This past Sunday was my 25th birthday, and it was such a fabulous day! We drove an hour north of Santa Barbara to the Santa Ynez Valley (where the movie Sideways was filmed) and spent the day wine tasting. The scenery was breathtaking - mountains, rolling hills and vineyards for miles. It was so peaceful, and such a nice change of pace from the urban jungle aka Philadelphia. Our first stop was Demetria Estate in Los Olivos. So amazing. You do need a reservation, but it is absolutely worth it for the picturesque views and delicious wine. My favorite was the Grenache Rose - definitely brought a bottle of it back to the east coast!

After Demetria, we ventured over to Kalyra Winery with Bert and Christine and enjoyed a bottle outside. If you've seen the movie, this is where Sandra Oh's character worked. Cute place - reminded me of a little beach bungalow. Next we headed into the town of Los Olivos, which is one of the most adorable towns I've ever seen. I fell in love. We shared a bottle of wine at the Carhartt Tasting Room, which was so cute I decided I want to put one in Philadelphia (wishful thinking, I know). All of their furniture was made from wine barrels - so awesome.

That night, we headed over to Solvang, which is a quaint little Danish-style town equipped with windmills and all. We had dinner at Succulent, which was absolutely delicious. They even served homemade biscuits in flower pots - seriously, how cute is that? We spent the night at the Hamlet Inn - clean, super affordable and cute. Thanks for the recommendation designlovefest! Oh, and there was a store called "C and R" - Courtney and Reese, get it? I'm a dork, I know...

On Monday, we headed back down to LA to attend a reception for Reese's uncle, Roger Kelly, who was being inducted into the Southern California Professional Golf Hall of Fame. The reception was at Lakeside Country Club, and there was a statue of Roger right next to the club house - pretty cool experience.

Overall, it was an amazing trip. I love the west coast and I can't wait to go back...which will actually be in 2 weeks! Reese has a business trip in San Francisco, so I'll be tagging along and blogging, of course! Until next time...

xo Court