Santa Barbara, CA

Santa Barbara (State Street specifically) is one of my favorite places in the whole world! Someone recently asked me where I would live if I could live anywhere and of course I picked SB. He was like, "Oh, because you went to school there?" and I was like, "Nooo... I went to school there because it's always been my favorite place!"

I especially love State Street during the holidays. I love shopping at Paseo Nuevo during the night because of all the white Christmas lights. Ahhhhh.

So today, we were spontaneous and took a drive out to SB to do some Christmas shopping. My sister met us and we had lunch at Palazzio. I've been here a couple times before, once for my 20th birthday. I love the bread and the caesar salad. For the first time in months, I kinda took a break from being a true vegetarian. This place serves their pasta family style, so we ordered pasta with chicken and I just picked the chicken out. I'm sure I ate some tiny pieces, but oh well. Anyways, I'm not sure why I didn't eat here more often during college. It was delicious!

I love Santa Barbara. I always feel so sad whenever I have to leave. <3

Flagstaff 2011- Day Two

We slowly woke up and got ready for our day.

To start, we went to the coolest coffee shop/restaurant called Macy's. Everything looked sooo good, I had a hard time deciding what to order. I ended up choosing some fancy soy latte and vegan waffles from their amazing all-vegetarian menu! I loved that everything was vegetarian. Love love loved it!









After breakfast, we walked around downtown. We went back into a lot of the shops we went to the night before during artwalk. It was nice to go back when it wasn't so crowded. I bought a couple little things.

Christine had to be at NAU for the football game at 2:30 and we had lunch plans with some friends including a friend from high school, Justin (actually I've technically known him since preschool I think). We were really short on time, so we just sat with them for like 15 minutes and then went off to enjoy the game. Since we didn't have much time to catch up over lunch, we made plans to BBQ in the evening.

Christine is part of a club called Chain Gang so I sat with Cassie and her swim team friends while Christine fulfilled her Chain Gang duties.





Christine was able to save me a seat next to her so I went down to sit with the Chain Gang... right behind the football players. It was smelly! Also, number 69 had a mullet.



Christine was able to leave after the first quarter. Per the boy's request, Christine baked cookies as a contribution to the BBQ. So, we went back to the apartment and Christine did what she does best... baked cookies!





After the cookies were done, we stopped by a grocery store to pick up some other BBQ essentials. Then we were off to the BBQ.

Here's a pic of my cheeseburger with no meat. I did end up taking a 10 second break from being a vegetarian so that I could try a tiny piece of lamb. Hahaha. I just wanted to be able to say I tried it, plus it smelled really flavorful. I'll admit, it didn't taste bad!



Unfortunately I didn't take any more pics at the BBQ. We spent the evening watching Netflix, eating, and laughing. We left at about midnight.

I had such a fun day. I really like Christine's friends, Flagstaff, and of course, Christine. <3

Labor Day Weekend Road Trip- Day Three

Day three consisted of MORE EATING!

Our first stop was Pho Y! This place was packed (always a good sign!). When it comes to pho, I can't help but take a "30-minute break from being a vegetarian"! I did order mine without meat though :)





Then after pho, even though we were super stuffed, we went to Tapioca Express. I tried honey milk tea which was super sweet.





After that, we went to Gilroy to shop and then headed home.