2022 was the year of making our house a home and truly settling into our new life in San Diego. We dove in headfirst, learned many new skills and even shocked ourselves by doing even more work on our home in 2022 than we did in 2021. We didn’t even know that was possible! 

January – My mom and I hit the ground running perfecting our Persian vegan recipes and working to finetune them. We must have made each recipe at least 4 or 5 times over the course of the year. Needless to say, there was no shortage of Persian food at our home in 2022! Thankfully Josh is a fan and enjoyed being our taste tester for each one. 

My parents hosted a beautiful dinner party to welcome us back from our honeymoon. 

We learned how to pollinate passion fruit & made kumquat preserves. We explored Oceanside and tried several plant-based restaurants Planted, Kindred, and Fusion Eats. We created more seating in the orchard which resulted in building the Mushroom Dome. 

February – We visited Costa Rica with friends for the first time and explored all around the jungle, rainforest, and beaches. We swam in waterfalls, soaked in hot springs, explored the jungle, and even saw a baby sloth in the jungle. Our biggest takeaway was incorporating more “Pura Vida” — an expression of happiness, optimism, living life to the fullest, and not stressing about the little things. 

March – Ever since I was a little kid I had always wanted to visit Disney World in Florida. We decided to combine a trip to visit family and friends in St. Pete, Florida with a Disney World trip. This time around we visited Epcot and Animal Kingdom. We had a lovely lunch at The Tiffin restaurant and one of the best margaritas I’ve ever had at Epcot. Seriously, the best! We traveled to St. Pete Florida to see Josh’s family and visited The Sunken Gardens; a beautiful botanical garden.

April – We celebrated our first year in our new home! It’s hard to believe that we had already been here for one year!  We finally made it to wine country and visited Wilson Creek Winery with new friends. One of my favorite champagnes is their almond champagne. We also hosted a housewarming and made a delicious feast of Persian food.

May – Josh had a work trip and I used it as an opportunity to work on a couple of organization projects around the house with my mom. We must have spent over 50 hours organizing and meal-prepping. 

We loved watching everything come back to life including our garden roses!

Josh and I also went to Lighting in a Bottle with our good friends Dustin and Jeff. It was my first time. I had heard so much about it and was so excited to finally attend. 

June – We celebrated my birthday with a surprise Bridgerton-themed weekend. Josh went all out and made it extra special by baking a rainbow unicorn cake for me. It was a relief to be able to fully enjoy the summer months at our new home since last year we were in full wedding planning mode.

Josh went to his first big Persian wedding in Los Angeles. We enjoyed getting dressed up and had a great time dancing and celebrating the new couple.  

July –  My mom and I embarked on a long overdue adventure and visited Bali. More on that here! I absolutely fell in LOVE with Bali. I can not wait to go back with Josh and experience it together! 

We had talked about adding a bench in the orchard and Josh surprised me by building a sunset bench platform using the leftover flagstone we had. It turned out so beautifully!

August – We saw one of our favorite bands The Killers perform in San Diego. We saw many shows in San Francisco and finally seeing a show in our new town was long overdue. It made our life and living in San Diego feel even more real. 

September – Josh and I had some charming date nights exploring San Diego and enjoying our home and orchard. We enjoyed a long weekend with friends and family and soaked in the sunshine with a summer pool party. We helped our neighbors harvest their grapes. Josh surprised me with tickets to Michael Buble as an anniversary present. I had always wanted to see him and loved every minute of the show. We did a spontaneous last-minute trip to Las Vegas to meet my cousin and her husband to celebrate their anniversary. At the end of the month, I took a road trip with my parents to Colorado to visit one of my best friends Alex. We had a lovely time hiking and exploring Denver and we even got to check out the new Meow Wolf exhibit in Denver. On the way home from Colorado we stopped by and visited an alpaca farm – they were quite friendly! Well…as long as you have food!

October – It was hard to believe it was already our anniversary! My mom made us a beautiful anniversary dinner with family at our home. We popped champagne, enjoyed the orchard, and reflected back on our special day. 

We also removed the carpet in several rooms and put in beautiful new hardwood floors in my office, gym, and guest room. One thing we have learned as new homeowners there is always a new project to be had! We are learning a balance between working on our home but also taking the time to enjoy it. I also completed my 600th class on the my lululemon studio mirror.

At the end of October, we made a last-minute decision to visit Florida to attend a music festival and visit family. We had a beautiful experience and made many new lifelong friends. Josh and I spent a night in Gainesville and I was able to see not only where he lived through his early 20s but also where my parents met in the 70s! We also found out we’re going to be an uncle and auntie soon!

We enjoyed the Florida beaches and time with family.

November – We soft-launched Orange & Joon as a way for us to share our orchard with the world. We launched our first product: Organic Dried Orange Stained Glass Citrus Slices. We’re excited to see how Orange & Joon evolves and grows over the next year!

We celebrated Friendsgiving with our good friends and took a moment to take a breath and reflect over the past year as well as enjoy a meal together. We cut back on drinking alcohol and started experimenting with creating mocktails using fresh juices and unique combinations. 

December – In lieu of going out or traveling we celebrated Josh’s birthday by cooking a multicourse plant-based Indian fusion meal at home. I made a marble birthday cake and a special cocktail for him. After the busy year, we were more than happy with that decision! 

Josh’s birthday was a nice kickoff for the month of December and celebrating all around! 

We attended a friend’s 30th birthday party in San Diego and enjoyed a staycation for one evening. It was really nice to spend that time together and continue to build our friendships. If there is anything we have learned it’s that it is hard to make new friends and also maintain those friendships. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to grow these friendships. 

When we bought our home Josh and I both agreed that it would be a place where we openly welcomed our friends and family to celebrate all the things together. We were honored to host our friend Alex’s 30th birthday party and dinner at our home. We catered from a local place and went all out on the little details that made the night feel extra special. 

The week between Christmas and New Year was the perfect time to relax, reset, do some goal-setting and reflect on everything we had done over the past year together. 

We ended the year by hosting some out-of-town friends for a New Year’s Eve dinner party. With Josh’s help, we crafted a dinner and drink menu that included a Persian feast and 6 different types of drinks to enjoy. 

They said it was the best New Year’s Eve they had ever had. We took that as a big compliment and were happy they chose to spend it with us. 

We can’t wait to see what 2023 has in store for us! 🙂

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Hi there, my name is Roya — that means dream in Farsi– I am a creator, marketer, adventurer, dreamer, curator of experiences, and plant-based lover of food on the search for the best plant-based restaurants in the world. 

My husband Josh and I own several acres in San Diego and it is our mission to live our best life while eating food that is fresh, healthy, tasty, AND good for the environment. Follow along on our journey with us.