A wonderful Girl's Weekend
*** Photos as promised***
What can I say?
A weekend up in the Napa Valley with my closest friends, wine tasting, eating indulgently, spending a day at the spa is just heaven and something I truly looked forward to as time alone is scarce once married and with child. ;) I did my best not to think about (uh... worry about!) Emily because I truly do have the utmost confidence in David's ability to care for her for 36 hours and I focused my energy on relaxing and enjoying conversation with "my girls".
My girls: me, Meredith, Amanda, Christine, Patty, Rachel & Becky (missing is Laura)
Rachel (the one who lives in St. Helena) did an awesome job of putting together our itinerary for the day, wine tasting with our first stop at Duckhorn, or what was lovingly called "the Neiman Marcos winery" all day long. Talk about good. Holy moly!!! We all walked away with 1-3 bottles each of their Savignon Blanc, mainly because it was the best thing we had all every tasted, as far as Savs go but also because Rachel's 20% discount made the decisions a no-brainer. Thanks, Rach! Our next stop was to this adorable park off Main Street to enjoy the lunch (and a bottle of that Savingnon Blanc!) we had purchased at Dean & Deluca earlier that morning and to sober up a bit as we all got a little carried away at Duckhorn. ha! We visited The Culinary Institue of America next and purchased a few cooking utensils & gadgets from their gift shop and made a quick stop back to Rachel's house to drop off two of our group members as one was pregnant AND in a cast (see ***THIS POST*** for the scoop on that!) and the other had a rough night's lack-of-sleep so, they spent the afternoon napping. The rest of us headed off to Krug winery where we got in free (Thanks again, Rachel!) and glad we did because their wines weren't so great, although we did enjoy their Cabernet! No one purchased anything and we were all excited to get to Beringer! Talk about gorgeous, Beringer has the most beautiful grounds and is a huge winery producing just about every varietal. The Sparkling White Zinfandel was so delicious, it was my absolute favorite wine we tasted there and I would've purchased a bottle or two at only $12.00 but by that time of the day, I was near wasted (Thanks Becky for being the DD!!!) and couldn't focus long enough to think about that. ha! We actually ended our day at Beringer, sitting outside, enjoying our tastings, excited to get back to Rachel's to rest and get ready to go out to dinner. We previously had reservations at The Martini House but canceled at the last minute because no one wanted to shower and get "dressed up" to eat dinner and ended up at The Silverado Brewing Company at 8:00PM where we enjoyed fish & chips, salmon salad and a beer tasting, which was really fun! I think we were all "drinked out" as most of us didn't even finish the beer tasting and ended up just sipping on water. ;) It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the cool breeze, chatting and relaxing before heading back to Rachel's to go to bed early. Yes, we all ended up passing out before 11:00PM for a full 10 hours of sleep.
Our spa treatments began between 10:30-11:30AM so, we all headed over a bit early to enjoy their heated (92 degrees to be exact!) pool and read some magazines pool-side, while sipping on Mimosas (great idea, Meredith!). It was heaven! My spa treatment included a mud bath, my first experience with one, a facial and a Swedish massage and, while it was pure heaven, exactly what I needed, I have to say that the Indian Springs Resort & Spa doesn't compare to the Spa at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. It wasn't as manicured, not as pretty to look at, the noise-level was too high for a spa (there were families crawling all over the pool area, think 10 crying babies!) and the staff wasn't as attentive, leaving you alone some times for 20 minutes longer that was told. *sigh* Oh well, it was still a wonderful day and we all ended up back at the pool around 2:00PM to enjoy a bit more swimming and another Mimosa before getting back to Rachel's to head home at 5:00PM.
Here are just a few pictures of our weekend:
Emily jumped into my arms with a huge smile on her face when I walked in the door, that was the best part of my trip away and I was thrilled to hear how well-behaved she was for David: taking a 3-hour nap both days, eating all her lunch (including green beans!!!) and sleeping 12-13 hours on Saturday night. That's my good girl!
What can I say?
A weekend up in the Napa Valley with my closest friends, wine tasting, eating indulgently, spending a day at the spa is just heaven and something I truly looked forward to as time alone is scarce once married and with child. ;) I did my best not to think about (uh... worry about!) Emily because I truly do have the utmost confidence in David's ability to care for her for 36 hours and I focused my energy on relaxing and enjoying conversation with "my girls".
The girls, at Rachel's House just before hitting the wineries!
My girls: me, Meredith, Amanda, Christine, Patty, Rachel & Becky (missing is Laura)Rachel (the one who lives in St. Helena) did an awesome job of putting together our itinerary for the day, wine tasting with our first stop at Duckhorn, or what was lovingly called "the Neiman Marcos winery" all day long. Talk about good. Holy moly!!! We all walked away with 1-3 bottles each of their Savignon Blanc, mainly because it was the best thing we had all every tasted, as far as Savs go but also because Rachel's 20% discount made the decisions a no-brainer. Thanks, Rach! Our next stop was to this adorable park off Main Street to enjoy the lunch (and a bottle of that Savingnon Blanc!) we had purchased at Dean & Deluca earlier that morning and to sober up a bit as we all got a little carried away at Duckhorn. ha! We visited The Culinary Institue of America next and purchased a few cooking utensils & gadgets from their gift shop and made a quick stop back to Rachel's house to drop off two of our group members as one was pregnant AND in a cast (see ***THIS POST*** for the scoop on that!) and the other had a rough night's lack-of-sleep so, they spent the afternoon napping. The rest of us headed off to Krug winery where we got in free (Thanks again, Rachel!) and glad we did because their wines weren't so great, although we did enjoy their Cabernet! No one purchased anything and we were all excited to get to Beringer! Talk about gorgeous, Beringer has the most beautiful grounds and is a huge winery producing just about every varietal. The Sparkling White Zinfandel was so delicious, it was my absolute favorite wine we tasted there and I would've purchased a bottle or two at only $12.00 but by that time of the day, I was near wasted (Thanks Becky for being the DD!!!) and couldn't focus long enough to think about that. ha! We actually ended our day at Beringer, sitting outside, enjoying our tastings, excited to get back to Rachel's to rest and get ready to go out to dinner. We previously had reservations at The Martini House but canceled at the last minute because no one wanted to shower and get "dressed up" to eat dinner and ended up at The Silverado Brewing Company at 8:00PM where we enjoyed fish & chips, salmon salad and a beer tasting, which was really fun! I think we were all "drinked out" as most of us didn't even finish the beer tasting and ended up just sipping on water. ;) It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the cool breeze, chatting and relaxing before heading back to Rachel's to go to bed early. Yes, we all ended up passing out before 11:00PM for a full 10 hours of sleep.
Our spa treatments began between 10:30-11:30AM so, we all headed over a bit early to enjoy their heated (92 degrees to be exact!) pool and read some magazines pool-side, while sipping on Mimosas (great idea, Meredith!). It was heaven! My spa treatment included a mud bath, my first experience with one, a facial and a Swedish massage and, while it was pure heaven, exactly what I needed, I have to say that the Indian Springs Resort & Spa doesn't compare to the Spa at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. It wasn't as manicured, not as pretty to look at, the noise-level was too high for a spa (there were families crawling all over the pool area, think 10 crying babies!) and the staff wasn't as attentive, leaving you alone some times for 20 minutes longer that was told. *sigh* Oh well, it was still a wonderful day and we all ended up back at the pool around 2:00PM to enjoy a bit more swimming and another Mimosa before getting back to Rachel's to head home at 5:00PM.
Here are just a few pictures of our weekend:
A full day of wine tasting makes for interesting photos!
Indian Springs Resort & Spa - a day here was heaven!
Emily jumped into my arms with a huge smile on her face when I walked in the door, that was the best part of my trip away and I was thrilled to hear how well-behaved she was for David: taking a 3-hour nap both days, eating all her lunch (including green beans!!!) and sleeping 12-13 hours on Saturday night. That's my good girl!
