The Cabbage Tree

In July, my family and I took a trip to San Diego, California, our regular vacation hot spot.  I have been there too many times to count since I was born, and it is a definite favorite.  We always go to our favorite restaurants, shopping areas, and beaches, and this time was no different.  One of our favorite stores to browse through is actually an art gallery called Sally Huss.  She paints whimsical animals, mermaids, and people with inspirational quotes; I have several of her prints and notepads with dolphins and teaching quotes.  I was on a mission to get a gift for my friend Elizabeth, who's baby was born the day before we left.  The gallery used to be in a popular tourist shopping spot, Seaport Village. My sister and I arrived to San Diego on a separate flight before our parents, so we decided to shop and relax in Seaport until they arrived.  We knew that the Sally Huss shop had relocated to our most favorite shopping location, La Jolla, but we were intrigued and inspired to find what had taken its place in the Village.

We walked around, perusing all of the shops, each devoted to different things: cats, beer, hot sauce, kites, coffee mugs, magic, t-shirts, etc. We never actually buy anything from Seaport (except at Sally Huss), but it is always entertaining to check out the shops.  For whatever reason, we couldn't find the old Sally Huss store, and resided to chilling out on the grass next to the harbor until our parents came to pick us up.

A while later, they called to inform us they were on their way.  As we left for the parking lot to meet up, we finally found what used to be Sally Huss.  I could not believe my eyes; my previous favorite store was now called The Cabbage Tree, and was a store specializing in gifts from New Zealand!  No way! It couldn't be!  There were no other stores in Seaport specializing in gifts from a specific country, and then here's one with gifts from NZ?!  I was dumbfounded.  The store housed warm sheepskin and merino wool, intricate jewelry, and more tourist books, photos, and posters than you could imagine! I was shocked, and was convinced this finding was a 'sign', an affirmation that I was meant to go to New Zealand.  In fact, since arriving here, I have seen other stores called The Cabbage Tree, and I find it incredibly amazing that I stumbled across one of their stores in San Diego, California, of all places...with pictures to prove it!