Santa Barbara loving...
This weekend I had a chance to go home for the first time since I left in mid-August. Midterms had just ended, I didn’t have any homework or big projects coming up, and it was the perfect chance to invite a few of my friends to go with me for a weekend in Santa Barbara.
We headed out right after Obama spoke on campus (for more, check out blogs from Will, Kristen, and Maria) and made it to my house by about 5:30. That night we checked out the college group at one of my favorite churches in the area, Reality Carpinteria. Those students have so much energy and it was really fun to see what’s on their hearts for the rest of the semester. We got home just in time to see my mom pull a freshly baked pumpkin pie out of the oven. Talk about getting spoiled! We paired the pie with some spiced hot apple cider and fell asleep watching The Blind Side.
The next day, after sleeping in (oh the delights of sleeping in) and enjoying a delicious pancake breakfast, we headed to a local pumpkin patch. What a hoot. I don’t think I had been there since we used to take class trips there in elementary school. It was fun seeing the familiar scarecrows and funny shaped pumpkins. We bested the corn maze (potentially relying on some 7-year-old friends we made in order to get through), took a classic hayride, and finally chose our perfect pumpkins. For lunch we hit up my favorite local burrito spot, Freeb!rds, and walked off the enormous meal with a walk along the beach. The clouds, which had been putting a damper on things for the past week or so, took a break for a bit and made for a truly beautiful day. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, eating more delicious home-cooked food, and hanging out with each other, including two more friends who showed up that night.
Although I love living at USC, it’s always nice to take some time to get out of the city, spend quality time relaxing with friends, and enjoy getting totally spoiled. Hopefully we’ll make the time to do another trip like this Spring semester!
