Good Friends + Good Wine = Good Times

The crew at winery #3

I've been remiss in thanking Kristie for hosting me along with some Nashville friends, Alyssa and Shea a few weeks back. It was awesome. And she and her fiance were great hosts--like above and beyond.

The making of the chocolate abomination

I'm not going to recount the entire weekend in its full glory for a couple of reasons: 1) I can't remember it all. It was that good. 2) protecting the names of the innocent AND guilty. 3) It would take too long and make too many people jealous.

However, some of the highlights included:

• Visiting three wineries in Temecula and having chocolate wine for the first time. I also believe I ate my weight in Brie, as apparently that is the only cheese worth serving at all wineries. 
• Scarfing down a cheeseburger at 9 p.m. on Saturday night like it's 3 a.m. on a Saturday night because I'm getting old. Or maybe it's because we started wine tasting at like 2 p.m. Yeah, that's it. 
• A beautiful brunch on a rooftop at a hotel overlooking the ocean in Laguna Beach. You would swear places like this were too pretty to exist. 
• Watching perhaps the grossest chocolate bar ever being made. It included red hot Cheetos and crystallized ginger. I forget what else, but I never did find out what the final verdict was on the taste.
• Making even more memories with great friends who hopefully had a blast in California (and perhaps can be persuaded to move here).

The beautiful sunset in Santa Monica

Not a Bad Way to Spend a Sunday

From the Venice Beach Pier looking
at the shore

Sometimes when I've had a rough week of commuting, I feel the urge to go out in LA to make sure that I remember the reason why I live where I do. I decided when New Year's hit that I was going to get out and explore more--even if I had to force myself. Clearly I got out a lot when we first moved here. I had to figure out where things were, go on interviews, find a grocery store, and just generally do more things.

A year later, I'm a little more set in my patterns. I love the area of town I'm in, but how do I know that I don't love another side of town more? Despite a good week commute-wise, I felt it was time to get out. Plus Chef got a nice new camera for Christmas that needs to have some lovely scenery to capture. All that said Chef and I went out to Venice Beach today to go poking around. I will confess that I suspected I was more of a Santa Monica girl than Venice and that certainly is the case, but Venice was a lot of fun. Plus it was just nice to get out of the house with Chef and not have a certain time to be somewhere or anyhting particular to do. Just be out and enjoy ourselves. So, here are some of the pictures from our adventure (these are mine--Chef's would be much better! He's a really talented photographer):

I counted more than 70 sailboats that were out today.

Walking from Marina Del Rey to Venice. Beautiful shore-front homes.

The famed Muscle Beach.
Not so busy today, but I can totally picture Arnold Schwarzenegger here years ago.

There was not only a skateBOARD park, but a ROLLER skate park, too.

Our Own Little Walk

I called my stepdad this morning and he and his special lady, Sara, were walking in the rain. It was the first year that I can remember that the Evansville Race for the Cure got rained on.

It was hard being here instead of there, but Chef and I had a great walk on the beach this morning. It was not sunny at all, but not too bad. A bad day on the beach is better than most any other day, right?  Here are some pictures and thoughts to go with them.

I wrote this and almost immediately it got washed away by a wave.
So this is take two.

There were so many surfers out this morning. I told Chef I wanted to try surfing.
 His response: "We'll sign you up for classes next spring."
 I think I really want to do it!

The beginning of our not quite 5K in honor of my mom.

A view from Santa Monica towards Venice beach.

I kept saying to Chef "Let's just walk to the next lifeguard station."
That only worked for so long.

What a Great Week

So this entire week has pretty much been heavenly. The July 4th holiday which included a nicely cooked slab of red meat, a short work "week" of a day, then Wednesday. My dad flew in for our nuptials on Tuesday and we planned to meet up on Wednesday. While most fathers and daughters have a dance (which I'm sure we'll still have at our reception next year), my dad and I got a father-daughter baseball game. Frankly, the baseball game seemed more "us."

We watched the Angels and the Tigers at an afternoon game that was only about 1/2 full. I was a little hesitant of the seats that I'd bought on stub hub, but as it turned out, we were in the row closest to the field that had shade. It was a highly sought after row. Plus it meant that neither of us roasted to death. It was a close game with a few homers and some good defense. And it was a great day to spend with my dad. After the game, we met up later with Chef too and headed to Lawry's for some prime rib. We had a nice, leisurely meal and then went our separate ways to get a good night's sleep for the wedding weekend.

I've already detailed out some of the wedding ceremony and honeymoon, so I won't rehash. I will say that the hotel was spectacular. The only bummer was that Chef and I both fell ill on Friday. It was too much of a stomach thing to not be a little bug or even some minor food poisoning. Both of us had heavy stomachs and no desire to eat which is unlike us. At one point as we were in a grocery store buying some soft drinks to take back to the room, I felt so nauseous that I had to walk super slow and not move a lot. Chef got waves of that later.

It kind of knocked us on our butt so much that we ended up taking long naps and then sleeping on and off all night. But it was nice to have the luxury to be lazy too. And if you're gonna be sick, it's not too shabby to be sick with a beautiful ocean view.

We woke up this morning both feeling better, but sad that we were going to have to pack up and leave. We took advantage of another morning of room service (there's always something luxurious about having someone bring food to your room and eating in a bathrobe with an ocean view, right?). I think we've already decided that we're heading back to the Fairmont next year for our first anniversary celebration. It was just too damn nice! So even with late check out, we are now home and back to reality. A little sad to be out of the lap of luxury ("This has ruined me for other hotels," Chef commented), but happy to be newlyweds. At least for a little while longer.

And then we were married. . .

I have to say that as I look back, the smartest thing Chef and I did (which was mostly his doing) was getting married at the courthouse. While I've never been exceptionally afraid of being the center of attention, I have to admit that I was mighty nervous going to the courthouse yesterday morning. And getting ready was shaky too. And I only really calmed down once I was at the courthouse window checking in. I was calm then because there was a really anxious bride behind me tapping her foot and making so many comments about how her wedding was so important and didn't the ladies at the window know she had an appointment!! (For the record, her wedding was the one scheduled after ours and she had so many people in the courthouse that the people almost blocked our way into the chapel).

Anyway, once we checked in and started chatting with my dad who was awesome enough to come out to California to witness for us (more in a later blog post about our baseball game adventure), it was smooth sailing for Chef and I from there. The lady who officiated our wedding was spectacular. She was realistic, funny, and to the point. She made the occasion absolutely perfect and you could tell she loved doing it. Dad stood in the corner and took pictures on my phone for us (most of which we almost instantly posted on Facebook). It was over quickly and with a few tears, which was nice. I like being sentimental but not over the top.

And when it was done, we left the courthouse. Hugged Dad and I showed him the little packet I was carrying. It was a necklace that he had given my mom on their wedding day with a note from her to me explaining all that and hoping that I'd one day wear it. I wasn't able to wear it because the chain was so messed up, but I got to hold it and the note with me while I said my vows which made it more special. Plus I stowed in it the quarter that I borrowed from dad. Blue shoes with my sixpence and the new earrings from some Nashville friends and that old saying was checked off my list.

After the ceremony we ran some errands, had some carnitas tacos, picked up some cupcakes, and went home to pack. We checked in at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica (thank you, Jack) and was instantly upgraded to an ocean view with two balconies suite. It's super nice and where I'm typing right now in a plush white bathrobe as I wait for breakfast. We were greeted with champagne in our room, cocktails while we waited for our room to be inspected, and drinks at dinner. For dinner, we went to the highly acclaimed restaurant on the first floor called FIG.

As we sat down, I hear someone call my name and look up to see one of the few people I know in LA and one of the even fewer people that I know in LA that's from Evansville staring back at me. Turns out that a friend from high school, Gaby, had just started at FIG the week before. She was so nice and hooked Chef and I up with some champagne at our table. The food was wonderful. I mean, they had bacon wrapped bacon as an appetizer (it was as delicious as it sounds--thinkbacon around large pancetta) and chicken and prosciutto brochettes. I had a fancy meatloaf and mashed potatoes with brussel sprouts and Chef had a pasta dish with rabbit. We were stuffed by the time we left. So much so that I not only bypassed dessert but didn't even get to eat my cupcake last night. Oh well. More for today.

Think we're going to be lazy, lounge around, eat some breakfast and maybe hit the beach. Not too shabby of a honeymoon!