The Catalina Wine Mixer

This past weekend, Darren and I had some friends over to drink, be merry, eat, and play games.

It started with the fixin' of food. Yum!

Then there was eating...

and more eating.

Soon after eating, there was the excessive alcohol drinking.

Ugh. Gin and Juice is not good, Rob.

After a bit, there were a few drunken chat fests

And posing.

Then came the games!!!

The games got so crazy, some of our friends had to stay the night in our guest rooms!

The next morning we had lovely pancake breakfasts at the OG Pancake House. It was delicious.

All in all it was a successful night. Can't wait to do it again.

Girls Trip...Finally

I have not had the chance yet to explain how much more fun I had than Darren when we went on our separate trips this month. I drove my three girl friends up North to check out the Gilroy Garlic Festival, Carmel Wineries, Solvang breakfasts, and some sweet beaches. It started off like this:

We hung out in Garlic town with lots of garlic shaped and garlic flavored things.

Not sure if you can tell by my expression but the Garlic ice cream was disgusting (but apparently only to me).

We stayed in a lovely hotel in Salinas our first night.

The next day we went to Carmel to check out some wineries. After about seven, we stopped to eat and pose for this shot.

Later, we drove towards San Luis Obisbo (to our second hotel). Before we went, we stopped at another winery.

This is somewhere in Carmel. It was quite cool.

The next morning, Becky points out that we are in Solvang! We ate beautifully.

We ended our trip with a stop somewhere near Santa Barbara. The weather was perfect!

Do the stingray shuffle!

So it's been a few days since we've done much of a blog update. Seems like it's been a busy start of the month. A lot going on. Here's some Wednesday words on Monday...

First off, we did return from our excursions alive. Lisa survived the road and I survived the nerd fest we call Comicon. I think Lisa returned with more interesting stories and photos. All I have to show for my adventure is a couple of pics with Ugly Dolls. I got a little sandwich action.

All and all, it was kind of underwhelming. Saw some cool art, but it's hard to find reasons to go more than a day or two. Instead of taking the trek down there Friday, Rob and I decided to hit the surf. It was actually quite insane out there. Except for the Stingray part. Yea stepped on one of those, again. In surf camp, we'd sing the song "Do the stingray shuffle!". Who knew 20 years later I carry that tune with me whenever I hit the water. I'm enjoying my new (old) hobby a lot.

Lisa and I have enjoyed our little break from wedding planning. Thats the positive thing about starting early. In another 8 months or so we can expect the onslaught of planning to commence again.

Girly Northern Country Fun v. The Southern Nerd Special

This morning Darren left home, not for work as usual. but for a giant nerd fair called Comicon. He will spend two or three days looking at comic books, posters, toys, artwork, eating fried food, chatting with other "Con" enthusiasts (perhaps Ralph again), posing with scarcely clad women warriors, and costume rating. I, on the other hand, will leave tomorrow morning for a girls only! road trip up North for Garlic Festival food, wine country savoring, and beach/pool swimming fun. I think that I can say with confidence that I will be much better off than Darren will this weekend. I suppose it will depend on the photos and stories we return wielding.

Hooray for vacations!

Wednesday Words

Fun in the Sun

Summers here and it's officially time for sunburns. We started early Friday morning. Packed up the RV and headed to La Jolla shores in hopes to score a fire pit. No luck. I stepped on a surfboard for the first time in probably 15 years but it's like riding a bike. A bike that I never really took the training wheels off of. 

We hit the surf, Q'd up some dogs and caught some rays. 

Then it was back to Ms. Burns' crib for some pool action. . The view from Kathys yard never ceases to amazes us. At nightfall the coyotes come out and do their tribal chanting. Gerard, Michelle and Kathy always give us the special treatment. 

It's like a little vacation when we visit. 

We headed back North in the evening and topped the night off with a little Luau to celebrate Cheris birthday. Good times had by all.

Wednesday Words