A beautiful weekend.

Once a year I get together with my best gal pals from college.

We went to a small liberal arts college in the hills of Santa Barbara called Westmont.

The year we graduated (I won't tell you the year since I have just recently realized that I am old.), we went away to a friends parents cabin in Big Bear.

And so started the tradition of meeting once a year and going away together.

This year we were blessed to be able to get away to my roommates parents vacation home in Cambria, on the Pacific Ocean in central California.  What a gift this place is!  They originally bought the property to build a Christian retreat center, but once they realized the cost and hoops that they would have to go through to build anything that close to the ocean they remodeled the existing home and then set out to sell it.

However, years later, no one has bought it and it has now become a retreat for their family and friends and will soon be their full time home.

From a distance, the wild flowers are too pretty to be ignored!

We got there late Friday night and this is what I woke up to Saturday morning...

The view was amazing, and it was such a beautiful weekend.  I guess I didn't need to pack 3 jackets and boots.  We could have laid out on the beach if we wanted to, it was that warm.

We did a little shopping in town...

I could have nixed the denim jacket, but once a girl has an outfit all planned out you gotta just go with it.

We went into this local shop that has the most beautiful beachy home decor.

If you are ever in Cambria, you HAVE to visit Home Arts!  And they might be carrying some YeLLoWMeDaiSY goodies soon.  It's in the works.  So fun!

A few of us also brought home some goodies for our kiddos in the form of tadpoles from the pond.

We loaded up our Red Solo cups (They should add a verse to the song about how they are excellent critter carriers.) with the little squirmy guys and brought them home.  In 6-8 weeks we should have some fun little bright green hoppers that my kids will be promptly instructed to take to the pond behind our house and let go (Tadpoles in a cup, I can handle.  Jumping frogs, not so much.).

This is the kitchen where we spent most of our time.  Mostly we sat on the built in couch behind these lovely ladies.  It overlooks the ocean and was very peaceful.

We also did a little beach exploring and collected rocks and moonstones to bring home to our kiddos.  (My roommate, Alison, got to introduce us to her new baby boy, Rennes, which was so fun!)

Al's dad was there to take a photo of all the girls.  Kinda far away, but he was being a trooper with all our camera phones and such.

It was a fun weekend reconnecting with the girls who know me best.

And I also got to stop off in Solvang to visit my sis-in-law and nieces who have recently moved there (check out the super cute Inn where Angie works, The Hamlet Inn. )

Aebleskivers with Lucy and Ruby.  LOVE!

Anyway, it was a beautiful weekend to get away.  And now it is back to the daily grind.

Hope you all had a great weekend and were able to rest and relax (Honestly though, with little kids "rest" and "relax" just doesn't happen.  Oh well.).

Happy Tuesday!