A Very Carrie Prom Night...

I saw this come across my newsfeed and I was so IN!

There's a great little art house Theater in Santa Ana called The Frida Cinema.  They do all kinds of viewings of older flicks on the big screen and they, along with Horror Buzz got together and put on this adorable event!

They had the lobby decked out with a photo op, then a little crowning of Prom King and Queen before we got to watch the original Carrie on the big screen!  So much fun!

The official "Prom" Photo

 I really wanted to get super decked out in prom attire, but wasn't sure how much people would dress up since I'd never attended one of these events.  Well - we should have decked ourselves out more, because there were some super great couples!!  Plus we probably would have had a way better chance at winning King and Queen!  Aw well.

I did make a bloody boutineer for Patrick.  I ordered a white rose one, then splattered it with red paint.  I was super happy with how it came out.

Sometimes I'm so pleased with myself

I then whipped out my dress from Midsummer Scream last year, borrowed my mom's tiara and dug out a Halloweeny looking Tee for the boy.  I thought we looked pretty damn cute.

We're so cute!

The lobby was adorable!

When you got in the theater it was lit up super festive.  They also had a "spiked punch" for purchase.  I think it had vodka, HC and sprite.

Someone brought a giant balloon thing that was bouncing around

"Punch" and Beer

The "Principal" and "PE Teacher" MC'd the event and played along in character and did a fun little trivia game and gave out some prizes!

The King and Queen were selected then they did a great Carrie tribute!

Rad!

Then the movie played.  It was so cool to see the original up on the big screen!  It was also super fun watching it with a group of fans.  People were cheering and booing at times and it was super rad!

Then I took an after "Prom" selfie because when the hell else am I going to wear a tiara!

I feel this represents me well

Yay for a fantastic date night for us horror junkies!!!

Mother's Day with Pirates...

I'm quite late in posting this, because I actually thought I already had!  Ooops!

Anywhoo - awhile back when Mom, Taylor and I were heading to the Boysenberry Festival at Knotts - as we sat in traffic across from Medieval Times and Pirates Dinner Adventure - mom said "We should do one of those for Mother's Day!"  Because of course she did.  My mom will always be a kid at heart.

So - the bro and his wife weren't down, but Taylor's ma wasn't in town so guess who was totally down - that's right - the trio who refuses to grow up!  BOOM - so a hella fun Mother's Day was had.

I was rolling in from Paso that morning to a shack with no hot water, exhausted from the trip but was back out the door before I unpacked (because sometimes I'm still a fucking rockstar) to pick up mom and Taylor for our Mother's Day Adventure.

We decided on Pirates Dinner Adventure because my friend Ed is the "Red Pirate" in the show and I've always wanted to see him and he was performing that day at 4pm.

We arrived in plenty of time to enjoy the pre-show (They suggest arriving an hour or so earlier) and have pics, snacks and drinks.  I splurged a bit and got mom the "Lots of Loot" Package which got her a souvenir photo, a bandana, beads and a flag.  Oh yes - we were going all out!  We were assigned the Purple Pirate (not my friend dammit!) and herded over for a photo.

Pirates for a Day!

 You then head into the lobby area and can enjoy the free apps being passed around (You have to chase after those waiters though, and maybe knock a few children out of the way) and buy drinks at the bar.  I remember the yummy Rose from the Teatro show so I re-visted that, Taylor and mom got fun souvenir cups (Taylors was seriously like a gallon) and we were ready to roll!

Taylor gonna get drunk

Tell me she is not the cutest

They do a cute little pre-show where they introduce the story line and the pirates and your sent off with your pirate to the show to get seated in your section.  Our pirate was the "funny" one.  So yeah - he didn't win.  LOL.  He was the littlest one too, it was hilarious.

Our Purple Pirate!

We took our ready to party selfies:

Selfie Time!

Not drunk...just a dork

Dinner was decent.  We all had chicken.  They came around at one point and asked if we wanted 2nds which I thought was cool.  Mom also got some extra cake for Mother's Day!

The show was hoot - perfect for families.  They're always bringing up kids to participate in various things.  The storyline is cute - kinda cheesy but what you'd expect.  The pirates though are awesome! Fight choreography was fantastic, lots of acrobatic like stuff from rope swinging to spinning around on some crazy contraption, to aerial and more.  There was a little side kick chick who wasn't that great acting wise but an amazing aerialist.  Her and the Green Pirate did a beautiful aerial dance that was unexpected!  I'd say the show was a bit long, but super fun and great effects.  A really great time to take the fam - or if you have a mom like mine!

That's my friend!  Go Ed!  Kick his ass!

I brought mom over to meet Ed

I adore these two more than they'll ever know!

We all had a great time!  I love doing random adventures with these two!!!

Happy Mother's Day Mama!!!!

Paso Robles Getaway...

A while back, the boyfriend mentioned we should do a weekend out of town - would I be up for that?
Um...


I'm packing all this in one blog - so get ready for a doozy!

He was thinking Central California.  He loves the area.  I love the area.  He's nature dude.  I like wine.  It's a win win for everyone!  Even better - he booked the air bnb and we were ready to go!

We rolled out of OC around 9am on Thursday morning.  We decided to do a Thur thru Sun and I gotta tell ya people - do that!  If you're going to take a long weekend that extra day makes such the difference!  We even had to leave early on Sunday due to it being Mother's Day but that extra day still made it feel long enough for a vacation.

LA traffic was - LA traffic.  Blerg.  When we hit about Ventura were were ready for brekkie.  We stopped at Eggs n Things.  I was a bit disappointed.  It was ok, kinda meh.  They're known for their Swedish Pancakes - maybe I should have got those.

On the way, Patrick suggested we stop at Oso Flaco Lake.  Holy Hell you guys!  It was beautiful!!  He thought I'd dig it because it was a short little jaunt and gorgeous.  He was right!  It was super windy and a bit chilly, but well worth the stop!  You drive out into what looks like the middle of nowhere (We joked he may be taking me to murder me...cuz this is how horror movies start) through farmland and kind of a dirt road that ends at this little reserve.  You walk out into a pretty path, turn onto a bridge that goes across the lake, then out through the dunes and BAM - you're on the coast!  Fucking gorgeous!  I grabbed my camera and shot away!

Bundled up and ready to check it out!

Duck Butt!

How cute are we?

So friggin pretty!

They look like sunbursts!

Bridge to nowhere

We almost blew off the platform but dammit we were getting a pic!

Depth of field fun

I love when trees arch a walkway!

  After our cold/windy/gorgeous walk we rolled into San Luis Obispo.  I had been texting with a friend of mine who lives there and works at a winery - she wasn't working that day unfortunately but I wanted to check out her winery so we made it just in time before it closed!  Her co-worker hooked us up and waived our tasting fees and I fell in love with their Chardonnays!  That's right!  Chards!  I usually don't care for Chardonnay's but these were delish!  They also had a great Pinot which I picked up as a thank you to my girlfriend for cat-sitting.  The winery is tucked amongst a pretty wine country area in SLO called Chamisal Vineyards.  We chatted with a cool gal named Lindsey and Patrick experienced his 1st wine tasting!  We also met an adorable cat named Tannin who was super friendly!

Boyfriend + Winery = Happy Jami

From there we hit up Central Coast Brewing where I could actually say hey to my local friend and this was where her hubs was working!  We got to squeeze our friends and have a couple of drinks and sliders.  So great to see them!

Yay SLO friends!

Patrick had been wanting to hit the SLO Farmer's Market, so that's where our next stop was.  The bummer was, the cool cello dude that he wanted to see wasn't there that night but we had a good time none the less.  A really great market actually!  Lots of vendors, so much food, entertainment along the way and it took place in a great area full of shops/bars and restaurants!  Pat got a delicious BBQ sammich.  We checked out a bar called The Library - just cuz.  We browsed through some of the cute little boutiques.  It was a pretty cool event!  The only downfall - don't park in the structure - it was a bear getting out and Patrick got to witness a bit of Jami roadrage when some jackass totally drove down past a bunch of cars in line and cut to get out!!!  I may or may not have screamed some obscenities at him....

The Library Bar

He got me a rose

By this time we needed to scoot over to Paso to meet our lady at our Air bnb.  I'm not used to actually meeting up with the folks that run these, but apparently this gal wanted to greet us and show us some things so off we went!

Talk about the cutest bnb eva!!!  She named it Hilltop Cottage and it's a back house at the back of this huge property.  So damn cute!  She has little touches everywhere from lotions, to soap to snacks to games to coloring books to a record player!  So much radness and just perfect for our weekend getaway.  Here's some shots of it I took when it was light out:

With boy

Tee hee!

Day 1 - SUCCESS!

Friday morning we awoke lazily and took our time getting going and out the door.  These are the kind of vacations I love.  No time schedule.  No hurrying.  And having someone special to share it with - just enjoying each other.

We decided to hit Downtown Paso Robles for lunch and wandering then head out to a few wineries.  Downtown is adorable!  We browsed some stores since Patrick was looking for a gift for his mom and around now is when I was like - "Yeah, I wanna live here."

Downtown Plaza

These little birds were in one of the boutiques - so cute and talkative!

 We came across Pasolivo and I had a coupon for an Olive Oil Tasting - so - IN!  The gal who did our tasting let us taste a bunch of different oils and then gave us samplings of mixing them with some rubs, and seasonings and what not.  So fun!  Everything was so good!  I seriously wanted to buy so much but I settled on a yummy rub and some salts.

 We then landed on lunch at Berry Hill Bistro.  It was adorable!  I got myself a Salmon BLT.  YUMMY!  A super cute little bistro right in downtown.

From here - Wineries!

Our 1st stop was Sculpterra.  This was defiantly our highlight.  This winery has a beautiful garden area with all kinds of sculptures.  The featured ones that did most the sculptures and decor in the gardens are Bob Bentley, John Jagger and Patrick's favorite Dale Evers.  They also have a bunch of other artists as well.  In fact - the guy who did our wine tasting was a photographer and had some of his stuff up for sale.  He had a really sweet story -  came over from the UK because he met a Paso Girl.  Swoon!!!  He was super friendly and knowledgeable about the wine and the history of the place.  We both did a tasting and I ended up getting a bottle.  Such a great experience!

Wine makes Patrick step in mud puddles.  Tee hee hee!

My favorite!!!

Kitty!

Patrick's favorite

Life size kaleidoscope

We played a little fooze ball!

Kitty!

Sleeping kitty!

Kitty!

Sleeping kitty!!!

Nevermore

This place will for sure be a re-visit!!

Next up we hit Eberle.  I was trying to hit up wineries that we could also have stuff for the boy to do since he wasn't a huge wine guy.  This place gave free cave tours!  Really pretty grounds.  Busy tasting room.  Their wine was really reasonably priced and I got 3 bottles!  I could not pass up that Rose!  We did the cave tour and it was guided by this Cal Poly Wine Student!  He was adorable and really knowledgable!  I love seeing these up and coming wine students.  There is a whole world of wine schooling!  WHY DIDN'T I KNOW THIS!?

These dogs were just chillin in the tasting room

Cave Tour Time!

Vineyard Selfie

From here we headed off to Tobin James.  Now - here we had a bit of a set back...my navigation woman is British and she apparently doesn't like to get me where I want to go.  We ended up at a Hampton Suites - like 20 min the wrong direction.  WTF.  She also kept talking about Slip Roads - it's an on ramp you bitch!  Anywhoo...back on track....we found the damn place.  Tobin James came highly recommended by a few people.  The tasting room was pretty packed, kind of a bar feel.  We had a cool dude - very large tatted up Rugby player with some sort of European accent - as our pour guy.  He was super friendly and funny but the place didn't have a warm fuzzy feeling like I like.  More bar like, but still fun and I still bought a bottle!

After this we popped back to the bnb for some "rest" (wink) and then headed back into downtown for some dinner.  After trying a few spots and not feeling it, we landed on On Bar.  You guys - Best meal of the weekend!!!  I got a Scallop Sachetti.  It was truly amazing.  The scallops were cooked perfectly and the pasta and sauce....YUM!  The boy got a Prime Rib and when the gal brought it, it smelled like a campfire!  I asked her and she said they smoke it a certain way there.  It was such a trip but super good!  2 happy thumbs up!

So good!!!!!!!

Saturday morning was another lazy get up and go.  Just lovely.  PS - my boyfriend plays guitar!  He was practicing his classical stuff and it was just beautiful.

Swoon

We had planned on hitting this one spot to do a flat hike on the bluffs that Patrick really dug, but it was way colder than we had prepared for so we decided on another spot more inland that would most likely be warmer.  It was a spot Patrick had been wanting to check out and never done.  He explained to me about the 9 sisters.  The Morro Rock is the only one in the water and the others go back on land.  The hike we decided to do was the highest of the 9 sisters called Bishops Peak Summit.  It was fucking beautiful!!  But it was also tough.  It's supposedly a "moderate" hike, but if you ever do it - just be ready.  It's all up.  There are lots of switch backs that make it easier, but it's still a trek.  We did it in about an hour in a half or so.  We again were not prepared because it was hot!  Ha!  We came all bundled up and only put sunscreen on our faces.  I wore my beanie rather than a sun hat or cap because it was cold - well guess what - we started up and it got hot.  So aside from hair struggles and trying not to get sunburned it was pretty amazing.  I kept stopping to take pictures because I couldn't get over the beauty.  They don't do it justice for sure.  It's a pretty popular hike, so there were quite a few people but not crowded.  Once you reached the top you could scramble around amongst the rocks or just chill at the bench.  Patrick went off to explore a bit and I found a great little spot away from the crowded summit to just sit and take in the place.  It was truly stunning.  Patrick found me and we took a few shots before heading back down.  I'm so glad I did it and was proud I made it!  I'm dating a hiker, so I gotta be ready!

First we stopped at a great little chain called Pita Pit.  We had the perfect little meal to have before you tackle a giant rock!

I love this picture of us!!!  If I had just remembered to take my sunglasses off!  Doh!

Are those secure??

You know you're getting high when you see the landscape squares

Looking like a preppy trying not to get burned

We still got a ways to go

Yes!

Well hello Turkey Vulture!

Yup...had to get a kissy picture in!

So...we heard this gobble noise and low and behold a turkey was booking down the hill.  I was expecting to see a dude with a hatchet chasing after him.  So random and rad.

After this Patrick decided to take us where we were originally going to hike just to take a look at the area.  It's called Montana del Oro and we hit the little cove and wandered around a bit.  Super pretty.  The beach is full of little rocks so I collected a handful to paint!

Whatcha thinkin about?

We headed back to the bnb to clean up since we got a little more sweaty/dusty than we planned and then back to downtown for dinner.  I'd been craving some sushi so we went to The Naked Fish.  It was so good!  Our waiter was super friendly and they brought your sushi on a bridge!!

Sushi on a Bridge!!!!!!

We decided to walk around a bit and we headed over to Dale Evers Studio hoping it was open.  It wasn't but as I was peering in, the artist - Dale opened the door!  He let us come in and wander around and it was such a cool happy accident!  He was waiting for a friend so he was there working.  I chatted with him while Patrick looked around.  He's a super quirky interesting guy, landing in the arts and trying to make it just like the rest of us!  He certainly has made it though I would say!

Now it was Patrick's turn to taste, so we hit up a brewery downtown that sadly ended up being a bust, so I said "Fuck it!" paid the bill and we headed out without finishing our drinks.  I was not going to end the trip on a bad note! Ha!  Plus Patrick was due a good beer tasting.  So we had heard about Firestone Brewery and seen it off the freeway, so we knew they would have what we were looking for  - and did they!  They even had wine for me!

May be my fave pic

He got himself a growler

Thus the end to our amazing trip!  Back to the bnb where we promptly passed out and were up early Sunday morning and heading back home to have our Mother's Day fun with our moms.  I was super sad to see it come to an end but it was truly a perfect weekend away!  We did everything we wanted - relaxed, spent quality time with each other, ate, drank and got out into nature.  Such a wonderful time in Paso Robles!!!