Today was awesome! It got to a rocky start because I went to bed last night with a headache (and I know better than to do that) and so I woke up with one. It was pretty gnarly too. In any case, after some breakfast and a nice hot shower, I got moving and took some Excedrin. Today was a big day for us because Alan and Christa were coming to pick us up to go with them to Santa Barbara/Los Olivos area to do some wine tasting.

Our first stop was in Camarillo. We decided to spend some time at the outlet mall first. We got there about 15-20 minutes before everything opened, so we wandered around, used the bathroom and waited until the shops opened. Berek and I wandered into the Fossil store. I realized I needed a new watch. You know, new job=new watch. ;) Anyway, I wasn't going to buy anything today, but I saw this great watch in a glass case. It looked very ethereal and elven. When I took it out I realized it had some great charms on it too! So awesome! Then, I saw the price...$110! Well, a nice watch like that should cost a bundle, but then I saw the red sign on the shelf that read: $59.00. Whoa! That would totally be worth it! That is what went through my head. I asked the guy working there if that was the correct price and he took the watch out of the glass case and checked the price. It was $59! SWEET! I had to get it. It looked so cool! (As it turned out, the reason it looked so elven and ethereal was because it was a licensed Lord of the Rings Elven Watch. 239 of 3000. :) Even better! I also checked out the Sketchers store, but they didn't have the shoes I wanted in my size. (Although, they did have the Right 7&1/2, just not the Left!)

After that, we headed to Santa Barbara. It was really cool! We went to the pier and had our first wine tasting. Ah, the semi-sweets were good. :) I remembered why we had that membership to the Royal Oaks Winery in Solvang (which unfortunately due to cost concerns, we had to cancel.), the wines were sooo good. After which, I felt slightly inebriated so we went to Rusty's Pizza Parlor on good advice from Carrie. :) Yum! That was some good pizza and Alan got to watch part of the first half of the World Cup. He was quite happy.

After lunch we went to this great winery in Santa Barbara called Giessinger. Oh! This place was heaven! I loved all but one of the wines they had and even then, it wasn't horrible (the one I didn't like). We ended up purchasing one called, "Surrender" my goodness that was some good port-like wine! It has the aroma of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry and you could taste them as well. Mmmm, that is a dessert in itself. It is supposed to be a dessert wine. :) I think either for the celebration of my new job or for our housewarming coming up, we might bust it open for some friends and have at the whole bottle! (Provided I don't get into it first and drink it myself!)

From there, we headed up towards Solvang to a little town called Los Olivos. It was soooo cute! I mean, Solvang has a different sense of cuteness because of the danish roots, but this place was just quaint and cute! We're talking all-American Hippie Town almost. The shops were all inside houses. The doctors had their offices inside a house and it was just wonderful! I loved every moment there. If I could live there, I so would do it. Berek might have a hard time of it, but if I throw in some rug rats, I think he'd be happy. *wink* (I love you Berek!) Anyway, the wine there, from what we tasted wasn't so good. It was all too bitter and acidic. Still, it wasn't a wasted trip by any means.

Oh! I almost forgot about the trip we made to this winery on the way to Los Olivos. It's called Gainey (I think) and it had the best tour! I learned a lot about wines there, but unfortunately, the wines weren't very good. Again, these were rather bitter and acidic, even the Riesling and Syrah! Yeesh! Oh well! Still not a wasted trip at all!

I'll post some pictures up here later. I just don't have the energy to do it right now.

I had so much fun though. Thanks Alan and Christa for a great time! :)