when in sonoma, do as the sonomans do

Whenever I visit northern California, either with Nick or my family, one of my favorite things to do is visit my uncle in Sonoma.  Sonoma is one of those places that makes you feel like you are walking through a post card, which is I think is why I love it so much.  Either that or because everyone is always encouraging you to another glass of wine.  Yeah, I definitely love it because of the wine.

My uncle is the type of person who could make any place seem interesting.  Everywhere we go, he knows an interesting story about the history, or a funny anecdote, and he sees beauty and creativity everywhere.  He took us to Cornerstone, which is sort of like an outdoor landscape architecture gallery.  The gray skys made every hue pop, and the grape vines were just beginning to peek out at spring.  There are plots or gardens that different landscape architects have designed, and my personal fav was the one that had chicken wire clouds with crystal raindrops that looked like DIAMONDS (said in the voice of the guy from the Old Spice commercial.)  While I was taking pictures a woman standing nearby was commenting "Isn't it just LOVELY?!  I just ADORE that!"  The more she said it, the more I knew this lady and I could definitely be lady bros.

The evening involved wonderful chillens who told stories, and laughed, and played games, and told jokes, and danced, and quietly listened to the "grown ups" (first time I've grouped myself into that category.  I even got to sit at the grown up table!), and recited poetry they had memorized, and looked quietly with me through photography books, and did everything that wonderful children do.  Oh, and did I mention they even speak two languages?  When I was their age, most of my time was spent beating up imaginary bad guys and being the pink ranger.  WHY again do I get to sit at the grown up table?  Oh right, because there was wine there.  Something about drinking wine a few miles away from the vineyard it was made made me feel very sophisticated.  Until I spilled ceviche on my lap.  Sophistication points -25 for that party foul, but +15 since I now know what ceviche is.  Flippin' incredible is what it is.

And I will conclude with this little ballad I just made up:

OH Sonoma,
I wish you were my home-a,
in your vineyards I would roam-a,
we'd sip merlot til we were in a coma,
then wake up with a bump on my dome-a.

That's about all I got.  Lucky for you ;)

and then i left my heart

in gorgeous San Francisco.  (Luckily I had Nicklaus, who stole it back for me, and is currently holding onto it for safe keeping) #mushygushyeww!  But for reals though, San Francisco may just be my favorite place in the whole wide world so far.  I mean, where else can you browse artwork on the square, sip Italian coffees, shop in a 6 story Nordstrom's, ride a cable car (do people use the word trolley anymore?  It makes me feel silly when I say it but I kinda like it...), taste the salty air, and have the pleasure of laying eyes on this dapper gentleman?

Art or antique?  You be the judge.  

We also took a lovely jaunt across the bay to Sausalito, where on a clear day, has the most amazing view of the San Fran skyline.  Unfortunately it was not so clear for us, but the city behind the fog still took my breath away.  And we ate greasy fish 'n chips because... well actually, that requires no reasoning, we did it because it tasted like a seafood party in my mouth (for a second I thought I heard Flounder and Sebastian singing "Under the Sea!," but tuned it out so I could devour my fried little fishies.)  

And all over the city are these heart sculptures, and my grandpapa was kind enough to snap a picture of us in forn of the one that Tony Bennet painted.  Note: 12+ inch height difference, will remember to wear taller shoes for next picture.  

Oh handsome city by the bay, I'm getting tummy butterflies just thinking about my love for you.  Don't get me wrong Boise, you're still my main squeeze, but somethin' about those salty waves and Golden Gate just gets me.  

Perhaps it has something to do with San Francisco = play by the bay, Boise = work/school.  Hmm, tough choice there Alex, but I'm going to go with "What is San Francisco, greatest place on Earth?"  

Hope your Wednesday flies by!  As for me, my day looks like this:

Things I have to accomplish today:

Homework

Things I have accomplished today:

Eat

Kissed no less than 3 booboo's betta

Laundry

Blog

Look at my computer screen

Anything but homework

Yeah... when LAUNDRY seems like the more exciting thing to do... it's bad...

without further ado...

I told you pinky promises were important to me!  While cord is still M.I.A. (starting to suspect I never had one in the first place.  It's either that or the theory that Lola ate it, in which caseI think we would have had serious problems by now) I DID finally get my pictures from our trip to the bay area on my computer.  Northern California was so beautiful everywhere we went, which not only caused my eyeballs to explode, but also led to my filling my memory card up, so there may be a few more vacation posts, if that's alright with you it's alright with me.

Anyhoo, this particular set of photos were from the day we took a drive to Bodega Bay, which happens to be the very place Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film The Birds was shot.  If you have seen this classic, you may recognize the top photo from the scene where little children run away while being viciously attacked by carnivorous birds.  Although our trip to Bodega Bay was not quite as life threateningly exciting, the gray skies made every speck of color pop.  Also there was a surprisingly high number of "Kite and Candy" shops.  Apparently in Bodega Bay, when it comes to kites and candy, business is a boomin'.  Needless to say, Nick and I stocked up on handfuls of saltwater taffy, which I proceeded to shove into my mouth at an impressive rate.    When it comes to candy, I have a five-year-old's amount of self control.  Which is why when they cashier said my bill needed to be at least $5 to use my debit card, I hesitated for about all of 1/2 a second before grabbing a peanut butter cup the size of my fist that I had been eyein' since I walked in.  She kinda gave me a funny look, but I just gave her a look right back that said, "Yeah, I'm going to eat a colossal peanut butter cup, and then I'm going to blog to the world about it.  I feel that it is necessary."  Peanut butter cups just know the way I like it.

Oh, and say hi to my Grandpa, he's that dashingly handsome male standing next to the other dashingly handsome male known as my boyfriend.  In case you don't know me, my boyfriend is the one without the mustache (for now, working on convincing boyfriend that a mustache would suit him well.)

And we had lunch at a restaurant called The Tides, where I was able to, from a safe distance, take a few pictures of birds, waves, and the other wonderful sites that lovely landlocked Boise, Idaho unfortunately does not possess.  And then I ate my weight in clam chowder, and for a girl who grew up eating Progresso Clam Chowder, it was in a word, wowza.  That chun-kay clam chowder would have put my ex Progresso in a full nelson and made it say uncle.

And everything was wonderful, and sugar tummy aches were forgiven, and I survived Bodega Bay without being eaten alive by birds, and it was glorious.