Summer Solstice

June 21st was Summer Solstice and marked the annual official wierdo parade in SB. It's incredible. All of the crazies come out of the woodwork for this colorful, spirited parade. We're not usually around for this spectacle, but this year was the exception. It could not be missed! It was a blazing hot day, but that did not stop all sorts of people from coming out and celebrating summer. And I mean ALL sorts of people....

It's officially SUMMER!

It's hard to believe. It always is. It feels like it was just February and I remember thinking, "Summer will NEVER get here". But here it is, and boy does it feel great! After giving lots of hugs and shedding a few tears, I said goodbye to the students and teachers of Kellogg school, and jumped RIGHT in to summer living. For the first week of summer, Matt and I have been house/dog sitting on the riviera of Santa Barbara. What a spot! Here has been a typical day:
7:30am - Wake up, make coffee, eat breakfast
8:00 - Read the paper while sipping coffee on the front porch overlooking the entire Santa Barbara area as well as the crystal clear Pacific Ocean
9:00 - Matt works away on his thesis in the guest house, looking up every once in a while to take in the inspiring views from up here in the hills. I lay in the hammock for hours, reading my book and breathing in the aromatic breeze of the salty ocean mixed with the sweet plums, lemons, apricots and peaches growing behind me.
10:30 - Time for a dip in the pool! As the temperatures climb into the 90's, we seek relief by floating around in the warm pool, while catching some incredible views down below.
12:00 - A leisurely lunch by the pool
1:00 - Another swim, followed by a long walk that takes me far up into the riviera. I stumble upon one amazing view after another, and spot several lizards, a bunny, and three quail!
3:00 - Back in the pool. Play with the dogs for a while and then decide to look through recipe books to decide what to have for dinner (this, by the way, is the biggest decision I've had to make all day...)
6:00 - Dinner outside while watching the sun go down and cast a gorgeous grapefruit-colored shadow on all of the buildings below.
7:00 - Venture out to the front porch with a glass of wine and contemplate the meaning of life.

LIFE IS GOOD!

And the best husband award goes to....

On my birthday, Matt decided that since I didn't have a cake, he would make me cookies! I nearly fell off my chair. If one knows Matt, they surely know that he does NOT bake! He's going to kill me for posting this, but I thought it was the cutest thing EVER. He kept asking me questions (like when the butter was only slightly softened why it wouldn't mix with the eggs), but when I went in to the kitchen to help, I got kicked out. He wanted to do it all by himself. What an incredible husband I have!!!! (The fun didn't stop there.....the cookies were a hit in the teachers lounge the next day!!)

Where do we live?!

Upon pulling into my parking spot after an hour of pilates this morning, I couldn't help but notice this sign posted EVERYWHERE:

I chuckled when I read the part about how police are waiting at Los Carneros Rd. (which is ours!) trying to prevent the bear from crossing. I can just picture the cop out there waving his arms saying STOP! BEAR, YOU CAN'T CROSS! Hmmm....so far, no sightings here in family student housing, but a little crazy to know that he might just pop up in our back yark looking for a snack!

Birthday in Big Sur

<--I've always admired this beautiful bridge that sits atop Big Creek, but never imagined that we'd get the chance to camp on and explore the untouched land that sits beneath (and above) it! What a great weekend it was! I felt so fortunate to be able to celebrate my 28th birthday at one of the most beautiful places on earth....Big Sur. Our friends Adrianne and Tom know the reserve manager of the Big Creek reserve right in the heart of Big Sur, so off we went for a fun getaway weekend. Click here for more info on the reserve: http://www.redshift.com/~bigcreek/ The looming clouds began to break as we approached the reserve, and I felt so thankful that we weren't hindered by a cloudy/chilly weekend forecast. I couldn't believe my good fortune as we pulled into the gated entrance to the reserve. After setting up camp (and realizing we left behind one of our tent poles---oops!) we headed off for a hike atop Whale Point. This sketchy but exhilarating climb took us along the side of the Big Creek canyon, and landed us with the most incredible views of the Big Sur coastline. Here are some shots from the hike:

We camped down here!

The next day we headed out for some more hiking....this time we took the "Interpretive Loop", which took us through a redwood forest and up along a ridge overlooking the Pacific. Along the way we saw some interesting critters, and did a lot of birdwatching. Later, after relaxing at the beach and saving a drowning seagull, we cooked an incredible tri-tip dinner before heading to bed. This trip just further confirmed how much we will miss California when we leave in August....but for now, we are just soaking it all in!

The Great Outdoors

This Mother's Day weekend since we couldn't be with our mothers, we decided to spend some time with Mother Nature. We went camping with our friends Janey and Mark! We decided to venture to a new part of the Los Padres National Forest - the destination being a group of natural hot springs! The journey there was a little interesting....we drove along a road that sits atop the Santa Ynez mountains called Camino Cielo, which turned out to be a very bumpy ride. First, the potholes...then, the rugged dirt road for about an hour. Finally, we made it to our campsite, so glad to find Mark and Janey there! The best part about this area is that there were only a few other crazy people willing to make this drive, and we basically had it all to ourselves!!


We went on a 4-hour hike along the Santa Ynez River, which naturally involved a lot of water crossings. At first we tried avoiding the water, but by the end we took the fastest route and got over the idea of sopping wet shoes and socks!

Laura leaping across:

Janey jumping for joy:

Mark charging the river:

Matt, the long jumper:

Along the way, we saw 4 different endangered species AND a rattlesnake! It was all truly amazing to see, but when we encountered the rattlesnake and saw that Mark and Matt were willing to get a little too close for comfort, Janey and I quickly ran in the opposite direction.

After the hike, we searched for and finally found the remote Little Caliente hot springs, where we found two nude bathers! oops! They were thankfully just finishing up their soak, and that left the sulfur-smelling spring just for us! It was HOT and relaxing!

Then we walked to the Mono campground, where we found this really cool dam along the river. It felt sooo nice to cool off after a long day of hiking! Overall, an awesome weekend!

A Sunday of Firsts!

Today was a HOT one....Matt and I were tempted to wallow in our sweaty sorrows on the couch and fight over who gets to be closest to the fan, but we got enough guts to brave the elements and took a stroll to the farmers market. Usually we arrive around 11am on Sunday, right around the time when the farmers are setting up their stands. Today we didn't get there until 2pm, right when they were closing. We decided this was a good time to go....they were pretty much THROWING carrots and celery at us, going, "Take them for 50 cents, we're about to leave". I mean, what farmer wants to take home veggies after they've carted them all the way there? At one stand, we were about to purchase some green onions when the girl asked us if we've ever tried zucchini flowers. Well..we've grown zucchini and watched the flowers fall right off once they get overpowered by the zucchini. We've never thought to eat them though! Apparently, this box of beautiful zucchini flowers (which do cost a pretty penny) were wilting in the heat, and the girl said, "Take them, they're yours!". We got home and found a recipe that has them stuffed with ricotta cheese and green onions (both of which we had) and blindly experimented with our first zucchini flowers. It was a success! They were crispy and cheesy....what a perfect combination! Definitely worth a sweltering walk to the farmers market!!





Another fun note.....I finished knitting my first pair of socks today! These are for Matt. Thanks to my sister Lesley, I have now moved out of my comfort zone of knitting scarves, and into a whole new knitting world!!! (Thanks Les!!)

And We're Back!

WOW....It has been exactly 1 1/2 years since my last post!!! oops! This morning, Matt and I were on a beautiful 13 mile bike ride along the hills and the ocean when SUDDENLY this little blog popped into my head. At a water break (it was HOT!), I said to Matt, "I think we should start up our blog again." And Matt said, "Do it" (meaning YOU do it, cause I'm sure not going to! :) So....here we are back again, just like old times. Rather than trying to catch up on MUCH lost time, I will simply post some of our most favorite things to do lately, that will hopefully highlight the last year and a half. Then....get ready....I will announce our exciting new plans for the fall!!! (don't cheat and skip to the end.....!)



1.) Gardening! We have SO enjoyed cultivating our little vegetable garden over the last 2 years. It was a steep learning curve to say the least, but little by little we learned what to do (and not to do!) to keep our little plants happy and alive. Last summer, we had the most AMAZING tomato plants, and one day I got this idea to trim all of the side shoots to promote new growth. Well, I got a little scissor happy and I'll never forget the look on Matt's face when I showed him the scraggly remains of our once-beautiful plants. Whoops! (they grew back though..thankfully).

We had lettuce coming out of our ears at one point, so our neighbors got to reap the benefits too!

The fruits of our labor!


2.) Being outside!
Santa Barbara's incredible weather allows us to be outside all year long (we will miss this!!!). We definitely take advantage of this nice feature. Lately we've been doing a good amount of biking. Hiking is up there too as one of our favorites.

Tidepooling with the Harringtons!

Biking in the Santa Barbara wine country with Les & Steve....we
met a miniature horse along the way!

On a hike to the San Ysidro waterfall.

3.) Wedding Crashers!

OK so we've never really crashed any weddings since we've been invited to all the ones we've attended, but we've been to our fair share over the last few years, as several of our friends tied the knot. Here are some pics from 2 of the most recent:

Katie & Tim Blacquier's wedding in MA.

Angela & Tim Sipe's Wedding in PA

4.) TRAVELing

We've tried to explore as much of the beautiful California coast as possible before we leave. So far, we haven't made it north of San Francisco, but we've been lucky enough to have several repeat visits of our most favorite place on Earth....Big Sur, CA. Just last month, my family visited and we were so excited to share this magical place with them!

Wind-blown sisters in Big Sur:

We've also been abroad this year! Matt went to a conference in the Netherlands last spring, and we both traveled to Berlin in November.

I met up with UD buddy Kelly Lennon and we did a fun (frostbite!)
tour of the cool city of Berlin!

Well, this leads us to the big news.....it's only natural that I now tell you about our upcoming move......! This October, we will be moving to the country of Germany! That's right folks...we'll be saying goodbye to the laid-back sunny California days, and saying "Guten Tag" to the bustling city of Berlin! Matt has accepted a post-doc position there, which will set the stage for a whole new 1-2 year adventure abroad! We both could not be more excited for this incredible opportunity, and look forward to sharing it with you! (I PROMISE that the blog will be updated REGULARLY once we're there!!!)

So, for now I'm signing off with the hopes of updating this sooner than later. We'll be spending the summer in SB, and then taking a road trip across the country back east to spend time with our family.....I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on our whereabouts!

Bye for now.....Laura :)
p.s. If you subscribe to this blog, you will get updates automatically, since I'm not always good about letting people know it's been upadated...

Here we are, a few days after Turkey Day, and no updates since September! Sorry folks. I guess we have been a bit busy. Let me try and get you caught up...

Our latest adventures have mostly taken place on our new mode of transportation - our new bikes! Our longest trip has been 30 miles round-trip, from our digs here in Goleta all the way to beautiful downtown Santa Barbara (and back again)! Here's a pic from our journey:
We also attended the annual California Lemon Festival, which happens to be right in our hometown of Goleta. Lemon EVERYTHING you can think of, people. The lemon meringue pie was our favorite. We indulged in pie and fresh-squeezed lemonade and listened to some live music...fun! (p.s. More to follow on the beard....from Matt)



On October 28th we paid a visit to our long lost friend, Dave. Dave Matthews that is, and his friend Tim Reynolds. We had a spontaneous moment that Saturday morning, and after deciding that we WERE going to see Dave Matthews play at the SB bowl that night, we were successful in finding 2 tickets on Craigslist. Gotta love craigslist! Anyway, we met up with Brent, who I teach with, and had a blast!


Fast foward to the present....
Thanksgiving!!! Usually we are here in sunny California with our family back east each Thanksgiving. But not this year! My mom, dad, and brother Dave made the journey out here and spent Thanksgiving with us! It was so incredible to have them out here for 7 full days! We really made the most of our time together.....bike rides, beach, surfing, sightseeing, Hearst Castle, elephant seals, many dinners out, harbor, wharf, bowling, shopping, coastal drives, art walk....ahh the list goes on! Herb, Judy, and Dave even accompanied me and my lovely class on a field trip to the Sea Center today in downtown SB! We had many delicious meals (including a gourmet home-cooked Turkey-day dinner in our tiny kitchen!) and shared many laughs.

We did so much, and now have so many wonderful memories of this time together. It is always so much fun to share our experiences out here with the people we love so much. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing, loving family.
Thank you for everything Mom, Dad, and Dave! Les and Steve, we missed you so much....can't wiat to see you in a few short weeks!

Here are some pics from our incredible week together:

Until next time,
hugs and kisses,
Laura and Matt

So....this blog goes out to Lesley, who gave me the bright idea of a blog entry that is all about Seamus! Who is Seamus? some of you may be wondering. For those of you that have not had the pleasure of knowing Seamus, you have no idea what you're missing! Well it does help if you like birds, but this particular one is quite the catch. For starters, Seamus can talk! He can also head bob faster than anyone I know. He is our very first pet. We thought we were "settling" for a bird, since that's all our family student housing lease allows. But WOW we had no idea what we were in for! Seamus has a favorite toy that is appropriately named "Toy". It broke once due to too much playtime, so we patched it up and made two "Toy"s! Seamus is constantly learning new things to say. Let me try to list all of his current voacbulary words/phrases: Pretty birdie, Whatta you doin?, C'mon, Cute, Being cute, Being a cute birdie, Seamus, Seamie, I love you, and his latest hit, "Well....See you later!". I might be forgetting some. He can also do the baseball "charge" call thingy. Seamus started as a Valentine's Day gift from Matt in 2005. He has evolved into a little guy with a lot of spunk who provides daily entertainment. Matt, much to his own surprise, has completely fallen for him......so much that he looks at other birds on the street and goes, "Hey little guy!". It's quite hysterical. Anyone one that needs a "small caged animal" should definitely consider a Seamus. Warning....if you're like me, you might end up holding one-way conversations with him. But don't worry, it's perfectly fine to do that.
p.s. We also have a pet rat that is actually my classroom pet. She comes for weekend visits at our house, though. Recently she (who's name is Molly) decided that it would be a good idea to invite her other street rat friends over for night-time parties. Just last night they chewed through her bag of rat food. Great, now we're feeding the neighborhood rats. If only they'd clean up their rat poo after they were done. Let' s hope they like sticky traps :)