Napa, how we love you so!

So you'll see very few places make a reappearance on the blog, i.e. BK and I's travel itenerary.  Napa is the exception to that rule.  We decided last year, after a great trip, we would be coming back here on an annual basis.  So here we find ourselves, having a great time once again.

Over the next few days I'll be posting about the wineries, restaurants and other activities that we had fun with in Napa.  You should come if you get the chance!  BK says its the one place that he feels that he can really relax and disconnect.  We love it and think that everyone else will too!

A couple of tips for your trip to Napa:

1. Don't come to Napa if all you want to do is get drunk by drinking a lot of wine.  That one may sound a little strange considering that I'm writing about Napa, but honestly, if that's what you want to do, you can do it at home for a lot less time and money.  Come to Napa to learn about wine you love, eat great food and spend time with people you enjoy.
2. Only schedule two, max three, wineries per day.  If you're making a day trip, this one can be hard.  If you're here for multiple days, try it.  We typically do one around 10:30 and one around 2:00.  If you do this, you don't have to rush through tastings and tours, it leaves you time for a nice relaxing lunch and you can enjoy your last winery of the day.
3. Research where you want to go and make reservations.  You can go to the big ones with large tasting rooms, however if you do, we suggest you get a private tour with cheese pairing or something along those lines.  If you just go tasting rooms, often the people pouring the wine know nothing about it and you're just kind of hearded in and out- not a special experience.  We tend to like the family owned, small wineries.  Often you'll find yourself sitting down with the owner, a family member and/or winemaker...a pretty awesome experience (details later).
4. Give yourself a wine budget in addition to what you want to spend on other details of the trip.  You are going to get here and want to buy wine and/or join wine clubs.  Give yourself a budget so that you're not stressed about the thousands of dollars (it can get to this amount quickly when you're talking cases) you weren't planning to spend.  Being annoyed that this trip is costing a lot more than planned can really ruin your time here.

The only downside this year?  We missed another TCU home game.  On the bright side, at least the game was on at 9:00 am Napa time, giving us the entire rest of the day to enjoy afterward.

Lots more to come!  Cheers!

Shot! Shot! Shot! Shot!

Oh wait...then I remembered that we're in our 30s!  No offense to anyone in their 30s (or beyond) who still likes to take shots and party, but we've kind of left those times behind.  We're still up for a good time, but it usually involves a few glasses of wine, vodka or Jack.  But have no fear!  BK and I are fully prepared to provide 50ish people with shots at any given time, thanks to his collection of shot glasses.

So, I haven't written in a while, but this is about the things we collect on our travels.  People collect different things when traveling...t-shirts, Christmas ornaments, magnets, whatever floats your boat; BK happens to collect shot glasses.  And let me just mention, not only does BK collect them, but others (usually our parents and siblings) generously help add to his collection as well.

Where can one have a drink from, you ask?  Just to name a few...Costa Rica, the Kentucky Derby, Paris, the Broadmoor, London, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Mexico.  You can even pretend that you were at a frat party at TCU back in the early 2000s!

My most vivid memory about the shot glass display is not from when someone was actually having a drink, or doing something as a result of a lot of drinks, but from when we moved into our house and I was reluctantly unpacking all those shot glasses to be displayed.  Seeing as I was a "grown up" now,  I felt that this was BK's way of holding on to a little bit of the frat boy in himself, wanting to display all of these shot glasses in our new house.

I initially put them on two of the three middle shelves, only to find a pouty BK sulking about my arrangement.  He actually said to me, "You should just pack those up if you're going to try and cram them in like that!  You can't event see where they're from!"  Ummm...I personally felt that they deserved as little space as possible.  He was lucky that he got the two shelves that I gave him!  I felt that pictures and important things should occupy that space- not shot glasses.  Reluctantly I spread the shot glasses out across the middle of the shelves to be displayed, so that everyone could see them in all their glory.

Much to my surprise those shot glasses have actually grown on me over the past seven years, and visitors seem to like them too.  I'm not sure how they'll fare when we move abroad and have to downsize, but I feel certain that at least a few of the favorites will come with us and be proudly displayed for all to see.

One Dozen Black & Gold Frogs

Instead of two horned frogs abroad this time, it was actually more like 12 Theta frogs, and just a couple of states west.  We just spent four-ish days in sunny Tucson, Arizona at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa for the 70th annual Grand Convention of Kappa Alpha Theta.

I always admire others who work in the social service arena (like me) and who still have the desire to volunteer and give back to other causes around people in need.  Unlike them, I just don't have that desire...I try to save that giving of time and effort for my marriage, family, friends, running and travel, just to name a few.

Theta is the one volunteer thing that I have and I love giving back to.  Grand Convention was a really fun and interesting experience.  It's pretty rare that anyone spends 4 days with 700 women.  Outside of the actual business that we needed to do, we had lots of fun together.  I enjoyed getting to know my fellow advisors better, as well as the current members of the chapter.  I think BK was surprised at how much of a vacation this turned out to be, but there's a lot of value in laying poolside or floating in the lazy river getting to know one another better!  Don't underestimate it!

Since I don't want to bore you with the business side of things, here are some other highlights.  KC, my roommate, felt that she was quite the practical joker.  Her best one was when she put a maxi pad on the wall next to the toilet to get a reaction out of me.  I think she wanted a scream or something from me, but that's not really me.  You should read her blog to really get a sense.  I feel kind of bad because I didn't realize what a light sleeper she was until about the last morning we were together.

Another advisor, KM, became famous for her version of the Soulja Boy done on the dance floor at western night.  Unfortunately I missed it, but there's a video floating around out there somewhere.  KC and I got lost on our morning hike the first morning we were there, but were thankful that KM kept track of us the whole time, so we knew she would send out a search party if we weren't at the first business session with her (mostly because she would be pissed that she was missing something).

Lastly, I feel quite certain that we convinced the college girls not to get married.  Nights on the patio bar usually turned into us telling stories about being married and about the weird, funny and irritating things that happen after you're married for a while- traveling, working together, raising kids, and many other adventures that everyone goes through.

For my first "girls trip" this was a pretty good one!  The only negative?  BK flew out to his second home in Switzerland about three hours after I got home from my trip....but don't worry we had time to squeeze in a trip to Joe T's before he left!