Stay Sane, Take a Vacation.

Or: Obama in a Coffee.

I was talking to a good friend on the drive back from Santa Barbara this afternoon, catching up, and when I started to discuss school, he told me I sounded exhausted. Maybe it's because I was an hour into a drive in the afternoon and who isn't exhausted with southern California driving? But more likely, it's because when I talk about school, I sound exhausted, whether I actually feel that worn out at the moment or not. The work to come overwhelms me and sometimes shows in my voice.

The point is: We all sometimes need a vacation. Though I sounded exhausted, I am in fact feeling pretty rested and ready for the next 2 crazy months while I study hard and take Boards. I'm glad I took this 4-day weekend.

Here's a couple highlights:

1. Saturday breakfast: Backyard Bowls.
Boyfriend and I used to go out to breakfast lots of places - then I became a vegan and started cramping his style. By nature of the standard recipes for lots of breakfast foods, I pretty much can only eat oatmeal and fruit at most mainstream restaurants, and some have it already made with dairy milk, so it's a challenge.

Enter: Backyard Bowls. They have breakfast bowls, smoothies, and Acai bowls, and they make their own plant milks and source locally.

Saturday I had the Hot Oatmeal with Blueberries and Agave, Boyfriend went for the same but with Strawberries and Brown Sugar. I've also had the Hot Quinoa, which was good, but I just really love oatmeal.

Creamy steel-cut deliciousness with nuts and raisins. 

2. We checked out a new coffee shop on upper State Street called Vices and Spices. [Check it out here.]

It was rather tiny, full of interesting jewelry, and completely hopping with people. There were also herbs and teas both available by weight, as well as a full selection of coffee and tea drinks. Boyfriend got a Decaf English Breakfast Tea Latte. I didn't try it because he chose regular milk, but he said it was great. 

I also found a perfume I loved - Tokyo Milk No. 12, Gin and Rosewater. I didn't buy it, but I may add it to my post-Boards celebration shopping wishlist. I just now decided to make said list. Yes, this will be the first item. 

The best part? They had a lot of pretty standard coffees, but wait, what's that on the left?

Obama! Kenya, Indonesia and Hawaiian. 

I thought it was pretty funny.

Seeing miss Kelsey Quinlan was another high point in my weekend. I wish she didn't live so far away, but she's visiting Santa Barbara and I feel very blessed have been able to be there at the same time. 

Workout highlight: 12.5 miles this morning with Boyfriend. Well, sort of with Boyfriend. He runs much faster and I don't like it when he goes my pace because I feel like I'm holding him back, so he'll run ahead and then wait a bit for me; it's like we visit each other intermittently while we run. Anyway, 12.5 miles covers a rather large amount of Santa Barbara, you forget it's not really that big. We went from Montecito up to the Mission and up State a bit more, then back down all of De La Vina for a jog by the Ocean, Bird Refuge and home. My legs were really tired but it was gorgeous.

There was also some very fun cooking experiments done this weekend, but I'll have to put it in another post as there are studies calling me just now. 

So coming up: 

An easy variation on Veganomicon Potato Enchiladas

Post Punk Kitchen Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles. 

I hope you all had good weekends and that no matter what you feel ready for the new week.