Santa Barbara – 2017

March 3, 2017

I had the absolute honor to attend my future sister-in-law’s bachelorette party all the way in sunny California! We traveled to the beautiful city of Santa Barbara. To say that little city is breathtaking is an understatement. Everything is so cohesive, from the architecture of each little shop, to the interior decor of the restaurants and wine bars. The company was pretty amazing too! Anywho, I’m getting a little ahead of myself. 🙂 Let’s start with when we arrived at LAX.

Most of us landed at LAX  around 9:00am (that’s 11:00am Central time). I was up and out the door, thanks to an amazing husband who drove all the way there to drop me off, at 4:30am. (Insert wide eyed emoji here) haha The flight took about 3.5 hrs, and was fairly smooth!

As we began to land this Texas girl was in awe seeing both the mountains out one window and the ocean out the other. I mean, how many times can you see both in one sitting? NOT THIS GIRL!! I met up with the other girls and we were off to the beautiful Santa Barbara!!!

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We traveled along the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway, that was a new term for me) through Santa Monica and stopped in Malibu for brunch. Our Central time it was about 1:00pm, but there it was only 11:00am and we were STARVING! We found a cute little spot called OL LO. It was right on the water and was adorable inside. To be honest, that was my first experience with ALL restaurants having the option of 1. Anything vegan 2. Soy, skim, or low fat milk 3. Anything can be gluten free. 🙂

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It was super cute inside with a massive fig tree in the center! That thing was literally in the ground. They cut a hole in the floor, planted the tree and left it to grow. I mean, how awesome is that! I might have to do that in our house now! It would save a lot of money on dead plants when it freezes (once a year). 😉

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Once we finished brunch we continued our journey up the PCH to Santa Barbara. We had the cutest little bungalow house very close to the center of town. It was in walking distance from State St. which is the main drag with all the shops, wine bars, and restaurants. Of course, the first thing we did when we got in was, put our bags down and open up a bottle of wine to celebrate the beginning of an amazing weekend!

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The rooms were super cute too!

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The backyard had an AMAZING orange tree. We may or may not have snagged a few (I plead the fifth!!), and they may or may not have been DELICIOUS!

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The interior was decorated in the cutest little rustic spanish/chic style. To match the vibe of the city._46A9127

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Each girl got a little man that hung on the side of their wine glass. They were pretty cute. Mine’s name was Brad. haha

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Ok, well this photo cannot be use as evidence against us picking one amazing orange. haha

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and the bride got a little action too. (ok, so we picked 2 oranges). 🙂

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Once we got settled in we walked down to the center of town. We stopped in several shops and ended up at a super cute wine bar!
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We then walked around the town for a little while longer to enjoy the sites, then headed back for dinner and a night out!

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The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at this SUPER CUTE little breakfast cafe called Scarlett Begonia!

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The food was wonderful if you ever get the chance to go! We went back home to change into our “Boho” themed day outfits and hit the road for our Captain Jack wine tour! They were FANTASTIC!

Of course, since we were all dressed up, we had a mini photoshoot at each little location. The wine was great, the little snack were great, and the company was even better!

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So apparently, the lady who lives next door to this winery, brings them fresh eggs every day!

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Our final stop was in this super cute little wine bar in a town called Solvang. It was founded by a Danish community, and everything there is modeled after that style of architecture!

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Our drive back home was BEAUTIFUL!!! I mean just look at that sun through the mountains!

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In the evening we took a little nap, had dinner, and hung out and made some cookies!

The next day we went to the pier and beach. We had a fun filled packed day of wine bars, and Jelly Bean tasting. Not the good ones either. It was one of those games where you had to guess whether it would be a good flavor or a terrible flavor. 9/10 times it was terrible, but we had fun!

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Of course the pier was beautiful, and the clouds had perfectly diffused the light from the sun, so we had a little photo sesh. 😉

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The fishermen on the pier had caught an octopus! He was SUPER slimey (the octopus, not the guy). 🙂

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….and also this crab ….

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So I held it!

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….annnddd this crab…….

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the restaurant on the pier knocked on the glass as we were walking away and had to show us this guy….

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We then made our way over to this super cute little wine bar called Deep Sea! We played the Jelly Bean game, took some pics with a dog, had lunch, and spent the rest of the day and evening just hanging out!

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On the last day, I woke up super early to make it to mass at a beautiful church called “Our Lady of Sorrows”. It was truly amazing. Also, note the trees. The wind from the ocean blows in the same direction so consistently that the trees are actually growing at a tilt!

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Until we meet again Santa Barbara! It’s been a joy.

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