how the French kiss

Our trip to Cali was a blast, and with so many pics.....i thought the easiest thing to do was to collage it for you. I am also linking a lot of the places where we dined and went wine tasting, since a lot of you emailed me for recommendations.

We flew into San Jose...which is about an hour south of San Francisco. Normally we drive over to Monterey from the airport and drive the coast down though Big Sur, but we got in a little late on Thursday...so we just drove the highway down to San Simeon. I HIGHLY recommend if you ever are driving thru Big Sur that you stop at Nepenthe and enjoy a glass of {overpriced} wine with a fantastic view of the ocean.

We stay in San Simeon, which is a teeny tiny coastal town with not much going on.....except for a fabulous beach condo that sits on the beach. We love coming here.....well.......the first being we have a FREE place to stay {thanks mom and dad}, but also because we LOVE the wineries that are situated on the pass from Cambia to Paso Robles.

We normally hit about 4- 5 wineries....always trying a few new ones but always going to these:

*Justin



*Adelaida



*York Mountain






We met up with old friends from when we used to live in the Bay area....and I also got to meet a new friend..darling Allegra with her cutie Ashton.

Alright........as you can see..we are wrapped up in blankets......I swore i should have brought my snuggli....would have been so cozy...and {pepto bismal} pink is so ravishing on me.

It's cold along the beach in July....just so you know.......and one more thing.....lots of wine=lots of calories=at least a month of dieting.

I'm just saying.

but maybe you have a better metabolism than i do.

oh....and the 2 trips to ' In and Out' sure doesn't help.....

and i don't eat beef.....that just goes to show you.....

i'm sure it was all the wine......actually i'm positive it was the wine.

I'm just going to let you in on a secret right now. We love to eat......and we love to eat because other people are making the food. Bryan was spoiled.....with 4 nights of people cooking for us......actually 3 nights because i did cook one night.....and i normally don't cook.

Robin's in our FAVORITE restaurant. We actually dined there 2 out of the 4 nights.....and one night we sat in their garden while a jazz band played. We had tapas with different wines ......and even watched Natalia come out to the garden to pick fresh herbs and edible flowers for our food....

o.k...i don't really know if Natalia is really her name....it could be Bertha for all i know....but Natalia sounds very sophisticated......and she thought i was a lunatic for following her around to get a picture.......so the least i could do is give her a good name.

Alright....... so i am saving the best for last.......

alright....it's not the best.......but it sure was cool....

while we were driving around...we came upon an R.V. dealership.........

with about 15-20 Airstream's.....all of them new....all of them beautiful.

I swear to goodness....i thought i saw Matthew standing in front of one......

but when we pulled up....he was gone.

*sigh*

oh well......i still managed to tour a few of them......and told Bryan that we NEED one.

not want one......but NEED one.

I mean......Bryan KINDA looks like Matthew.......at least he does when i close my eyes.

oh....one more thing....don't ask me how i came up with the title of this post.

I just thought it would be funny if someone googled 'how the french kiss'...they would stumble here

and read all about my love of Airstreams...and Matthew...and of course....wine.

xo