As much as I love working in the Valley, taking a day off to work in another territory is always a treat. I've noticed that the SF Valley, next to the Los Angeles Metro area, has some of the most difficult personalities to work with. This thus makes my life not only interesting, but very, very stressful and in turn very draining.
Despite all the stress, I LOOOOOOOOVE my job and I especially love it because it's uniquely a job where there are so many people like me doing the same job I do all over the world and that simple yet wonderful thing about my work allows me to perform the same exact role in a different location for a day if someone is willing to swap with me.
That is exactly what I got to do today and it couldn't have come at a better time! It was so great to get away from the craziness of the Valley without taking a day off work and still enjoy the beautiful coastal views of Southern California, work with nice people, take an hour for myself having lunch and roaming the streets of quaint little downtown Santa Barbara, then again enjoy the beautiful ocean view as I made my way back home.
I got to have a little fun while on my getaway work trip thanks to my new iPhone 4S that I finally succumbed to purchasing. I still kind of miss my Droid for work and the google maps app, but for personal purposes (ie. taking pictures with the bomb iPhone camera to photo archive my adventures and finds) it's amazing! It was great timing in terms of getting the phone because I was able to use it today and amuse myself as I spent a fun day exploring Santa Barbara and recording the days good memories with some photos. I have to admit that it did feel strange at first, since the only other times I've gone to Santa Barbara were with Dave, but I quickly got over it and had a blast! Here is a pictures timeline of my day...
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| The coastal drive up to Santa Barbara on the 101 N freeway was beautiful. It really made me thankful of the fact that I get to enjoy this with such ease of access. |
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| After finishing up my work at the hospital in Santa Barbara, I drove down to downtown State Street and enjoyed the picturesquely quaint street with all it's restaurants and cute shops. |
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| Ever since the first time I came here with Dave on our first day trip getaway while getting acquainted with one another, I have been itching to come back here and eat their lunch menu. To my dismay, it was closed till dinner time. |
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| So I ended up at this Danish bakery/restaurant, where I sat by a window enjoying the warm sun coming through the glass panes and people watching while I had filled my belly to satisfaction. |
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They had a really delicious chicken sandwich which I thoroughly enjoyed all by my independent self!
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| Then I went across the street to get some good and strong coffee from some roasters from up north called Verve. Everyone on Yelp was raving about it so I had to go and check it out myself just to see if the reviewers really did know what they were talking about-- I'm a skeptic when it comes to people and their reviews of good coffee. What a delicious find! Their coffee was just perfectly roasted and toasty without the aftertastes of being sour or burnt. |
Although I had to leave Santa Barbara and my mini adventure-day to come back home to attend a 4-hour long working dinner meeting, I felt and still feel pretty content and destressed all thanks to my few hours of fun exploring SB.
Definitely I will be planning another day in the future to explore all the shops along State Street... hopefully with some friends next time!
