Old Spanish Days

Today is the beginning of Old Spanish Days in Santa Barbara, CA. Old Spanish Days is a celebration of Santa Barbara's history and heritage. During Old Spanish Days people celebrate the music, art, dance, culture and food that helped make Santa Barbara the city it is today. Viva la Fiesta! Click here for more information about Old Spanish Days: www.oldspanishdays-fiesta.org.

Another Fun Purchase

I purchased this CD last Saturday along with the Emmylou Harris CD. I can't say I am a hard core Alanis fan, however her new album is pretty incredible.

Emmylou

Emmylou Harris is one of my all time favorite artists. I feel it is a privilege every time I hear her sing. I purchased her latest album on Saturday and already I am in love.

Flowers

My husband bought me these beautiful flowers today. It was a very nice surprise.

Carol's Bridal Shower

Today was Carol's bridal shower so I drove down to Culver City for the shower. It was a beautiful drive and not too much traffic. The highlight of the day was hanging out with Carol and her friends, but I also did a little shopping at Target and ate at In-N-Out (no surprise there). The forth picture is of the party favors. The bridesmaids who threw the shower took their roles very seriously evidenced by the pretty party favor boxes.

Your Choice Thai

Ted and I had dinner at Your Choice Thai with our friends Carolyn and Vince. It was a great way to start the weekend.

Candy

I really don't like the fact that sometimes the pictures turn out sideways. This is not what it looked like when I saved the picture to my computer. Clearly my tech skills are very limited.

Bicycle Parking Lot

I love the fact that lots of people ride bikes in CA. This picture is of a bike parking lot on UCSB's campus.

Wedding Day

My husband scanned some of our wedding pictures and I thought I would share one. Our wedding day was a magical day (cheesy but true). The joy I felt is indescribable.

McDonald's

I had McDonald's french fries for dinner. So yummy. I appreciate the fact that McDonald's is featuring Olympic athlete bios on their take-out bags. I love reading about these uber athletes as I stuff my face with ridiculously unhealthy food.

Be Kind Rewind

Unfortunately an all-star cast does not a good movie make. I was very disappointed with this movie. I love Jack Black. I love Danny Glover. I love Mos Def. Regardless I did not love this movie.

Dinner With Megan

I had dinner this evening with my good friend Megan at Chase Restaurant in Santa Barbara. The food was tasty and the chance to catch up with a friend was even better.

Stop And Smell The Roses

This afternoon I walked from my office to an auto shop to pick up my husband's car. On the way I saw these beautiful rose bushes and I literally stopped to smell the roses.

Flamboyant

I lost my picture taking mojo the last few days so I thought I would share more pictures from my trip to San Antonio. This is a picture taken of the flower Flamboyant at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. You can't really tell from the picture but the colors are very brilliant.

The Rio Buffet

I have no idea why, but I thought I would post this picture of me standing at the entrance to the Rio Hotel buffet. This picture was taken during our trip to Las Vegas in November 2006.

HEB

HEB is a grocery store chain in Texas. I bought this reusable grocery bag for $0.99. It makes me feel very green.

IMAX

I've been thinking a lot about my trip to San Antonio today and I wanted to share an additional activity my mom and I did during our trip. On Thursday night we went to see an IMAX movie- Mystery of the Nile. It was a really cool film and it was a great way to beat the heat.

There's No Place Like Home

I took this picture from the plane as we were nearing the Santa Barbara airport. I had a wonderful time in San Antonio, but there really is no place like home.

Gruene

San Antonio Day 3:
For our last full day in Texas we decided to take a road trip and we ended up in Gruene, a small historic town about 30 miles northeast of San Antonio. I wish I could say we loved Gruene. I can't, but I can say we were surprised at how small it really is and how little there is to do in Gruene. Unless you are going there to raft down the Guadalupe River or to shop for antiques there really is not a whole lot going on in Gruene. Regardless I managed to take several pictures during our stop. After Gruene we stopped at Naegelin's Bakery in New Braunfels. A friend of my mom's suggested we stop in and treat ourselves to pastries which we happily did. Since we had the whole afternoon with no plans my mom suggested we tour the Texas Rangers museum and tour the Spanish Governor's palace. We did both and are glad we did as this two activities took us off the beaten path and we got to see parts of San Antonio we would not otherwise have seen. After a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant we headed back to the hotel. The last picture is in our hotel lobby and is the one and only picture of my mom and me during our trip.

*Unfortunately I was not able to download pictures on my trip so I am doing all of my PODs from the trip today. This post is for July 12th.

San Antonio Day 2

San Antonio Day 2:
We started day two at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. My mom is a lover of plants and gardening so visiting some type of garden is a must for every trip. The first picture is of the Zen Garden. It was so incredibly peaceful I could have stayed there all day. After we toured the gardens we ventured down two Texas native trails- 1) East Texas Pineywoods and 2) Hill Country. The trails represent different regions of Texas. On the first trail we saw this replica of a log cabin. After lunch we toured two missions. Pictures three and four were taken at Mission San Jose. Picture five was taken at Mission Concepcion. The sky was such a brilliant shade of blue I took 30-40 pictures of each mission. After our mission tours we headed to Rosario's for dinner. A friend of my mom's recommended this restaurant and it did not disappoint. After dinner we decided to check out the shops and art galleries in La Villita. Little did we know everything was closed so we didn't get to see much. On our way back to the hotel I took a picture of The Torch of Friendship sculpture; a symbol of the close relationship between Mexico and the United States.

*Unfortunately I was not able to download pictures on my trip so I am doing all of my PODs from the trip today. This post is for July 11th.

The Alamo And RiverWalk

Day 1 in San Antonio:
My mom and I started our day with a tour of the Alamo. We took a self-guided audio tour and learned quite a bit about the 1836 battle. The first two pictures are different views of the famous Alamo buildings. After our tour we went to the RiverWalk and had lunch at Casa Rio, the first business to open its doors to the river and take advantage of the river's setting. The food was delicious. After lunch we decided to take a riverboat tour. The last three pictures were taken along the river during our tour. Picture number three is a view of Casa Rio from the river. Pictures four and five are additional views from the riverboat. It was a fantastic first day in San Antonio.

*Unfortunately I was not able to download pictures on my trip so I am doing all of my PODs from the trip today. This post is for July 10th.

Aveo

My mom and I went to San Antonio, TX for a mother-daughter vacation. We rented a car and were given the Aveo station wagon pictured here. Don't ask me why, but I am obsessed with Aveo station wagons. It has a lot of get up and go for an economy car. This little Aveo served us well during our trip.


*Unfortunately I was not able to download pictures on my trip so I am doing all of my PODs from the trip today. This post is for July 9th.

Mercy

I just finished this book. It is a sad and touching love story.

Callie's First Day

Today was super busy and I did not have time (scratch that, I did not make time) to take any pictures. Instead I found the very first pictures we took of Callie when we adopted her on 7/3/2004. I've always loved this picture because it shows her taking it all in trying to decide what she thinks about her new digs. Fortunately it only took her about one hour to make our house her home.

Morgan Freeman

This is the second movie I watched in two days that starred Morgan Freeman. I enjoyed them both.