Paint N' Vineyard

If you follow me on Instagram you might have seen that on Friday, I met up with a bunch of bloggers at

 Paint N' Vineyard 

which is basically a dream for anyone that likes wine, socializing, and/or painting (whether you have the talent or not). I was a tiny bit hesitant about the whole thing because stick figures are about as creative as I get. In fact, I've never painted on canvas in my life. Luckily, we had a great instructor, Jeff, who broke it down in tiny manageable steps even I could handle.

A sampling of the paintings available

Marie from 12 Signs Wine provided twelve different kinds of wine based on the Zodiac signs. You can actually host your own wine party and they'll provide the wine, and personal astrology readings. 

Sounds like a fun Girls' Night in to me!

I'm a Cancer so I was a Pinot Noir, fancy!

 And of course this group of girls knows how to eat...

After eating and chatting, it was time for class to begin. Everyone grabbed their glass(es) of wine and sat down at a blank canvas. Paint N' Vineyard provides the canvas, paint, apron and all of the brushes.

 Jeff led the group step-by-step and if we were having a bit of trouble, he stepped in to help.

Kelsey got a little Birthday surprise, and mine and Hollie's works of art!

On the left is the instructor's painting and on the right is mine. I struggled with making the waves breaking look realistic. Also, my palm tree kind of resembles The Lorax.

I snagged these group shots from Karina Irene

We really had the best time and I highly, highly recommend Paint N' Vineyard. It would be a fun class to take with your boyfriend, husband, or a group of girls! :-)

Shine Beach Clean Up!

Saturday was The Shine Beach Clean Up in San Diego. A group of about 70 bloggers met up at Mission Beach to help clean up trash. The amazing Ashley from The Shine Project organized everything and I could not wait to meet her! I've been a reader of her blog for awhile now and she has one of the biggest hearts. If only there were more people in the world who took such an active role in helping others. 

Kelly eager to clean, and sweet sweet Tammy!

We split up in smaller groups and took off in different directions. Me, Meg, Kandi, Kelly, Stesha and Reannah enjoyed the beautiful views and slightly overcast skies while we scoured the beach for cigarette butts, socks, plastic bottles, you name it! Surprisingly the beaches were pretty clean and we weren't able to get as much as I was envisioning. 

Afterwards, when we saw all of the bags the groups had collected, our impact seemed greater.

Some of the shining ladies

I stole these next few pictures from Stesha's blog:

After the clean-up, Kandi, Kelly and I went to the Ale House which is a rooftop restaurant with beautiful views of the ocean.

 It was a wonderful day spent with a group of passionate girls I'm so happy to have met!

Check out Ashley's blog to see if she's hosting any events in your city!

 

So Cal Blogger Meet-up

Saturday was the So Cal Blogger Meet-Up and I had the best time. I got to meet a couple of the girls that I chat with pretty regularly in the blogosphere, as well as meet others whose blogs I will surely start reading. There were about 65 of us who met at Roppongi's in La Jolla on Prospect street (which is a gorgeous area). The girls who planned this event did such a phenomenal job! We each got a name badge with our first name, as well as our blog name, since let's face it, I know most of you by the names of your blogs. 

Delicious appetizers and desserts

via

A cute photo booth set up with Polaroid frames

 I can't even tell you how many great raffle prizes there were (over $3,000 worth of products so everyone walked away with something!) We also each got swag bags at the end of the day.

Ashley won that adorable dress with a wrap belt, Kandi won earrings and chocolate and I won CA stationary cards by Orange & Park

But the most amazing prize of all, the grand prize we shall say, was TheIt Camera bag! We were all eyeing it the entire afternoon and Meg {who is the cutest and sweetest thing by the way} was lucky enough to walk away with it! It looks just like a purse, but inside are sections made of soft material for different lenses. I didn't know such a thing existed, but their website has been "pinned" and it's on my wishlist!

The best part of the day though, was getting to chat with all of the girls! And getting together with a bunch of bloggers means that you can take as many pictures as you want and no one is going to judge you! We all had our huge cameras around our necks most of the day.

Couldn't wait to meet Ashley, she just moved to Hollywood a few weeks ago! I started sponsoring her blog last month, and it's one of my favorite reads. She was just as adorable and hilarious in person!

Ashley from Adventures of Newlyweds

 Sweet Tammy from Lemons, Avocados and the Bay was one of the hosts who put so much time and love into this event. Thank you girly!

Pretty Hollie from Hollie Takes Notes

 Well there you have it. If there are ever opportunities in your area to attend a blogger meet-up -- GO! I had an incredible time and can't wait for the next one.

There are also more pictures here by Karina Irene Photography.
And make sure to link up here if you came to the meet-up so we can find you.