The last time we went to Santa Barbara was in March 2010, to celebrate a milestone birthday for me. Todd planned the whole trip. The only thing I knew was that we were going to Santa Barbara. Imagine my surprise when we pulled up at the Four Seasons Biltmore resort. You can read more about our last Santa Barbara trip here, here, here, and here. And just as a side note, I love to blog about trips in great detail, because blogging is my main form of memory-keeping, and when I go back to read memorable trips, I want to feel like I’m re-living it all. It brings a huge smile on my face to reminisce about past adventures. :)
We left around noon on Sunday. We meant to leave a little bit earlier, but packing (or lack thereof the night before) got in the way of leaving on time. And Noodle climbed into our bag. 
Cat in a bag? Always funny.
We encountered some traffic in the OC. Then more traffic on the 101 up in LA. More traffic in the Valley and up to Ventura. Traffic cost us about an hour, so what was usually a four hour trip turned into five hours. But as we approached Santa Barbara, we couldn’t help but admire the view from the 101. 
Todd researched on Yelp and decided on Lavender Inn By The Sea. Except that he was under the impression that it was right off of State Street. It’s about a one mile walk to the main part of State Street. No matter. The weather was gorgeous and we were in Santa Barbara, the American Riviera! 
The Lavender Inn was quite charming. 
Soon after checking in, we walked towards the Harbor for dinner. We were hungry! 
The harbor was beautiful. The sky was unbelievably blue and the air so clean. 
We decided to go to Brophy Bros for dinner. The upstairs dining area had a 45 minute wait for a table for two, so we decided to go downstairs to the bar. 
It turned out to be a good choice, since right outside the door to our right was the view of the harbor. 
Fish & Chips for Todd. This was really good! 
We shared the blackened chicken salad. 
And I also had the fried calamari, which was delish! Brophy Bros was definitely a good choice. 
We asked this drunk girl to take our photo. 
After dinner we walked around the harbor. It was so picturesque. 
One of my favorite things about Santa Barbara is how close the mountains are to the ocean. It really adds to the beauty of the place. 
View from the dock back to the restaurants. 
Right about now I wish I had put my sunglasses on, because it was so bright! 
We walked to the end of the harbor, with a view of the beach and ocean. So pretty and serene. 
We went back to our room to rest for about half an hour. Then we walked over to the main drag, State Street. 
State Street is where all the action is. Tons of shopping and restaurants. 
And pretty architecture. 
And beautifully lit as the sun went down. 
Complimentary champagne from the hotel. We toasted to arriving at one of our favorite getaways, and to almost 18 years of marriage! 
Stay tuned for Santa Barbara day 2!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Santa Barbara | Getting There
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Wackiness
There are a couple of items of wackiness from the past couple of weeks that deserve their own blog post.
First, we went to dinner at Kappa Sushi on Wednesday 6/20, because it was Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year. We usually take the day off so we don’t spend the longest day of the year at work, but this year we went to work because we were already taking days off to go to Santa Barbara the week after.
The bento box was super-yummy. 
However, in the middle of dinner, wackiness ensued. While we were eating, a news crew with big cameras and lights came in, along with a couple of really big guys. I knew right away they were football players. They sat at a big table behind Todd. Pretty soon more HUGE guys arrived. Turns out about 9 guys showed up, all huge. And from hearing them talk, we figured out that they were all part of the San Diego Chargers (NFL football) defensive line. 
They got into our space even. Intruders during dinner! 
The news channel was doing an interview with them. Did I say these guys were HUGE? 
The best part of the evening? They made one of them sing. The big guys started chanting "Logan, Logan, Logan..." and incited all of us to chant as well. Logan Harrell stood up and asked what should he sing? The woman at the table next to us said "Don't Stop Believing". He started singing it but didn't know the words, so Todd helped him, LOL. Almost the whole place was singing “Don’t Stop Believing”.
The other wacky item of note occurred on Saturday 6/23. Todd participated in his second annual Red Dress Run, organized by the Hash House Harriers. You can read about last year’s Red Dress Run on his blog. Basically, Todd loves to participate in wacky races. The wackier, the better. You can read about his Krispy Kreme Challenge, and the Muddy Buddy too.
Photos from this year’s Red Dress Run. Here they were, crashing a wedding. 
Todd in his red dress, and my purse to hold his regular clothes, LOL. In case you’re wondering… Forever 21 baby. 
Mission Beach was inundated by red dresses. Wacky. 
So that’s it for the wackiness for now. You’re all caught up.
Everything Including The Kitchen Sink
I was processing our photos from Santa Barbara, when I realized that I hadn’t blogged about everyday life since June 9th! I haven’t been very good about blogging our lives in 2012. I’m a little sad about that because that’s one of my favorite things to look back upon on my blog. I love the photos and stories that come out of everyday life.
Food
After looking at my food photos, I’m quite surprised that I even maintained my weight. I probably should have gained 5 lbs.
On Sat 6/9 we went to the outlet mall in Carlsbad. Had lunch at San Sai Japanese Grill. 
The food LOOKS good, but it wasn’t that great. The chicken was ok, but the tempura was too bready. 
Homemade pico de gallo with avocados? Yes please. 
One of my favorite ice creams is Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. I love the amaretto cherry flavor, with chocolate bits. But we buy the smallest container possible and share it. Otherwise it’s bad news for the waistline! 
Speaking of ice cream, on Friday 6/15 we had an ice cream social at work to celebrate being named 2012 Top Technology Innovator by San Diego Magazine. We got catered gelato and sorbets, and the lines were long. 
We went to The Habit for hamburgers for dinner. Here’s a Todd Shot. 
Our favorite shave ice in San Diego is Waihini Kai’s pink lemonade with ice cream and azuki beans in the middle. Got to have it on 6/20. 
Noodle
This cat cracks me up. He’s the best.
His favorite human food is roasted turkey. On 6/9 we made turkey mole tacos for dinner. Thus he was the beneficiary of a few bites of roasted turkey. 
Ah. The boys are full and hanging out on the couch. 
Noodle may be very cute, but he’s not very modest. 
Doing his best “Whatcha talkin’ about Willis?” expression. 
Friends
On Sat 6/9 our friend Dejah was MC’ing at the Filipino American Cultural Festival in Oceanside. She had very elaborate costumes. 
MC’ing the teen pageant. 
And doing a dance with really long fake fingernails. 
On Sunday 6/17 we went to dinner at Tender Greens with Monika. We tried the charcuterie plate. 
Rocked out at church. 
And we gave Monika a deck of Hello Kitty Uno cards for her birthday. 
Running
With all the eating, there’s also the exercising. We went to Lake Miramar twice to run and walk. As usual, very nice scenery. This was Sunday 6/10. 
And we went for a walk after work on Wed 6/20, to celebrate Summer Solstice. 
Crafting & Organizing
I got some new stamps and new inks, so I went to town. 
I spent almost the whole weekend of Sat 6/16 and Sun 6/17 purging and organizing my craft studio. Here are a couple of photos of the “after”. I still need to do a blog post about the organization process. 
