A Very Santa Barbara Weekend

While I love adventuring and traveling to new places, there's something special about getting to spend an entire weekend right here in Santa Barbara. Especially when the weather is positively gorgeous. 

Kicked off flexday Friday with a surf lesson; talk about a wonderful way to dive into weekend mode. Tabitha found a deal on Living Social for a private lesson for 2, and I jumped right on board with that one. Our instructor, Vanessa Rivers, was fabulous. {And not just because she blogs}. Highly recommend her if you're ever in the area and want to get some surfing in!

I had surfed a bit growing up, but hadn't been in probably a decade. Sidenote: it's slightly disturbing that I can honestly use the time frame of a "decade" now. It came back to me pretty well, and it was so refreshing to be out in the water on such a beautiful day. 

Right as we were paddling in after our lesson, a huuuge sea lion popped up next to us. Pretty spectacular ending to our time in the ocean. 

Enjoyed another Santa Barbara favorite on Saturday. Kali snapchatted me a picture of this fantastic contraption with the caption "Want to do this today?" The benefit to having no Saturday day plans? The answer: "yes!!"

We had such a blast biking past the gorgeous beach. Our experience was complete with a dolphin sighting, channeling our inner "woo!" girls any time we passed other bikers, and singing along to "Let It Go," with corresponding dance moves. 

Though, if we're snapchat friends, you already know most of this because I blew up your feed.

#sorrynotsorry

Celebrated that beautiful girl in the middle's birthday on Saturday night, and enjoyed prooobably the most delicious potluck I've had. At least top 10 for sure. 

And since we're on the topic of delicious food, this was my dinner on Sunday. 

After that delicious sushi feast, ended the weekend finally seeing Heaven Is For Real with some of my favorite lady friends. 

Tried popcorn and tapatio for the first time, which I'm still slightly dumbfounded as to who came up with that idea and how it got circulated to every movie theater ever. I can definitely say I'm a fan of the combo! But I can also say that I'll most certainly go a little lighter on the tapatio next time. Pretty sure your pop corn isn't supposed to be drenched, but then again, I'm a newb at this thing so what do I know?

Needless to say, it was a pretty phenomenal Santa Barbara weekend. Already looking forward to the next one. 

Camping

Any other retired Indian Princesses out there? I have a solid 5 years worth of daddy-daughter-campout memories. Sometime I'll have to bust out some pictures. You bet I was looking fierce after a weekend with no moms around to force me to brush my hair.

I got to have a serious blast from the past when I joined my dad & sister's tribe at this year's family camp. I had already planned on visiting this weekend, so my mom and I drove up to Dos Picos on Saturday, which pretty much felt like driving straight into the 1990s for me. 

It was so great reliving my Indian Princess days, complete with bead trading, charades playing, and what every camp out needs: smores. 

Though, this camping experience had one thing that none of my others have had before. A recent purchase that helped me cross something off of my 2014 Bucket List.

I got me a good camera! This one to be exact. And even though I had no idea what I was doing, I had a blast testing it out. 

Can't really go wrong when you've got super cute models and gorgeous scenery, can you?

Glad the dads let us crash their camp out!

It was most definitely a successful family weekend. 

How was your weekend?

What Weekends Were Made For

This weekend I:

-hiked

-mini golfed

-bumper car'ed

-water balloon tossed

-shot a bb gun

-potlucked with one amazing church family

Talk about a seriously fantastic weekend. 

{I swear I really am a grown up.} 

Weekend Rundown {Girl On Fire Race Review}

Hellooo! After an unplanned week off blogging, I'm back and extra motivated by a brand new makeover! The wonderful and amazing Kerrie Williams designed this look, and I am so happy with how it turned out. Would love to hear what you think! Highly recommend working with Kerrie if you're ever in the business of a fresh new face for your blog. 

How was your weekend? Hope it was packed with good things like mine was. This girl came to visit me, and together we ran the Girl On Fire 10K on Saturday morning. It was the perfect morning for a race along the beach. 

The course was just gorgeous, much like this one. It was almost 100% flat {which I loved}, and almost 100% directly next to the beach {which I also loved.}

There was both a 5K and a 10K option, which was great for runners of all levels. One of my favorite sites was passing an elderly person pushing another elderly person in a wheelchair along the 5K course. So darn sweet!

One thing I liked about this race in comparison to the much similar She Is Beautiful race was that they allowed men to run. So if you're a guy and feel like being a Guy On Fire, come join next year!

This was such a great way to kick off our weekend together. Not to mention celebrate the fact that less than 2 years ago, neither of us could run a 10K. And celebrate we did! 

With this post-race grub:

{from Tupelo Junction}

With a reunion of roomies past in the funk zone:

In case you're wondering, yupp, still rocking #adventuresofsoberamy. :) {Thank you, Jesus!}

And we celebrated with an evening on the couch with Friends & Dominos delivery. 

No pictures of that one, but plenty of SnapChats. 

It was such a beautiful Santa Barbara weekend! Hope yours was a great one, too!

Lady Friends

Here come's another Monday! Hope your weekend was a great one. Mine definitely was. One of the ones that I walk out of just simply praising the Lord for this beautiful life He's blessed me with. 

I was always a girl who wanted a boyfriend, who didn't feel complete without a second half. Or rather, who didn't feel complete without a second half to fill her mind with reassurance and affirmation. 

I'm so thankful for how things played out in my life. I'm so thankful that I'm 24 years old and still 100% single. I never would have imagined feeling so happy, fulfilled, and complete without a relationship. 

You know why that is, though? I'm about to gush on the seriously amazing lady friends in my life. But as amazing as they are, they aren't the reason that my life is fulfilled. I went through a season of looking to my friends for that, and it wasn't any different than turning to a relationship. Just put a heck of a lot more pressure on my friendships. 

The reason is because that's just who our God is. He truly, truly is all-sufficient. He truly can satisfy every single craving or need in our little human hearts. He really does fulfill our ever desire. Sometimes, we just can't realize that because our hands are busy grasping things we can find down here. Like relationships. Or friendships. 

Having always been a girl who was terrified of being alone, I am so thankful that the Lord radically restored my heart to see that no relationship can fill me like He can. It allows me to truly enjoy singleness, and all of the blessings that come with it. 

Like these seriously amazing lady friends that I was talking about. 

Saturday was filled with time with these incredible women that I am blessed to call friends. A group of us took a morning hike, trekked up to the top of a workout-of-a-mountain, and enjoyed the gorgeous view of Inspiration Point. 

After a good shower and some party prepping, we opened our doors to a dozen+ of our gorgeous lady pals to enjoy a "We Love You Too Much To Only Celebrate Once" Post-Valentine's Party. 

When we were looking for places back in the holiday season, we would simply dream of a perfect house. One of the main dreams we had was to have a place where we could entertain and host others. This has been the third big event we've hosted in less than 2 months of living here, and each time our living room and kitchen are packed to a brim, I can't help but praise the Lord for how perfectly He brought all this together. 

I looked around at all of those women in that house, and felt thankful for each one. Some I've known longer than others, and some I may know more about. Some I may see weekly, and others not as much. But I am thankful for each one. 

I'm walking into this new work week full from a weekend packed with friends, fellowship and fun. I hope your weekend was packed with all sorts of good stuff, too!

Weekend Rundown!

This weekend was just the kind that's needed to be the pb&j between two slices of busy work week. A whoole lot of peanut butter, and enough jelly to have some fruity flavor. And by that, I mean, a whoole lot of good time with friends, and enough relaxation to be refueled for a manic Monday. 

The weekend consisted of: 

~A stop by Lorna Jane to visit my favorite little LJ model employee.~

A selfie photo shoot was most definitely necessary. If you haven't tried their work out clothes, I hiiighly recommend them. Yes, they're a bit pricey, but they are amazing. Incredible quality, gorgeous color, and they make you feel great while you pump that iron. 

And no, they didn't pay me to say that. I just really, really love their clothes. 

~A Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony party.~

Totally rep'ed both Uganda and America. Even though Uganda wasn't participating. {minor detail}

~A trip to the Getty Museum.~

A group of us women from church got together to road trip it down to LA for the day. It was so fun, I'm a big fan of mini-road trips. Really thankful to have such a lovely community of Spirit-filled women!

There aren't words that could capture the power in that painting. Or rather, the power in the Man that's in it. 

Sorry for the picture overload, but totally warranted, right? Such a beautiful place. 

~A pit stop for Yogurtland.~

Best decision ever.

~An afternoon full of fellowship.~

After an amazing message at church, parked myself in coffee shop central for the rest of the day. First, it was Panera with my roommates + one for an afternoon of finishing up our Breaking Free Beth Moore study homework. This is an incredible study. Just one week in, and already feeling that God has some serious freedom to deliver. 

Last stop was at Coffee Bean for a meet up with a group of us going through Tim Keller's The Meaning of Marriage. This one's also incredible, for single and married people alike. If you want to have some serious Biblical truth poured into you about God's design for marriage, pick up a copy stat. 

***

Hope your weekend was equally wonderful! Never long enough, are they?