because i like to pretend i’m a photographer…

here are some more pictures of my time in that little town i adore called Santa Barbara!  (I promise this is the last time I talk about that place.)  Forget the fact that I desperately need to clean my lens and there are lots of spots on some of the pictures.  Just go visit and think of me, will ya?

Our grandparents came up to have lunch with us on Tuesday at Los Arroyos, a delicious Mexican restaurant in Montecito.  They are the cutest things ever and our Mimi is always dressed to impress.  Check out her snazzy hat and her zebra jacket!  Although they were excited to hang out with their granddaughters, they mainly drove up to SB to be my personal chauffeurs and take me back home to my parent’s house since I no longer have a car in California (I caught a ride up there with my little brother on his way back to San Luis Obispo where he goes to school).  Aren’t they the sweetest!?



fun in SB.

I am having so much fun in Santa Barbara!  Scottee and I are running the Palos Verdes Half Marathon this Saturday so yesterday afternoon we went for a gorgeous 8-miler by the beach.  I really miss SoCal running weather since Hawaii is hot and humid and great for laying out at the beach, but not so much for running.  I am taking full advantage of the cool breezes and midday runs that I can go on while I’m here and its really nice finishing a run not looking like I just went for a swim.

I went to school at UCSB and Scottee went to school at Westmont and since we are only one year apart, we got to see each other a lot during our college years!  I miss that so much!  We both worked at the same restaurant, Paradise Cafe, which is the cutest little restaurant in downtown Santa Barbara with really good food and drinks.  It was funny; when we both worked there, our regular customers always got us confused.  I liked to tell people we were twins and they totally believed me.  If you are ever in town, you HAVE to go there.   And you need to get the Paradise Burger with avocado and french fries.

After dinner, we went to Mcconnell’s, a well-known ice cream shop and also one of my favorite places here.  I’m not even kidding – in college, my roommates and I would come here 4x a week for frozen yogurt.  We were seriously obsessed.  And broke.

Today is my last day here and we are off on a mission to find some race outfits for Saturday :)

greetings from santa barbara.

I’ll be in Santa Barbara until tomorrow visiting my cousin, Scottee.  I LOVE this adorable little town so so much.  I went to school here for 4 years and I met some of my best friends and my boyfriend here, so this place holds lots of special memories for me.  She had to work for a few hours this morning, so I came to a coffeeshop to get some design work done.  Can’t wait to revisit all of my old stomping grounds!

Lunch Date.

Yesterday afternoon, I met Sarah and Sarah for lunch at Kafe Neo in Long Beach.  I met Sarah [SkinnyRunner] in Hawaii earlier this year and I had never met Sarah [OnceUponALime] before.  I read (and love) their blogs and have exchanged 19,832,941 e-mails with both of them over the past few months so it’s weird how much I feel like I know them.  They were my first “real” clients for design work and so it was a lot of fun to all meet up in person!  They both write extremely funny and sarcastic blogs and are so sweet (and blonde, gorgeous, and skinny) in real life.

On the way home, I was falling asleep and was about to pee my pants, so I got off the freeway in Santa Monica and figured I would find a Starbucks or Coffee Bean on every other corner.  I did.  And problem solved.

Date Night at Serg’s.

Last night Reis took me out for dinner at our favorite Mexican food joint in Manoa.  Being from Southern California, I am OBSESSED with Mexican food and living in Hawaii, a good burrito is hard to come by.  Serg’s, however, is pretty dang good.  The only bad thing I have to say about this place is that they don’t sell tortilla chips or diet coke. What?!  In my opinion, mexican food + chips & salsa + diet coke is the ultimate combo (aka I could eat it every single night of the week and never get sick of it).  Besides that minor detail, I have no complaints.  After dinner, we went to my other favorite place – Yogurtland! – for dessert.  I have another obsession with frozen yogurt and I swear no matter how full I am, I can always make room for it.

California Bound.

I am leaving for California this morning for 10 days to visit my family and friends.  I am super excited and have so many fun things to look forward to!  I hate packing because I always feel like I am forgetting something, but I also love packing because it usually means I am going somewhere exciting.  I love eating candy on planes, and I am not too sure why.  Jujubes are my all time favorite gummy candy and I am seriously addicted to Crazy Core Skittles too.  And of course whenever I go to California, I always face the dilemma of what shoes to bring.  Here in Hawaii, everyone lives in sandals and people look at me funny if I wear heels or wedges out.  Therefore, I have to take full advantage of wearing my high shoes on the mainland :)  Off to the airport!