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Travel Diary: Santa Barbara
November 11, 2019
Now that it's been almost two months since I went to Santa Barbara it's about time that I document the trip! My mom, sister and I went in September and had a wonderful time. None of us had ever been but it had come up as a possible destination a couple times so I'm happy we were able to make it work. When I was telling people about the trip several commented that it was our annual girls trip and the more I thought about it, it's kind of true. We don't intentionally plan a trip just the three of us every year but that does tend to be our travel pattern!
Where we stayed: The Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort.
The hotel was lovely and our room had a beautiful view of the water from our balcony (seen below). None of the properties in SB are right on the water so this was about as close as you can get. The location was central to most places we went and the pool and restaurants we tried were all good. I'd definitely recommend!
Day one: Travel day/getting settled.
We flew into LA early on Thursday and then drove up the coast making a stop to explore a bit in Malibu. We grabbed coffee from Malibu Farm and sat on the pier for a while watching the surfers. None of us had ever been before so it was fun to see such a famous city. I can see why celebs choose to live there!
Once we made it up to Santa Barbara we were famished so we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and ventured out to Bella Vista at the Four Seasons for lunch. We sat outside with a view of the water while we enjoyed a G&T and the best sweet potato fries I have ever had in my life. Truly the best.
After lunch we went back to the hotel and walked along the beach into downtown SB. It was only about a ten minute walk which was very doable. We explored the Funk Zone a little bit which is basically a cluster of cool restaurants and shops. We grabbed a drink at Test Pilot which was very Instagrammable and yet I didn't get a picture! You'll just have to take my word for it that the drinks were equal parts delicious and pretty. The bar and drinks all had a tropical theme which I loved. Since we had a late lunch we ended up just having some apps back at the hotel after drinks and calling it an early night. 6AM flights will take it out of you!
Day two: Wine tastings.
We of course had to have a day of wine tastings! I did some research and came upon the tour company Sustainable Wine Tours which had excellent reviews so we booked a group tour. There were about eight of us total on the tour so not too big. They have a little coach bus that they picked us up in at the hotel and took us to three different wineries/vineyards for tastings. As their name indicates they only work with sustainable vineyards which is obviously pretty cool. All of the places they took us for tastings aren't open to the public which ended up being such a cool experience because you know that not many other people get to tour these locations and we even met with the actual winemakers. We would all definitely recommend Sustainable Wine!
Our first stop was at McKinney Family Vineyards. The property was beautiful and this was definitely our favorite location of the day. The owner lives on the property and his partner was the one who we did the tour and tasting with. I always love tastings and learning more about wine so this did not disappoint and it was extra cool to hear about it from the guy who literally stomps the grapes himself.
They had some adorable goats and a few dogs on the property which gave it an extra bit of charm. We were even able to feed the goats grape leaves as a treat. S'cute. We bought a few bottles and signed up for the wine club at McKinney which we plan to enjoy together at Thanksgiving. They only produce a few thousand cases of wine each year so it feels really special to have a few of those bottles for ourselves!
Our next stop was at Happy Canyon Vineyard. Their property and tasting room (pictured above) were beautiful. We didn't really get a tour of the property and mostly just spent time in this beautiful space tasting some delicious wines.
Our third and final stop of the day was at Santa Ynez Valley Wine Club. This place was really unique. They let really small winemakers who can't afford to have their own properties or tasting rooms grow their grapes there and they feature the wines from those small winemakers at their tastings. I'm not sure how many winemakers use their property but we got to try five or six different kinds which was really special. The guy who did our tasting was amazing and super knowledgeable. One of the wines we tried that day was his own which was fun to hear about directly from him. I didn't get any great pictures at this location but they don't have an indoor space, you're just seated in the shade next to a pond and it's just lovely. The above picture was take with some of the vines from this spot as the backdrop. We also signed up for the wine club here so we'll get a few bottles every couple months. Again, these wine makers only make a few hundred cases a year so it feels so special to be a part of that!
My dress is from Everlane and I while I love it I was unpleasantly surprised when I was getting out of the tour van at the first winery and one of the straps snapped. Cue lots of embarrassment at being the center of attention while people tried to think of ways to fix it. I ended up just unbuttoning the other strap and tying it as a halter for the day which worked out but wasn't ideal!
After we were dropped back off at our hotel we headed to the pier for dinner. It's fun to see the pier but I honestly wouldn't recommend eating there. The restaurant we went to was solidly meh. It was fun to sit outside but the food and atmosphere were just okay.
Day three: lounging/sailing.
We wanted to make sure we got in some pool time so we spent the first half of Saturday drinking piña coladas and reading poolside. Is there anything better than eating chicken fingers by the pool with a good book and a fruity drink? Didn't think so.
Saturday night was spent at sea. I read about Sunset Kidd tours on Jess's blog and it did not disappoint. We opted for the sunset sail which is a two hour tour at, you guessed it, sunset. It was really nice to have a glass of wine and just enjoy the views.
After our sailing tour we had a late dinner reservation at the Boathouse at Hendry's Beach. We weren't able to be seated outside but it was pretty chilly so we didn't mind our indoor table. Not to mention that it was already dark but I do think it would be fun to eat there outside when it's light out because it's right on the water. Anyway, we all really enjoyed our food that night. I had the best lobster and truffle mac and cheese of my life and paired it with a glass of champagne so I was one happy gal.
Day four: travel day.
We didn't have much time before we had to head to the airport so we took some snaps with the Rainbow Gate and then made the drive down south to the airport to head home.
We had such an amazing time but I think I could have done with one more full day! We tried to go to the mission one day but it had already closed and we didn't get much of a chance to walk down State Street and explore. I'll just need to plan a trip back! California is really special to Mark and I, as you'd probably guess since we lived there, and have talked about retiring back there. We've always said Carmel would be a great place to retire but I told him that Santa Barbara is definitely a contender now so I'll need to take him so he can see for himself!
xo Catherine
It's Christmas Time in the City
December 14, 2018
We were in New York last weekend to visit our new nephew and before we left I warned Mark that I planned to be very extra on this trip...enter my embellished beret. I've always wanted to go to New York at Christmas so I intended to live it up and wear all of my holiday outfits. The weekend was mostly spent hanging out with family and the new baby but we went out one day to snap these photos.
Travel Diary: London
July 2, 2018
Oh, London! Definitely my favorite city that I've been to. Mark and I were lucky enough to spend five days in London a few weeks ago and we had such a good time. If you've been reading for a long time (5+ years) then you'll remember that I studied abroad in London back in 2013. I became absolutely smitten with the city during my summer there and couldn't wait to come back.
So last year when I was perusing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets (as one does) and saw that you had to buy them at least a year in advance I started to float the idea of a trip the following year to London. There were some pretty cheap seats so we figured if we didn't make the trip we'd only be out $80. Luckily we were able to make it happen and I'm just so happy that we went together. It was Mark's first time and while I'm no local it was still fun to show him around the places that I lived and studied and drank Pimm's :) keep reading to see more of our trip!
So last year when I was perusing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child tickets (as one does) and saw that you had to buy them at least a year in advance I started to float the idea of a trip the following year to London. There were some pretty cheap seats so we figured if we didn't make the trip we'd only be out $80. Luckily we were able to make it happen and I'm just so happy that we went together. It was Mark's first time and while I'm no local it was still fun to show him around the places that I lived and studied and drank Pimm's :) keep reading to see more of our trip!
Our Honeymoon
November 6, 2017
Happy Monday and welcome to our honeymoon recap! For those of you that don't know we spent a week in Puerto Vallarta the week after our wedding. You may remember that we had some trouble trying to decide where to go. Ultimately we decided on Mexico because it's relatively inexpensive (compared to the places we originally looked at like Fiji and Hawaii) and it's close. After talking it through we realized we wanted a super relaxing honeymoon where we basically just lounged around, ate and drank. So it didn't make much sense to spend a lot and travel somewhere far away just to not leave the hotel. We'll save that for another time! We had also toyed around with the idea of delaying the honeymoon but we're both really happy we had that week to recharge after the wedding and delay going back to reality. So, now that you've read the longwinded backstory, here are some snaps and thoughts about our week in Mexico!
Honeymoon Musings
February 24, 2017
I mentioned in last week's Wedding Q&A post that we're leaning towards Hawaii for our honeymoon but we haven't booked or solidified anything yet. We've been talking about it a lot this week and so I thought I'd blog about it in the hopes that you guys have some tips or recommendations and just to help me think out loud a bit!
Travel Diary: Cabo San Lucas
February 17, 2017
It's been over a week since I've been back from Cabo and now these pictures are making me sad all over again that I'm not back there! It was an equally fun and relaxing trip with lots of quality family time. I went home feeling very content! We chose Cabo because we had been to the Atlantic side of Mexico when my sister and I were in high school so we wanted to try the Pacific side. It was also really nice because Cabo tends to attract more adults, so if you're into that and looking for a kid-free location Cabo fits the bill.
Cabo Cold Shoulder
February 15, 2017
When I think resort wear I always picture colorful and whimsical. You saw both of those things in my first outfit from Cabo and they're represented again in today's post too! When I was browsing around ASOS for this trip I saw this pleated cold shoulder dress and knew I had to have it but was worried it wouldn't be available in my size, as the best things on ASOS are often picked over. Lo and behold it was and still is available in every size! So I compel you to run not walk to buy this dress ladies! I absolutely adore the color and the fun sleeves and just imagine it on someone with a tan 😍(that ain't me). It also comes in green if that's more your style. The embellished floral sandals are just an added bonus ;)
Tassels and Pom Poms in Cabo
February 10, 2017
I'm back from Mexico and feeling very confused about what day it is. I was really bad at planning and then just wanted to enjoy my time off so I'm sorry for the lack of blog posts! It was a great trip, very relaxing, but I'll share more details next week about where we stayed and what we did! Today I just want to talk about this outfit :)
Fun Things for Mexico
February 1, 2017
I am SO excited to be heading to Cabo on Friday with my mom and sister! Someone at work asked why I needed a vacation already when we just got back from the Christmas holidays but I didn't take any time off over Christmas! I was working from home the whole time and also going to all of the family events, seeing friends, and meeting with wedding vendors. So not very relaxing. Now add on top of all that the political mess that's happening and I'm a tad stressed. I haven't been on a tropical beach vacation since high school, so I'm itching to get on that beach with a drink and book in hand. We went to Playa del Carmen when I was a sophomore in high school so it'll be fun to compare the East and West coasts of Mexico. Well naturally I've been doing a lot of online browsing, okay and purchasing, for this trip and there are so many fun pieces right now! Whether you have a trip coming up or just need something fun to make spring feel closer, here are some pieces to add to your closet! I've actually purchased a few of these things and can't wait to style them this week :)
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