Happy 32nd Birthday, Dana!!!

Today Dana has turned 32 years young. We celebrated his big day a couple days earlier by going to an over night getaway in Temecula at South Coast Winery Resort and Spa. I suprised him with a day of wine tasting, relaxing, eating, and time swimming in their pool. We stayed over night in a villa where we were greeted with a bottle of wine, passports to their tasting room, and a wine and cheese pairing tour. We had so much fun together, and we didn't realize how much it was needed! With the stress of wedding planning and business for Dana, our lives were running parallel and barely ever crossed.

We started our adventure with a tour of the winery, where they explained how the wine is made. They finished the tour by sitting us at tables with a wine and cheese pairing to explain what goes well together. Dana and I are very much interested in wine and its whole process, so it was fun to learn what foods to pair it with. We sat at a table with another couple from San Diego who were celebrating their 24th wedding anniversary. The husband suprised the wife with the resort getaway, just as I did to Dana. We shared stories about love, molding our men--haha, and Hawaii (they went for their 10 year anniversary, and we are going for our honeymoon). We also sat with 2 sisters who were as excited as we were to drink the wine and laugh about the slight buzzes we were getting from all the tastings.

I had to post the pic below cuz its just too funny.  That is Dana's expression after we finished the last tasting.  I think he wanted more, he looks a little disappointed.  :)

After the tour, we were brought to the tasting room, where we were invited to taste all the of the wines that they make at the vineyard.  We are more red wine drinkers, so we skipped over most of the white and tried out all the reds that sounded interesting.  In the end, I think we tried about 12 each, and I am sure you can imagine what that amounted to--yes, quite the buzz.  We started acting really goofy and laughing at what seemed like our own funny jokes, but I am sure if anyone else was there they would've thought we were crazy.  We followed a bunny rabbit around and starting calling him Rocky because any animal that looks cute to us automatically gets the name Rocky.  I guess you could say we are two peas in a pod. 

After wine tasting, we checked into our room, which was absolutely beautiful.  It was a king-sized villa, with a living area, fireplace, entrance to our own balcony, which overlooked the vineyards, and huge bathroom with a jacuzzi tub. We really didn't want to leave because it was so nice inside, but we left for dinner soon after, which was also lots of fun. I encouraged Dana to get whatever his heart desired, which he decided was a steak and lobster tail--he was fed like a king!!  And, in the end, the restaurant treated him to cheesecake for dessert.

After dinner, we settled down with a dip in the salt-water pool and hot tub.  It was the perfect way to end a perfect day.  We are now looking so forward to our wedding and all the festivities that come with it.  We are so in love and ready to start the next chapter in our lives.  Hope to see you all in the next 2 weeks!!