A disjointed recap of my weekend in Santa Barbara, in a nut-shell, with a few pictures, which I randomly decided to put just at the bottom.  Keep in mind that these pictures were all taken with my old crappy cell-phone:

I had a class on Friday (adobe illustrator) that starts really early, and because of this gets out early in the afternoon.  I always feel like I have missed an opportunity if I don’t take advantage of the earlier release, and beat traffic heading out of town.

I thought about going to one of my 2 favorite stand-by destinations, Las Vegas or Santa Barbara, and packed a bag on Thursday night, just in case I had the courage for a long drive on Friday.

Friday came, and I hit the road.  Four hours later I was in beautiful Santa Barbara.  I love this town.  It is very relaxed, easy going, the people are mostly really nice, and it has sweet views, and fabulous restaurants and bars.  Other than its political slant, seedy underbelly, and oil rigs, what’s not to love?  And best of all, some of my best friends still live there.  It is always a blessing to go to Santa Barbara, and always wonderful to be with my friends.

I had a lot of fun, but as usual, could have used more sleep and more time there.  I wish my trips to SB could be longer, as I never get enough or any time with some of my friends there.  But every trip is cherished.

I got up there, and was super tired.  So I went to East beach and napped (or tried to) for an hour.  I love doing that at East Beach because you have an option of watching people play volleyball (they have like 30 nets setup, and last week had the pro tour there) and also, the beach has an incline about 20 yards from the water.  So if you lie there, its really comfortable, and not really “flat” on your back.

I then went downtown, to Borders/Barnes and Noble, and bought the highly recommended book, Predictably Irrational, in case i found myself lying on the beach again this weekend.  I have many fond memories of this Borders.  I can’t imagine however, it surviving much longer.

Following that I met Ryan who had been golfing, at the golf course for a drink.  Ryan, Chase, and their friends whom Ryan had just golfed with, for a drink at the bar that lines the course while watching people play the 10th hole.  Ryan is an easy going guy that I met towards the end of college.  We love to laugh, talk sports, and play golf together.  I had the privlege of being in his wedding, and will always have a special place in my heart for him.

Went home (to the Throops’), showered and changed, and then went downtown for dinner to a steak house.  We went to Holdren’s and there was an hour wait.  Ryan name-dropped the owners name, and we went to sit at the bar for appetizers and wine.  About 5 minutes later, we miraculously had a table.  Great work Ryan!  Boy was this meal yummy, large and filling.   Cajun-fried calimari, bacon-wrapped shrimp, fried jalepenos, twice-stuffed baked potato and a 24 oz. bone-in ribeye.  As we were leaving there, some random foreigners was asking Chase, and then me, if we’d buy them tequila.  I told them we were going down the street to Joe’s for a drink, and if they  showed up there id get them some,.

At Joe’s for a drink, eventually the foreigners arrived and the four of us had a tequila shot (4 patron shots–$40).  Met some people that worked for someone I knew back in college (Maury Hayashida), and one of them knew my sister and had lived on the same floor as her.

At about 11:30 we left Joe’s to go home to bed.  I didn’t sleep great, and woke up tired.

Ryan was going outta town (to see his mom/family), around 7am.  So when I got up around 9am,  Chase and I went to a breakfast place that I had never known of.  This place was right on the beach therefore it was breathtaking, and the food was delicious.

Following breakfast, I packed up my things from the Throop’s and went over to be with Kevin and the Sturm’s (sounds like a singing quartet).  Kevin and I sat around on his recently swept, awesomely self-made patio and talked about life and business and the challenges and joy’s of both.  Kevin was my college roommate for 2 years, and we ran college cross country with each other and have had years of shared experiences, the highs and the lows.

Kevin had some great, fortuitous news that the Wold’s were driving down from the Bay area, to take their children to Disneyland, and were gonna stop by for a couple hours for lunch.  What an added bonus to my trip!.  Although David is a phd, chemical engineer, and a country music loving fan, we will always be close.  I value his insight, his levels of sensitivity, and his deep loyalty.  We had homemade margaritas and sandwiches.  I loved having time with everyone.

After they left, I was pooped so my afternoon was spent half falling asleep, half playing wii with Brody, Kevin’s 5 year old son.

That evening, we went out to dinner where I got the chance to celebrate Kevin’s wife, Chrystal’s birthday.   Following dinner, we returned the two children home, had a baby-sitter arrive, and then went downtown to see the movie, Iron Man 2.  We were about an hour early to the movie, so we walked around downtown and into some of the shops.  One of the stores we walked through, I just recently reviewed on yelp, called Random.  This store name completely fits, as everything in it is RANDOM!  From old doorways and hinges, to neat ceramic olive plates, this store has it all covered.  Iron fencing, leather chairs, old signs, knickknacks.  One of the coolest stores to just walk through and look at things.

We went to the movie at the Arlington Theater.  This theater was built in 1931 and seats over 2,000 people.  It has an old style marquee, and an old ticket booth that leads down a large foye into the building.  I would occasionally attend church in this building back in college, and it hosts film festivals, concerts and movies now.

The movie got out around 12:15 and went back to bed at the Sturm’s.  They had put their 2 year-old (Mianna) in Brody’s room and I had the bed in the Mia’s room. Well, apparently Mia had been causing a stir since 4am.  So at about 7:30 or 8, Kevin woke me saying he had to kick me out of the room–cause they needed for her try her own crib/room.

With Chrystal back in bed, Brody me and Kevin were now up, and off to breakfast at a lil bagel place.

Then around 9:45 am, I started my drive home.  The overall trip in my car was about 440 miles, with about 125 songs played, not to mention the few I kept hitting repeat on.  The drive home was relatively easy, taking me barely over 3 hours.  I didn’t take a lot of pictures on the trip, but the ones I included in here were mainly the ones I had tweeted.

I love my friends.  I love Santa Barbara.

(click on an image for a larger view)