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Friends are hard to come by.  True friends are really hard to come by.

So I preface this post with those somewhat ominous words.  But they are heartfelt and sincere.  Christy and I are really blessed to have a good many close friends here in Birmingham.  As most of you know, Rusty and Gina are very good friends of ours (and travel partners) and we were blessed to come across two more such wonderful people and friends this past fall when we embarked on our Mediterranean cruise.

Katie and Hani AbuGhazaleh live in Santa Barbara, CA, and we met them along with a few other couples on our trip.  We instantly bonded with them, and had a wonderful time getting to know them.  We sort of became attached to them more than the other couples on our cruise we hung out with, and vowed to stay in touch with each other after the trip.

Not only did we stay in touch with them (I talk to Katie through Gtalk 2-3 times a week and Hani through email about once or twice a month), but they invited us to come stay with them in Santa Barbara for a long weekend last month.  You don’t have to twist our arms to get us to go on vacation, but the opportunity to see Katie and Hani again was also a HUGE factor. 

We had a blast out in Santa Barbara!  We spent the first night just hanging around downtown, having dinner at this cool little Mexican cafe.  We spent our 1st full day in the Santa Ynez valley, famous for many great wineries.  We hit five wineries altogether, with 4-month pregnant Katie sweetly serving as Designated Driver (we have your back on your trip to ‘Bama, Katie…that I promise you!)  After hitting the wineries and having lunch at this amazing diner/cafe in Santa Ynez, we headed back to town and had dinner at this great Italian place downtown called Palazzio.  Christy and I had actually had dinner there once before as we had previously visited the Santa Ynez valley with our friends April and Ramey (who were living in California at the time).

Our Saturday was spent walking the boardwalk at the Santa Barbara pier, and having lunch at this awesome restaurant called Longboard’s.  You can check out a picture of me having one outstanding Bloody Mary on my Facebook page.  We drove a Surrey (a four-person bicycle) around the pier area for a while, got ice cream and then went to watch a movie (we were pretty pooped) at the theater downtown.  After the movie, we headed to Katie’s parents house for an old-fashioned BBQ (what we in the South call a cookout).  It was great!  Katie’s family was so incredibly inviting (much like Katie and Hani, now we know where they get it!), and we had a blast.  Sunday came quickly and we were on a plane back to Alabama.

I can’t tell you how nice it is to have friends like them, who are so inviting and fun to be around, but who are also so very real and genuine.  We are truly blessed.

Recently, Hani got one of his “honey-do’s” done by editing and posting their wedding video up on their site.  I highly encourage you to go to their blog at katieandhani.com and viewing the video when you get time.  You’ll get a glimpse into the couple they are and the great family and friends they are surrounded with.  My only regret is that we didn’t know them then or we’d be all over that video baby! 

And in case you didn’t get it so far…Katie and Hani, thanks for having us out to visit.  We can’t wait to return the favor and have you all visit us in the Dirty South!