We're Baaaaaaaaccck

Whew - are you as tired as I am? We are all moved in...kinda. I mean, physically we're here, but we are definitely still living out of boxes and wondering where the heck we're going to put everything. Weird how you can move to a bigger place and still not have enough room. (Although it probably doesn't help that the extra "room" has already been taken over by a small little thing who is quickly accumulating a lot of big things).

Long before we had a moving date, I noticed that my alltimefavoriteband was going to be in Southern California at the end of July. When we did have a moving date, I realized with disappointment that the Saturday night show about 40 minutes away just wouldn't work with our moving schedule. But when I went to double check the show dates/times I noticed a new date had been added - Sunday night, and it was just down the road from us! I asked Thatboy if he thought we'd be done moving enough to make a Sunday night show, and he said we should play it by ear. By Saturday I'd been given the go-ahead to get tickets.

Not only are the Gin Blossoms my favorite band to listen to, but even Thatboy will readily agree they are fantastic live. They really love their fans and play to their audience. They even started out with the song that originally hooked me!

How many bands do you know that put in a really healthy dose of their old stuff in addition to playing things off their new album? The newest Gin Blossoms' album came out last November, but they're still mixing in our 90s favorites. (And don't worry, they included my favorite song off the new album too!)

And crowd interaction is ever so much fun. Obviously we were fairly close, but Robin never fails to push right into the audience on all sides. He handed out tambourines to play along, sang into phones for adoring fans who couldn't be there, and even took hold of cameras and videos to give an up close and personal feel for the filmer. The encore including Thatboy's favorite song, and gives you a good idea of how much fun the band has with their audience.

Thatboy spent a lot of the night googling the effects of rock concerts on in utero babies, but I think it's important for the baby to get good music right from the start.

After the moving, and the concert, it's no surprise we were worn out. Unfortunately, we also had a really busy week at work, which meant the unpacking would have to wait. Which didn't make Thatboy so happy. I'm surprisingly more laid back about it, but I also made sure that everything we needed kitchenwise was within easy reach at all times. Which meant, after my long weekend, and long day at work, I could still throw together a dinner.

After all, we can always unpack this week, right?

Veal and Mushrooms
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup mushrooms, minced
1/2 Tbsp minced shallots
1 cup cooked veal, minced
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt
pepper
1 sprig tarragon, minced

1. Melt the butter in a skillet and saute the mushrooms and shallots for five minutes.
2. Add the veal, cream, salt, pepper, and tarragon and cook for another five minutes. The consistency should be almost stew like.
   

More Birthdaying! Blast from the Past

When Prez and I first started planning our Girls' Weekend, the original plan was to hit up nearby Temecula for some wine tasting. And I started doing research on activities on the potential weekends and came across something very exciting...for me.

I immediately emailed Prez - "We're not going to Temecula the weekend before my birthday, the girls' weekend HAS to be the weekend after your birthday. The weekend before my birthday Thatboy and I are going to be in Temecula seeing THE GIN BLOSSOMS."

See, I happened to notice that one of the weekends was the "Temecula Wine and Balloon Festival." And each night of the festival had concerts. And one night, my all time favorite band ever was playing. Yay Gin Blossoms! If that wasn't enough to get me there, Vertical Horizon was also going to be playing. It was like high school and college all rolled in to one. I immediately begged Thatboy to take me there, and he was happy to oblige.

We arrived at the festival early enough to take advantage of the fact that multiple Temecula wineries set up shop and were doing tastings.

But before we could get to the wine, Thatboy spotted something else he wanted to taste...

There was a Stella Artois booth - complete with a souvenir Stella glass. We were sold.

While we drank our beer, we wandered into the kiddie area. That makes sense, right?

Thatboy found a new pokey friend.

And then there was the petting zoo! How cute are these puppies?

(For the record, I know these aren't puppies)

But of course, we saved plenty of room for the wine - we're predominantly "red" people, but it was so hot we ended up doing a lot of whites - cool and refreshing in the summer sun.

And we found quite a few we really enjoyed. Including the Amour De L'Orange from Weins.

We enjoyed this sparkling wine with a hint of orange so much, we swung by Weins the next day to pick up a bottle.

There was music all day long, so when we needed a break from drinking, we settled into the grass for a picnic. Thatboy was thrilled to see "FAIR FOOD!" as he proclaimed. And he went about collecting another cup for the day - this one filled with a mix of cream soda and root beer.

As for me, I went with something a little more my style.

Eventually it was time to settle in for the evening and get ready for the music!!!!!!!!

There were a couple of bands before Vertical Horizon took the stage, but really are you interested? They were okay but not as great as my boys.

Vertical Horizon was fun to watch. Thatboy commented on their high energy level - they had the crowd going which is definitely something given that it was still light out.

After they played, Thatboy and I used the break to go grab dinner. Continuing on his Fair Food extravaganza, Thatboy had a sausage.

And I tried to elevate it a little by having gumbo. Friends, a wine festival is not a place to have gumbo. Well, at least not gumbo with shellfish in it. I spent most of my dinner de-shelling the crab and shrimp, and picking out pieces of shell I missed.

But my meh dinner was forgotten when the Gin Blossoms took the stage.

Have I mentioned how much I love the Gin Blossoms? And they have a new album coming out. They even played s0me songs off of it. I already made Thatboy promise to get me the album once it's available.

Robin Wilson even came down into the crowd. Although after several people tried to steal his hat, I don't think he'll be doing that again.

I never get tired of watching and listening to the Gin Blossoms, and yet too soon the concert was over.

So Thatboy headed for the other highlight of the festival - the Balloon Glow. (Hey it IS the Wine and Balloon Festival).

They do lots of "tricks" with the balloons, having them light up to music, and in certain rhythms. But our favorite was the Flicker.

And then we were off to our room for the evening - at the Inn at Churon Winery.

It was late and we weren't thrilled with some of the aspects of the place when we got there, so I'll share with you the highlights from our "everything is better in the morning" morning.

First, there's the jacuzzi tub. As tired as we were, we definitely took advantage of this the night we checked in. It was such a relaxing way to end the evening.

Then there was the bed. OH this bed. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Westin heavenly bed has got NOTHING on this bed. Thatboy and I didn't want to get out of it the next morning. I was planning on getting up and going for a run, but even I couldn't get out of this bed.

And then of course there was our full size balcony. While I did my getting ready routine, Thatboy sat outside there. I won't mention he also sat outside there in the dark after our bath, because that would make him sound weird.

But with a view like this, can you blame him?

And then came breakfast. Thatboy and I are no stranger to B&Bs, but this was the first time we were given a menu at breakfast, with a selection of made to order choices. Thatboy had an eggs benedict.

I ordered a croissant filled with cheese and eggs - which is pretty much one of my fave things for breakfast. I love buttery croissants and y'all know how I feel about cheese. But this was so filled to the brim I couldn't even finish it!

And then there was the free wine tasting. We weren't expecting much, but found some real winners, and a wine to bring home to Thatmom! And in an ultimate "I'm now a real adult moment," Thatboy and I joined the wine club! It's our first wine club, and I'm pretty excited about it. See, unlike most wine clubs, we get to pick our selection every other month - not just get shipped a wine we may or may not like. AND we can pick up our wine whenever, so if we don't get around to it one month, the next shipment we can combine with the one we missed and get twice as many wines. Love that. Maybe this growing up isn't so bad after all!