Santa Barbara

Last week began uneventfully, but then Sarah woke up on Wednesday with a stomach bug. Thankfully, it was only a one-day deal and she was back to her normal self by Thursday!

The rest of the week was a little...boring. We are still doing all the little things to get settled here. Like changing our address on our accounts, having the pool heater serviced, deciding on paint colors, etc. Speaking of paint colors, I thought we had decided on them last week, but the more I looked at the samples we had painted on the walls, the more I was unsure. So we decided to get some help. We had the Color Rep from Sherwin Williams come out on Friday to help us decide, and she was fantastic! I am so excited about what we chose. The common areas are going to be Balanced Beige, which is a cross between beige and gray. I think it is going to look great with our brick fireplace and brown granite countertops. The kitchen color I am really excited about. It is called Underseas, a dark blue-green. I plan to buy a few accessories for the living and dining rooms in that same color to give some unity to the space. It should really lighten up the house and make the kitchen pop. I can't wait to get rid of the monotone butterscotch that is currently covering most of our home!!

Here are some "before" pictures:

We decided to go on a little weekend vacay to Santa Barbara. It only took 2 1/2 hours to get there. We went up Saturday morning and came back Sunday evening. When we arrived in SB, we stopped for lunch at a delicious little pastrami deli called Norton's and then headed to the beach, where Katie went right to work on a sand castle and Sarah ran around in the water. 

Santa Barbara is really beautiful with the mountains on one side and the beach on the other.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel in the heated pool and relaxing around the fire pit. Burgers for dinner and a family game of marbles  (Brian and Sarah were the victors) rounded out the evening.

Sunday morning we toured the Santa Barbara Mission. It was very cool. I learned a bit about California history and architecture. It is still a working mission and they had a mass while we were there, so we were able to hear the beautiful organ music.

Then we went down to Stearn's Wharf and discovered an art street fair. We spent the next hour looking at a lot of beautiful and creative art (some not-so-beautiful) and we ended up purchasing some rings for the girls and one for me too! I was very happy to buy a souvenir that supports a local artist rather than some little trinket at a tourist shop!

After lunch at another DDD restaurant (Mac's Fish & Chips) we headed out of town, stopping at Rincon Beach on our way to watch a surfing competition, the Rincon Beach Classic. There were so many surfers in the water, I don't know how they kept from seriously injuring one another! The waves were huge and the surfers were amazing! Sarah decided she wants to learn how to surf. Except she's terrified of sharks in the water! It was a pretty cool ending to a nice weekend away.

 

Next week is painting week!! I'm so excited to see what the finished product looks like!

Once the painters finish with the main part of the house, I will start on the girls' bedrooms and the hall bathroom. I see a lot of work in my future...