So it wasn't the Potted Meat Product Plant tour I had wanted, but it was still fun. I was able to locate my camera yesterday and it appears I wasn't taking pictures. They all turned out really well! Thank you Michelle for picking it up and taking over. Blogland thanks you too.
WSU Laura's birthday started out with a gathering of all her family and close friends at the local park and ride. Here we all boarded a Gray Line Bus and headed out for a full day of Wine Tasting.
Contact me for who we used for our tour. They were awesome and I only have a phone number
First stop....Chateau Ste. Michelle
This is a lovely winery and if you have never been here it's a must stop. If you have never been to a summer concert here it's another must do to put on your list. Even if your not a wine connoisseur, it's a beautiful place to walk the grounds and visit the wine shop that has lots of other fabulous things besides wine. It's decorated really beautiful right now for the holidays.
Back to the party..................
Birthday girl first off the bus. Love the outfit!
Birthday girl with mom and brother.
Everyone took a little break from tasting to strike a pose with the birthday girl. Actually I think the pouring ladies couldn't keep up. They were probably giving them a little break.
More belly up to the bar posing
These are WSU Laura's Baskin Robin's girls. They met back in the day (high school) while working at Baskin Robin's.
This is our lame bookclub group. I say that with love. I'm the one who is lame and usually doesn't finish the book. We are missing 2 members. Sorry Shawn you weren't in this photo. Where where you? I know you were in the building. Genine, we were sorry you couldn't be there.
Peacocks roam the grounds at the Chateau Ste. Michelle. They are really beautiful. Messy but beautiful.
Next stop................DiStefano Winery
This is one of Laura's favorites. I do believe that she is a big fan of the 
Meritage
Meritage Not many pictures taken at this winery. Guess we were all having such a good time we forgot that the whole day was blog worthy and needed to be photographed.
Not sure what this was all about but I bet it had something to do with a big bottle of wine and Vin Diesel.
Next up..............Matthews Cellars Winery
We didn't spend a lot of time here. It was voted the least favorite on our tour. As you will see all the pictures were taken of all of us leaving.
Laura and her sorority sisters. It was fun to meet them and they were so much fun.
Birthday girl and her mom. Don't they look great?
These two ladies are in my top 5 of favorite ladies I'm honored to know.
The crowd heading back to the bus yelling.................NEXT!
Winery #4 and voted the favorite by all............Brian Carter Cellars
This is a great little winery. We had a private room where we were greeted by Mike Stevens. Mike is the General Manager and did a wonderful job of getting a bus load of buzzed winos to listen while he explained wine making to us. He also did a fantastic job of telling us about each wine we were tasting and getting us to really taste and enjoy the wine. If you have a large group I really suggest calling ahead and getting the private room and Mike to speak. You won't be disappointed.
The Very Buzzed Birthday girl discussing her thoughts on the current wine I'm sure.
Birthday Girl being presented with an autographed poster of all the wine labels from Brian Carter Cellars. A photo op with Mike too.
Brother Brooks and his wife Marta.
Birthday Girl and Brother showing some love to each other.
More photos of guests having a great time.
A good time was had by all at Brian Carter. I think they sold all of their
2005 Tuttorosso to just our group. The 2006 Abracadabra was Birthday Girl Laura's favorite.
Because I'm not a big wine drinker and more of a socializer I was unaware of how much wine The Hubs had throughout the day let alone bought. When we were wrapping up things at Brian Carter I caught him coming out of the store with MORE wine. I was like "what the hell, Drunk Boy?" This is where Drunk Boy aka The Hubs spills his guts that he had bought wine at every winery and signed up for all the wine clubs. DAMN! Did I mention we don't drink that much wine. He already has cases in the garage that he hordes from Baer Winery (his local most favorite winery) and we bought a bunch when we were at Sweet Cheeks in Eugene Oregon last month.
What the hell man?
I'm getting drunk and going to thrift stores next week!
Ok, sorry about the domestic squabble there.
Last stop on the wine tour......................Januik Winery
This is a fabulous winery. It's a fairly new building and it's very Frank Lloyd Wright. If your a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright Artchiture you will love this building. The wine if fabulous too.
Meeting of the minds at the round table.
Birthday Girl, WSU Hubs, and their fabulous neighbors Sarah and Jeff. The Hubs and I love these neighbors of The WSU's.
I didn't stay very long at this winery. I had to jet off and get dinner ready for everyone at my house. Now there are no pictures of phase two of the evening .............???????. I don't know why. I think this were my camera got temporarily lost. We all went to The House of B's for a BBQ, more wine, lots of ice water and cake. Well there was a little Guitar Hero played too.
I bet your all wondering about the cake aren't you? Well I did make it along with some help from Shawn. We did cupcakes galore. Shawn made some fabulous chocolate mocha cupcakes. I did red velvet with cream cheese frosting and yellow with chocolate. It's not the Lego Cake but it's not as bad as that "what the hell" cake either.
The tower of cupcakes with the big cupcake on top. I made this big ole cupcake with the Wilton Big Cupcake pan. It's not an amature project like it appears.
I found these WSU candies at a craft bazaar a couple weeks ago that I thought would look great on her cupcakes. Then I found a monogram W candy mold at Home Cake Decorating Supply in Seattle. Yes, I made my own candies for the top. SUPER EASY!Well a good time was had by all. Laura was surprised and Queen For The Day which was the goal. Drunk Boy aka The Hubs came home with 11 bottles of wine. 3 of which he told me were for special occasions only as he was looking over his receipts. Guess we paid a little more for those bottles then we remembered.
The Monday before the party at O'Dark:30 (around 5 am) in the morning, The Hubs called me from work
The Hubs; "Hey, airfare has dropped." "you should get up, get on line and see if you can find some airfare to New York so you can go with the girls."
Me; " Really?" "are you sure?"
The Hubs "yep, I think you should go with them."
Me; "Thank you Honey, I'll think about it"
He's the best husband in the world! This is why I love him.
Well I thought about it.......should I go? We really can't afford it, I would rather have my 3 ugly ass bathrooms remodeled. They have been planning this for months and months and now I'm just going to crash it? That wouldn't be right.
HELL YEAH I CAN CRASH IT!
I flew out of bed and got on line! After hours and hours of searching for a great airfare and trying to get close to the times they were leaving from Seattle and arriving in New York I was stressing out because I had stuff to do to get ready for the party and I didn't have time for this.
Then DING DING it hit me like a ton of bricks! Julie can help me with this.
I emailed her, sent her the girl's itinerary and told her I wanted a deal. One hour later she called me and told me she had me on the same flight as the girls and a great deal.
If you need someone to make on line travel arrangements for you and get you the best deal..............MacKenzie Travel is who you need to contact. Julie is in the middle of setting up her website. E-mail her direct at juliemackenzie@clearwire.net you won't be disappointed.
So my surprise to Laura
I'm going to New York with her!
I'm so excited it keeps me awake at night.
Laura and I are taking any suggestions you want to throw our way about visiting New York. If you have any ideas how we can see a show taping please let us know. So far we have struck out on everything.
There ya have it! That was our fabulous weekend.
Happy Birthday My Friend
Tomorrow............I have more pictures for you of pre party planning.
See more pictures from the party at WSU Laura's Blog
1 comment:
Looks like you guys had a very fun time. So bummed we couldn't make the bbq. Laura is so lucky to have a friend like you!! :0)
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