24 hours in santa barbara

Brian and I took a quick trip up North to Santa Barbara this past weekend to attend a friend’s wedding. It seems like all of Brian’s friends are getting married this year & all my friends are having babies- seriously, four out of my six bridesmaids have had babies since we got married 20 months ago! How crazy amazing is that?! All boys too. A gaggle of sweet baby boys have entered this crazy world.

Last month we were in San Luis Obispo for Chris & Candace’s wedding…this weekend in Santa Barbara for Eric & Nicole’s…we will be in Carmel in January for Billy and Stephanie’s…in Los Angeles in March for Jeremy & Lizzie’s and England sometime in 2016 for Mike & Kate’s (I’ve never been to England! I am hoping we can turn that trip into a bigger Europe trip. Let’s see if we can swing it). Love is clearly in the air.

Our trip to Santa Barbara was a quick 24 hours. We left late Saturday morning to make the two-hour drive up north. When we arrived in town we met a few of our friends (the ones we would be sharing a house with for the night) at Public Market– a regionally sourced food and wine market, for a late lunch. The market has a bunch of different food choices. Brian and I settled on the fish purveyor and split a lobster roll and a grilled mahi mahi sandwich. I could eat lobster rolls weekly if given the option. I don’t care how rich and decadent they are! They speak to my soul! After lunch we all headed to the beach cottage that we rented for the night through air bnb. It was a little funky (the bathroom sink was literally the size of a small salad bowl making washing my face a very wet experience for the whole bathroom) but it was bright and cheerful and perfect for the five of us for the night. Air bnb for the win!

The wedding was held at Godric Grove in Elings Park– a grove perched on top of a mountain with views of the ocean and rolling hills. It was breathtaking up there. It was also covered in big bendy windy beautiful oak trees. I find oak trees grounding. I wanted Brian and I to get married under one but alas I couldn’t figure out how to transport one to our wedding venue the Smog Shoppe. 

The ceremony was a perfect blend of light and funny and emotional. I loved the quirky poem they chose as a reading during the ceremony comparing love to owning a dog. As you can imagine it resonated with me.

How Falling in Love is like Owning a Dog
by Taylor Mali

First of all, it’s a big responsibility,
especially in a city like New York.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you’re walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain’t no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn’t like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don’t you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go out for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise. It will run you around the block
and leave you panting, breathless. Pull you in different directions
at once, or wind itself around and around you
until you’re all wound up and you cannot move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

We had a great night celebrating the happy couple. I mean really…what’s better than a wedding?? So much love in the air.

On Sunday morning I was greeted with a grande triple skinny vanilla latte and blueberry muffin delivery in bed. I’ve decided this is how I want to wake up every morning. Are you writing that down Brian? After saying our goodbye’s to the group Brain and I walked along the beach and boat docks before hitting the road.

my hair is looking pretty solid, huh?

We took the long way home that afternoon opting for highway one rather than the 101. It makes for a supremely more beautiful drive.

We stopped in Malibu for sandwiches at the country mart before returning home. I ordered the Malibu club which was a huge tuna, avocado, sprouts and tomato sandwich. YUM

It was a pretty good 24 hours indeed.