Out on the Town

Two weekends ago, I got together with my friend Sam, who I hadn't seen since high school. Turns out she lives here! Since she's been here a while longer than myself, she showed me some of the cooler things downtown.

I used this new found information this weekend, when DS and I went downtown for a nice lunch for Valentine's Day. We ate at Aldo's, an Italian place, where I had spinach ravioli with shrimp and tomatoes, and he had blackened yellowtail with a mango chutney sauce. it. was. delicious. After that, we walked down to Andersen's, which makes the most delicious desserts. I will love Sam until the day she dies for showing me that place. The butter ring sitting on my counter right now is like a little slice of heaven.
A block over from the bakery is the courthouse. It was built in 1926, and is just gorgeous. By law, it is the tallest building in Santa Barbara (except the Granada Theater is taller... but whatever), which makes going up in the tower a great place to view the city.

The grounds are gorgeous, and the interior is filled with exquisite tile work. They have a lot of weddings there, which sounds funny, getting married at the courthouse, but it's obvious why someone would want to once you visit.

As for presents, we did that on Friday. I got him a fancy George Foreman grill, because he's been lamenting our lack of access to one now that we don't live in a mega-complex. It's not quite the same, but it's the best I could do without breaking fire codes.

He got me some computer games, and a 2 lb box of See's chocolates. *drool* So.. you can imagine what I spent the weekend doing. He spent the weekend making me delicious grilled chicken and hamburgers, and the rain let up enough for him to climb this morning. We are both very happy!