I know I've been remiss with my posting, so I'm summing up the last couple months in this one post. Nothing exciting has been happening as far as travel, but we've been able to do some fun local stuff.
We've had the great fortune to visit a bunch of breweries in our area *hiccup* and it was great (from what I can remember). Let's back up: first Aaron and I visited the Heretic Brewery in Fairfield a week before and it was really fun.
I was way into the chocolate hazelnut porter (very rich and dark) and Aaron liked the habanero cousin (lighter, but spicy!).
Then we took the tour, which was super informative. If I were them, I'd be nervous about giving away the secret recipe on the entire brewing process. How do they know I'm not just gonna copy them and open my own brewery?! News flash: I'm not. But I totally could if I wanted!
After the tour we got a free flight (taster of a few of their most popular beers):
Okay, so about a week later we went on our own personalized brew tour to a few breweries around our area. Our neighbor and family friend, Hogan, offered to drive (and remain sober) and he even mapped out where we should go. What a pal!
Instead of buying 3 flights and being hammered after the first stop, we just made sure we brushed our teeth and shared this one.
Okay, we look kinda tired (it's like 10am), but we're still sober at this point (I'll admit I had a nice warm tingle in my tummy).
Round two: Downtown Joe's Brewery in downtown Napa:
Beers:
About $10 for a flight:
Definitely feeling a little less sober after round two. That's a lot of little beers!
Round three: Petaluma Hills Brewery in (man, you're good) Petaluma:
Beers:
These glasses just get bigger and bigger:
We're in marathon mode at this point. We're trying not to get shitfaced because believe it or not, we still have 2 more stops!
Stop four: Lagunitas Brewery, right across the street from Petaluma Hills (therefore also in Petaluma):
Lagunitas is the largest brewery we're visiting and it's the highlight for us. Aaron is a huge fan of their beer and we buy it all the time.
Restaurant:
Lol:
We took the tour, which was over an hour long. The first half hour they sat us down at a bar upstairs and fed us 4 rather large samplers (for free!), while telling us the story of how they started.
Okay, giving people free beer is a great and simultaneously terrible way to get them to shut up and listen to your story. I was definitely sitting there, but I couldn't focus on much at this point.
Aaron and Hogan trying to focus:
The struggle is real.
Then we had to get up and take the tour:
As you can see, this is a huge operation as compared to the other tiny breweries we've visited.
Then it was time to go to the restaurant and get some grub to line our stomachs. We were told the burgers were amazing because the cattle is raised on the farm next door (also owned by Lagunitas).
We were totally convinced. We got one of each and shared.
OMG the best burgers ever! I can't believe I forgot to take pictures!
Final stop: Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa:
This place was jam packed:
It was a half hour wait for a tiny table, but we waited with lots of beer options to keep us occupied:
Might as well keep drinking at this point. It's too late to turn back now.
Once we got our table, we ordered the flight, which was giant and a pizza (Aaron ordered wings because he doesn't eat cheese. I know, don't even get me started.).
We're half in the bag by now (Hogan is fine, he's been taking tiny sips and drinking tons of water in between).
Whew! we did it!
We got home pretty late (around 9pm, making our adventure 12 hours long, since we left the house around 9am) and I was wiped out! I hit the pillow as soon as we got home and I don't even remember what Aaron did.
Some advice: If you're into beer and you get a chance to visit some of these places, I would highly recommend it. The tours are super interesting and they really appreciate anyone taking the time to take a tour, so you usually get free tastings. So, not only do you get to see where and how they make the beer, but you get to try all the different types of beer they make and can also buy a growler of your favorite or some merch to take home. So grab all your beer-loving friends and grab an Uber (or a DD) and hit the road!
Rodeo Beach
About a week later, we took the dogs for an afternoon at the beach and it was gorgeous. We went to Rodeo Beach in Sausalito, which isn't super big and it's kind of a trek, but it's really pretty.
Here's the day in pictures:
Amy Schumer
Almost 3 months ago, I bought Aaron, my mom and I tickets to see Amy Schumer at Oracle Arena in Oakland. Unfortunately, Aaron is currently working nights at Chevron, so he was unable to attend. Luckily my brother's girlfriend, Briseida, was able to fill in and we had a blast!
I only took a couple pictures, but Amy was hilarious and I'm so glad we got to see her in action!
We weren't sitting close, but it was still magic. I love me some Amy.
My Election Day
I'm a permanent absentee voter (I just can't be bothered to go to the polls. I know, I suck. Whatever.). I filled out my ballot and just felt like it was a historic moment, so I had to take a picture:
Is it still illegal to take ballot pictures if you're in your own home? I plead ignorance. Plus, it can't be any secret I'm voting for Hillary. I mean, COME ON PEOPLE! GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!
Side note: how fricken cute is our tablecloth? It's from 'It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' and our neighbor made it for us and it's fantastic.
I'll Be There: A Michael Jackson Affair
My bestie, Melissa, and I (and my whole family) are way into Michael Jackson and we've always wanted to have an MJ Halloween party. This was the year we finally went for it. All the planning was going well, until I had to leave town for a week and by the time I got back I only had a day to get my costume together. We had to change a bunch of stuff around at the last minute because we no longer had the time to really go all out, but it still turned out really fun.
I took some pictures (mostly of the food signs), but keep in mind: although we truly love Michael, we also make fun of him A LOT. We really do have the utmost respect for him and think he was the best, but you really can't pass up a good comedic opportunity. Yes, it's definitely offensive, but it's all done with love. Don't get too offended. You can get a little offended though because that just means we did a good job.
Start with the invite:
What's a party without food??
Nobody really got this one:
It's bean dip, that's all I'll say.
Yes, that towel with feet sticking out is Blanket:
Come on. Lisa Marie Pretzels is pretty good.
We also had games (yes, it gets worse):
Game 1: Pin the nose on Michael:
When it's your turn, you have to wear a eye mask, but not just any eye mask! A Joe Jackson eye mask (because why not?):
It was really great. I got a picture of each person wearing Joe Jackson's face.
The end result:
Melissa's son, Andrew, nailed it!
Game 2: How many little boys in Michael's bedroom?
Yes, we made a diorama, complete with lots of details:
Ridiculous, I'm aware.
Game 3 was guess which outfit was from which music video. I didn't take pictures of that one because it wasn't really funny.
The prizes:
I won't reveal what was included with each prize (I don't think you can handle it), but it's safe to say there were a lot of groans and each of the winners conveniently "forgot" to take their prizes home with them.
Costume time:
I put up a cheat sheet of which Michael each of us dressed as, in case it was too hard to figure out:
The Black Or White music video showed up:
The little kids didn't really get into the Michael spirit (Timara gets points for the hat though):
Group photo (ignore my horrible wig, it looks like a clown):
Turns out Roy and I were the same Michael:
So unfair. he's black and skinny, not to mention I took my shoes off already. It's just embarrassing. Obviously I had enough Jesus Juice at this point to where it doesn't even matter.
Uncle Jessie showed up after she got off work and Capone was thrilled:
The party was a success! MJ would have been proud. Actually, he would have hated it, but we had fun and we love him still.
Dog Halloween Costumes
So, Kane has this amazing lion's mane he wore last year, bought by the fabulous Ryan and Sophia. We decided to let him wear it again this year and have Capone be the lion hunter (yes, there are assholes out there that actually hunt lions), but since I didn't have time to get him a lion hunter outfit (I did get him the hat), I made one out of a random jacket he had already.
It didn't really make sense, but no one cared.
This is a bad picture of Kane's costume, but here he is as the lion:
I love it!
New Airbnb
Not sure if you all remember, but my last project was to help turn my parents' rental into an Airbnb and so far (it's been about 3 months) it's been a huge success! We've been making a lot more money and are finally getting into the routine of how to do everything efficiently. I've also really gotten the hang of managing the property and the online listing. Basically, we're so into it that I've decided to turn my own house (that Aaron and I own) into an Airbnb as well. We are currently living with my parents while we save money and are renting out our house to someone else on a month to month basis. We figure if we can furnish the house and make it really nice, we can have a cash cow on our hands if we do Airbnb instead.
If anyone has any furniture they're giving away (or if they know someone giving furniture away), please let me know. I'm trying to furnish on the cheap, but also nice (quite the dilemma) and I'll keep you posted on how it's going! If all goes well, I'm hoping to be open for business in January.
Welp, that about does it for the past couple months. It's been super awesome to explore fun stuff right in our local area. The Bay Area really does have it all! Anywho, I'll definitely update as things unfold with the rental! Later alligator! Man, that was so lame...
