When the Cat's Away, The Mice Will Play.

HELLLLOOOOO?! Anyone out there? I know it's been an insanely long time since I've put any effort into posting a worthy blog. So here goes!

On March 7th, I got an ENTIRE DAY away from the same ol', same ol'. Seven of my friends and myself hopped into a Superstretch Limosuine and took off for Paso Robles! We visited six different wineries and now I'm pretty sure I won't need any more wine until Thanksgiving 2010......... or so. Our driver, Joel, (the best EVER!) first took us to EOS. I didn't necessarily like their wine (which isn't saying much since I don't favor wine anyway) but their gift shop had amazing food! I ended up leaving EOS with their Artichoke Salsa and Chipotle Mustard.

Next we visited the Derby winery, which I kid you not, was basically inside a double wide trailer. Our wine pourer was super patient but I'm pretty sure none of us bought any of their wine.

The first highlight of the day was at Tobin James! The atmosphere in their tasting room is sensational! I didn't buy any wine there either (surprise, surprise) but we had a TON of fun. They had great music playing and amazing personalities serving up the good stuff. Towards the end of our visit, Tobin James himself made a visit to the tasting room. He gave out autographs and took pictures with us, plus made us a special "Toby-Tini. Yum! At this point, a few of us (no names mentioned) are starting to feel a bit tipsy. It didn't take much consiering none of us had eaten unless you count the junk food back in the limosuine.

Highlight number two of the day was the Bianchi winery. WOW. The tasting room is magnificent! Absolutely gorgeous! Our attendant Samantha was incredibly nice, personable and knowledgeable too! We spent quite a bit of time at Bianchi. Next time, assuming there is one, I'm bringing lunch. They have tables and chairs out on the patio, right next to the koi pond (where you can feed the fish)! Oh it was PERFECT!

Towards the end we stopped at Clautiere. That's a wild and crazy winery. The crazy wigs and funky hats will definitely lighten you up if you're still feeling stiff. This is the only place that I actually found a wine I liked, a Red Port to be exact. Totally weird for me.

And lastly was Eberle. Ummm not sure what to say about this place? Except that the service wasn't very friendly and the room was not relaxed at all. If you're a wine snob, you should fit in fine ;) We did take the "Cave Tour" at Eberle. That was kind of neat but if I remember right, I'm pretty sure none of us paid much attention. We were exhausted and STILL starving.

Anyway, we finished off the day with dinner at a Mexican buffet and although it had putrid bathrooms, I thought the food was Nummy-Nums. We then began our 2 hour drive home. Let me just say that wine, hunger, limosuines and long car rides didn't mix so well for most of our tummies. SO MUCH FUN THOUGH and TOTALLY NEEDED!

Billie Lynn and Me at EOS.

I can't for the life of me remember the name of this winery, (just remembered it was called Derby!!) but they were rockin' the double wide!

Picture above - Our group at Tobin James Winery!

Toby himself autographing merchandise for us!

Clautiere - this is what you get when you ask Mom's to act like Rockstars. I think I could pull off the gig quite well if this Stay At Home Mom thing ends up not working out.

The cave tour at Eberle. As I said - some of us weren't too much into it (ERIKA!)

The beautiful Bianchi room! Highly recommend it!

Smaller picture, but this is the giant swine at Eberle - kinda like their mascot.

Another tiny one - Our last picture of the day!

I have a TON of pictures that are so fun but couldn't post them all on this blog. You can visit my Facebook page HERE if you want to sneak a peek!

As for the title of my blog - I got a text message from my husband in the middle of the day saying something to the effect of "I'm so sorry, it wasn't my fault, You're going to be so mad, but it wasn't my fault!" And this is what I found when I arrived home that Saturday night -

On the left side there - you'll see a lock of hair from the High School Musical Gabriella doll. And just off to the right of that mess, you'll see what used to be my daughter's bangs that took a year or two to grow out. We may have a future hair stylist though, she couldn't have picked a better place to cut!