Spring Fashion
We Are Saying Bye To You All, But Not Really.
Remember to head over to goodnewssantabarbara.com, to sign up for our new website. We will be obsolete on this site as soon as the renovation is complete on our first baby, goodnewssantabarbara.com
we will start the giveaways sometime in April and we don’t want anyone to miss the fun!
Thanks for all your support thus far.
Hugs xo
Weekend Shenanigans
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, or just a wonderful Sunday. We had a fun-filled weekend. Lots and lots of eating. On Friday we dyed eggs and ate pizza, Saturday we baked cupcakes, and Sunday we tried to go on a morning hike, but the rain decided to bless us with its presence, so instead we met friends for brunch. I made a big, yummy Easter feast for dinner, for the hubby and I. Now time to get back to the healthy eating and cutting out the sweets. I’ve been doing so well, but caved this past weekend. It’s ok, life isn’t fun unless you treat yourself to treats. Ha!
Oh yeah, Happy April Fool’s Day!!!
Excuse the hair and attire, it was a super casual day.
Homemade cupcakes from scratch.
My new cake stand the husband gave me for Easter. Love!
What We Do
The husband and I love shopping for our produce and veggies at our local farmer’s market. In Santa Barbara we have them on Tuesday and Saturday. It really is the best place to get all of your fruits and veggies. Everything is grown locally and much of it is organic. We try to eat fairly healthy in our household, not that it always works that way, but we give it a good effort. So go grab some local produce and chow down.
And support your local farms!
Curiously Cacao
Cacao bean trees grow on tropical rain forest plantations in South America. The trees grow pods, (cacao pods) on them after about 2-3 years. Some trees produce pods year round. If left on the tree too long, the pods turn black. (bad). Each pod contains 20-70 beans (seeds). The cacao bean rest in a delicious cream-colored, acidic, aromatic pulp, which aids the fermentation process. This makes the process of making chocolate possible. When these pods are broken open you want to use only the white seeds and nothing else. Unfortunately most chocolate companies use all of the seeds, good and bad, to save money. But, what these companies don’t tell you is that the other seeds used are moldy. So essentially you are eating chocolate made with moldy cacao seeds.
When the husband and I decided to go on this venture, to learn more about chocolate, we visited Chocolate Maya. Maya Schoop-Rutten, owner and operator of Chocolate Maya, gave us a great overview of what “real” chocolate is. She was so informative and educated about all of the ins and outs of making “good’ chocolate. Quality chocolate, made from the best cacao nibs is what you want to ingest, not your everyday chocolate bar. Sorry folks.
So, next time you want to indulge in a piece of chocolate think twice. Unless you have purchased it from the best, Chocolate Maya.
15 West Gutierrez Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Currently Noshing…
I’m starting a new weekly series of our current favorite foods in our household, that we are noshing on. (eating almost greedily). Hope you enjoy and always feel free to share what your family eats.
This week happens to be these…
Mandarin Oranges! Easy to peel, no seeds, and the PERFECT sweetness. 
Green Spring Smoothie
We are huge smoothie fans over in this household, are you? If so this is an easy, healthy, yummy smoothie that will keep you satisfied for hours. (I’m trying to lose weight, so being filled for hours is good for me). I do not like sweet smoothies, so if this smoothie is not sweet enough for you, just add more fruit.
Happy Blending!
Green Spring Smoothie
1/2 of a cucumber
10 green grapes
2 cups spinach
3 stalks of celery
1 scoop of maca powder (optional)
1 kiwi (optional)
Blend all together. Vitamix or Blendtec work best.
Whimsical Wednesday
The other day we decided to head up north about 45 minutes and find the sun. When you live on the coast, some days you get fogged in. But if you go a little higher than sea level you can get above it. And BOOM we found the sun, at 80 degrees. We ventured up the 154 and made a bunch of stops along the way. One of the most peaceful and serene places was Lake Cachuma. Lake Cachuma is surrounded by the Santa Ynez and San Rafael Mountains. You can rent cabins or yurts, right on the lake. AH-MAZING!
Our next step was Trattoria Grappolo. Great Italian place, recommended by a friend and well worth the stop. Last place I expected to find a true Italian restaurant, but it was good and one the owners is actually from Italy.
Last stop was Los Olivos, to finally get my hands on one of Enjoy Cupcakes famous cupcakes. Well….it was a no-go. Finally reaching our destination and seeing her super sweet trailer (which you can see below), we found out they are only there Thursdays-Sundays. Boo.
What A great day, all with my best friend.
Happy Friday!
The last Of Mexico (I Promise)
Sign Up On Goodnewssantabarbara.Com
Remember to go over to goodnewssantabarbara.com and sign up for all future giveaways. We will be starting in April, and you don’t want to be left out. We will be consolidating down to our main blog only, goodnewssantabarbara.com
Have a wonderful weekend!
Goodnewssantabarbara 