M-E-R-RY C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S

Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas filled with joy and peace.

We are thinking about all of you today and missing home but enjoying our first married Christmas together in California.

Many lovely gifts were opened and there were lots of surprises. Santa even remembered Marty.

Our good friend Matt will be joining us for a Christmas dinner feast consisting of some new recipes.

-Pistachio-crusted lamb chops

-Cranberry, pomegranate, & meyer lemon relish

-Gorgonzola scalloped potatoes

-Carmelized-apple & pecan pie

Joy to the world, the Lord has come!

Beach Bums

Preceding the big wine tasting adventure, we spent some time at the beach with Marty. The previous day he wanted nothing to do with going near the water. However, the second day he really warmed up to it. Since Marty is a very nervous and timid dog, it was refreshing for us to see him running and having fun outside. He chased his ball, ran into the surf, stirred up a flock of seagulls, and ran himself crazy. Evidently he is a beach dog!

A mid-air catch!

Please ignore the 80s style bangs the wind had turned my mop of hair into!

The whole 'family'.

A nice portrait of the mutt. He's so happy!

A Visit from T & K

We are a little behind in our posting but wanted to try to bring everyone up to speed on our most recent activities. Thomas' parents had the opportunity to visit us at the end of September for about 5 days. The week was pretty full and included a nice dinner at our house, some time at the beach, a long day of wine tasting, and a visit from the Bakersfield family as well.

Thursday we took the day off to show them around some of the 'unblemished' areas of Paso and the wineries where we both work. It was a big day but they were able to cart home 2 full cases of wine on the plane. We started the day at Four Vines, travelled from there to Whalebone, then on to Tablas Creek and Carmody Mcknight Estate. By this point we were all getting a little weary so we went back into town for some lunch. We then pressed on to EOS Estate Winery and took the grand tour of the entire winery facility. Unfortunately, there were no grapes coming in for crush. One last stop took us to a family favorite, Eberle, but not much tasting went on by this point in the day.

T & K really enjoyed the Zins at Four Vines. Camerin's favorite was Tablas Creek by far due to their production of Rhone Varietals. Thomas couldn't pick a favorite.

All in all we had a great visit. It was a lot of fun to have guests out. We can't wait for more people to come!

A sunset shot from Pismo. What a beautiful view.

first guest / pet sitting

Our first overnight guest is a lifelong pet of one of our good friends. Camerin and I have had the pleasure of feeding, bathing, attending, and monitoring a Russian tortoise. After some initial research Camerin found that the tortoise enjoys green leafy vegetables and the warmth of a heat lamp. Our little friend is somewhat gender and name confused. She is currently responding to “Sasquach”, “Stanislaus”, and “Sebastian”. After an original “shell-shock” the tortoise has become very active digging, climbing, and eating. We think she is truly enjoying her new surroundings and caretakers.