Just a casual day with a little luck

A couple weekends ago Gabe and I and Ava decided to wake up early and head out to get some breakfast. We decided to check out this old diner we always drive by called HUFFS. When we were on our way to Huffs we drive pass a yard sale and then saw another one and another one. I then realized that neighborhood was having block sales. Now I am a fan of junk collecting..or for better words .TREASURE HUNTING.

Luckily for me My husband is the same way so we made a detour to breakfast and checked out some of the yard sales. In the middle of the neighborhood was this BRIGHT TEAL mid century ranch house and a very old couple sitting with a couple of fold out tables and boxes. I knew THEY MUST have something I would like and Boy did they!

I first walked up and saw that they mainly had old vintage Christmas decor out. Nothing so vintage in the style I prefer but still some cute items. As I was talking to the I noticed they have a few large boxes behind them not out on display filled with vintage material. Upon closer inspection I realized ..wait those are clothes and some look vintage. I asked if the clothes were for sale and when they said yes and told me for how much I asked hoe much for everything and they gave me it for a STEAL!!!

Anyway there is some really great stuff in there but so sad for me most of the clothes were sizes 1-3. I am a size 9. So tonight They will ALL be going on Ebay. I got them for a excellent price so I am going to be listing them for really cheap. I will be totally satisfied if I got ten bucks for each one. I am also going to be offering free shipping on them. Of course there are some very special pieces that will go for more.

 Any old diner I come across with an old sign like this I must pay a visit to

 I LOVE COUNTERS!!

 Afterwards I stopped by the mall to pick up some Face stuff from Macy's and Detergent and Shampoo from Victoria Secret ( LOVE LOVE LOVE Victoria Secret detergent and shampoos)  I got Ava a cookie too for being a good girl.

 Oh I thought I would throw this in today's entry as well. Parker's Mother's Day gift to me. It was a nicely decorated box with some charms to add decoration to it

with a home made card and a baggie of home made Lavender Bath salts.
I just love my Parker.

Girls Wine tasting Trip Part 2

Sunday morning we were hurting pretty good. Thankfully I had no headache but everything else ached. I knew first thing is first..FOOD..NEED FOOD.

We all showered up and walked over to Paula's Pancake house again for something to eat before packing up our bags and heading out to the vineyards.

 Paula's Pancake house was like a 30 min wait ( I swear...that place is always packed..you would think it was the only restaurant in Solvang) Since we had to wait a bit we had free vouchers for coffee and a danish at Olsen's bakery next door that we got complimentary from the hotel so we went over there to pick up our danishes to go and a coffee to go as well. I bought a Cheese Pull apart bread to take home.

 I was gonna order the Eggs Benedict ( old faithful) but decided to live on the edge and change it up a bit. So I got the California. It was a omelet with a green chili in the middle and cheese with avocado and sour cream and fresh salsa..which still none of us could get over the fact they charge you there for salsa..in LA it is like a condiment. Anyway it was damn good.

 So do we looked like we tied one on the night before??

 After breakfast we checked out and loaded in the car and off to some more Vineyards. We offered to drive Mary to the train station so she had more time to check out the vineyards with us.
We went to Beckman and it had beautiful grounds...the wine was OK..nothing though that GRABBED me. We took this picture on the property.

 We saw Lots of animals on this vineyard. Came across a cute little frog in the bathroom sink, then driving out saw a huge jack rabbit and then right after this deer! The deer was terrified and I felt really bad for it cause she looked wounded. If you blow up this picture you can see a neck wound on the poor dear ( deer) PUN intended

 Our next stop was Bridlewood..one of my favorite places to stop..it is so beautiful and I have always enjoyed their wines. On the road to Bridlewood we saw a HUGE turkey Vulture. I could not help but think "which way did he go George ..Which way did he go?"  When I saw him fly away.

 At Bridlewood we did a wine tasting which I loved everything they poured. We noticed these awesome horse drawn carriages on the property and asked our Wine pourer about taking a ride and she said we could go on the next trip so we got the Whole Carriage to ourselves. I bought a bottle of cab for the trip. Pictured above is Charlie and Oprah.

 We hopped in the carriage and poured ourselves a glass of wine and grabbed some smoked almonds and dried apricots to snack on along the way.

 Cheers to a beautiful day and a horse drawn carriage tour of the whole Bridlewood property and a delicious bottle of cab!

 This place is so much bigger than I thought! Just fields and Fields of grapevines. It was a bumpy trail here for a little bit.

 Jen!!

 Then they showed us the houses that the winemakers live in that are on the property and gave us some history about Bridlewood. It actually used to be a horse Hospital and rehab center for Thoroughbred race horses. The wine room was not built new but was in fact a hospital. They also told us about Bob Eubanks and How he also Had a lot to do with the property and some of the buildings...Wish I was listening better..hey I was a few sheets to the wind by this point.

 There was quite a few bridges..They also had a HUGE lake and a area with picnic benches under the lush trees by the lake..Which they offer to their wine club members to come and picnic on the property

 Horse butt!

 So nice. They stopped there for a bit and we just took in all the scenery and drank our wine.

 The carriage went for a jolt once the horses started up again and Toni had white pants so we tried to keep any red wine from getting on the gals wearing white.

 Self portrait...Thank goodness I had my big hat..The sun was Blazing!

 Wish it would never end

 Back at Bridlewood . We went back inside after our trip and finished up our wine tasting

 Don't go!!

 After our wine tasting we sat on the lawn and watched nature

 Relaxing in the shade by the flowers.

 Our next plan of action was to go back into town and check out the stores to pick up some souvenirs for the kids. But we all did want to taste at Wandering Dog. They had SO MANY different flights.
This was mine...I did the sweet tooth...so good!

 I liked all 3 of mine

 Jen did the champagne tasting, Toni did the Red, Mary just had a glass and Thelma had sparkling water since she was driving but she did have a couple sips of mine.

 You would think that this was our last stop but Nope it wasn't. Afterwards we walked over to Solvang to check out a toy store for the kids but I just HAD to drop by Lion's Peak because it used to be my favorite and I used to be a member but I have not been there in Years and I wanted to see if it was still good. They did a 9 wine wine tasting for 20 bucks so Toni and I split one and Thelma and Jen split one.  Afterwards we all were starving but knew we had to hit the road to get Mary to the train station in time So with one quick stop at the chocolate Shop to buy my Kids a BIG GIANT Candy apple we were off. Oh we did have to go by Burger King and mow down a few burgers. I also got a CROWN!!

 Back to the real world

 LOL this is like a REALLY bad photo but I just had to laugh at it..bunch of buzzed girls on our way home..I was so buzzed, and beat down and haggard at this point.

 We did managed to get Mary to Santa Barbara train station and we made a pit stop out there to buy road sodas and munches. We also took in the eclipse as well cause a bunch of people were outside taking photos and watching it. It was a strange eeriness in the air at that moment.

OWWWW..MY eyes...Bright light!!
We finally got home at about 9:15 at night. What a LONG trip back home.
I had such a blast and it just went by way to quickly. Next time...and there WILL BE a next time..we are staying 2 days!

Girls Trip Wine tasting..Part one

Saturday Morning 8am...Jen,Thelma and Toni came by to my house to start our much waited for Girls getaway to Solvang. We been trying to get this going for a long time and FINALLY the day arrived.

One thing about us gals...we just have to always have some sort of getaway planned along with girls night. I find a girls night is So important to have and I cherish each girls night or weekend getaway that I can get!

The 4 of us ventured out..with a few mixed Cd's to abide our time.

 We got into Solvang around 11:30am and luckily enough for us we were able to check into our rooms early at the Solvang Inn & Cottages. They have these fun little Tourist photo op booths to take advantage of and yep..we had to do it!

 Once we checked in our room we walked across the street over to Paula's pancake house for a late breakfast. I had the eggs Benedict..my fave.

 The 4 of us after lunched piled up into the car and headed over to Fess Parker. I always thought it was closer but it was quite the journey... beautiful nonetheless

 The first wine tasting spot. I have to say I usually like Fess Parker but I was not to impresses this time around

 Bright light in the back ground

 Here's my bottle...

 Bigger is Better!!

After our wine tasting we walked the grounds of Fess Parker a bit then headed to Foxen for wine tasting...which I am mad that I did not do any photos there!! There was so many beautiful photo ops.

 After wine tasting at Foxen we headed to town because Mary was to be arriving. Her train was suppose to be there at 12:35 from San Diego but got really delayed because a man decided to jumped in front of the train that morning. We knew that she would be ready for a drink!

 Doing Wine tasting at Presidio. You know I am surprise I never became a member..I always enjoy their wines!

 After Presidio we walked to drop off Mary's bags at the room. We had in the rooms some wine,cheese,salad,crackers, dip, chocolates..a whole spread of stuff but we wanted to head over to the Vin Haus to buy some more stuff so we all left to walk town..ofcourse we stopped by a few Tasting rooms along the way and did tastings at Lucas & Llewellyn , cheese shop, than Sort This out Cellars.
Back at the Room we indulged in foods and wine.

Later we went back out cause there was live music playing at the Wandering Dog..which we walked in and saw some Emo dude playing Sad songs so walked right back out and then went to Sort this out Cellars where a band called the Rawhides were playing and Had wine Cocktails.We were there til close to midnite and decided maybe we should stumble off back to the room...where we all thought what a Great idea it would be to sneak in a Late night Soak in the hot tub...BY HOPPING THE FENCE to get to it. We relaxed in there and after a few minutes I realized we looked all like we were about to fall asleep so Back out and over the fence we went to go to the room..which WE ran to and all of us in our bathing suits jumped in the shower to warm up cause we were freezing..Of course that is after I had to Bend my key back into Key shape to open the door to even get inside...I should have taken a picture of that..I never seen a key so bent out of shape in my life..still do not know how that happened.
Pretty shortly we all just crashed out ..of course it was not surprising the next morning when we all woke up moaning and groaning with cuts, splinters and bruises all over ourselves. TO BE CONT..

Mother's Day Fun in the Sun

After our Nature Hike  ( on previous Post) we headed over to the Mayfair Park Carnival.

This carnival for years has always been on Mother's day weekend and my parents used to take me every year. I have so many different memories of this particular event. I feel so fortunate that I can now share this event with children of my own.

 After we looked at the craft fair and booths and got some refreshments we walked over to the rides.
Ava went on the merry go round. Let me tell you ..this was the most run down beat up merry go round I have EVER SEEN.  I did not want to go on it so my dad went with her.

 She liked it

 They had all the barf rides going..like this spin ride, the hammerhead, the zipper, tilt a whirl, and 3 different Ferris wheels.

 I just cannot do carnival rides...they always look so rickety and unstable. However I do take part in eating Cotton candy and ice creams and playing the games where you shoot water in the clowns mouth to win a prize...I am pretty good at that one!

 Parker went on the BIG Slide.

 and this Hang Glider seat ride that spins around ..while Ava and I played a carnival game

 I like how he was just lounging around. After I got back with playing games with Ava my brother and parents left

 We stayed to have an ice cream and play a couple more carnival games...both kids won prizes too which was nice!

 of course as we headed out the kids really wanted to stop and play on the playground at the park. So I sat in the shade and let them play.

 Both kids had never been on a tire swing so I had them sit together as I pushed them around like crazy on the swing..they were laughing and having a blast..we did this for like 10 min...I was baking in the sun...as a matter of fact I was baking in the sun ALL DAY and bad me drank NO WATER all day either...The kids were well hydrated though.

after the Nature walk, the carnival, the playground and prior to all that me taking my husband to work which was like a hour and a half back and forth in traffic I was BEAT DOWN and did not feel well ( heat stroked) and had major dizziness and just lied in bed watching the finale of survivor with Otter pops. Ava crashed out a 6pm and slept though the whole night.
What a busy busy Mother's day but really one of the best ones yet!