The event, which celebrates community unity and diversity around Valentine’s Day, was held in Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park.

I arrived as the festival began, having followed a small but heart-filled parade down several streets in City Heights. See those fun photographs here!

Neighbors were gathering around 11 am to gaze at cool lowriders along Fairmount Avenue and enjoy multicultural entertainment that would include ballet, lion dances, drummers and the Fern Street Circus.

There was plenty of great food on hand. Community organizations caught the attention of visitors at booths around the grass. (See my photos of several flyers with really great information.) Odi the Coyote from the San Diego Library was greeting young and old. The Rad Hatter was there to help everyone create radical hats from paper bags. And there were other craft activities for families, including making puppet masks!

I lingered for a bit and listened to Mariachi Victoria performing on the outdoor stage.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Champagne bubbles fly in Hillcrest!

Enormous champagne bubbles are flying up the wall of a Hillcrest liquor store!

Bubbles Market & Spirits had this huge mural created last year by San Diego artist Jeremy “Jermz” (@jm47art). Here’s his Instagram page.

It’s a bubbly work of art that definitely attracts the attention of passersby! I thought you might enjoy seeing it, too!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!