{5 Things I Loved About This Weekend}

This weekend, we road tripped over to Ohio for some quality sisterly time with Brett's sister, Kelly.  She is a sophomore at Bowling Green and we had yet to make our way over there.  Bowling Green was a pretty cool campus - sooo FLAT.  I can't say the same for my college experience... hills galore.  It was so nice catching up with Kelly.  Something not so nice, though... $30 worth of toll roads there and back.  WTF Ohio and Pennsylvania turnpikes??  But anyway...

Here are 5 things I loved about the weekend...

1.  Discovering yet another cool BYOB in our neighborhood: Arpino Trattoria

(if you haven't notice, BYOBs are our favorite!)

2.  Getting to visit Kelly (Brett's sister) at her college Bowling Green

3.  The delicious BBQ chicken sandwich I ate from Happy Badger

(a cute little cafe Kelly took us to while touring Bowling Green)

4.  The perfectly gorgeous weather we had all weekend: upper 60s and sunny!

5.  The amaaazing salad Brett made for dinner Sunday night:

apples, green peppers, feta, raspberry vinaigrette dressing, & homemade croutons

(but mainly the "chopt!" show he put on while making this... ;)

What did you love about this weekend?*

(See things I've loved from past weekends here!)

Happy Birthday Ju!

Happiest Birthday to Ju!!*

The big 2-7!

Now that you're in the "old" department like the rest of us,

promise me you won't lose your silly ways (hence the above photo).

 

I hope you have the greatest day!

Can't wait to see you next! :)

{5 Things I Loved About This Weekend}

I loved everything about this weekend!  It was like one big long 3 day date with Brett and I wouldn't have it any other way.  We went out to new restaurants, tried new recipes at home, got outdoors, and even squeezed in some bowling.  The best.

Here are 5 things I loved about the weekend...

1.  Getting dessert (we usually never get dessert!) after dinner at Aladdin's Eatery:

Pumpkin cheesecake

2.  $1 pumpkins at the grocery store (so I got to carve a pumpkin this year after all!)

and handing out candy to all the kiddies trick or treating

3.  Indulging in delicious food and beer all weekend long

(most of which was homemade!)

4.  Squeezing in a little more "Fall" with a crisp hike at Mingo Creek before Winter really sets in

and driving by a DONKEY farm on the way home!

5.  Sunday night date night with dinner at Bean Curd and $1 bowling

What did you love about this weekend?*

(See things I've loved from past weekends here!)

Gundlach Bundschu Winery - Sonoma {California 2012 Recap}

After leaving Matanzas Creek Winery, we had a little lunch picnic in a Sonoma park, then continued on to our last winery of the trip:  Gundlach Bundschu.  We had reservations for the afternoon winery tour & were glad we planned ahead because it was a full group!  The tour was great - Our guide took us into the vineyard and around the grounds, explaining the wine making process and different types of wines they make.  We concluded our tour with being lead into their wine cave for a variety of tastings.  This was most definitely one of the top wineries we visited.  So glad it made the cut! 

Guided winery tour (with a super funny tour guide!)...

Into the wine cave for some tastings...

And nothing tops off a day full of wine touring like some sunset swimming...

(Brett swam, I laughed - it was freezing!)

That wraps up my recaps from "Part 1" of our California trip!

Time to head down to Kings Canyon for "Part 2"!

Matanzas Creek - Santa Rosa {California 2012 Recap}

Continuing on with my California trip recaps... (I am more posting these for me to look back on in the future, so bare with me through all of these recap posts!).

On our second (and last) day in wine country, we had 2 winery visits on the schedule.  First up: Matanzas Creek Winery.  This winery was by far our most favorite of the trip!  The grounds were absolutely gorgeous, we got a personal tour, and in addition to making wine, they grew their own lavender.  This winery was simply stunning and the wine was delicious too!

Our personal winery tour (from such a nice guy!)...

Wine tastings in their amazing building...

And some more roaming by ourselves around these amazing grounds...

There was barely anyone else there while we were.  It was so peaceful and relaxing; we could have stayed here all day.  But of course, we could not - we had a second winery to visit!  

Up next... Gundlach Bundschu Winery!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!*

Last night we finally carved our pumpkins that we got at the pumpkin patch a few weekends ago.  Well, Brett carved his pumpkin.  I ended up painting mine with black glittery nail polish because it decided to rot before I got a chance to carve it.  I guess we should have waited a littler closer to Halloween to go get our pumpkins.  Lesson learned!  Though, it was kind of fun to paint it for a change.

Due to Hurricane Sandy, our township moved trick or treating to Saturday instead of tonight, so we won't get to pass out candy!  Oh darn, looks like we are just going to have to eat the three bags we bought for the kiddies... ;)  Even though there will be no trick or treaters tonight, I will still celebrate Halloween the best way I know how... by drinking pumpkin beer and watching my favorite Halloween movie of all time: "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"  ;)

BOO!