California Livin'

This past weekend left me feeling somewhat adjusted to the many life changes we’ve experienced over the past 5 months. We are finding our sea legs with this whole parenting thing and are feeling much braver and confident with Forest. 

And I think, despite not having our shipment yet, we are starting to settle in to California life. If this past weekend was any indication, I think we are going to really like it here. Saturday morning started with an early run; my first 6+ miler in over a year. 

It’s a bit sad that I had to push myself and work really hard for something that was second nature to me before getting pregnant, but when the GPS tracker crossed that 6 mile mark I felt like I was finally getting a bit of my groove back. I even ran it in less than an hour, which with these California hills is nothing to scoff at. 

The day turned into a gorgeous one so we decided to head out for an afternoon wine tasting. You know, because that’s just what you do when you live in northern Caifornia…

While San Ramon is reasonably close to Napa Valley (about 1-2 hours depending on your destination), it’s even closer to Livermore Valley, a lesser known wine region East of San Francisco. We decided to give it a go on Saturday afternoon.

My new friend Sara and her hubby and baby joined us at Wente Vineyards for our first California wine experience. 

They were super knowledgeable about wine while Jonathan and I usually indiscriminately and enthusiastically drink whatever is put in front of us. I guess we should educate ourselves since we have some of the best wine in the world at our doorstep. We don’t want to waste this precious time drinking mediocre wine! Jonathan and I have already decided that we will celebrate our 6^th anniversary in May by joining a winery club so we better get busy discerning our pallets.  We weren’t overly impressed with the wine at Wente but I found it all pleasant enough, especially for being just a 30 minute drive away. 

A few of the samples were actually fairly good. We paid $5 for a tasting for the less expensive wine and $10 per tasting for the more upscale bottles. Each flight consisted of 5 different wines. The best part about it was the large courtyard where we partook in our tasting. 

The weather on Saturday was perfect for lounging in the sun so we found a shady spot and some comfy chairs and spent the afternoon enjoying  good company and perfectly drinkable wine. 

Forest was mostly an angel despite skipping his afternoon nap. Why that child won’t just drift off to sleep in his stroller like a normal baby is beyond me…All in all I would call it a successful outing. We didn’t leave with any bottles of wine, but Jon did buy two jars of mustard featured at the winery. He was pretty excited. 

After a full afternoon we headed home to put the baby to bed and watched Colbert while sharing a bottle of wine….seriously. Good thing I went for a 6 mile run that morning! 

Sunday was another lovely day so we headed to the nearby outlet stores. In true mother fashion I spent all my time and money shopping for Forest while Jonathan racked up at Ralph Lauren and Banana Republic. Just kidding, I got some new things too. After moving from Scotland we are not equipped with a summer wardrobe so were desperately needing a few things.  

 Then we headed to Whole Foods to buy some things to throw on the grill for dinner. Jonathan cooked us some beautiful Tuna steaks with crab meat and hollandaise plus some scallop skewers. So yummy.

After dinner Jonathan got Forest ready for bed while I spent some QT with Bailey girl at the dog park. 

It was the perfect ending for our lovely weekend. I hope y’all had a good weekend too!