A weekend with John and Wendy

This weekend has been full of adventures and lots of fun.

A couple of weeks ago John and myself planned to catch up in Santa Barbara on the weekend after his birthday, take some photos and explore California. I met John and Wendy in an unlikely manner, as the only three people under the age of 60 partaking in the CSU Summer Arts Photography Program that I attended in 2012. We haven't seen each other in just under two years and therefore my trip to the US has been the perfect time to get together. As this week progressed everything fit together perfectly, Wendy had the weekend off, parties were being planned throughout IV and we all were excited to get our creative juices flowing.

After a failed attempt to complete my International Politics assignment on Thursday and John getting very lost in the UCSB campus, he finally arrived at Manzanita. It was great to see each other and share some stories from the last few weeks, including some major success with John's startup company in San Jose. We trooped off to get some drinks for a celebration at Viv's and get some sleep before a big day ahead in Goleta.

Resting our weary heads from a night out with the gang we went off to get some Vietnamese food and explore downtown Goleta on Friday. It was then time to get some provisions for potluck and wait for Wendy to arrive.

The potluck itself went off without a hitch and our vegan vegetable skewers (and not so vegan, brussel sprout and bacon skewers) were a favourite! Everyone brought amazing vegan and non vegan dishes to suit everyones taste and all the exchange students were able to compare tales from the week prior. Wendy arrived just as we cracked open the wine and after lots of conversing and reminiscing she was able to meet our motley crew of EAP friends.

(Potluck dessert deliciousness)

The catching up hit high gear on Saturday as we drove up to San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach to explore. The drive was beautiful and the town even nicer! SLO is another quintessential college town with lots of cute shops and suburbia. We got into town just in time for lunch at McLintock's and then ventured through the streets doing some window shopping before heading to Pismo. On our way out of the town we also saw a group of Cal Poly students staging a quasi-superhero-wartime-reenactment battle in the park haha.
Only in California.

(The infamous Gum Wall in SLO) 

Pismo was the perfect pitstop on the way back to campus and we finally got the chance to take some photos.

Our final night together was then surprisingly relaxed. We had planned to head over and party at the excursion clubhouse however the party was shutdown while we were heading over to join the festivities! Plan B was a couple of drinks and snacks while watching a movie and hanging out. It was a wonderful way to finish the trip together and while I'm tired and sore today it was a fantastic opportunity to meet again.

Lets hope the next two years are just as wonderful as the last.

Nina

Living the High Life

This week has been filled with some awesome times and wonderful events as we welcome a new beautiful bundle of joy into the Guerrieri/Cutter family! The gorgeous baby pictured below is my new niece Charlotte Grace Guerrieri, born 13th February 2014 at 12.05pm. The family is doing very well and Clark and Jessica are transitioning into the parent role amazingly, as expected. 

Apart from the wonderful new addition, UCSB has been keeping me busy. This week lots of assessment was due and it will only continue to rise in the following weeks. However it is always important to take a break from the study so on Saturday morning I set out with Excursion Club to Red Rock reserve in the Santa Barbara mountains to kick back.

Unfortunately it was quite an overcast day so I didn't brave the water however Sunday was glorious blue skies, a perfect day to go to the beach. 

Instead of heading to Carillo for brunch on Sunday I trooped over to 67 Sabado to cook up a small feast with Manny, Wyatt and some of their friends. Brunch consisted of freshly brewed coffee, mimosas, garden scramble, roast potatoes, bacon and pancakes! Once our bellies were full I borrowed Deanna's bike to head back to Manzanita and get ready for a beach day. This was the first time I had tried riding a bike in about 5 years so after a near miss with a parked car and some braking issues I was ready and rearing to go. I wish I had captured the motley crew as we rode down to Sands beach, Wyatt carrying an inflated raft, Marcous with a surfboard and Manny with two hoola-hoops. Multi-tasking at its finest.

Wyatt and Manny had worked an elaborate wedding in Montecito the night before and passed on some birthday flowers for my mum to bring home too.

After getting back from the beach day I was famished, so myself, Bobby, Christian and Tim drove out to Cold Springs Tavern for dinner in Bobby's new convertible. The drive was insanely beautiful as we wound up through the mountains with the sun setting over Santa Barbara and Goleta on a crystal clear night. The colours of the sky over the water were incredible shades of orange, pink and purple and in true Bobby fashion the drive was not complete without 70s classic disco. Dinner was delicious and the tavern itself looked like something out of an old Californian western movie cross with something from the Hobbit.

Today has been a relaxing day to finish off the long weekend. Waffles were the only answer to wake us up after a late start and if we weren't full enough we then went to get McConnell's downtown and took a drive up through the Santa Barbara hills to pick out some dream homes. 

Although I was disappointed I didn't make it to San Francisco this weekend I couldn't have asked for a better time. 

Nina

ps. Kaitlyn played her final home game for rugby this weekend against UCSD and they won 19-7! The school rivalry is high-stakes so it was a fantastic win and Kaitlyn got to play for about 20mins. 

Steady Study Lull

The past week at UCSB has been littered with piles of books and handwritten pages.

As the semester progresses the continuous workload supplied by the Anthropology and Poly Sci departments have kept me on my toes. The amount of free time during the week enables me to get most of the required reading done on time however with lots of assessment coming up it will be a busy weekend. Whilst a number of girls head off to San Francisco for an adventure I will be saving my pennies and grades with a few local trips around SB.

The weekend just been has been wonderful though as Alice and my Dad drove down to visit me in Santa Barbara. We managed to fit in a number of fun things over the weekend and lots of good food. Highlights of the weekend include a trip to Ohaj have lunch with Dori and Marty and explore the town. We also had a quick trip to Montecito, found some delicious enchiladas and finally got the chance to watch the Intouchables. I'm going to suffer without Netflix when I get home!

On Saturday we spent a lot of time down of State St getting some provisions and some lunch before exploring the old Santa Barbara Mission.

In other news I managed to finally acquire a permanent ATM card for my bank account, bought some new clothes to keep me going as the weather gets cooler again and hopefully scraped through with my postal vote for the election (Fingers crossed they don't hold me up when I try to come home!).

Nina

Midterms and Mountains

It seems like this hiking caper is becoming a weekly event.

Yesterday I wrenched myself out of bed to head over to Manny and Wyatt's and drive up to Lizard's Mouth for a mini adventure. Lizard's Mouth is a hiking (boulder climbing) location about a 20min from IV, overlooking the magnificent coastline stretching from Goleta to Montecito. After getting pretty lost and trying to climb some rock formations we drove down to The Cottage Tavern to grab a bite to eat. The tavern is one of the oldest in California and is known for eccentric musical performances and the best tri-tip sandwiches in the area. As expected the sandwiches were delicious and whilst freezing out butts off it made the trip well worth it.

(Pictured: Me, Wyatt and Manny)

Once David, Manny, Wyatt and I got back to IV I had a well earned afternoon nap, early dinner and got ready to head out to one of the international houses. The evenings events were incredibly fun with three hours of pre gaming and a potluck dinner to share. Nadia and Lisa are attempting to try Veganism for a week so the spread was delicious but also super eco and animal friendly.

Previous events of this week unfolded slowly with a few foggy days on campus and a midterm for my International Political Economy course. The midterm went well but was a new experience being crammed in to a lecture hall with two basketball jocks next to me, chewing gum like it would save their grades. I'm lucky to have gotten to know Mani as a friend in the course as study buddies make all the difference.

Apart from some preemptive study and an assignment session its been another week of amazing sunsets, yoga and eating american cuisine. PS. Here are some really sweet photos from Nadia's camera when we went on the Montecito hike last week.

Nina