Fabulous weekend, indeed! =)

I've been getting lots of emails from friends and family wanting to know how the weekend went so I apologize for the delay in getting an update posted. I think I broke a record for the longest period of time gone without touching a computer LOL - once I logged off of work on Thursday I didn't touch the computer again until Monday morning!

So...the weekend...it was everything I hoped it would be, and more!

Thursday night I headed out to pick up Kori at the airport. It was raining in LA so I left 2 hours before I needed to be there (people in L.A. drive horribly in the rain, causing accidents and backups on the freeways) - but that wasn't enough! I was in the car for THREE hours trying to get to LAX - in horrible bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway. I eventually got off the freeway and went the rest of the way on back roads which were ALSO bumper to bumper the whole way. Usually this drive would take 45 minutes - but it took 3 hours! Poor Kori spent an hour waiting for me at the airport - not exactly a great start to the weekend and I started to panic in the car thinking that my big weekend was probably going to be a disaster. ;/

Once I had Kori in the car we started heading for the house but traffic was still horrendous so we took back roads and stopped for dinner along the way and had a FABULOUS dinner at an Indian restaurant. YUMMY! We got home, introduced Kori to Bob, Cooper, Hunter and the house and reunited her with Winnie (they're old buddies). Cooper was fascinated by Kori and it was fun to watch him giggle and show off. :)

Friday morning we got up and made a big breakfast for everyone and then Kori and I got in the car and headed for Santa Barbara. We got there by around 11:30am, found the hotel, then parked the car and started shopping on State Street. I found the most adorable little Nike sneaker/slippers for Cooper, picked up some new makeup at MAC, and a few other things here and there. Next we headed for an authentic Mexican restaurant and ordered up some chicken tacos with mole (yum!) and margaritas of course!

After lunch we resumed shopping, in the rain (but we weren't about to let the rain ruin our fun), and then headed back to the hotel to get checked in so we could change and get ready for more adventure that evening. We weren't sure what we'd be doing - we talked about being low key and taking in a movie, dinner and drinks but then we quickly decided that we needed to do something special to take advantage of the area so we checked the hours and locations of the local wineries and off we went!

We enjoyed wine tasting from 4:30pm until nearly 9pm. We visited two wineries: Santa Barbara Winery, and Geissinger. It was wonderful - tasty, fun, and social - exactly what we both needed to enjoy our girls' night out. We met some really fun people - especially this one couple at the 2nd winery - they were both doctors - she lives in CA, he lives in NJ and they see each other every few months and are "best friends" but Kori and I are pretty sure they'll be married someday. She is a pediatrician, he is an ER doctor. We talked and talked with them about Kori's mom, Cooper, and all sorts of neat stuff. Oh yeah, I bought some wine to bring home too. :)

After working up a huge appetite tasting all those wines, we headed for a pub and had dinner and a micro-brewed beer. When that was done we weren't quite ready to call it a night so we walked down to a fun watering hole and had a margarita. I was a bit nervous about mixing all these different alcohols throughout the afternoon and evening but thankfully there was enough time between them that they didn't wreak havoc on me. In fact, I never even got "drunk" which I found quite surprising since I very rarely drink alcohol. But, I was careful to time it well and we didn't end up drunk or sick - yay! ;)

At long last came the best part of the night....time for bed! (insert evil laugh here) We were back to the hotel by 10:15 pm or so and I was sound asleep within 2 minutes of closing my eyes. I slept from about 10:30 pm until 8 am! I slept straight through, only waking once at around 7 am when I heard the shower go on but I drifted right back to sleep and slept until 8am! Woohoo!!!

Sure, I missed my Cooper the pooper. I thought about him constantly. But I knew he was safe and sound with Bob so I was able to allow myself to sleep and I slept hard. I slept through a violent thunder storm, our neighbor having a long and loud shower at 3am, and a couple standing outside our door arguing loudly at the wee hours of the morning. Kori told me she couldn't believe all that I slept through. And, apparently I slept right through my own snoring which went on all night long too (sorry Kori!!!). It felt GREAT. I woke up rested and refreshed and excited that I'd be going home to my guys in the afternoon.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Solvang for a morning of shopping in this quaint Dutch town. After lunch we headed home and got to hear all about Bob and Cooper's night. I was missed. LOL Bob had a good dose of my life at night when he's away. He was very happy I was home and he spent the rest of the weekend being even sweeter than usual - I think something clicked while I was away because he was suddenly very aware and appreciative of what I do to keep things going while he's away at work. It was really sweet to come home and feel that appreciation (it certainly rivaled that sweet night of sleep!) :).

Saturday night we watched a movie, made tacos, and chilled out. Sunday morning we hung out in our jammies, made breakfast, and then after lunch we got up and headed out for an afternoon at Universal City Walk. Cooper did great - all bundled up and strapped into the stroller, he took it all in and seemed to really enjoy the fresh air and the new sights and sounds. After an early dinner we headed home. We were up at the crack of dawn so that Kori could catch her flight back home this morning and I headed to the office after dropping her off at LAX at 6:30am. ;/

A FABULOUS WEEKEND :)

KORI - THANK YOU FOR COMING OUT TO VISIT - IT WAS WONDERFUL SEEING YOU AFTER ALL THESE YEARS AND YET IT WAS LIKE NO TIME HAD PASSED. The weekend flew by and I wish we could have spent even more time together - you're the best and I hope to see you again soon!