Sunday was a jam-packed day. Melissa joined me for a drive up to Napa Valley. An alum from the Purdue College of Technology was hosting an event for Bay Area alum’s. They owned Benessere Vineyards in St. Helena. It was a really rainy day but luckily, Napa Valley tends to look pretty in any weather.

We weren’t sure what to expect but it turned out to be a really fun afternoon. We had a delicious 3-course meal, each with different wine options to sample. The technology dean had flown out and it was nice reminiscing about campus a bit. We met the winemaker and found out how he got in the business. We got a tour of the facilities and would have seen how they pruned the vines had it not been raining. Melissa & I learned a lot and it was fun hanging out with her.

One of the ladies who works there invited us to come back in the summer. She said we could bring a lunch and eat it on their patio and probably watch some grape crushing. I’m not a huge wine person, but it’s always interesting learning about another industry. Looking forward to getting back up there in nicer weather. It’s a really gorgeous vineyard.

I got back to SF with about an hour to spare before my evening date. I was exhausted, but we had a fun time. It was sad to realize that at age 29, I’d never had a guy pick me up, have a plan on where we’re going, and insist on paying for the whole night (I tried paying). It was a nice change of pace. The whole day was.

The next weekend was Tim’s birthday. We had dinner at Ziryab. The food was great. We had birthday cake back at Tim & Emily’s new place (which rocks) before closing out the night between Waziema and The Page. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet more of Tim & Emily’s college friends. Always good times with that crew!