Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

As I said yesterday, I celebrated my friend Kristin’s 25th birthday this weekend with a Wine & Cupcakes Tour. Two wonderful worlds colliding if you ask me. But before I tell you about the day, I should first mention some things about Kristin, or KR, as she is more often referred.

Kristin just turned 25, and if you ask her she might say she is getting “old.” Silly, yes. But the girl has already pushed half a lifetime into her 25 years. As of right now she’s in her 4th year of a PhD program, working on her dissertation (which she is 1/3 of the way done), completing her internship, AND planning a wedding in May. I don’t know how she sleeps at night. Then again for her to organize this 20 person all-day adventure is something she can do with her eyes closed. Me, I would probably freak out about it weeks in advance and then end up shuffling everyone to the local downtown bar instead. In other words, KR is pretty awesome, and well-deserving of a good birthday celebration 🙂

Now onto the cupcakes and wine part!

The day began at 10:30 when the drivers picked us up in Santa Barbara to head over the mountains to wine country. If you haven’t been to Santa Barbara Wine Country, well you must visit. I mean must visit. We aren’t Napa, but there are some amazing wines and it’s much cheaper than Northern California. In fact, there are a number of places that will let you taste for free….because, well, they’re cool like that.

The first stop was Saarloos & Sons. A lovely family run winery in Santa Ynez. One of the Sons was our server, who had the help of his two adorable blond haired children.

Lovely in every way.

Between the wines, decorating, and adorable cupcakes (my favorites were the Lemon Drop Chardonnay and the Pumpkin S’mores) – I was in girlie paradise. This is what I want my house to look like, when the day comes that I can own a house. And it is most definitely what my heaven looks like…sitting outside in my Adirondack chairs by a bonfire watching a California sunset while drinking good wine and eating scrupulous dessert.

And of course with lots of friends included too, can’t forgot those.

After stuffing ourselves with sugar and wine, we moved onto Buttonwood Winery. The whites were tasty, but not my favorites. Their reds were more enjoyable, and all reasonably priced might I add.

Beautiful school psychology ladies – Jenna, Kaitlyn, Sofie, Kristin, Me, and Jen. Always so nice to hang out with the cohort outside of the school walls!

The last stop was Kalyra Winery. Always a fun and festive atmosphere, and was featured in the movie Sideways which is pretty cool. I liked their wines, but I didn’t love anything. Although I think Kristin became a wine club member that day so don’t go solely off my tastebuds.

Overall it was a perfect way to spend a Saturday. And thank you KR for organizing the wonderful day – Cheers to the Birthday Girl!

PS – I am obsessed with my newest download, Picasa and their amazing photo collages I get to make! Download it immediately.