Week of June 27th 2011: Butterfly Beach

The first stop on my road trip was Santa Barbara. My closest Aunt and Godmother lives there and I try to visit her every so often. I hadn't been to stay with her in some time though so I was long overdue.

Visiting my Aunt is always one of my favorite things. My parents used to ship me away to Santa Barbara for about a week every summer and my Aunt had a huge hand in shaping who I am today. She used to take me to book stores, show me how to paint, teach me ceramics, and show me the beauty of the outdoors. It's no wonder that reading, painting, sculpting and exploring nature are still very important to me. As I've become an adult, we've also just realized we really get along so I definitely owed her a visit, especially after she had been up to see me earlier that year.

My Aunt and Uncle always roll out the red carpet for me. I arrived to a beautiful plate full of dried meats, smoked salmon and cheeses. So what did I do? I pulled out one of my many bottles of wine and we discussed what I wanted to see while I was there. We through around a few ideas but thought that going to see Butterfly Beach would be a good way to spend the next afternoon. 

Butterfly beach is located near Montecito and in a very nice part of the city (not that there are any bad parts in Santa Barbara) full of ritzy hotels and amazing houses. The tide was rather high while we were there so my Aunt stayed behind to take pictures (she later makes beautiful paintings based on her snapshots) while my Uncle, my cousin, and I roamed down the beach, picking out which houses we would buy when we were billionaires. 

Although we only stopped by the beach in order to have short stroll through the waves, there were many people there with their families so it's also a great place to go and spend the day. 

July 2011

July was a really great month for me last year. When I was working on the chronology page of this blog, I also decided to start listing the things I plan to write about and July had a ton. July really was about new things.

In the beginning of the month I decided to take a road trip to visit my family, by myself, for no special occaission. I hadn't really done that before.There was something so nice about having the freedom to stop and do what I wanted. Whether it was making a pit stop at the beach to go jet skiing, or stopping by a little factory to buy new sandals - the whole trip was on my schedule. I know my family also really appreciated me taking the time to visit them when there wasn't really a special occasion. From my Aunt to my parents to my brothers, I could tell they appreciated me finally making good on my promises to come visit.

But July wasn't only about visiting family, I had a lot of friends who were wondering when I was going to see them as well. For over a year, my friend in Washington D.C. had been asking when I was going to see them so after Elissa moved to New York, I decided to make one big East Coast trip. The fun thing about visiting people is that it's really nice being someone's guest and they're usually really excited to show you what's amazing about their city... but they have lives too so you also get a lot of time to explore on your own and I loved that. Whether it was boating or going to a baseball game with company or explore towers, memorials and museums on my own - I loved every bit of my East Coast trip.

I didn't go anywhere exotic (in fact, quite the opposite as going to SoCal is always a little like going home), but the trips were so remarkable. Whether the new thing was giving myself the freedom to take a trip on my own or or being a complete tourist in some of the biggest cities in the country, there were a lot of them. There is something special and important between finding that balance between independence, family, and friendship; between exciting new adventures and comforting old ones.

Trying to pick just a few snapshots from my adventures just reminded me how much I did that month and I can't wait to share it with you.

Week of June 27th 2011: Canteen

The week before my friend, Elissa, moved to New York, she made reservations at all of her places around San Francisco. She's the kind of person that finds a favorite and rarely deviates so many of these excursions didn't qualify for the blog. However, Canteen was the brunch spot she frequented with her boyfriend and I'd never been. Every Tuesday (and Saturday), Canteen has a Prix Fixe menu so Elissa made a reservation for a small group of her friends to go.

In my opinion, this was a bold move on her part. Elissa is the kind of person who always gets the same dish and is a little.... how do I say this nicely... picky... so I thought it was interesting that she wanted to brave whatever the chef decided to create that night. Luckily, it was salmon which is something that all four of us were a fan of.

This was one of those few times where I didn't remember every detail of the food (except that the brioche bread that came table-side was amazing and I go out of my way to buy brioche now) because this meal was all about the great company and it was nice to send Elissa off with a pleasant evening full of great food, nice wine, friends and lots of joking and story telling.

I have also heard though from several sources that Canteen has the best brunch in the city. I've never been and since the restaurant is tiny, I feel like I may be ruining my chances of ever getting a table...