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.