California!!!

I just got back from my trip to California to see my friend Caresse and boy am I exhausted!  I left early Thursday morning, dropped Gabi off at my parents', and then got out to California about 2pm Pacific time.  I forget how loooooong a travel day it is out to California...but totally worth it when I'm there!  I got to see Tyler and Caresse's new house while I was there - last time I went they were still renting an apartment.  Their place is so beautiful and it has inspired me to spruce our digs one of these days too...  I got to see Kellie's house also [whom I haven't met in real life....but that almost seems irrelevant at this point :) ] 

The view from Caresse and Tyler's deck :) Not too shabby...

Caresse and I opened a bottle of wine...enjoyed that...and then proceeded to go to The Fat Cactus for a pitcher of mojitos....enjoyed those....and then got escorted home by Tyler (thanks Ty Ty).  I guess Caresse was done after that, because she put me in my room and shut the door, and went to bed.  I slept GREAT but poor Caresse wasn't feeling well that night and into the next day.  I say my Fat Cactus Burrito counteracted my mojitos, but Caresse's measly fish taco didn't help her much :/
We eventually got out the door the next day and went shopping at a beautiful outdoor mall on a beautiful day. We had an incredible Italian lunch:

We browsed a lot and bought a little.  After that we went to get a mani/pedi...something I was in desperate need of.  Since Nick doesn't care much for Italian food (and I love it!) I suggested we push our luck and try another Italian place for dinner.  Bad idea.  The area we went to was really cute, and we anticipated the food would be great too ($20 for a pasta dish??).  But, yeah......not so much.  I ordered a salmon spinach pasta dish....and I got a small pile of spaghetti doused in alfredo sauce with little cat food-like crumbles of salmon sprinkled on top....topped with a bunch of chopped onions.  ICK!  Haha, oh well you definitely can't win them all!  We recovered from dinner by getting some big cups of frozen yogurt and brownies.  MMM :) 

The next day Caresse and I went to IHOP for breakfast and then did a little shopping at Target before we left for wine tasting.

On our way wine tasting!

A couple of scenic shots from the car....

The first winery - Wente.  We tasted five wines there and took a tour of the winery.  I had lots of fun with my camera on the tour, even though it was freezing and windy....and I was in a little cotton dress.  Oh well!  The wine kept me warm :)

Yum yum.....

The wine overflows and spills out of the big vats....talk about waste :(

We had a picnic lunch and then went onto the next winery - Fenestra.  Tyler and Caresse joined a wine club there that day.  Fancy people they are....what happened to the keg stands they used to do in college??

I think there were about 24 wines to taste at this winery and I definitely didn't pull my weight.  Tyler, Stacy, and Nick held their own though!

Of course, we finished our wine tasting day with a trip to In-N-Out Burger :))

All in all, I had a really great time on my trip but I just wish I had a another day or two there!  All that travel and I was only really there a couple of days.  With a little baby, I'm just so glad I got out there at all though!  My parents and Nick help out tremendously so I could have my time in Cali and I'm very grateful.  I heard that Gabrielle was very good for my parents and for Nick, so at least they got to enjoy her instead of just "getting through the weekend".  I probably had a worse time than anyone.....I only cried a little bit when I left her :(  When I got back home and she saw me, she started laughing and squealing - it was so funny and cute!!