My friend Schmuck...

....likes to take self-potraits....

....and sometimes she lets me join her.

Keeping it classy in Sonoma.

Sugarmama Shannon did it again - she introduced me and LauraD to Sonoma County! A place where I never thought I'd visit, only dream about or gaze longingly at in movies. And I must say I REALLY want to go back! Or take the same day and put it on repeat, repeat, repeat. It was seriously the most fun I've had on a weekend in a long time that didn't involve makey outy! Because let's face it, makey outy is a lot of fun - but Napa tops all of that!

Sugarmama Shannon originally made arrangements to run the Napa Valley Marathon but sickness took her over - LauraD and I were more than happy to accompany her to run the 5k in Napa instead. Here's the three of us after the race! Yay us!

We flew into San Fran and I was way too excited to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. Which I found out was like the Narrows Bridge but red. Imagine that.

See Alcatraz? Well, it's there.

And thru this beautiful rainbow we were on our way to Sonoma!

So for the most part the three of us oooohed and ahhhhed and got completely car excited over the views on our new drive. LauraD and I started to take pictures from the car but most of them ended up like this! So you have to go to Sonoma yourself and see how beautiful it is.

We got up for our race at way too early o'thirty. And thank stinking god for GPS because for some god forsaken reason Napa has two high schools only miles away from each other and it's very confusing. We almost had our own foot race to depend on.

Anyway - aren't those sunrise pictures just amazing? A-MA-ZING!!

I should really become an early riser and put my late owl to rest...maybe if I lived in Napa. Who wouldn't want to get up early to see this?

So you may think I'm disgusting because this "pond" is really part of a cow field (with the Happy California Cows!) but I REALLY wanted to jump in it. It would feel good for the first 2 seconds until my foot sunk in watery cow dung. So I resolved to just enjoy the beauty thru my camera.

Napa had oak trees EVERYWHERE - in their vineyards, on the green rolling hills, next to the road, next to creeks - they were everywhere and it hit me before the race that I HAD to climb an oak tree before I left Napa. Sugarmama Shannon and LauraD were so awesome and supported me in this venture.

This is LauraD after the race - this was her FIRST 5k ever and she rocked it! Look at that happy face! I can't wait to run more races with you Laura - and then we can continue the trend of celebrating with lotsa wine!

I'm so glad that the three of us decided to stay and watch the Marathon winner who finished in 2 hours and 31 minutes. And sadly I think that's faster than my first ever half-marathon time. I took a video of him finishing and you should check it out (bottom of page). Kinda cool to be a witness to someone achieving such an awesome goal. I hear Chariots of Fire.

This was the first official Napa winery we visited on the Silverado Trail. They had closed down a large portion of the trail for the marathon but we still got to take advantage. This was so nice. Can I close my eyes and beam myself back please?

After some wine tasting we finally found the perfect oak tree to climb that was close to the road AND that didn't require me to trespass. So I haven't climbed a tree in a while and at this age I am all too aware that falling and breaking something would suck so it took a while for me to get up this branch. I may be smiling but I'm holding on for dear life. Wine before having to balance was NOT a good idea.

A fearful tree hugger! I feel so complete now though - I think I should get a tattoo of this tree. But where of where should I get it? Branch for thought...

Another winery disguised as a mansion - we sat on the terrace and had sparkling white wine and it was GLORIOUS. I had an urge to run up all these stairs - who couldn't resist that? They practically taunt you.

Sugarmama Shannon and LauraD making their way up to glory.

I must say this was my favorite sampler of all. Doesn't it look inviting? I invite you to come back with me.

Cheers!

A little picture trivia - these aren't real sheep, they're fake. But they make for great landscape. Baaaaaaa.

Our last winery on our way to Sonoma Coast. After all this wine tasting we never did buy a bottle of wine at any of the wineries. Nope, instead we went to some sketchy side market and bought a $9 bottle of wine to drink from our pepsi cups. You can take the girls out of Tacoma but you can't take the Tacoma out of the girls.

I don't think Sonoma gets enough credit for their beautiful coastline. Or maybe it does and I just never paid attention but I'm soooo happy that we decided to go here to watch the sunset.

I mean, who can watch those breaking waves and people on the beach and not feel drawn to it? From the parking lot we took some stairs down to the beach to find the perfect stop. My shoes were far from perfect and I still have sand in them. Totally worth it. And good for exfoliating I found out.

So for my Grease fans out there doesn't this remind you of the beginning "Love is a Many Spendid Thing"? Which I'm sure was filmed close to LA but still, it made the song get stuck in my head. I hope its stuck in your head now too Sandra Dee.

I couldn't resist rolling up my jeans to go jump in this water. The water almost won too!

Sugarmama Shannon and LauraD taking it all in.

This wave totally kicked my a$$ and almost took me under! I got soaked but didn't fall - I'm up for a rematch anytime wave!

Was I carried or did he walk beside me?

This picture of SugarMama Shannon and LauraD makes me want to listen to some groovy love records. It was such a great moment.

Cheers! Keeping it classy in Sonoma!

Sugarmama Shannon in a reflective moment.

Our hotel was close to this great little village area that we could frolic around. Charles Schultz used to live in this area and there's Snoopy stuff everywhere!

Guess who Charlie Brown? After I took this photo I saw these white spiders all over his head. I felt them for the rest of the night.

Thanks Toad for the beer!

The waves would make this awesome "boom" until I started I filming of course. I tried and tried to catch them and even sang the waves a song to entice them to do it again. Feel free to sing along.



Watch the Marathon winner finish in all his glory - don't forget to scream along!

Thanks again Sugarmama Shannon and LauraD for this amazing weekend - let's go back and finish all our wine business! Not to be confused with the funny business of disguising units. Sonoma pervs.

There's always room for more

Where the heck is this year going? It's stinking flying by! I have to put it here in writing that Big D was right: 30s are the best years. Sure I'm only 8 months into them but I feel so overwhelmed with all the blessings, experiences and just amazing people I'm blessed to have in my life. Who can ask for anything more? Well...of course there's always more to ask for like: "More wine please" or "More facial hair boys" or "More sleep is needed" or "More calories to burn" and so forth.

Anyway - I've come to depend on my blog to help me remember some key things I've done during the year. Those of you close to me know I have the most HORRIBLE memory. So here's some blurbs to help this old gal out:

This is Germany. Germany is beautiful. Germany serves beer. Germany is loved by my Big Bro and my Andrea....(can you guess what is coming?)

This is Big Bro and Andrea (with Sugarmama Shannon). And now Big Bro and Andrea are living in Germany. Straight up emptied out the house, put it on the market and moved to Germany! How stinking awesome is that? Why did they do it? Because they wanted to. You see kids, it's an important lesson: If you dream it you can achieve it. They are always so good at living outside the box and living life to the fullest - they are continuously admired by me.

I was going to write a blog about their departure but I decided it would sound too much like a eulogy and there will be none of that. Sure it makes my time over here in Washington a lot more different without them here but I'm so stinking excited to go visit them. I love bier!

And shout out to Skype for their afros, talking bunnies and great wigs to wear which I'm catching up with my American transplants. Or is that German transplants?

Big D and I finally went to a Mountaineers meeting and got completely pumped for hiking season and learning great things from them like scrambling! We immediately planned our next local hike. Which can be frustrating this time of year because our favorite hikes (tall, grueling b*tches) are under snow this time of year. So we're left with crowded west side hikes like Si (booooo!).

However....



We found a grueling and secluded trail. It's not even marked. We saw a handful of hikers. Our butts and legs ached just as they would if we did Si which was only ten minutes away. And you know what? The selfish side of me is going to keep it to myself for now. However I am always willing to give anyone a personal tour. I just have to make sure you're blindfolded as I drive to the trailhead. Nothing personal.



Miss Adams and I successfully completed our Trap Class at the Tacoma Sportsman Club and it was stinking AWESOME!! We love to shoot defenseless clays out of the air! My Old Man hooked me up with an even older man who custom fitted my shotgun for me (see above). And I just LOVE her. So much.

I've been cashing in on some vacation time to go shooting with the Old Man - so much fun. It feels so nice to finally outshoot him after him schooling me on handguns all summer.

Big D has been talking about Roller Derby for a while now and she finally took the plunge! And after bootcamp and tryouts now meet the Norweigian Nightmare! I got to see Big D and some other derby chicks and chucks in action this past weekend and it was stinking AWESOME! It is soooo impressive what these people can do! The co-ed teams especially blew me away! If anyone wants some great entertainment go check out some Dockyard Dames - you don't even have to be a perv to enjoy it. Even though yes, I admit, you'll see a lot of hot girls in very short skirts. If you enjoy that kinda thing you won't be disappointed...

My favorite Cali-Canucks (they're a mixed breed) graced us with their presence this week making their way down from Whistler. Scotty had a dream job reporting at The Olympics. And Becky reaped some wifely benefits of watching the closing ceremonies - I asked and she confirmed that she did get teary-eyed during them! Who wouldn't?

I love seeing them, Washington loves seeing them, Schmuck loves being reunited with her girl crush and they just so happened to have given me my favorite present of 2010 so far...

It's Dude Beer! Only sold in Canada. Thanks Zane Lamprey (look him up for real) for discovering one of Canada's best secrets and for the Cali-Canucks for sharing it with me.