Dreaming of Warmer Weather: California Wine Country

Since we're all freezing in our respective states, I thought I would share some pictures of my trip out to California that I took back in December. You know, where I could wear a short-sleeved shirt and not get instant frostbite.

You may remember Day 1, where we took the full tour of San Diego and saw the sun set over the ocean. Later that night, we awkwardly changed in the fitting room of a Marshall's and headed to Del Mar for the Electric Run 5k.

After the race we drove back to Temecula, where Alison lives, and passed out from our long day of sightseeing and run/walking the slowest 5k known to man. The next morning, (Sunday), Alison's husband, Brett, made us all pancakes for breakfast, and then we headed out for a tour of California wine country.

First, we went to Old Town Temecula, hit up a few antique stores, and found a delightful outdoor restaurant, where we ordered a smoked sausage trio appetizer.

^^^They had these bacon-infused fries that were amazing. Because regular fries aren't fattening enough apparently. Not that I'm complaining. 

After lunch, we spent the day at two different wineries. I've never been much of a wine drinker (let's be honest: I'm really not much of a drinker at all), and I'd never been to a winery before, so this was quite the experience. If you must know, when I do drink wine, I like it sweet.

^^^Don't be too impressed. That limo was not for us.

After the wine, we stopped in at a local grocery store for frozen pizzas and ice cream. We stayed up late playing spades, and when we woke up, it was Monday and time to head home. Boo real life!

^^^This is what the San Diego airport looks like on the outside. Just in case you were wondering! I probably won't be seeing palm trees again for a long time. Oklahoma isn't so much fertile ground for palm trees.

**Coming up! Two fun blog linkups that I'm cohosting:

January 14 --"Never Have I Ever..." (Never have I ever gotten the flu, gotten bit by a shark, etc.)

January 19 --"I Believe..." (I believe that crunchy peanut butter is the best, that a dress should always have pockets, etc.)

12/12

*Project 12: A photo on the first day of every month in 2014*

January | February | March | April | May

June | July | August | September | October
November

You guys! I made it! Project 12 is now complete. I won't lie: there were two months I forgot to take a picture on the first, so we took it on the second of the month, but whatever. 

I'm going to put all 12 pictures together and include them in my 2014 recap by the numbers, so stay tuned.

Now the real question: who's joining me for Project 12 in 2015? This is seriously one of my favorite ways to recap the month. You probably have heard me talk about how much I hate weekend recap posts, and you can probably count on one hand the number of times I've done one on this blog. But Project 12 is such a fun way to recap the month PLUS you are guaranteed to have at least 12 pictures of yourself at the end of the year! DO IT. (Shoutout to Robyn who did it with me this year!)

Read

My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff

In the Woods by Tana French

Once Upon a Secret by Mimi Alford

*Reviews of all these books are up on Goodreads.

Traveled

See a full San Diego tour in pictures here

Dec 25

Hobart, Oklahoma

Jordan's grandma's house for Christmas

Dec 26-28

Texas for Christmas

Dates

I think we got Chipotle takeout one time. I know. Party animals.

Notable Events

Dec 9--Dinner with girls from church

Dec 12, 13, 14--Play in Christmas concerts at church

Dec 14--Christmas party with friends

Dec 24-25--Christmas with Jordan's family

Dec 26-27--Christmas with my family

Happy New Year's Eve!

If you're anything like me, you'll be asleep by 11:30.

Electric Run in Del Mar, California

After our whirlwind day in San Diego, we headed to Del Mar for the Electric Run 5k. First we changed clothes in a Marshall's fitting room, but you already know about that awkwardness. By this point we were all pretty tired. Remember, I had woken up at 4 a.m. CA time and flown in from Oklahoma, and we estimated that we had already walked at least 5-6 miles that day.

Alison had picked up a free sample of 5-hour energy at the December Nights festival, and she chugged it on our way to the race. She got super hyper almost instantly and started talking really fast and bouncing around. It was pretty funny.

Alison and Hilda don't run, but I was able to convince them that I would be able to hold back and not sprint away as soon as the starting gun went off. They shouldn't have worried. With all the stops we made to take pictures along the route and all the people who were running (10,000!) it ended up taking us about 50 minutes to walk 3.1 miles. I never thought I'd have so much fun finishing a race so slowly. 

I started off strong, but by the end of the race, I could have laid right down on the ground and fallen asleep. Luckily, they were giving out Rockstar energy drinks at the finish line, and just half of one perked me right up. We stayed for most of the after party, which basically involved lots of lights and loud music. Hilda took a short video on her phone, which you can see below if you want to check out some of that action.

As far as a race "review," I will say that I was impressed by the amount of lights and fun spots along the course (example: the giant glowing gummie bears). The race was well organized, and the after party was fun. There were a lot of parents with their kids, and overall I thought it was a family friendly event. (Minus some of the 20-something crowd at the after party, but that's to be expected I guess.)

That said, I always end up feeling the same about novelty 5ks races like this one or the Color Run, etc. They are something fun to experience once, especially when you have a good group to do it with, but for me they are a one-and-done kind of thing. It's just too much money for not enough running.

Have you ever done an Electric Run? 

What are your thoughts on novelty 5k races?

Dr. Seuss Plants and Teen Angst

*It was sunny, okay?

Two weekends ago, I flew out to San Diego for a girls' weekend with two of my oldest friends. You know those friends you don't have to see or even talk to very often, but when you do it's like no time has passed at all? That's the best kind of friend, and I am very blessed to have not just two but many friends like that.

Alison and I have known each other since the sixth grade. Hilda joined our crew freshman year of high school (holler to my Wheaton North friends!), but I kind of forget she wasn't around since the beginning. All weekend I kept saying, "It's just like the sixth grade!" And Hilda was all, "I didn't know you guys in the sixth grade!" She knew what I meant.

Earlier this summer, Alison and her husband moved to California, and as you can see I wasted almost no time buying a ticket to go see her. I told her it was 30% a desire to see her and 70% California. Just being honest.

Actually it was more like 90/10.

No hard feelings, Al.

It was a super short trip: I got in Saturday at 10 am and flew out Monday at 4 pm. We spent all day Saturday sightseeing in San Diego, and Saturday night we ran the Electric Run 5k in Del Mar. We spent Sunday in Alison's town of Temecula, going to wine tastings and shopping in old town. Today's post will just be scenes from our twelve-hour tour of San Diego. Hope you enjoy!

The first thing we did after leaving the airport was head over the bridge to Coronado Island. We saw a fantastic view of the city, ate lunch at the Coronado Brewing Company, and drove to the beach. It had been a very long time since I'd dipped my toes in the ocean.

The weather was gorgeous the two days we were there--75 degrees and sunny. People were laying out, playing beach volleyball, and even surfing. I can't even really imagine what it would be like to live close enough to spend every day on the beach. I picture it like the show Orange County. You know, all teenage angst and tan lines and stuff.

After leaving Coronado, we drove to Balboa Park to walk around the December Nights Festival. There was lots of fair food and also booths with food from all around the world. Christmas lights were up, but it didn't really seem like Christmas at all with the palm trees and the sun shining down. I actually got kind of hot!

One thing I couldn't get over were the crazy amount of succulents everywhere. Seriously, succulent explosion all over the dang place in every restaurant, every hanging pot, and even huge succulent bushes! There were also tons of weird-looking plants and giant trees. I felt like I was walking around a Dr. Seuss book. I kept taking pictures of the plants, and Hilda said, "So... you're going to write an entire blog post filled with pictures of flowers aren't you." Kind of yes.

We spent a little time walking around Balboa Park, although we didn't ride anything. I used to love roller coasters back in the day, but now I think I'm too old for them. I get really motion sick when I ride them now. Sad!

Our last stop before our Electric Run in Del Mar was La Jolla. We saw the cove, watched the sun set over the ocean, and ate sandwiches for dinner. Then we changed in the fitting room of a Marshall's for our run! 

*Oh, and in case you were wondering, it's extremely difficult to explain to a fitting room attendant that you're changing into a different outfit of your own clothes and aren't actually buying anything or trying on any of the clothes in the store. Plus, when you walk out holding a bag of clothes, you look like a shoplifter. Not our smartest move, but it was pretty funny. Alison and Hilda were making fun of me because I just kept repeating, "We just changed," to the lady while she stared at me in confusion. Yes, obviously you changed. You're in a fitting room.

I love San Diego!

*Next up on the California whirlwind trip, pictures (and maybe even a video!) of our Electric Run in Del Mar on Saturday night.

A question for people who live near/have been to San Diego: did we hit all the good spots on our tour?