Still on Cloud Nine

Last weekend was the best weekend I've had in a very long time. Why, you ask? Because my boyfriend visited me :)

What? You didn't know about him? Despite having a blog I do remain a very private person and honestly we're a little crazy so I wanted to make sure it was really for real. And I am happy to report that we're not only crazy but also crazy about each other and it is really for real :) If you want to know how we met, ask me in person. It's a little embarrassing/adorable and too much for the internet to handle.

So! Onto the tales of our shenanigans!

After picking up Bobby (that's his name) from the airport we went straight to the Ghiradelli Factory Store. It smelled so good! I want one of the houses that is around there; I would be salivating my entire life. We got a bunch of random chocolate squares and I am still eating them. I literally just finished "Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Caramel" and yeah, it's even more amazing than it sounds.

On Friday evening we tried to go see the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset, romantic right? Well we thought that Golden Gate Park would be a good place to be. We thought wrong. It was all forest-y and kinda in a weird valley and couldn't see any sort of vista or pretty sunset. Please if you are from SF and know of a good spot to see the bridge, let me know! The sun was setting quickly so we decided to give up and head towards the ocean and find a beach. We walked on the sand for a little while and got a small taste of the Pacific Ocean before it got too cold and headed back to the car.

It was also very foggy and cloudy. Kinda creepy but kinda cool. 

We drove around looking for somewhere to have dinner and found a place called Mel's Diner. I had THE BEST meatloaf of all time. The gravy was to die for. I dipped my veggies in it.

Saturday rolled around and it was raining. No, that's a lie....it was POURING. All morning it rained and rained and rained. I hadn't seen it rain since I'd gotten here and stared out the window for few minutes in disbelief. We had grand plans of doing some wine tasting but those were quickly squashed. Instead we headed into San Francisco (it stopped raining while we rode the BART in, of course) and saw the ferry building and went to the Exploratorium on piers 15/17. It was so cool! I would describe it as a children's museum where grown ups can play and learn too. We got a kick out of the drinking fountain.

Afterwards we had dinner at Pier 23, a restaurant I had been to before when I visited SF looking for an apartment with my mom, aunt and cousin. It's this little shack with awesome sea food and Bobby and I happened to score an amazing table right on the water. We even think we saw an otter swimming around! We both got the fish and chips (yummo) and for an appetizer he got me to try oysters on the half shell. I can now confidently say they're not bad but not really my thing. If my life depends on it, I will eat a raw oyster.

PROOF

Since our plans of wine tasting on Saturday were ruined by mother nature we moved those to Sunday afternoon. SO MUCH FUN! We went to Livermore, Napa and Sonoma's cooler cousin that is far less touristed and much more economical. And also way closer to where I live.  I had found a winery, Thomas Coyne, with the help of Yelp which has free tastings so we headed there first. It was one this amazing, old, rustic vineyard and the tasting was done in an old barn type thing where the original winery (not the same as the current one) would make their wine and was built back in the 1800's. Unfortunately the property was sold and they are being forced to move from their perfect location to another part of town without nearly as much history and character. Thankfully the grapes they use are not grown on that property so their wine will continue to be awesome. We had an amazing time there, bought a couple of bottles, and decided to hit up another tasting.

The second tasting was not nearly as impressive and the wines were more expensive. The staff also wasn't as personable and it kinda felt to me more like they were bar tenders than wine people. We both felt that the wines had nothing special going on, it was wine we could get at any grocery store and for probably half the price. No wine was bought. 

I then decided that if the website is crappy then they are focusing on more important things, like their wine. So we hit the internet on our phones and found a winery without a real website. Should be amazing right? So totally right! We went on the hunt for The Singing Winemaker because I thought it sounded like fun. I actually still can't find a website for just this winery, just Tesla Vintners where it and another winery are housed. We didn't know there were going to be multiple wineries on site when we got there so we actually first walked into the other place, Ehrenberg Cellars. This is where we found out we could get a package deal and buy tastings at both places so, of course, we signed right up. They also had this cute little photo backdrop thing and they dressed us up and took our picture. When my phone uploaded the pictures to my google drive it "auto awesomed" them and made a little mini movie/flip book/gif. I had no clue this was going to happen and every time I see it, a huge grin spreads over my face.  

Sorry if we're too adorable for you, get over it. 

While there it alternated between us being the only customers and other people coming in and out. We met this awesome older couple, the wife happened to be a life coach and she told us the secrets to success. Sorry but I can't share. After our tasting we headed over to The Singing Winemaker and met the singing winemaker himself. He was walking around, playing his guitar, and singing. I honestly thought this was some sort of gimmic but apparently we were there at the right time and got to meet the guy in the flesh! We also had some great wines while we were there and ended up buying a dessert wine (read: 18% alcohol) called Karen's Kisses. Since we had done quite a bit of drinking by this point we lingered a little while in the picnic area and soaked up a bit of California sun before heading back towards home. I think the coolest part of going to the Tesla Vintners was after they closed some of the employees and the two winemakers also just hung out in the picnic area and drank wine, shooting the breeze. I want that to be my life one day.

Also something totally cool, the winemaker at Ehrenberg signed my bottle! And he let me taste some wine that hasn't even been released or labeled yet. It should be out by Christmas time, the guy is a business man so he was probably trying to get me to come back for it. It is definitely going to work because I LOVED their wines. Seriously considering joining their wine club - called "the whiners". I am also definitely going back to Thomas Coyne, just a whole different level of the amazing. 

I now realize it's rubbing off :( and please ignore my failing craft project in the background

After sobering up we headed back to my place to eat pizza and sushi, drink some wine we had just bought, and watch a movie for our last evening together.

Overall it was an amazing weekend. The most fun I have had in a long time! We're a couple of goofs and it was so good to see my man again, we hadn't seen each other since I left in the beginning of July! We talk every day and gchat but it just isn't the same as being in the same room with somebody. Only 2 months until Thanksgiving and we can see each other again! I had wanted to get a nice picture of us when we went wine tasting but that didn't happen. Somehow I think the silly pictures dressed up and standing in a barrel are more fitting :)

I am still on cloud nine from his visit and getting more and more excited every day for my next set of visitors, my sistas! Columbus Day weekend can't come fast enough!