way back in november, we celebrated our one year anniversary with a three day getaway to santa barbara. since our wedding day, i had been wanting to celebrate our one year in the town where we met and got married. before we had made any accommodations, my parents surprised us and booked us two nights at the bacara! you guys. that place is insane. it’s definitely the classiest and most luxurious resort we have ever had the pleasure of staying at (and way nicer than any place reis and i would have booked for ourselves, that’s for sure – thanks mom and dad!). we took full advantage of everything the resort had to offer and roamed the beautiful grounds both mornings of our stay. it was the most relaxing trip i think we’ve ever taken because we had no agenda whatsoever. another perk was that our anniversary landed on a weekday so we lucked out with a very uncrowded visit (and had the spa and pool all to ourselves!). we spent a little bit of time downtown, including a quick stop at cantwell’s market. reis took me here as part of our first date (6 years ago!) and i remember being insanely nervous ha! it’s so fun to relive those dating memories.

there’s just something about santa barbara that is so magical. it has endless amounts of charm, but we decided a lot of it has to do with the light. the dreamy gold/pinkish hues are always perfection! i would move back there in a heartbeat.

a few other notable stops on our trip: a delicious italian dinner that took us right back to our honeymoon at via maestra 42, a movie night at the riviera theater (my favorite hidden gem of santa barbara!), coffee at the french press, and of course our usual stop at mcconnell’s ice cream (salted caramel chip is a must, people).