Mom's Away! (Part Two)

I'm back! My weekend in Santa Barbara was wonderful. Exactly what I needed. So, so relaxing. And I checked off every item on my wish list. Except for the running on the beach part. It was way hot so I settled for walking. That and laziness was the order of the day.This was the view of Del Mar from my train window on the way up to Los Angeles. I thought the ham sandwich I made for myself didn't look too bad either.I always love seeing LA's skyline for some reason. Los Angeles was where my friend, Eugenia, picked me up, and we drove the rest of the way to Santa Barbara for her work's retreat with a quick pit-stop in Montecito. MeEugenia Montecito
I had sort of remembered that Montecito was pretty but wow! Then it was on to Santa Barbara and our accommodations. As usual, our thoughts turned to food pretty quickly. The first night we went out for some good, albeit tragically touristy seafood. We did A LOT better foodie-wise for lunch the next day at Pierre Lafond. Thanks Alice!We dined on spinach salad, a mushroom and prosciutto turnover and a turkey, brie and cranberry sandwich. Everything was delectable. There was a really good Santa Barbara pinot noir too . . . . . . that made us feel the teensiest bit silly. E also found us a scrumptious patisserie for coffee and pastry on Sunday morning. That raisin croissant and binoche really deserved to be photographed. No pictures of me painted green and wrapped in cellophane either. Oh well. My only regret for the weekend is that I brought along this book to read.It is a graphic, gruesome, deeply disturbing murder mystery that had me slightly on edge the whole time. Just ask E who remarked on my wide-eyededness more than once. But at least I finished it in time for book club in a couple of Sundays. And I can't remember the last time I read more than 500 pages in two days. I was so engrossed that someone at the pool had to remind me I was missing happy hour. Little did they know, the whole weekend felt like happy hour! I'm so grateful that E let me tag along and that we're BFFs.

The grand finale was being surprised by my beloved H, S and B at the train station when I returned on Sunday evening. Bubs actually threw both arms up in the air and jumped for joy when he saw me (before beginning an endless refrain of, "Want ride choo choo pees.") Of course I teared up. Well, darn it if the little guy didn't look like he'd grown more hair and a couple of inches taller since I'd seen him last. Whereas Snook had regressed, asking me to carry her, carry her. I didn't mind.

The house? My "bomb" reference turned out to be more than a little prophetic. So what. It was worth it. But I'm saving that for another post.