lately, i’ve been sitting at my desk too much. or i just piddle around the house. i get comfy in my sweats and hoodie and often find myself needing to be dragged out into the fresh air. and lucky for me, i have wonderful friends who do said dragging.

yesterday my friend mark inviting me to go hiking with him. i almost said no since i was all sorts of cozy in my house and was about to sit down to read a good book. but i resisted my lame-ness, and joined him. we had a wonderful conversation along the trail and we admitted that we don’t do this enough. we live in one of the most beautiful cities in california and all too often we neglect to take advantage of all that it is. and when we do, we find ourselves doing the same thing over and over. epic fail.

i am glad that we didn’t do the usual yesterday and that we forced myself out of the house. i quite enjoyed myself, and it was so good to be in nature, to sit and look out over santa barbara, to breathe in the fresh mountain air, and to simply be, even but for a moment.

what do you do to get out? to remove yourself from the everydayness of life? to simply be?

although i was tempted to bring my camera, i decided not to. it was good for me. but since all posts are better with photos. here is a shot from one of my favorite places in the world: the gaviota coast, just north of santa barbara.