Now 24, Aubrey Falk has seen and experienced more than most of us have even dreamed of. Beginning with solo journeys to Hawaii and Costa Rica at only sixteen, she has since traveled to Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Mexico. Her first international adventure began as a study abroad program where she would finish her last few high school credits while living with a host family in a small mountain village in Costa Rica. While down in the surf town of Jaco, she met a local surfer girl, who was likely taken by

Aubrey’s genial disposition, and within moments of meeting, invited her to live with them in their home. Discontented by her current residence’s far distance from the ocean, she gladly accepted the offer and spent the next 6 months working in the family restaurant, surfing throughout Puntarenas and taking frequent solitary expeditions southward. In the eight months she spent there, she never ran into any burglary or other harm. “I don’t believe in luck, I think you attract what ever comes to you,” she tells me in her ever-grounded, optimistic way.

The variety of surf breaks and conditions she has experienced have shaped her into a phenomenal surfer, but have also allowed her to hone her skills as a painter. “I realized that’s what life is about.,” she tells me, “creating beautiful things.” Currently Aubrey’s paintings adorn the walls of the Brewhouse, serving not only for the ambiance of the restaurant, but as a great source of exposure for this humble artist. Her work can easily be mistaken for that of a seasoned, finely trained artisan, yet most of the work on display was created with no formal training. Her pieces predominantly feature the splendors of Santa Barbara, from the peeling point breaks to the rolling foothills and all that lies in between. She was blessed with the ability to translate the light and colors of nature on to canvas with remarkable accuracy and grace.

Aubrey is a person of impeccable balance. “Traveling has made me really grateful. After seeing the poverty and the way other people have to live, it’s made me really appreciate what we have here,” she explains. “We get so spoiled here. We live in this amazing place and so many people are unhappy. People are cutting their bodies open for plastic surgery… it’s crazy, the duality of that.” Aubrey recognizes the inadequacy of a life dominated by money and external beauty and has thus created an existence in which happiness is the currency and beauty is measured simply by its capacity to reflect nature.

Aubrey has worked the past several years as a tender on a dive boat off of the Channel Islands, which she describes as “really hard work, but amazing- a magical spot for sure.” Toting with her a wealth of nautical expertise, she recently accepted a position as crewmember aboard a surf charter boat in mainland Mexico. The Royal Pelagic, a 125 ft. revamped Alaskan King Crab fishing boat, equipped with three small skiffs and two jet skis, will explore the coast of Oaxaca, home of the recently publicized “new wave” Barra, and apparently a handful of equally perfect breaks. As a crewmember, Aubrey will be able to surf and experience Mexico alongside those who have paid thousands to embark on the same endeavor. Granted, she will be working while the ships guests are at play, but for Aubrey it’s just another chapter in the adventure tale of her life.

By some advantageous twist of fate, surfers have been blessed with a creativity that can often be translated to some other medium outside the water. Aubrey has thus discovered the key to being a successful “surf bum.” She has established a firm grasp on her priorities, harnessing her artistry and using it to construct of lifestyle of opulent simplicity. “Money doesn’t buy you happiness,” she explains, “You can have all the cars and houses in the world and still not find that peace. It’s not there. It’s not in the outside. It how you’re living your life and how that makes you feel.”

Perhaps the incessant blare of the 6:15 alarm is inescapable, but with a little imagination and determination, that noise can trumpet the jump-start of a dawn patrol session rather than the beginning of another leg of the perpetual rat race.