More Santa Barbara Road Trippin'

The last morning in Santa Barbara we got up early and went for a walk/job along the coast. We found some killer stairs that took us up to a great view of the ocean - there was no one around and it was a beautiful, marine-layered day.

After getting some good exercise, we pigged out on breakfast along the beach then packed up our gear and went for a drive around town. We stopped at the old Mission to walk around - it's so beautiful there! Definitely bigger than our San Diego mission...it apparently was partially destroyed in an earthquake and was rebuilt in the last century.

After sightseeing for a while, we hit the road and drive up a beautiful winding road through the Santa Ynez Valley. All the lush green rolling hills were dotted with oak trees - it was gorgeous!

We stopped in Solvang and walked around for a few hours. It's a cute little Danish town, you literally feel like you're in Europe. We grabbed some Danish pastries for the road after sampling just about one of everything they made, slurp!

Making a phone call:
We bought Rob a new pair of shoes: Ok, not really.

As a contrast, Santa Ynez is like an old western town. We stopped for lunch at Grappolo's, a killer Italian restaurant next to an old town saloon. Apparently, ladies are welcome!

The food at Grappolo's was so authentic and amazingly delicious! You could tell it is a local favorite - the head of the Firestone family rolled up in his Bentley for lunch...perhaps he heard the Warrenski's were in town. :) We rolled out of there with full happy bellies and were grateful we had carb-loaded for the crazy drive home. Of course we hit several accidents and gridlock up the wazoo, have I mentioned I hate driving through L.A.? But it doesn't matter, we still had a great trip. Good times, we'd go back in a heartbeat.

Heading up the coast

Rob and I went to Santa Barbara last weekend for a quick little getaway. We had such a blast, it was such a great little romantic weekend! The drive up was glorious, we decided to drive the long, scenic way up hugging the coast the whole time...once we got off that stupid 405, that is. Have I mentioned I hate driving through L.A? Because I do.

The sun was shining, the top was down, and all was good with the world. We made pretty good time, too, and got there in 4 hours! We checked in and immediately went down to the pier for lunch. Our hotel was in the cutest little neighborhood, just far enough off the beach and State street to make for a quiet, nice walk.

Lunch at Longboards was great - we even saw dolphins! We ate our weight in seafood and enjoyed a post-drive cocktail.
We enjoyed dorking around the pier for a while...
We walked all around town that first day and enjoyed looking at all the shops on State Street. We stopped in for a quick beer at a bar down the street from our hotel and were stoked to find they had Trivial Pursuit questions to keep you occupied. But then we saw they had a contest advertised for a "Cruel Prawn". Apparently if you eat 5 of them in 15 minutes, you'll get your picture on the wall. Of course we were intrigued and had to try one. HOLY CRAP, one was plenty! They coated it with thick habanero paste which for the first 20 seconds actually tasted quite delicious. And then the pain set in. For the next 15 minutes we were in pain central. Seriously. That stuff could have peeled the paint off a wall. I love spicy food but that was over the top. Glad we didn't go for 5 or my belly would have been an unhappy place. Not to mention the buckets of sweat that would pour out. Whew!For dinner, we had been eagerly anticipating a Cajun restaurant The Palace Grill highly recommended by a friend of mine. Holy crap! Laissez les bons temps roulez, for sure. We stuffed ourselves silly with the best spicy creole food around...it was phenomenal and not to be missed next time you're in Santa Barbara. Rob was pretty stoked on his jalapeno martini:And I enjoyed my food coma:

What a fun day...we packed a lot in! Tomorrow: Solvang and Santa Ynez valley!

More pics from our day:

POW #28 The "Give me your best snotty teenager look" edition

I've been missing my brother a lot lately - even though he lives in Alaska, somehow it makes it better to know he's at least on the same continent. But, he's in the Middle East right now as is my step-brother Jon...that's too much worrying for us, for sure. I think about them all the time and pray they're safe.

This POW is in honor of my brother - my Mom recently scanned this old picture to me and it cracks me up. I'm thinking we're probably 16 and 17 respectively and dressed up for some holiday function, clearly (I swear, I'm like Colombo with my mad detective skillz). I remember Mom was behind the camera and said something like "kiss your sister" to which we responded with these lovely mugs. hahahaha, classic! Cracks me up. I miss you, Chris!

FORE!!!!

We went golfing today and branched out from the standard 3 courses that we usually frequent. We went to the fancy Rancho Bernardo Inn and...I'm just going to say it...I got absolutely WORKED by this course.

The day started off beautifully, it was sunny and just slightly breezy - perfect golf conditions, plus the course is gorgeous. Happy times, good form, all is well.Then, the golf rage set in. I don't know what happened but my game totally fell apart. Still had a great time, but I was an absolute golfing hack today - Robbio pulled it together on the back 9 and held his own. Me, not so much.

The funniest part of the day is we were paired with two Japanese guys who barely spoke any basic English. They were really nice but communicating with them was basically just a matter of hand signals and lots of smiling. Any time they approved of one of our shots, they would yell "SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW" really loud, which I guess means "great shot!". But, it would crack us up and make us giggle to ourselves each time, particularly when it was most certainly NOT a great "shaaaaaaawwwww".
It was bunny central too, and we all know how I'm partial to the fluffiness. Watching the wildlife salvaged my game, fo' sure.

POW #27 the "Squawking Chickens and Goat Poo" edition

A year ago we went to Costa Rica with our wicked-fierce Baaaaawston friend, Tim. We had such an amazing time, I would truly recommend that place to anyone. Not only was it such a great time in terms of the natural beauty all around us, but it's also such a relaxed "off the grid" kind of atmosphere. We had a blast. We also experienced one of those life-changing moments where you realize that life is so incredibly short and it is so important to get the most out of the great lives that we are given. Life is so good, it really is.

But enough waxing philosophical, back to the funny pictures. When we first landed in the capitol, we had to take a tiny (emphasis on the TINY) little plane over to the peninsula where we would be venturing around. Once we saw the size of the plane, we lovingly dubbed it the "Squawking Chickens and Goat Poo Airlines". It was SKETCHVILLE...we were sitting literally right behind the pilots and of course I was watching them the whole darn time as we bounced through the air...I am not kidding when I say the "out of fuel" light was on the ENTIRE TIME and I kept wondering if I needed to let them know about that (Rob reassured me they probably were aware, and clearly not worried, ha!). We landed on a little landing strip right next to the ocean in the middle of a thick, lush jungle and I was pretty darn grateful to stand on stable ground. At the end of the trip on the way back on the same plane, they actually had us stand on an old-school scale holding our bags so they'd know how much everything weighed. It was just too much, the whole experience was hysterical.

So, here's us getting started on the plane on the way out before we take off:

And, the flight begins!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! This picture cracks me up every time.

We've got a serious case of puppy love!

Man, we had the GREATEST day today. I made a little progress with my rocky relationship with my pitching wedge (only to find out my putter was my TRUE enemy) this morning - the weather was gorgeous and we had a great day golfing. Then, the icing on the cake! We went with our friends to help them pick out a lab puppy (and by "help" I mean gush over and play with all the puppies while they had the hard choice of picking only one).

We had to drive pretty far away but it was so worth it, they had 4 litters of different labs! We first checked out the oldest and largest litter, they were about 10 weeks old and a mix of black and chocolate labs. It was utter puppy chaos but fantastic - they were all so happy to play, and slobber, and chew on us...I was in heaven.

Next we saw some 9 week old puppies but they were a little nuts. Really cute but over the top with energy - they kept leaping up to bite my hair and were like a swarm of piranhas chewing on my toes!

Finally we peeked at some brand new yellow labs, born just a week ago! Too cute, they were making these sweet little whimpering noises and then fell right back asleep. They were the only ones that seemed to keep Bennett's interest, he loved petting their soft fur.

Karen (and I, only a little bit) got poo'd on, but I suppose that's par for the course at a place like this.



We had a lot of fun at the farm:

There were tons to choose from but Alex and Karen kept going back to the same gorgeous little black girl. She was soooo sweet and mellow - and LOVED to snuggle. Biggest bonus, she didn't even blink when baby Bennett grabbed her hair! Score - they'll be buddies for life. She was absolutely the best one, she'll be such a great addition to their family.

Once the choice was made, it was kind of bittersweet to watch her say goodbye to her brothers and sisters through the fence. I'll be honest, I may have boo-hoo'd watching her try to snuggle up to them but it's nice to know she's making a family so very happy! Clearly she's going to be VERY loved.
On our way home we girls and baby Bennett settled in for the ride back. Nice Star Wars sheets, right? :)


Coming home!

And here we are!



She was soooooo cute once we took her home. It's funny, she really wasn't into exploring her surroundings yet in this great big world. She was much happier snuggling all close, which of course we didn't seem to mind, ha!


























It's official: we're her new best friends for life. Let's just hope Galileo likes her.....

POW #26 the "OMG do you know who you look like?" edition

I think it's incredibly funny (and flattering) that I am constantly being told by strangers that I remind them of Trisha Yearwood. It started a few years ago when we were in NYC with friends and a woman approached me at Filene's Basement...but she ACTUALLY thought I was Trisha! Over the years I've gotten this probably 20 odd times and it cracks me up. The latest was this week in my doctor's office. Imagine if you will: it was early in the morning, the first appointment of the day. The waiting room was packed and no one was talking...you could have heard a pin drop. Next thing I know this lady, probably standing 15 feet away loudly exclaims "Oh my GAWD do you know how everyone supposedly has a twin? Do you know who you look like?" I totally felt my face blush, everyone in the waiting room turned and looked at me in that instant, she was so freakin' loud! Plus she kept going on and on and on and on...so I finally guessed "um, Trisha Yearwood?" and she freaked out..."You look JUST like her!"

I personally don't see it. I think she's gorgeous so I'm flattered, I guess it's better than being told you look like Cloris Leachman or something. So we decided, we should put it to a vote. Rob took these pics of me and we've placed them next to the actual Trisha (keep in mind, would you, that my makeup and hair team had apparently taken the night off...not to mention my air brushing staff).




So, whaddya think? Props to my photographer by the way, we were cracking up doing this.