an incredible year

Just one year ago (well, one year and 3 days ago), we joyfully walked down the aisle together as husband and wife and then soon after that snuggled under an umbrella with loads of sunscreen on in Cancun. It's absolutely incredible how quickly a year goes by.





Over the weekend, we celebrated our 1-year wedding anniversary in Temecula. From Saturday morning to Sunday night, it was all about celebrating our first year of marriage. And we had a blast!

Friday: We weren't going to take our wedding cake with us to Temecula, so we shared a slice Friday evening. Best. Chocolate. Cake. Ever! Torrance Bakery made us a dark butter cream frosting with white cake and chocolate chip fudge filling. We are still sneaking bites as the week progresses, dreading the day when we eat up the last bite. I'm making a new tradition: ordering the wedding cake every year.



Saturday: We woke up early and headed to Temecula. We stayed at the Temecula Creek Inn, which we thought was fairly decent, other than the lame $10 parking fee. The view from our room was awesome and it was close enough to the wineries - all of the Bed & Breakfasts in the surrounding area of the wineries seemed to be sold out when we booked our trip.




Upon arrival to our hotel, we checked in and hopped on the Grapeline Wine Shuttle ready to officially kick-off the weekend! The tour stopped at 5 wineries including:

Wilson Creek Winery, where we fell in love with the Almond Champagne & Decadencia Chocolate Port in a dutch chocolate cup.




Maurice Car'rie Winery, where we were too busy over-indulging on the baked brie & sourdough to even take a photograph. You have to try this bread next time you are in Temecula. It's absolutely to die for!

Mount Palomar Winery, where we opted to sit out on the wine tasting part and instead ordered a salad. We wanted to enjoy the day and more importantly remember the day...

Churon Winery, where we bought some sort of sherry that Rob loved.

And our favorite winery, Longshadow Winery. This winery is fairly new and so much fun! The guys working behind the sampling bar gave us a wine glass and started filling us up. We never even paid, just sampled each wine on the list twice. We were told about the "Milk Chocolate Boot", so when it came time to wrap up our tasting, we bought our Grapeline tour guide a "Boot" and enjoyed (she wasn't the driver, just the guide to ensure we all had a good time).

Longshadow was such a blast! The music was blaring, people were dancing, the owner was walking around mingling with guests and helping out his staff, and there were farm animals all over the place that you could pet (fenced of course). Caution on petting the farm animals though...I was bitten by a goat - seriously! I still have a small mark on my arm to prove it.

We would totally do the wine shuttle again. It was so fun and it's so much nicer when we both have an opportunity to enjoy the wine tasting rather than one of us having to be the designated driver. Not to mention how much fun the other shuttle passengers were. We got lucky and had a bachelorette party on board - needless to say, they were a crazy bunch!

Saturday evening we were beat after a day of wining and dining. We munched on left-overs in our hotel room, watched TV, and exchanged anniversary gifts. Rob was pretty thrilled with his album of photographs...Speechless would really be a better word.



Sunday: Rob woke me up at 5:30am telling me we had to leave by 6am. I had no idea what he had in store, but I was so excited! All he told me was to dress warm and be ready for some more wine. I was thrilled when I discovered that we were going on a hot air balloon ride. Wow! It was so romantic and beautiful. The absolute perfect way to celebrate the day and end the perfect weekend.




After the ride and a quick brunch, we headed back to our hotel for a much needed nap. We hit up the outlets and South Coast Plaza and made it back to Long Beach in time to watch the sunset from home.

We have been so blessed over the last year and are so excited for the adventures that lie ahead. We feel very lucky that we have one another to experience life with and are thankful for that everyday.

As if Temecula wasn't enough, we are counting down the days until we leave for Maui...only 39 days left! Truly, at this moment we feel blessed beyond words...