little black journal

We managed to squeeze a little SF getaway into our itinerary before flying to Texas – 22 hours in the city to see a game, catch up with a couple of friends, and dine at our favorite restaurant in The Mission. It was a whirlwind, but Shane had it all carefully mapped out. I married the ultimate trip planner.

After a quick coffee date with Brieanne, I met up with Shane, Marco, and Lisa at the ballpark for some Giants v. Padres action. I can’t think of a more perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon than soaking in the sun while watching Buster Posey knock baseballs out of the park. Bliss.

Final score: 5-0, Giants! (As if these grins didn’t speak for themselves.)

High on victory adrenaline, we trekked back to our hotel near Chinatown to clean up a bit before dinner. Shane had scored us a room with a great view of Coit Tower and the Bay – I think I grow a little fonder of this city every time we visit.

We had dinner reservations at Delfina that evening and took our time strolling from the BART station to the restaurant. The Mission has become one of our favorite neighborhoods in San Francisco – the bright colors, the lively crowds, the mix of new and old. And the pasta at Delfina. Ohhhh, that pasta.

In our younger days, we would have capped off the evening with a cocktail at Bix or Bourbon and Branch. Instead, we headed back to our room and capped our evening with a chocolate bar and an episode of Veep. After changing into my stretchy pants and slipping between those crisp hotel sheets, I can’t say I minded the way things have changed.

I met up with my friend Danielle on Monday morning to dish the latest with one another over coffee and pastries, and then it was time for us to say adios to the City by the Bay and board our plane for Texas. I always leave a little piece of my heart in SF after visits like these. Good thing Buster is there to hang onto it for me. 😉

We’re in the midst of a little tour de sunshine – a few days in California to visit friends, and then a getaway to Austin to see the hip side of Texas. We kicked things off on Thursday evening as we boarded a plane bound for Oakland and said goodbye to a soaking wet Seattle. After a smooth flight and our requisite stop at In N Out for dinner, we made our way to Amanda and Josh’s place in Turlock and settled into their cozy home, thankful for that special kind of comfort that comes in being with old friends.

Amanda gave birth to a precious baby girl four weeks ago, and I was over the moon with excitement to cradle this little one in my arms. Sadie is absolutely perfect, and it was such a blessing to be able witness one of my dearest friends and her husband in this sweet, life-altering new-baby phase. Despite the 3 am feedings and the mounds of dirty diapers, this little girl has succeeded in only magnifying Amanda and Josh’s very best qualities. They are still wonderfully easy-going, rolling with the punches of parenthood with grace and laughter. They’re tender and affectionate, in a way that’s completely natural but also new and heart-achingly beautiful. They give Shane and I much to aspire to. And to look forward to.

Because the baby is still in that glorious sleeps-18-hours-a-day phase, Amanda and I had plenty of time to catch up with one another during naptime. We made our usual visit to our favorite shoe store in Modesto and critiqued each other’s tastes with brutal, laughter-filled honesty, we hit the mall to do a little summer accessorizing, we shared notes on pregnancy and then picked up Slurpees from 7-11, because it turns out that pregnancy thirst sticks around and just becomes breast-feeding thirst. I told Shane the other night, it just feels good to be with Amanda, to be known and listened to and encouraged. It’s a special thing we’ve got goin’ on.

And there were some pretty great moments with the rest of the girls. Amanda, Kelly, and I headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant on Friday night to meet up with Francine for dinner, and I was surprised to find the table strewn with baby-themed confetti and loaded with gifts for little Schnell. A surprise baby shower! Blankies and a rubber duck and a bag full of “must-have’s” – I have some incredibly thoughtful friends.

On Saturday night, we all gathered at Amanda’s for pizza and chatting, more laughing about old times and talking about what’s ahead. I hope we’re still having these reunions 20 years from now. And I hope we’re just as silly then.

Francine’s 6 month-old little girl had me at hello with her big brown eyes and her roly-poly legs.

And then seeing Josh try to handle two babies at once, well that was just…priceless.

We headed out on Sunday morning – I gave Sadie one last snuggle and then handed her back to Amanda, feeling especially sad about saying good-bye this time around. I feel like the passage of time between visits will be so much more evident now, with the addition of little ones that change so quickly. But there’s solace in knowing that Amanda and I will pick up right where we left off next time we see each other. Some things never change.

We booked a Sunday evening flight back to Seattle so that we’d have time to catch the 1:05 Giants vs. Cubs game in the city.  As we crossed the Bay Bridge, with KNBR piping over the radio and the sun shining overhead, my excitement mounted by the minute – I love me an afternoon at the ballpark.

We arrived in San Francisco a couple hours before the game so that we’d have time to catch up with my college roommate, Brieanne, and her darling little baby E.  And good heavens, that girl’s a heart-stealer – she sat contentedly in my lap while we chatted and was so easily coaxed into flashing us her winning smile.

As is usually the case with the wee little babes, she seemed to think Shane was the bee’s knees (no surprise there!).

Game time eventually rolled around and we said our goodbyes to B and E at the gates of AT&T.

We grabbed a beer and a couple of dogs, found our seats, and settled in for an afternoon with Barry, Buster, and the Boch.  And it was glorious – our seats behind home plate offered a perfect view of the bay, the sun shone like nobody’s business, and Barry Zito pitched like a champ.  It was one of those “absolutely no place else I’d rather be” kind of afternoons.  I might have even turned to Shane at one point and exclaimed, “This is even better than Paris!” – must have been the Blue Moon talking.

The game ended early (our boys weren’t messing around that day) and we had received a notification that our 6:30 flight had been delayed by a couple of hours, so we took advantage of the extra time and drove over to the Mission for a bite at Pizzeria Delfina.  I oohed and ahhed over the grilled asparagus and the pizza margherita while we sat at our little sidewalk table.  Shane and I tried to imagine ourselves living in this uber-trendy neighborhood and decided we’re not hip enough, but it was fun to dream…

Pizza craving satisfied, we walked over to Dolores Park to catch the last of day’s rays.  The lawn was absolutely packed; Shane and I grabbed a little patch of grass for ourselves and settled in for some the best people-watching we’ve ever done.  We saw hula-hoopers, soccer players, musicians, girls with bleached blonde hair and Louis Vuitton purses, girls with dreadlocks and oversized hoodies, people drinking champagne out of little plastic cups while playing fetch with their dogs, and it seemed that nearly everyone was smiling.  It was one big San Francisco happy-fest. And I was thrilled to be in on the action.

We headed to the airport as the sun went down, only to find that our flight had been further delayed – it proved to be a much longer trip back to Seattle than we’d hoped.  But eventually we made it to home sweet home, thankful for that otherwise perfect day in Frisco sweet Frisco.

Friday was devoted to preparing for Amanda and Josh’s big day – we had decorations to finish, tables to dress, and a rehearsal to get through. But before getting down to the nitty-gritty wedding prep, the ladies met at the salon in the morning to get our feet ready for our cute peep-toe shoes and strappy sandals. One hour later, we walked out with shiny pink toenails and matching freshly-pampered grins on our faces.

From there, we headed up to Modesto to set up the hall – Amanda was an all-star DIY-er when it came to their decorations and we were thrilled to see her hours of pinwheel-making and ribbon-curling come together. I was so caught up in hanging lanterns from the ceiling that I failed to get any photos of the finished product – but check out the back seat of her car prior to installation!

We ended the day with pizza back at Amanda and Josh’s, enjoying a chill evening spent in the backyard with friends and family.

After months of planning (and over a decade of dating) the wedding day arrived and it was show time! The ladies gathered in Modesto on Saturday morning for several hours of primping. We got our hair and makeup done, lounged and laughed with the impressively cool-and-calm bride, and finally, around 3pm, it was time to get that pretty lady into her lacy white dress.

And she was stunning.  Not just because of the flawless makeup and the darling feathers in her hair, but because she was so radiantly, contagiously happy.  The preview photos from her photographer capture just a glimmer of that unbridled joy.

We cruised around town for a few pre-wedding photos, Amanda tucked snugly up front with her dress smooshed all around her – getting her in and out of the car was no easy feat!

We rolled up to the hall just in time to rush Amanda through the back door for one last-minute primp session before it was time for all of us to make our way down the aisle.  I think I grinned through the whole ceremony, feeling so ridiculously happy for these two people I love so much, knowing they couldn’t be more perfectly matched.

We snapped a few more pictures after their “I-do’s”…

And then it was time to par-tay!  Mr. and Mrs. Mendes made their grand entrance into the reception and the next few hours were full of eating, drinking, and, most importantly, dancing.  Because Amanda loves to dance so much, and because she is the Pop Princess, she had choreographed a little show made up of snippets from one song from every year they’ve been together.  This is the tail end of it, when the wedding party busts in to join:

It was fun to get out on the dance floor with some of my favorite high school gals – kind of felt like prom again, only without having to worry about curfew or that awkward end-of-the-night kiss (growing up ain’t so bad after all!).

Cheers to the happy couple!  Wishing you a lifetime of grand adventures, cozy evenings at home, and plenty of dance parties in between.

Talk about a case of the Mondays – after four packed days in California and a much-delayed flight that got us home after midnight last night, today was loooong. But my droopy eyelids are a small price to pay for all the fun on our sun-shiney getaway. We made the trek down to Turlock primarily for Amanda and Josh’s long-awaited wedding day, but were able to squeeze in a couple of fun detours, starting with our Thursday trip to Yosemite. It had been years since either one of us had basked in the glory of Half-Dome, so we jumped in our little rental car (a Mazda 2, aka ‘The Rollerskate’) and headed east for the day. We arrived at the park late in the morning and decided to avoid the crowds at Mirror Lake and Lower Yosemite Falls, instead choosing to make the climb toward the Upper Falls. I raised my eyebrows when we picked up the trail guide and I saw the word “strenuous” next to the route Shane had chosen, but I was high on Vitamin D from all that California sunshine, so I played the part of a good sport and agreed to give it a go.  And good Lord, the combination of the heat (90 degrees!  do you know what 90 degrees feels like to a Seattle-ite?) and the steady elevation gain had us both huffing in about 8 seconds flat.  But we plowed ahead, determined to make it to at least the first lookout, and…wowsers!

And five minutes later…double-wowsers!

Energized by being able to see how high we’d already climbed, we kept on going, knowing the extra distance to the falls would be well worth it.  And nearly 2 hours and 2 liters of sweat into our hike, we arrived at a picture-perfect spot to grab a seat on a big flat rock and enjoy our lunch:  Yosemite Falls on our left side, Half-Dome on our right side, and a sea of blue sky overhead.  I have often raved about the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, but Washington ain’t got nothin’ on this place!

By the time we had finished our lunch and sufficiently soaked in the sun and the view and the roar of the water, it was time to head back down the mountain.  We made it to the trailhead in about a third of the time it took us to get to our rock (yes, I am claiming that lunch spot as ours) and decided to swing by Bridalveil Falls on our way out.  Bridalveil was beautiful but packed with visitors, making us doubly glad we’d spent the better part of the day getting off the beaten path (“strenuous” must be a major crowd-deterrent).

And with that, it was time to point the trusty rollerskate back toward Turlock.  What. A. Day.  And the fun was just beginning!  But dang these droopy eyelids – stay tuned for part 2…

The countdown to Amanda and Josh’s big wedding day has begun – in less than a week, they’ll be saying their “I do’s” and beginning their life as husband and wife.  But first things first – this lady has some livin’ it up to do before she gets hitched!  And so a group of fun-loving ladies convened in San Francisco on Friday evening for a weekend of dancing, shopping, and making sure that Amanda’s single-hood goes out with a bang.

Amanda loves to dance, so were were all eager to get her out on the floor where she could shake her booty while singing along to Gaga and Britney.  I am tragically unhip when it comes to the club circuit, but we’d heard about a place in SOMA known for it’s popular dance scene and decided to give it a go.  We rolled up to the DNA Lounge, walked in to find it full of 18 year-olds in cut-off shorts, bumping and grinding to techno music with no words.  No words!  How do you sing along with no words?  We ordered a round of drinks, had a few laughs and bounced around a little, but ultimately decided to cut our losses and head on out.

We checked out another club (another total fail) and ended up back at the room by midnight, where we stayed up into the wee hours of the morning eating chocolate and playing bachelorette trivia and trying to remember the words to those Dixie Chicks songs we used to belt out in high school.

We awoke on Saturday to crisp, clear skies and headed out to do a little shopping and see the city’s sights.  We walked through Chinatown and wandered the aisles of DSW before grabbing a quick afternoon cat nap back at the room.

We had reservations Saturday night for dinner and a show at Asia SF – we toasted to Amanda while ladies in costume strutted down the bar to the tunes of Shania Twain and Katy Perry.  Wow.  I’ll leave it at that.

After heading down the street and finding ourselves in yet another semi-creepy, techno-filled club, we walked back to Asia SF, where we’d heard the familiar sounds of Usher and Flo Rida coming from the basement club.  And finally, we danced.

We cabbed it back to the hotel and stopped for one last photo to commemorate the night.  I had stayed up way past my bedtime once again, but seeing the dance-induced grin on Amanda’s face (or was it that third cocktail?) made it totally worth it.

After a late breakfast on Sunday, it was time for us to part ways and head home.  What a weekend!  On Saturday we’ll watch the newly wed Mr. and Mrs. Mendes step onto the dance floor – I imagine Amanda’s grin will be even wider, her feet even lighter as Kelly Clarkson pipes through the sound system.  And I will be singing along with all I’ve got.

Tonight I’m basking in the glow of a fabulous California weekend – 48 hours of catching up with the girls, seeing my high school bestie walk down the aisle with the man of her dreams, and soaking in the Central Valley heat has left me feeling happy as a sun-tanned clam.

Shane and I left rainy Seattle on Thursday evening in search of warmer, sunnier skies.

And two hours later, we arrived at the land of sunglasses, sandals, and In N Out burgers.

We settled into Amanda and Josh’s place that night and were up early on Friday morning for a run through our old stompin’ grounds.  I did a short loop around the college while Shane ventured farther out into the countryside to watch the sun come up over the orchards.

(photo by Shane)

By 9 am, it was warm.  By 11 am, it was downright hot – six years in the Pacific Northwest has caused 82 degrees to feel absolutely sweltering.  And so we hopped in the car and made the drive out to Knight’s Ferry to lay in the shade and put our feet in the water.  It’s easy to poke fun at the Central Valley, because it smells like manure and is full of Wal-Marts and bad chain restaurants, but it’s also stocked with some pretty scenic little gems.

It’s also stocked with amazing Mexican food, so after leaving Knight’s Ferry, we grabbed a table at Las Casuelas and indulged in margaritas and tacos.  Shane didn’t acquire a taste for Mexican food until after he’d moved to Seattle, so he’s making up for lost time with each trip back to California (this was taco round 1 of 2).

We caught up with Marco and Lisa over drinks on Friday evening, and then I spent the rest of the night working on centerpieces with the ladies for Amanda’s upcoming wedding.  We cut up piles of ribbon for her polka-dot bouquets, listened to pop music, and talked about old times.

I spent Saturday morning drinking coffee with Amanda and Kelly, doing more updating and reminiscing (I hadn’t been back since last June, so we had a lot of ground to cover!).

And then Saturday afternoon was devoted to shoe shopping with Amanda – every time I’m home, we set aside a couple of hours to wander the aisles of MJM and engage in the kind of bonding that comes only with fashion-related brutal honesty.  We talked each other out of some brightly colored wedges and instead walked away with just a couple of pairs of flats.

Saturday evening was reserved for the big event – we headed out to the country and grabbed our seats at the Lavender Farm to watch Jody and Travis begin their life together as husband and wife.  Jody and I go waaaay back, as she was one of my very first friends when my family moved to California in 1993.  Through much of junior high and high school, we had a standing date for Friday night sleepovers, where we’d paint our nails and flip through Delia’s catalogs and stay up late talking about the boys that didn’t even know we existed.  We were inseparable.  And slightly awkward.

But those days are gone…  We’re all grown up and my best friend with the side ponytail is now a lovely, elegant bride.

The wedding was beautiful – classy and cute and so wonderfully “Jody”.

And the night was filled with so much catching up and laughing and dancing and soaking in the comfort that comes with being around people that have known you for ages.  Gosh, I love these gals (and guys!)…

We were up early this morning to return to home sweet home – but I think I left a little piece of my heart back in California.

Shane and I have been feeling like a Californian weekend was overdue for some time now – we’ve been missing our friends, the sunshine, Saturday afternoons with the Giants…  And so we booked our tickets and headed down to the Central Valley last weekend.  It had been nearly two years since our last visit to our former home, and so I had a list of things to do and people to see.  My ‘girls’ were at the top of that list – Francine, Kelly, Amanda and I have been friends since high school, and it’s been far too long since we were all together.  We spent Friday at the nail salon, followed by a perfect lunch at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants.  There are times when I worry that I’ve changed so much since living in Seattle that it will be tough for us to connect like we used to, but after 10 minutes of sitting around a table together, shrieking with laughter about long-ago memories, I realize that our bond is not that easily broken.

After our lunch-induced caloric overload, we decided to burn off those burritos with one of our favorite pastimes:  shoe shopping.  Amanda and I have a favorite store in Modesto that we visit every time I’m home, and we can easily spend hours wandering up and down the aisles, trying on heels that we know we’ll never be able to walk in or bright pink wedge sandals that won’t match anything in our closets.  What I love most about these little shopping excursions is our ability to pinpoint exactly what the other person would like (“theses polka dot wedges are so completely you!”).  I was talking about this with Nancy the other night and she summed it up perfectly:  she said it feels really good to be known, which is what’s so special about these times with the girls – they know me in a particular way that no one in Seattle does or ever will.  Of course, there are also times when I surprise Amanda with my apparently poor taste (“oh, no, Kel, you’ve got to be joking with those”), but I love those moments, too – brutal honesty without the risk of hurt feelings is a pretty unique thing.

The rest of Friday was pretty mellow – burgers for dinner, more catching up with old friends, watching movies as I crashed out on the couch…  Saturday morning, it was time to bid farewell to Turlock and head to San Francisco for the rest of the weekend.  We were intent on catching a game, and thought it would be fun to end our trip with a night out on the town.  After checking into our hotel, we jetted over to AT&T park, stocked with peanuts and sporting our Giants gear.  It was a beautiful day to be at the ballpark, and the buzz of excitement in the air told me that I better get ready to do some serious cheering and high-fiving.  I was wrong.  Horribly wrong.  Lincecum pitched the worst game of his career, and we left the park in the middle of 8th, as the Giants were down 8 to nothing.  Ouch.  At least the sunshine was there to buoy our spirits.

He’s only smiling because he got a new hat to replace his crusty old faded one…

A short nap back at the room, and then we were ready to paint the town red.  Saturday was the 12th anniversary of our very first date, so we were in the mood to celebrate.  Shane had made reservations at Delfina, a cozy-but-hip Italian restaurant in the Mission.  We slurped up perfectly prepared spaghetti and oohed and ahhed over our tagliatelle.  I like to think that Shane will look back on that night and remember the dress I wore and conversation we had, but he has already confessed that what made the biggest impression on him was the fact that Ellen Page was sitting at a table just five feet away from us.  We didn’t approach her, but I still had to listen to his dorky one-liners from Juno all night, about his ‘hamburger phone’ and ‘food baby’.  I’ll admit, as we don’t experience too many celebrity sightings in Seattle, it was kind of a big deal.

Dinner was followed by cocktails at Wilson and Wilson, a tiny little speak-easy known for it’s intimate bar and finely crafted drinks.  The theatrics of getting to our table were a bit much (having to give a password to the fedora-wearing man at the door, and then being led through a dark bar to a door that had to be unlocked with an old key, beyond which we finally found our seats), but still, it was a fun night.  The cocktails were good, the conversation was good, and I was toasting to 12 fabulous years with a pretty incredible man.

We started Sunday with a coffee date with Brieanne, my college roommate and fellow Francophile (we were in Paris together for our fourth year of college).  It was fun to catch up, to hear about the exciting things in store for her as she expecting her first little bebe in November.  Post-coffee, Shane and I headed over to Hayes for our brunch reservations at Absinthe.  I’m not sure how Shane found this place, but O.M.G.  My french toast was the best I’ve ever had – slightly crispy around the edges, but unbelievably light and fluffy on the inside.  Sinfully good.  Shane took a bite and his eyes got really big as he exclaimed, “It’s like a taste of heaven!”

Yum-my.  But also super-filling, so after brunch, we were ready to do a little walking.  We wandered around the neighborhood, and then made our way toward the new federal building, designed by Morhposis.

I think I was so high on sunshine and french toast that I wasn’t much in the mood for architecture-gazing, so after a quick spin around the block, we headed back toward the park in front of City Hall to find a patch of grass with our name on it.  My college friend Chris came to meet us there, and the three of us camped out on the lawn for a couple of hours, chatting and soaking in the beautiful day.  It was nice to put away the busy-body, sight-seeing side of myself, and just focus on good conversation and quality relaxation.  I should try that more often.

One last stop for more sunshine-soaking at Yerba Buena, and it was time to head for home…

Au revoir, California.  Hope to see you again soon.

After our tour de Santa Barbara, we headed north to San Luis Obispo on Friday afternoon to meet up with Amanda and Josh, who were also getting into town that evening.  While we waited for them to get in, Shane and I took a quick spin through the Cal Poly campus for a stroll down memory lane.  Wandering through the architecture building was a total blast from the past – I poked my head into the studio where I spent what felt like every waking hour of my last year at school, and when I saw the desks strewn with cool models and crazy sketches, I felt a little pang of longing for old times.  Then I stood on the same little balcony from which I remember making hundreds of stressed-out late-night calls to Shane, and saw the grungy old couch which I napped on when I was working in the studio until 4 a.m. and couldn’t trust myself to head home and make it back for my 8 a.m. class, and I was thankful that those days are behind me.

Amanda and Josh arrived that evening, and once we were all checked into our hotel room, we headed toward downtown to hit up Firestone’s for dinner – their tri-tip sandwich was a protein staple in my college diet, and I’ve been craving this meaty goodness ever since I left.  Deeeee-lish.  When we left the bar, it was pouring rain, so we decided to just head back to the hotel to hang out and veg.  Even though Amanda and I hadn’t seen each other since June, it never takes us more than 15 minutes to feel like we’ve never been apart, and it felt good to have a low-key night together, just talking and laughing.  I’ve missed her.

Saturday morning, I had only one mission: coffee at my favorite cafe in downtown SLO.  Shane and I were up bright and early-ish to hit up Linnea’s Cafe.  I was happy to find that the place was relatively unchanged – still cozy, still serving good coffee, and still inhabited by the same intriguing man that has sat at the same table every day for years now, hunched over his journal, in which he writes/draws symbols unlike any language I’ve ever seen before (I’m betting all of my old Cal Poly peeps know exactly who I’m talking about).

After coffee and a short stroll through downtown, the skies cleared and the sun came out, and we were all beach-bound, intent on grabbing lunch at Splash Cafe in Pismo Beach.  Their clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl was another staple in my college diet (the term ‘Freshman Fifteen’ exists for a reason), and again, I was not disappointed.  However, I was slightly disappointed when we left the restaurant to walk on the beach, only to find that all beach access was closed for the day, due to the coast-wide tsunami warnings.  Bummer.  But we got over it quickly enough, ’cause we had a wedding to get to.

The wedding was fabulous.  The bride was my old friend Jenny, whom I’ve known since high school, when we used to type messages to each other on our calculators in high school math class.  We were roommates during our freshman year at Cal Poly, and though we haven’t seen each other since Shane I got married almost four years ago, I was thrilled to be a part of her special day, which was so wonderfully ‘Jenny-ish’.  Francine, another one of my best friends from high school, was also there, and our little reunion was so much fun.  When I say, ‘We all go waaaay back together’, I really mean it, and it was fun to reminisce.

Sunday was our last day in Cali, and we took advantage of it by heading up the coast to see the elephant seals near San Simeon.  There is this stretch of beach that is home to hundreds of elephant seals, and driving up highway 1 to go see them is a favorite Central Coast pastime.  They were out in full force on Sunday, even closer to shore because of high tide.  The four of us spent nearly an hour just watching them lounge around in the sun, then occasionally flop across the beach to get in the water or play with one of their mates.  They are amazing animals – the males can get up to 20 feet long and can weigh as much as 8,000 pounds, and they have these horribly-ugly-but-still-kind-of-cute hooked snouts that wave around a little bit when they raise their heads in the air to bark.

After our seal-gazing, it was time to say good-bye to Amanda and Josh and head back down to Santa Barbara to catch our flight home.  One last walk on the beach when we got to SB, and then I was officially bummed to be leaving California.  What a weekend…

When Shane and I received a wedding invitation from an old friend of mine, stating that she would be getting married in San Luis Obispo at the end of February, we looked at each other and said, “Do you think we should go?” Approximately 2.5 seconds later, we both nodded our heads with an emphatic “HECK YES.” It would be a great chance to celebrate with several old and dear friends, to revisit my old stompin’ grounds (I hadn’t been back to SLO since I graduated a few years ago), and to enjoy a romantic little weekend getaway. And so we bought our tickets, packed our flip-flops and sunglasses, and we were off.

We flew into Santa Barbara and decided that we would spend Thursday night there, before joining our friends in SLO on Friday. Neither one of us had spent any time in Santa Barbara, and we were looking forward to checking out the beaches, the food, and the wine country. Our plane arrived at Santa Barbara airport at 4:15 p.m., and Shane, being the stellar planner that he is, had already picked out a place nearby where we could grab a couple of drinks and catch the 5:51 p.m. sunset. We hopped in our rental car and were off to Hendry’s Beach. The second I stepped out of the car, smelled the salt of the ocean, heard the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, and saw the sun glinting off the expanse of water, I was smitten. It was then that I realized how much I’d been missing the Central Coast. After a margarita and a sunset walk on the sand, I was ready to call up my office and let them know that I would not be returning to work anytime in the near future – I was in the midst of some serious beach lust (as in, lusting after the beach, in case that came out wrong).

We spent the rest of the evening on State Street, enjoying tacos at Lilly’s, then drinks and dessert at Pascucci and then Palazzio. From the novelty of the labio tacos (translation: lip – Shane was bolder than I in ordering this one) at Lilly’s, to the decadence of the creme brulee at Pascucci, to the richness of the wine that we shared at Palazzio, it was a perfect night.

Friday morning we took advantage of the free bikes that our hotel had for check-out and hopped on a couple of beach-cruisers to head down to the water for breakfast. There can’t be anything more Californian than riding a bike down State Street in your flip-flops, zipping past palm trees and trendy little boutiques, loving the feel of the sun on your face and that cool, coastal breeze in your hair. Heaven. After a 3-mile ride, we arrived at East Beach Grill, where I ordered a heap of wheatgerm banana pancakes (an ode to Jack Johnson), settled into my chair just inches from the sandy beach, and chowed down. Again, heaven.

After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel, packed up our things, and pointed our car north, in search of the perfect glass of Santa Barbara wine. The hills northwest of Santa Barbara are scattered with tons of wineries, big and small, and without a real agenda in hand, we decided we’d just head in the direction of Los Olivos and see what struck our fancy. We hit five wineries and tasted over 30 wines that afternoon – my favorite was the Zaca Mesa Estate Roussanne, and Shane loved the Merlot from Curtis. The landscape was absolutely beautiful, with its rolling green hills and small, rocky mountains.

Once our tongues were sufficiently coated with tannins and our teeth disturbingly purple, we decided it was time to make the rest of the trek up to San Luis Obispo. However, many of you know that no visit to California is complete without a stop at In-N-Out burger, so a pitstop in Santa Maria for some quality fast-food goodness was in order. You can see Shane eyeing me with that “Let me just eat my burger” look:

We arrived in SLO on Friday evening, but I will save our adventures there for another post – I am wiped out tonight, still recovering from the bliss of such a perfect weekend…