Wine, friends, and hearts

We spent last weekend a whirlwind 3.5 days in California last week. We flew into San Francisco and met up with my MOH, Sarah and her boyfriend Nick. I am so mad because we know I love houses and cool designs, and I didn't take any pictures of the AMAZING high ceiling beautiful architecture windows in their apartment. I die.

We explored San Fran for the morning into the early afternoon. It was super nice outside, like the friend gods had looked down and said, "These two have been friends for twenty something years, let's give them some sunshine for their reunion". What? You don't believe in friend gods? I do. They are for real. We ate amazing brunch (ham and cheese baked into a croissant and bowls of lattes? Yes please!)

Yep, that's a latte. In a bowl. mmmm. How beautiful. I also loved the simple decor in this place. And S pointed out the fact that this place has nutella as a condiment. Could it GET any more heavenly??

We wandered around SF and walked to the Golden Gate Bridge. I hate bridges. It's a legit fear. I used to have dreams of my stuffed animals falling off of them when I was little, and to this day I hate driving over them. So I was totally pumped we didn't have the time to walk all the way over the bridge. But we did walk around a lot and take some gorgeous pictures.

After a day in SF, we hopped in the car and drove up to Wine Country. We met my brother and his fantastic wife along the way between Napa and Sonoma and took a little break at Domaine Carneros for some bubblies.

Friday afternoon we made it the rest of the way up to Sonoma. Beautiful drive up there and I adoooored the place we stayed. Highly recommend Auberge Sonoma!! The places were awesome- all two bedroom, two bathroom with kitchen and dining areas. And just really cute, quaint, and beautiful. If you are going with a group, it is perfect- there are three condos in one area and then a cottage about 2 blocks away. We all trekked over to Whole Foods and got some grub for dinner and then the men (thank you guys!) whipped up dinner while the girls chatted over some wine... and cheese... and more cheese.

Lovely dinner made primarily by Nick. But I guess Sarah and the other boys should get some cred too. Yum. We turned in relatively early on Friday night because we were still east-coast timing and because we had a long day planned on Saturday.

Saturday morning we grabbed breakfast and coffee, took some major allergy meds (who knew wine country = sneezing and watery eyes), and readied ourselves for a long day of wine touring. I need to give a major thank you to Nick here, because we managed to travel around Sonoma drinking wine for an entire day and paying $0. Beside the price for renting a van/limo to drive us around so no one had to be DD. So thanks, Nick, you're the best. And you're damn good at picking out wineries, too.

Our first stop was Matanzas Creek. We were straight up VIP here. Many many wines to taste, a tour, and some games. Fantastic.

Ahhh, I already want to go back. The sauv blancs here were to die for. We attempted to order some, but the distributor will only ship 1.33 bottles to our house. How stupid. We are hoping we can find a way around it and order them online.

Next up was Martinelli Winery. This place was so picturesque and off the path, but definitely worth it. I don't love red wines, but I did love some of the zins here. Definitely worth it to give it a go.

Good arms, Lizzy. Another beautiful space. After Martinelli, we were trying to decide what we had time for and where to go. We Nick and Sarah decided on Gary Farrell. 

 Another stellar choice. The views from this place were incredible, and J found himself taking couples pictures of everyone, one after another, because of how beautiful it was. The wine wasn't too bad either. Every glass was better than the last.

Also my husband takes 500 pictures of me by myself per trip. This was one of the only acceptable ones that existed.  Here are more of the beautiful pictures from the last vineyard, including the really fun end-of-the-winery-tour jumping photos.

I got some air on that jump, but Liz looks terrified. After our day at the wineries, we had dinner at El Dorado Kitchen in Sonoma Square. AMAZING.

Did I mention how much FUN my sister-in-law is? I love Sam. She's the best.

This dessert was devoured. Quickly.

Sunday morning we had brunch before our departure. Delish! I can't explain how nice it was to spend time with the girls I grew up with and the men that have won their hearts, and adding my brother and Sam to the group was the best decision ever. We had the most amazing trip. I really hope it's just the first of an annual trip we all take together.

Love and kisses to my Yardley crew!