Challenge Accepted:

I love the holidays and all of the family and friends that come to town, but all of the extra outings with visitors can REALLY add up if you aren’t careful! The other weekend, I had house guests and challenged myself to only do free things, Santa Barbara Axxess deals, or other coupons.

Here's what happened...

Friday Night

Friday night dinner at Oppi’z Bistro and Natural Pizza with our Axxess BOBO 50% off: we saved $11. $84 for two for two entrees, two glasses of wine, and two desserts. The food was AMAZING! I miss Palazzio’s, but I am so glad another Italian Restaurant opened in this location! The price point is higher, the vibe is quieter, and you no longer tally your house wine on the honor system on your table cloth with crayon, but WOW! The quality is just beyond: Italian wines paired with fabulous dishes that you watch the chef put the finishing touches on before putting them up for service to your table.

Proseco cocktail and Italian red wine ($11/glass)

Black Parma Pizza (Black naturally fermented dough that is prepared with activated vegetable charcoal, homemade tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese slice, arugula, prosciutto di Parma, and straciatella cheese, $24)

We could not decide between the pizza or the ravioli, so we got both to share!

Ravioli with ricotta cheese, spinach, fried butter, sage, and Parmigiana Reggiano ($22)

Cutting into the ravioli was impressive: large leaves of wilted spinach were in a matrix of ricotta cheese.

Cheesecake served with nuttella and raspberries ($12).

Saturday Morning Swim

A few months ago, I joined the SWELL Santa Barbara Athletic Club (SBAC) for the pool and unlimited guest pass policy. SERIOUSLY! I love my classes at Gold’s, but Gold’s doesn’t have a pool and their guest pass policy makes working out when and with frequent out for town guests annoying to difficult. When I joined the SBAC, I used my Axxess card to get 75% off the initiation fee ($130 instead of $500) and a complimentary waterproof sports bag and hydro flask water bottle: essentially, my initiation fee bought an awesome swim bag and hydro flask.

This was the first weekend that I put the more than one guest at a time guest policy to the test and brought both of my out of town house guests to SBAC for a some strength training, a swim, and then a hot tub session, without a sales pitch to join the club. OMG, it was painless! Just being able to take all of my guests to one place for everyone to get a great workout is worth it!

Saturday Afternoon Football

Casa Blanca is one of my favorite places on state street to watch a game and take advantage of an awesome Axxess 2 for 1 entree deal! After spending the morning at SBAC, we earned those nachos and margaritas!

(left to right) Blood orange margarita, steak nachos, El Chapo margarita, guacamole, and salsa.

(left to right) Steak nachos, El Chapo margarita, guacamole, and salsa.

(left to right) Steak nachos, guacamole, and salsa.

Saturday Night Dinner

I must confess that I have lived in Santa Barbara for 18+ years, and this was my first visit to Stella Mare’s! However, it won’t be my last! The three of us used the Axxess BOGO to purchase three entrees for the price of two, plus dessert for a truly unforgettable meal!

SAUMON EN CROÛTE ($28.50) Salmon baked in pastry stuffed with mushroom duxelles, braised baby turnips, creamed carrot mousseline, roasted mushrooms, red wine demi-glace

STELLA BURGER ($15.50) Beef, blue cheese, bacon, caramelized onion, garlic rémoulade, brioche bun

GRILLED SALMON ($26.75) With lemon caper Beurre Blanc sauce Seasoned with Provence herbs and grilled, with ratatouille, and potato gratin

Sunday Morning

Breakfast

BOGO 50% off at Crush Cakes with Axxess on our breakfast burritos!

Art Walk and Wine Tasting

After finishing off our burritos, we headed down to the waterfront for the free art walk. I love taking visitors here for the fresh air and opportunity for my guests to buy some great souvenirs from local artists!

We conveniently eneded our art walk in front of my wine club and ducked into Muni for a complimentary member tasting. Not a Muni Club Awesome member? No Problem! There are a number of Funk Zone wineries with 2 for 1 tastings on Axxess!

Sunday morning waterfront art walk (FREE).

Post art walk wine tasting at Municipal Winery!

I'm a member at Muni, so we tasted for free, but there are plenty of 2 for 1 tastings in the Funk Zone with Axxess or visitor center coupons!

Sunday Afternoon

We spent the afternoon at the matinee opera performance of Madama Butterfly in the best and cheapest seats that I have ever sat in at the Granada Theater: end of row; (nothing partial about these) partial view; and Axxess BOGO seats!

Don't need these in orchestra left, row F!

Opera Glasses

Sunday Night

After the art walk, but before the opera, we made a stop at Santa Barbara Fish Market for clams and another stop at Oat Bakery for bread. A few weeks ago, my friends saw my Instagram post about making a WW recipe for clam stew with tomatoes and fennel and requested that it be on the menu for their visit! We recreated the entire meal, including the 25% off with Axxess at the Santa Barbara Fish Market and the BOGO on buns at Oat Bakery with Axxess!