My husband and I have been in California for 2 years. One thing I love about California is access to great wine! It is not just the wine I love but, the total experience and culture of the wine industry. Honestly, I feel more at home in the small wine towns than I do in the big city of San Diego. The atmosphere is more rustic and FRIENDLY like Texas. The temperatures are more like Texas temp,and tons of sunshine. Awe, did I mention the trees. San Diego doesn’t have many oaks just palms. Oaks add to the country feeling.

Recently my hubby and I made 2 trips up to Santa Barbara County. These two trips were back to back weekends. These trips were our first trips up to Santa Barbara Wine area because we were not looking forward to the drive. I am not sure where I stand now as I am not a fan of a long drive, but I do have to say- Santa Barbara County is exactly what I expected. I would simply describe it as something between Temecula and Sonoma. As a final clarification, it was closer to Sonoma, but uniquely.

Below is a short run down of our stops. I hope to expand each stop at a later date, but I thought I would give you a quick taste of our fun time.

Trip 1: Day 1

Koehler

I loved the pretty grounds and the drive up. Our tasting room host was personable and made our visit fun.  All around for me the wines were okay.  I did find a favorite.

Purchased: 2007 Santa Ynez Valley Grenache

Fess Parker

I loved the great big yard for my dog to run around and a huge tasting room. I found this stop to be very touristy and the tour was not up to my expectations.

Purchased: nothing- so unlike me!

Cambria

This winery was out  on the Foxen Canyon wine trail. It is one of the Jackson Family Wines labels. Ahem! Kendall Jackson. The wine tasting was wonderful as were the wines.

Purchased: 13 bottles! (1 2009 Viogner, 2 2007 Pinot Noir Clone 23, 2 2007 Pinot Noir Clone 667, 2 2006 Santa Maria Valley Syrah, 1 2009 Late Harvest Viogner, 4 2006 Rae’s Chardonnay)

Rideau

This was our last stop.My in-laws are members so we enjoyed a free tasting with a discounted purchases. I thought the syrah and petit syrah were great. We plan to come back and make this winery one of our first stops.

Purchased: 3 Petite Sirah, 3 Iris Syrah

Read More on So Cal Wine Chic…

Me too! I have been to the beach many times and jumped and played in the waves. I have also swallowed a lot of salt water- more in that later. Back to the waves, I have felt them push and pull me and every now and then I had to paddle my way out. But I wouldn’t consider it serious swimming. Where mom and dad are from they talk about lakes and rivers without waves. They say dogs have to swim around in really deep water. Since I am not headed back to Texas anytime soon they found a place I could swim- really swim.

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So this day didn’t start off as planned. We flew into Oakland which always has worked out for us, but not this time. We landed at 9:30 and by 12:30 we had gone less than 20 miles. I’ll skip past the rest of our frustrating morning but know that is why we only ended up going to 2 wineries. We were meeting my parents in Napa and they had to carry one while we sat in traffic. They visited Robert Keenan on Spring Mountain. They really enjoyed the wine and tasting experience. They felt comfortable and liked the small snacks that went along with the wine. They ended up purchasing the 2007 Cab Franc. For lunch I sent them to Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen. This is my favorite spot for lunch in St. Helena. Here are some pics from my last visit there in January.  The last one I believe they call Campfire Pie and it is the most delicious homemade dessert for miles I am sure.

Spring Mountain is a special place in Napa.  Most of the wineries there are by appointment not because they are snooty but because they want to maintain the small intimate atmosphere.  My favorite that I have visited so far on Spring Mountain is Pride.  They do a great tour of their property and caves with your tasting.  We bought a couple of bottles afterwards, one which we still are saving for a special occasion.  Here are some pictures of our tour.

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So we tried a new ricipe last night inspired by a local restaurant, Solare.  I went to a Junior League meeting last week and we visited the Old Marine Training Center in San Diego.  The land since is not being used as a marine facility any longer has reverted in ownership back to the city (original owners).  Well the city has leased the property for $1 a year to a non profit promoting the arts in San Diego.  They are rebuidling the area with shops and restaurants as well as keeping the marine facilities to house local artists ranging from painters to musicians to dancers.  It is really fun what they are doing there.  I especially loved one of the groups that is housed there that works with Children from the Ronald McDonald house to have a space to play music.

Anyhow this night ended with a wonderful dinner of some dish similar to this one:

Today was a fun Sunny Day in San Diego.  It rained really hard last night, so we woke up to a bit of humidity and sunshine!  We decided to go visit the Little Italy Farmer’s Market for some lunch and shopping.  We ended up with some fresh seafood to cook this week.  We spent most of the rest of the day working on websites but did enjoy a tasty dinner at Karl Struss Brewery.  Here are some pics:

We are waiting in line in the rain at The Mission in East Village this morning. San Diego is such an outdoor city, it really cuts down on what you can do when its raining. I can’t wait to devour a delicious scramble.

Our trip was amazing to Northern cal!  I am working on getting all my pictures online and doing a little write up.  We had some great food, amazing wine, and met some cool people.  Here is a preview!

So Johnny and I have known about this ever present beer influence in San Diego.  And as much as we do love our beer we have yet to embark on the local beer experience in the greater San Diego.  Well somehow we finally put our foot down today!  We decided that we would go take a tour and visit Stone Brewery about 30 minutes north of San Diego, in Escondido. From the outside it looks like a newer office building (there isn’t even a sign!).  But once you go through the big glass front doors you are completely taken by surprise!  Log story short- of you have visited us in San Diego we didn’t take you here…

And we apologize- because it is beautiful and delicious.  When I say delicious- it is two fold.  First off as you would guess the beer.  It is not all Stone but mostly local with the exception of a few out of state beers.  I really enjoyed the White Rascal.  Okay so secondly, the food is awesome!  Well I don;t know if I was in Texas it would be as good but for California I think it is pretty great.  We had dinner but will definitely be back for the lunch menu.  It reminded Johnny and I a lot of Redhook in Seattle but maybe a little more “upscale”?  I don’t know if upscale is the right description but there was a lot more stone (hence the name) and less wood (redhook).

Enjoy our pictures.  I am still learning to use my camera so please don’t hold anything against either of us!

1 Be more healthy

My ultimate weakness is sweets.  I love it all (except anything that tries to trick you into being healthy, ie. carrot cake).  Anyhow this year that will be my first and foremost goal.  To only eat sweet treats once a week.  This is huge for me as I would rather skip a meal and have cookie!  I know that this can’t continue so that is why this is my top priority going into this year.  Plus it will hopefully affect the rest of my life.  Last year I easily gave up cokes and Starbucks, successfully.  Now I can enjoy both here or there without being overcome by wanting it all the time.

My health goals don’t stop at less of what I shouldn’t eat of course, but also eating more of what I SHOULD eat.  That is why Johnny and I are going on a 14 day “holiday detox” -if u will.  I will be writing about our highs and lows of this process right here, for better or worse.

2 Blog more (a lot more!)

So since I spent most of 2009 reading and reading about blogging, it is finally time to just dive in.  I am in the process of creating my blogging schedule to keep me on track.  The results of this resolution should be pretty easy to track and obvious to all.

3 Learn to use my Camera

My biggest Christmas wish was to get an awesome DSLR.  And that I did thanks to Mom and Dad!  I now am the proud owner of a Nikon D5000.  I am ready to learn all about it yet I don’t know where to even start.  My friend has recommended a good teacher here in San Diego that gives various hands on courses.   However after reviewing his class schedule and my travel schedule I won’t be able to take a class until possibly March or April.  Although this may be a good thing to play and experiment first.  I am looking for some online tutorials and how-to’s to get my feet wet.  I also should say a sub-resolution that should be in this category is to not go crazy on camera equipment.  I love to buy gadgets as does Johnny.  We already have purchased 2 lenses for our camera and still don’t know how to use it!  Although I must say one was such a good deal it was hard to pass up.  I have decided to not buy any other lens and flashes etc until I get a better idea of what I need/want and most importantly, will use.

4 Continue my web/design education

Ever since Johnny designed a website for our wedding and semi taught me along the way I have been obsessed.  I totally love the logic and rules that make up the web.  And I love that on the back end is organization and logic and the front end you can make it beautiful and creative!  I have become pretty familiar with WordPress and customizing themes to the point they look unique in and of themselves. (Check out a few livingforeveryoung.com, jillfordconsulting.com/wp and finally mattandsuze.com).  I really enjoy customizing WordPress themes that allow the owner to then go in and add content and keep it updated.  I of course can build a website from scratch.  I really identified with another blogger that wrote an article about the starting point of learning to design and write the code that goes with it.  You spend time marveling at some of the best sites out there thinking I can do this!  Then you hate everything you design.  But the process of working with clients and other developers begins to shape your ideas and narrow your eye for good design.  I think this year will be huge in this area for me.  I feel like I am on the brink of some great ideas for sites.  Now I just have to get down to the nitty-gritty of the design process and the actual work.

5 Grow my business

Johnny and I have started to pick up jobs here and there for friends and their references.  We of course have grand ideas for our own projects that I think will turn out pretty great.  All of this takes a lot of time and dedication especially when we have our own 8 to 5 jobs taking up most of our day.  I know this growth will take dedication and sacrifice but I think both of us are ready for that this year.  We are realizing we aren’t getting younger and our talents don’t earn money and help others without effort.

6 Be more organized and accountable

After reading a few articles on Gizmodo, I have realized that there are so many tools out there to help everyone get organized and accomplish their goals!  Which ones am I going to use and which will survive my unconscious’ efforts to be unorganized?  That is TBD but one thing is for sure, I will quite enjoy the hunt in playing with all of these online tools and plan to let you know about the features/pros/cons along the way.

So that’s it for now; I am sure there are others and definitely some I know Johnny would appreciate (ie. spending). However, these are MINE and the important ones that just might make 2010 the best year for me.

Mom, mom I know!  It should be Coda & I!

Well Johnny is in vegas for the weekend, so I am free to spend my time with Dexter, Coda, Photoshop/Illustrator and a bottle of wine (Quivira Dry Creek Zin).  Can’t get much better!  I just got home from some deliciously cheap sushi who knew!  Anyhow I am working on a blog for my newest fave married couple, Laura and Nick Frank, a wedding website for Matt and Susan, an ecommerce site for mtyci.com, and then the ever evolving projects Johnny and I have.  Some of those secret side projects Johnny and I have are going to be quite exciting once they are launched.  A day I can’t wait for! Johnny and I are also in the process of moving…  Downtown San Diego has presented us with the most perfect large luxurious surprisingly cheap loft!  We have the keys already so we start moving all of our stuff this week.  I can’t wait till we are finally settled; boxes aren’t the homiest of things.

Well I am going to work now; but I’ll post what I get done later.  It will hold me much more accountable knowing y’all are expecting it! Hope everyone is having a good weekend!  Here are some pics of our recent adventures…