Not Another LA Blonde

Category: Travel

Santa Ynez – Weekend Trip

Good Morning friends! Happy Tuesday, I hope y’all had a great weekend! Mine started a little rocky (woke up Friday feeling sooo sick, but still went into work since we are short staffed and then had to go to my high school football game to watch my girls cheer) but then got a little better. Robert and I woke up super early Saturday morning and drove up to Santa Ynez (a little past Santa Barbara) for his cousins 30th Birthday Bash.

Our weekend started by waking up at 4:30 and driving 2.5 hours up the coast of California to meet the rest of the family for a 30th Birthday. We arrived at the hotel and got settled in and then at about 10:30am the festivities for the day started. Our transportation included a private bus that took us to each stop and then dropped us off at dinner at the end of the day. The bus was a redone school bus that was super cool!

Our first stop: Babcock Winery

This winery had a super vintage feel to it. Anything in the winery could be purchased including the décor on the walls. Here we had a private tasting and sampled 3 whites and 3 reds.

Whites:

2016 Soulstruck, Grenache Blanc

Unfortunately, I can’t remember the other 2 whites we tried.

Reds:

2016 Pinot Noir “Ocean’s Ghost”

2016 Rita’s Earth Pinot Noir

2016 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills

To be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the 6 we tried, but in all fairness I really only like sweet wines and tend to shy away from anything too dry. The birthday girl got her own sample of a sweet wine and it was DELICIOUS! I had to buy a bottle for myself to bring home, it’s the 2014 Late Harvest Pinot Gris “Naughty Little Nectar” .

Second Stop: Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co.

There are 5 locations for the is Brewery, we stopped at the one in Los Olivos. This is where we had lunch which was actually really good. We had the upstairs room all to ourselves with a private bartender. For lunch we had salad, tri-tip, bbq chicken, garlic bread, chili, and a potato salad. I’m not a huge craft beer kinda gal, so I opted for a flight of beers. My beers included:

Fig Mtn Light, FMB “101” Blonde Ale, Gibraltor, and Hoppy Poppy IPA

Third Stop: Beckmen Vinyards

We got to this stop at about 3:30 in the afternoon and to be honest, everyone was pretty much done. I think that everyone went a little too hard at lunch with the beers! This winery was a little bit different and didn’t offer a group tasting. We sat outside in a gazebo and someone from the winery came out with 6 different types of wines. He explained them to us and then left us to pour our own tasting. I didn’t really feel like this was a good sales tactic and no one from our group bought any wines here. The grounds were nice, and there were some late harvest grapes still on the vines.

Fourth Stop: Maverick Saloon

This was our last stop for the day. We went in for happy hour, then walked a few doors down for a private dinner (I can’t remember the name of the place we had dinner). This is totally a dive bar type place. They have dollar bills hanging from the ceiling that customers can put up themselves. After dinner we came back and there was a live band playing. Since it was the Saturday before Halloween, they were having a costume party!

Sunday morning we packed up, had lunch at Sandbar in Santa Barbara. The mexican food was actually pretty good and the watermelon margaritas were to die for!

I love being able to do quick weekend getaways like this one and would love to be able to go back up and stay the weekend in Solvang (super cute looking Danish town). I hope you all had an amazing weekend. Let me know if you have any questions about anthing I did this weekend; I’m happy to answer anything you might want to know!

XOXO

February 4, 2021
10 Things You Need in Your Carry-On Bag

Your carry-on bag is like your life on any flight. Once you’ve checked your bag, all your left with is your carry-on, so you better have the essentials packed in there to make your flight a little easier. Before you leave, make sure you have these things packed and ready to go.

Hand Sanitizer or Wet Wipes

The last thing you want is to turn up at your destination feeling sick. Ward off germs and viruses by always carrying a mini hand sanitizer or a pack of wet wipes in your carry-on. Airport bathrooms sometimes run out of soaps and airplane bathrooms are not always the cleanest. I am 100% that weirdo on flights that wipes EVERYTHING down before I sit down! I use travel Clorox wipes to wipe down the arm rests, seat buckle, and tray table/tv. I’ll even wipe down the head rest of the seat before sitting down.

Change of Clothes

This is important for many reasons, but the most important being that every time you check your bag, you’re putting your faith in a stranger that your luggage will end up where it’s supposed to. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out (knock wood, I’ve never had my luggage go missing). Keeping a clean set of clothes in your carry-on is essential. Also, if you are on a long flight or a red-eye, you’ll just feel more refreshed if you change after your flight.

Water Bottle

This carry-on essential is also environmentally-friendly. Keeping a reusable water bottle with you during your travels helps keep you hydrated throughout. More and more airports are installing water fountains or refill stations in departure halls so you can fill your bottle after you pass through security.

Travel Pillow

A bulky travel pillow may not seem worth the precious space it takes up, but you’ll be grateful once you’re on a long-haul or red-eye flight.

A Pen

You’ll need a pen to complete a customs form on an international flight or fill out a visa-on-arrival form in your destination. In a world where it seems like everything is digital, you’d actually be surprised how often a pen will come in handy when traveling.

A Shawl

Stay warm in over air-conditioned airplanes, airports, and buses by bringing your own clothing that can double as a blanket. If you’re traveling on the cheap, don’t expect budget airlines to dole out extra perks like pillows and blankets. Save yourself the hassle and bring a wide shawl or wrap to help you cover up, stay warm and sleep comfortably.

Noise-Cancelling Headphones

Headphones of any kind are an absolute must! Watch a movie or drift off to sleep in peace while listening to your favorite playlist without being disturbed by crying babies or conversations going on around you.

In-Flight Entertainment

Most flights I go on, have personal tv’s built in, but in the event that they don’t or if your TV doesn’t work, it can be a real bummer. Make sure to stockpile movies/books on your tablet or pre-download your favorite shows from Netflix.

Healthy Snacks

If airplane food doesn’t agree with you, then you’re stuck without anything to eat until you touch down. Instead of holding out for a “decent meal” at your destination, pack some snacks to get you through. Unsalted nuts, dried fruit, or oranges keep your tummy full without the bloat.

A Power Bank

Your phone/ipad/e-reader does you no good if the battery dies. Some airlines offer in-seat USB ports, but not all do. Nothing is worse than a long flight with nothing to do. Make sure you have a slim, light-weight power bank in your carry-on for emergency charging.

XOXO

February 13, 2020
Wedding Wednesday – My Bachelorette Party

I know that I’ve been married for 7 months now and that my bachelorette party was 8 months ago, but I want to finish filling you in on all things wedding related and everything that went into planning for the big day.

So to re-start this series, let’s begin with my BACHELORETTE PARTY!!

Please excuse the blurry Insta pic!

I feel like I just have to begin with a little background story…there were supposed to be 10 of us, but about a week before, two of my bridesmaids dropped out. We had booked 3 rooms, but since there were only 8 of us now, I decided to cancel one room as it didn’t really make sense financially.

Before I get too far into this story, I just want to make sure y’all know that I’m not in any way putting down any of my bridal party and I’m sure that every bride goes through some sort of drama of their own. While I had a good time on my bachelorette party, I could have had a better time and things could have worked out a lot differently.

So we get there Friday morning and of course we can’t check-in because it’s like 8am and early check-in starts at 10am. My MOH had everything planned to the absolute T and was having a hard time with the “plan” being thrown off. That kick started the negative attitude of the weekend and it carried on throughout the next two days.

Needless to say, it all ended up in a disaster of girls getting mad at each other and the rest of the weekend not quite going as planned. No one could communicate like adults and I couldn’t understand why it was all happening and girls couldn’t just enjoy MY weekend. I still managed to have a great time thanks to my new cousins and bff, but my MOH and I ended the weekend in a huge fight that had to be resolved before the wedding.

MAY 11-13, 2018: Las Vegas, NV

STAY

COSMOPOLITAN HOTEL – I’ve actually never stayed here before, but the hotel was soo nice. I normally stay at the MGM (which is also nice), so this was a nice little change. My bff works for Marriott, so she was able to get us an employee discount on the rooms!

EAT

EGGSLUT – Located in the Cosmopolitan. This was our first stop Friday morning for breakfast. I got the slut (cage-free coddled egg on top of house-made potato puree, cooked in a glass jar topped with gray salt and chives, served with slices of baguette. Let me tell you, this was DELICIOUS!!

SECRET PIZZA – ok, so there is a hidden secret place in the Cosmopolitan. I honestly can’t tell you exactly where it is except that you have to go down a hallway to get there. It is pretty much open all day/night. They close at 4-5am and open again at 11am.

TACO BELL CANTINA – We hit the TBell Cantina after the club on Friday night (I guess you could say Saturday morning). There was a little bit of a wait, but it was so worth it, it hit the spot after drinking all night. By the time we got here, there were only 6 of us, so we ordered our food and got it to go and ended up eating on the floor of the conference room level of the hotel. Definitely a must hit spot in Vegas!

SCARPETTA – This is where we ate Saturday night after the pool party. I’m going to be honest and say that it was totally not worth it. The portions were small and it just wasn’t a very enjoyable experience. Although, in all fairness, it could have just been because the weekend was so bizarre and by this point everything was super awkward between everyone.

Clubs

TAO NIGHTCLUB – So being a group of all girls, we knew it wouldn’t be hard to get into a club. Robert’s cousin was able to get us all in to Tao. We still had to pay, but we got to sit at a table and had drink wristbands. We got to stay at the table as long as the club didn’t sell it (since we technically didn’t pay for table service). Our table was located right next to the dance floor which was great! We even ended up dancing on the platforms before deciding to call it a night around 2am.

TAO BEACH – Saturday during the day, we went to a pool party, this particular one is one of the best in Vegas. We used the same promoter with the same rules to get into the pool party. We only had to move couches once, but then luckily we stayed in the same place the rest of the afternoon. It was so much fun (although I don’t think my whole bridal party had fun as a couple of them left pretty early).

My super cute one-piece suit

All in all, it wasn’t a totally terrible weekend. I mean it definitely could have been WAY better, and I would love to go back and change it if I could, but what’s done is done and unfortunately I’ll never get that experience back again. I have good and bad memories from my bachelorette weekend.

January 23, 2019