A little over a week ago, Brant was in Santa Barbara attending a conference for work. The conference was to end on Saturday, just after lunchtime, and our plan was for the kids and I to meet up with Brant and spend the remainder of the afternoon and evening with him, before all of us headed back home. That was the
plan. The kicker is, that was never
my plan.
My husband has been in graduate school for as long as we have been married; 10 years. 5 of those years have been working on getting his PhD. As the internet knows by now, he finally submitted his 350 page document for review about 1 month ago!! This is a milestone for a number of reasons, but for sake of this blog post, I will keep it focused on this: as a couple, we have reached a new phase in our marriage, and that is Brant being done with school deadlines, exams, papers, research, and writing.
Upon reaching this phase, I knew that we were going to undergo an entirely new transition of intertwining our day-to-day lives in a different way than what we had grown accustomed to. I also knew that this was not going to be a seamless transition and it was imperative for us to come together as a couple, without any distractions, like, say, children, in turn giving us a chance to decompress slightly from the completion of this phase as we flow into the next.
So, instead of arriving at the end of his conference as a family, I came with only a suitcase and a smile, as he struggled to figure out what I had done with our children. :) After about 10 minutes, I finally let him know they were safe with his cousin's family in Pasadena, and we wouldn't be retrieving them until the following evening. Relaxation and contentment set in instantly and we happily commenced our 30 hour weekend away with zero plans, other than accommodations I had reserved. We set off for an amazing, spontaneous, adults-only time together, and it was nothing short of perfection.
Be prepared...there are a number of selfies I snapped on this trip. Now that you've been warned, enjoy. :)
We went for a wonderful walk along the beachfront and meandered over to an eclectic part of town to the Santa Barbara Winery. We enjoyed an amazing wine tasting experience, and although the place was hopping with people, we still managed to enjoy conversation and a good time in the relaxing, laid-back environment.
After our wine tasting, we went for a long walk along the pier, just as late afternoon was beginning to settle in.
 |
| Love him. So, so much. |
I reserved a cute room at the Chantico Inn and Suites in Ojai, where we stayed a few years ago as a family. Ojai is such a quaint, beautiful town, and it was great to be able to visit and explore it more, without kids. It is quite remarkable how much one can accomplish without children! ;)
 |
| A picture of the hotel, taken the following day, as our arrival had us checking in after the sun had set. |
 |
| Our room. |
 |
| I love the basin sinks and stained glass window - it was beautiful in the morning! |
On Sunday morning, we awoke to silence. No, seriously. There were no kids playing in the room, banging against the wall, or climbing into our bed at crazy-early hours. It was a.maz.ing. After our leisure breakfast and morning coffee (yes, we have become semi-regular coffee drinkers since Europe), we determined our plans for the day = to go with the flow and be spontaneous. First on the agenda? We went for a beautiful hike up in the Topa Topa Mountains.
It was glorious up there, the sun was beating down on us, and we had a view of the Ojai Valley that was spectacular. We found an overlook with a bench where we spent close to an hour just talking about life, plans, us. There wasn't a single hiker that passed us while we were sitting there, making the flow of uninterrupted conversation unbelievable. (That just never happens for us these days!)
 |
| This was at the start of the hike. The clouds in the distance? They managed to stay out of our way until we had completed our lunch a few hours later, and were making our way back home. We were so fortunate to not be ducking under cover for what was predicted to be a very stormy weekend. |
 |
| Starting to catch a view! |
 |
| The orange trees were in abundance all along the hike, and the fragrance was delicious! |
And now comes the over abundance of scenery shots and pictures of us. Why? Because that's what this trip was full of - scenery and us.
 |
| I liked the lone palm tree with the mountains as a dramatic backdrop. |
 |
| The colors and the sky were incredible. It was difficult to imagine a torrential downpour was only about an hour away. |
 |
| Relaxed and happy. |
 |
Isn't he handsome? And such a good sport...always with my camera in his face. :)
|
After our hike, we found lunch in town and meandered through a few more stores. We picked up a little token souvenir for both of the kids, which were big hits! And we stopped in at another winery for a single tasting of wine, while we listened to a live musician and watched the hailstorm move in outside. Upon finishing, we decided it was a good time to start heading for Pasadena. We still had a little over an hour to spend in Pasadena before it was time to pick up the kids, so we enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee from Amara Coffee and Chocolate, while the cold rain fell hard outside.
Our weekend getaway was short in minutes, but long and definitely savored in every passing moment. We made the most of the opportunity and came home refreshed, renewed and closer as a couple. It is a gift to do things like this in a marriage, and one that cannot be taken for granted. This is the extra boost we needed to push through to the official "finish line" of Brant's PhD degree. Bring it!!
