temecula |

Finding a venue can be one of the most stressful parts of wedding planning. The venue is the answer to so many questions in the wedding planning process. What type of food will you have? Buffet or plated? What is the theme? Will kids be there? What type of food will be served? Next to dress shopping, I would say venue shopping is right up there!

In Southern California I am lucky to have millions of options at my fingertips. We could have a beach wedding, a vineyard wedding, a wedding at an estate or even a wedding in the mountains & not have to go too far. We tossed around a few options. Chris and I both love the central coast so we thought a wedding in Solvang might be perfect. But after a little bit of deliberation (and a few stress tears on my end) we decided that central coast probably wouldn’t be the best bet for a wedding where half of the guests are coming from out of state.

Hello friends! Hope everyone had a good weekend! I had the weekend off for the first time since our trip back in the end of July so we jam packed it with fun with friends & food. Saturday morning I woke up after an overnight shift at work to Chris & our friend “the other Megan” unloading our former storage shed into a new, nearby storage shed within our complex. Since they had been up since the ripe old hour of 8 o’clock I thought I’d be nice & whip up some chorizo & eggs for breakfast for them.

As we vegged a little & took our time getting ready for the rest of the day it was really nice to catch up with Megan. She lives about 2 hours away from us in Orange County so we don’t get to get together as often as we would like. We spent the evening on Saturday with some other friends at an event at Downtown Disney.
Okay, spoiler, Chris works for a company in Downtown Disney which held a beer tasting even… & that’s all I am really going to say about the location. Twice a year they shut down their venue to bring in 18 local breweries. It’s a lot of fun & you get to try a ton of beers you normally wouldn’t.

My favorites of the night would have to be the Prickly Pear Cider from Crispin Cider or the Steller IPA from North Coast Brewing Company in Fort Bragg, CA. Yum! My least favorite… a 15% ale that tasted like I was drinking straight bourbon… wowza! I definitely had to wash that down with a plateful of their loaded mac & cheese with pulled pork & pico de gallo.

Before the event started we headed over to the Mexican restaurant in Downtown Disney, Tortilla Jo’s, & snacked on a strawberry mint margarita & some table side guacamole. Mint & strawberry was perfectly refreshing for the 100 degree day.

We called it a night pretty early & everyone crashed at our place where they watched movies & Megan & I knocked out early.

The next morning we took full advantage of my weekend off, & our need to pick up our wines from our wine clubs & headed down to Temecula Wine Valley for a day of tasting & relaxing. But again… the sun did not hide. It was 105 all day & it was pretty killer all day in the sun. Chris & our friend Patrick thought it would be fun to play a round of bocce ball but I am pretty sure they were regretting it after about 10 minutes. Us girls were smart and ate our pizza in the shade. Hey I will take 95 degrees over 105 any day!

It was a great weekend with friends that we don’t get to see too often but Monday everyone was back to work. I am definitely glad I was able to step out of my beer bubble & try some new tastes. With the holidays fast approaching it looks like I will have one more free weekend before my life will be over taken by crazy mall hours & my retail life. Next month we are heading to Vegas for a quick overnight trip to celebrate Chris’s sister’s 21st birthday! I have a few spots that I can’t wait to visit but does anyone have any suggestions of places to go, things to eat, & drinks to drink? We are always up for new & exciting adventures. Let me know!