Merry Christmas!!!

We returned to Santa Barbara this morning to join mom and dad Mainguy for Christmas Day. We spent most of the day playing on our new Wii (golf is Francis' favorite) but we somehow managed to drag ourselves away to take the dogs out for a stroll on Miramar Beach. I'm so glad we did...it ended up being such a beautiful day!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas!!!

There are no words...

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

SF Weekend Getaway

Francis and I decided to go up to San Francisco for a few days. It had been a long time since we made a trip up there. We were lucky enough to be able to work from the SF office on Friday - it was right across the street from the old building I used to work in! I introduced Francis to dim sum at lunch (SOOO good), we did some holiday shopping in Union Square (went crazy at H&M), went to happy hour with a friend and met Rosana and Nader for dinner (Ti Couz)!

Here is the amazing tree in Union Square...

This tree is Macy’s gift to the city, an 85-foot California White Fir from the Carlton Tree Farm in Mount Shasta

And the famous wreaths at Macy's

View of the sunset on our drive home - near Pismo Beach

We miss the city - especially our favorite local hangouts - but we are so glad that we live in beautiful Santa Barbara!!!

Parade of Lights

Today was the 23nd anniversary celebration of the Santa Barbara Parade of Lights. (The theme this year was “23 Skidoo” -- no one really knows exactly where that phrase came from, but it was very popular during the 1920's.)

Tonight was just chilly enough to enjoy a Mean Tai from Longboard's ;)


I'm so glad we live in a place where we have to wear jackets, hats in scarves in 55 degree weather!

Here are a couple of video's of the boats coming back into the Harbor and of the fireworks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am Thankful for

A healthy family...

A family that loves me....

For not being a turkey!


And...of course, for Black Friday shopping!!!

The Tea Fire

Santa Barbara is, once again, fighting another fire. The Tea Fire started yesterday evening and burned 100 homes overnight. The winds were gusting up to 70mph but have since calmed down to 5mph - hopefully they keep calm. The temperature today is expected to reach record breaking highs (90 degrees!) ... the firefighters have their work cut out for them.

Here is a picture taken from the UCSB campus:And from downtown:

Thankfully, we have not been put under an evacuation warning so our neighborhood is safe for the time being.

UPDATE: The fire is under control and most of the mandatory evacuations have been lifted. Click here to see more pictures of the fire's progression.

Time For Change!!!

Babysitting & Mexican Trains

We've been busy this past week with Jenn, Mark and Avery in town! Jenn and Mark were here celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary (I can't believe it's been 9 years)! We went to Opal to celebrate ...



... and spent the rest of their time here walking up and down State Street, relaxing and staying in playing Mexican Train Dominoes - my new favorite game despite Mark and Jenn conquering each game. :)

Sunday we went to Lake Casitas for Jenn and Mark's Cycle Cross Race - I was in charge of the easiest babysitting job while they competed.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

We hope you all have a GREAT Halloween!!!

The cutest little bumble bee (a.k.a. Avery!)

The Battle Wedding

Francis' cousin, Sarah, got married this weekend! The ceremony was held at one of my favorite parks - Elings Park. It sits on 230-acres boasting incredible views of the city and ocean. Maya likes to go hiking here...there are lots of squirrels for her to chase.

The view from where the ceremony took place was amazing...

It got really cold that evening but I was able to deal with it as long as I had the table cloth wrapped around my legs. :)

Here are a couple pictures of me and Francis...

Good Times in San Diego

We spent Saturday in San Diego. Trevor and Erica were here all the way from South Carolina so we drove down to spend some time with them. We were there only for a day, which was entirely way too short, but we definitely made the most of it while we were there.

Here's the view of Downtown from our room.

And here is the view of the Bridge to Coronado from the rooftop pool.

Poolside cocktails, great tapas at dinner (salt, anyone?) and amazing views from the top of the hotel bar...we couldn't have asked for a more fun weekend!!!

The Mr's

The Mrs

Avocado Festival

I can't believe it's already October! We saw the first rain of the season on Saturday but Sunday was breezy and sunny. I love this weather!!! And it looks like it's going to continue for the next few weeks...statistics show that October is one of the sunniest months of the year with the least amount of rainfall. :)

The California Avocado Festival was held October 3-5th and is the South Coast's largest free festival. I just recently found out that Santa Barbara County is the third largest avocado producer in North America. Alysa and I went to check it out today and had a blast.

Here we are eating CORN at the AVOCADO Festival (haha).

Yard Sale

We had a yard sale yesterday! I didn't sell as much as I had hoped but Olita and I had fun trying to get people to stop by.

The Happiest Place on Earth

We went to Disneyland this weekend to celebrate Francis' birthday. This was the first time going to an amusement park together and it was a blast! It was the slowest weekend of the year -I guess because it's the weekend after Labor Day and school is back in session. The most time we spent waiting in line for a ride was only 15 minutes!

Disneyland by day...

... and by night.

We bought the "Park Hopper" ticket and had access to both Disneyland and the new California Adventure park. They had the best ride there - the Tower of Terror. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to be completely freaked out. Here is a picture of the Tower of Terror in the background and a pic of us on the ride (I'm the one turning my face away - I was way too scared to look).

Happy 33rd Birthday, Francis!!!

Wow....it feels like we were just celebrating the big 2-5 together, now he's already 33!

CHEERS!!!

Breakfast at the Boathouse

We went to the Boathouse Restaurant for breakfast this morning before the Mainguy's left.

Check out the view... this one is hard to beat...

By the way, the food was great! I would definitely recommend the Corned Beef Hash :)

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

Doggy On Wheels

Anya, my parent's boxer, has MS and has lost a lot of control of her hind legs. But she has a new set of wheels to help her out!


We took the dogs to Hendry's Beach this morning to get some exercise. Here is a video of Maya getting pummeled by a wave and of Anya running around in her cart:

Maya's New Best Friend

Maya LOOOOOVES Vicky's new kitty!

SIXTY!!!!

Vicki turned 60 on August 23rd!!! Yes, she was born in 1948 - the same year that the Land Rover was unveiled and that the first color newsreel was shown. Happy Birthday, Vickster!

Here we are celebrating at Sorella's Ristorante:

Here are my cute sister in law's- Shannon and Natalie (they are both single...hehe)!

Handicapped

This past Saturday was Becky's (Francis' cousin) wedding. It was here in Santa Barbara, at the La Cumbre Country Club. For once we didn't have to travel!

The best, and only, picture I took of the night was this one of Francis and Nathan. Poor Nathan...he somehow managed to land on his feet when he fell 30 feet off a roof.

These guys have known each other since their pre-school days. It might explain a lot ;)

Flashback

This picture was taken at Jenn's 31st birthday party over the 4th of July weekend. Serious flashback!


From left to right...Kim H, Me, Jenn and Julie S. We had not seen Kim since high school graduation!!!

Fiesta Parade

I never realized until now that the Parade (The Fiesta Historical Parade) is one of the largest equestrian parades in the United States. I went for the first time this Friday- here are some pictures then and from today.

THEN

NOW

Hiking San Ysidro Trail

My last day at my current company was this past Wednesday! WOO HOO!I am taking a few extra days to relax before starting my new job on Monday :)

On Wednesday afternoon, I went on a hike with Maya. We went on the San Ysidro Trail in Montecito. This is one of my favorite hikes because of the 60 foot waterfall at the end...unfortunately, I did not have enough motivation to go all the way.

. We went half way and turned around. Despite all the bugs, it was still really beautiful.