Weekend Report

 My best friend Claire flew out to spend some time with Joel and I and it was such a treat. Since I'm not going home for Thanksgiving, it was especially nice to spend a little time with a piece of home. We soaked every hour out of our days together and had the most amazing time.

Thursday

Claire flew in Wednesday night, so Thursday morning we hit the ground running. The weather in L.A. is always warm and sunny so of course we woke up to rain and 55 degree temperatures.

We had a coffee by the fire at my neighborhood Coffee Bean and then headed to Santa Monica for some major shopping.

 The only good part of the rain and chilly weather was another excuse to wear my new, favorite vest.

Claire came out to California a day after her birthday, so as a present to herself we hit up London Sole so she could indulge in their fabulousness.

It started to pour rain, so we beelined to my favorite beach spot Shutters for the perfect afternoon hideaway. 

 

The place was the perfect spot to wait out the front that sat over Los Angeles, so for almost three hours, we had a bottle of amazing wine, snacked on oysters and butternut squash soup that was to die for.

 

 

 

After Coast, I took Claire through Santa Monica's 3rd St. Promenade for some more shopping. We only lasted an hour but we did manage to spot Michael Phelps and his girlfriend shopping at Aldo which made for our first, and pretty good, celebrity spotting of the trip. 

Joel flew home for a week long business trip so we decided to make dinner at home, chat about politics, and catch up with each other.

Friday

We started the day off with a tough hike through Runyon Canyon. The weather was still a little funky, but we missed the rain and tried to burn a few calories. I love to take visitor's to Runyon because it's a pretty short trail (a little over an hour) and you get a crazy good view of the city and Hollywood sign.

We spent the afternoon in Beverly Hills and had lunch at Villa Blanca. Lisa Vanderpump, her hub Ken, and their pup Giggy sat at the front table right as you walked in. I desperately wanted to take a picture (mainly for Claire) but I got talked out of it by the rest of the group! 

We shopped along Rodeo - and stopped for a glass of wine at The Montage, and then headed home for dinner.

Joel's friend Matt joined us for dinner at The Eveleigh and drinks through Westwood. I had way too much tequila and fun - and totally spaced capturing any of the night. 

Saturday & Sunday

We left for Santa Barbara early Saturday morning and still had shitty weather. 

Our drive took us almost 3 hours because the roads up to Los Olivio's had almost 0% visibility with all of the storm's fog.

Thankfully by the time we pulled up to Fess Parker the rain stopped and we were able to get the day started right with wine.

 

The tasting we were at was hosted in the winery's back barrel room. We pulled up a few chairs and were walked through the winery's 7 popular bottles. 

We stayed for a few hours and then drove to Downtown Santa Barbara to check into our hotel and join the Urban Wine Trail. We ended up staying at the Hyatt right across from the ocean and walking distance to Anacapa St. where all of the tasting rooms are located.

It was about 4pm by the time we got to Corks'n'Crowns - the room that was recommended to us by a guest at the hotel - and we were starving. The hostess at Corks told us about an Italian Deli that we could pick up sandwich's at and take back to their room. 

It was so fun to have gourmet sandwich and enjoy beer and wine in this awesome shop. We had such a great time there that we signed up their wine club and can't wait to bring our dog back and hang out there for the day.

 

One of our favorite restaurants in L.A. - The Hungry Cat - has a location in Santa Barbara, so we had to try it out...and it did not disappoint (per usual). 

 

After dinner we decided to go for just one more and found ourselves drinking martini's at Milk & Honey in downtown Santa Barbara and having some very, very strange conversations. The mix of a long day and a lot of alcohol made for lots and lots of laughing.

Joel called a cab to pick us up from the bar and take us back to the hotel. Hysterically, they were out of cabs, so they sent us a limo for the 1 mile drive home which just continued which really just added to our drunk giddiness.

Sunday morning we had breakfast and walked around downtown Santa Barbara. I'm pretty sure if Joel and I ever hit the jackpot, we are going to have to buy a summer house in Santa Barbara. It is the most perfect, quaint town that I've ever, ever been to - even their McDonalds is cute. 

 

It was so nice to have Claire here - and even though I need to diet, and stop drinking for quite a while, I already miss her terribly.