#tgiflexday

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Happy Friday!

There’s one thing I love about Santa Barbara that is unfortunately something not everyone who lives here gets to enjoy, and that is #tgiflexday (sorry, there’s no way to NOT use a hashtag when I talk about this; it would be blasphemous).  I work for a company that offers a 9/80 schedule, which means I work 9 hours every Monday through Thursday, and then 8 hours every other Friday, so that in a two week span, I work 80 hours in 9 business days (hence “9/80”) and get every other Friday off of work.  Sometimes it can be a little tiring to work that 9th hour every day, but it is so worth it to have my bi-weekly Friday off!  

A few of my girlfriends from work and I have started a little tradition we call #tgiflexday for these “flex” Fridays, where we get together and do something active, social, or otherwise enjoyable!  Sometimes we go kayaking, hiking, shopping, or wine tasting (all things you will be reading more about in the coming days!), but our most frequent #tgiflexday activity is having brunch or cocktails at the Boathouse and then walking just a few steps outside the restaurant to lay out at Hendry’s Beach (pictured in the above TGIF jumping pic)!  

There are tons of beaches in the Santa Barbara area, and they each have their special qualities.  But we all have come to love Hendry’s for these Friday outings because it’s often full of playful dogs splashing around in the water, it’s not usually super busy (since the rest of Santa Barbara still has to go to work, wah wah), and it’s literally steps away from an excellent restaurant that serves some of the best tasting cocktails and pancakes (and I guess other food, too*) on the planet.  Plus, we almost always manage to stake out the same little spot on the beach.  It’s like people just know that it’s ours.

If you ever find yourself in Santa Barbara on a Friday that I’m not working, PLEASE let me take you here.  I will order you a blood orange margarita and a heaping pile of pancakes; I will bring my little portable speaker and put on a chill Pandora station; and we can bask in the sunshine while we read a book or talk about life or watch all the people on the beach, or all of the above.

*Fun fact about me: if a place serves breakfast at a time OTHER than breakfast, I don’t even look at the rest of the menu.  I ALWAYS get breakfast, whether it’s 2 PM or 10 PM.  I love me some pancakes and waffles!