Back in November we stayed at this cute little hotel up in Murphys and we LOVED our time there, so when they sent us an off for a FREE night ... we JUMPED at the chance! We had a small time frame though so we took off for our little mini vaca just 2 days after Christmas.

So we ran away from home that night, checked into our hotel, got dressed for dinner and had the BEST time at a little italian place in town, Noto's. It was small but quaint, the food was amazing and the wine was too :)

We got up bright and early the next morning - since I think we wake up at 6am subconsciously now - and went to breakfast at this cute little place next to our hotel, Grounds.

This is the patio scene in front of our table, and directly below our room :)

After breakfast we went back to our room for awhile, got dressed and went for a pretty drive in the wine country while we waited for the marathon wine tasting day to begin, lol. It was just SO PRETTY!

We ended up at the Ironstone Vineyards. The place is awesome. It's absolutely huge. They have concerts in their outdoor ampitheater. They have museums and gifts shops and a neat outdoor historical area that DH loved. We walked through the outdoor area for awhile and headed into the tasting room.

Their wines aren't much to speak of so we just grabbed a sandwhich, some cheese & crackers and found a pretty spot outside to eat.

We found a great little spot, there were a LOT to chose from.

It was such a nice relaxing day. We didn't have to be anywhere we HAD to be so we just enjoyed the sunshine while the valley was caked in fog lol

So we enjoyed the HELL out of our time :)

So their wines suck, their food is good, their grounds are beautiful ... and they have BIG. black. cat. ... his name is "Moose" ... and he likes laps ... LOL

So after our little drive and adventure in the countryside we started on our marathon day of wine tasting lol. We ended up going to 8 WINERIES! Hahaha ... I know ... we have a problem LOL ...

But we sure enjoyed ourselves!! I think this was in between wineries 4 & 5, kinda hard to keep track when they're all within walking distances ;)

Best part was ... since we kept takin breaks to shop or whatever, we didn't even get that drunk! No woozyness, no hangover the next mornin!

This is us during one of those breaks when we just lounged on a park bench for a spell cause we had no where to be and no one to get home to :)

This is Brandon reaching his I CAN TAKE NO MORE PICTURES! limit LOLOL

This is us laughing as people walk by wondering why we're taking pictures of ourselves LOL

Us at dinner that evening after a lovely day wandering around, just eatin and drink ALL DAMN DAY LOL - BEST.DAY.EVER! LOL

It was great. REALLY REALLY great. But I think we're done with Murphys ... for now ;-) We need to try out NEW places ... that's one of my favorite things about getting out on our own. Maybe Napa next! ;-)

**Dear, Modesto, CA - I noticed that you've checked my blog out a couple times, but it seems like you keep clickin on this page and you might think I haven't updated. Try this link ...

http://myplaceinthecalisun.blogspot.com

That's the direct link. If you are who I think you are, I don't mind you checking in, I just wanted to let you know the link you were going to was outdated. I hope everything is going really well for you...**

Today on my TAT, I'm talkin bout BLACK FRIDAY BABY! w00t!

Now, I'm not going to pretend that the day after Thanksgiving isn't utter chaos, but what I WILL tell you is *I* had a GREAT time!

I'm one of your "glass is half FULL" kinda folks I guess. I CHOOSE to see things in a positive light, or search for the positive side. I'm not always in a super happy great mood, but I really try to be a happy person.

Black Friday shopping for me started THANKSGIVING morning!

Kmart was about a half mile from my house and had a GREAT sale starting at 7am. I figured that since I get up at 6 with the baby anyway I would leave the kids with DH and take some time out to find a great deal!

THIS was the line outside Kmart and it looks like a long line waiting out in the cold, but what I saw was people talking in light hearted tones about Thanksgiving and family stuff. People in a great mood.

I ran into a friend of mine in line and we chatted and drank our Starbucks and had a pretty nice time :D Seemed like everyone was! And Kmart did a SMART thing to avoid chaos. They came out to the line ahead of time, told us how many there was of the BIG TICKET items and according to the line, gave out vouchers for those items!

BRILLIANT! This TOTALLY avoided the rushing and the chaos! People walked in leisurely, stopped for the complimentary coffee and cookies, and I got everything on my list! I actually SAVED MORE than what I spent! Can't beat that!

Then Thanksgiving night ... Black Friday began! I got out my holiday planner (read: list keeper) and got down to business!

I went through and decided what item was most important to get and then coordinated where I would go and when after that. Then I lugged my ragged butt to bed and set the alarm for 4:00AM!

I was in the car and on my way by 4:13! w00t! I even had time to put on a bit of make up just so I didn't look completely frightning ;-)

My first stop was Kohls. They didn't have SUPER important stuff but were next door to Target (who DID) and they opened at 4 ;-) So I just wandered around and checked out the deals, grabbed all the stuff on my list (again!) and THIS was the line!

It's funny cause it looks HORRIBLE and in fact, this was as I was about half way through, but it went suprisingly fast! They of couse had all checkers open and had people directing traffic to open registers so there was no cutting in line ... it was VERY put together and VERY nice! Again I saved MORE than I spent!

Next was on to Target! Who had these headrest DVD players for the car and OMG all I could think of was the lovelyness that would ensue on our trips to the coast in the summer!

The line was down one side of Target, and then the other! I was at the end of the line at about 5:55 right before it opened. People were singing holiday songs, talking happily and over all, having a pretty GREAT time :D

The doors opened and I noticed people sorta just waiting outside the other doors avoiding waiting in line! RUDE! Now, Target had the right idea, they had a cop come out and sorta mind the crowd. As the doors opened it took about 5 minutes to get in ... NO PROBLEM!

There was QUITE the crowd waiting to get in though! Once I got in I was like greased lightning you guys! There are a few rules to Black Friday success ...

*GOOD SHOES - I was like a ninja! LOL

*NO CART - This is a must as you gotta bob and weave! I was in the back of the store at the electronics before HALF the people had their carts! I got my DVD players :D Then I walked around kinda leisurely cause I had what I really wanted.

*LOW EXPECTATIONS - You can't go in thinking you're going to get EVERYTHING you want. You have to know that you might not, and then when you DO, it's a GREAT HIGH lol

*HAVE A GOOD ATTITUDE - I didn't see much pushing, NO fights, and people were HELPING one another! I helped a few people find what they were looking for, and a few people helped me! And ya know, I DID get all the items on my list! At Target I saved $156! I didn't even spend that much! w00t!

After Target I went on to Kmart, which was DESERTED, got ALMOST everything on my list there too! All I was missing was an MP3 player. Then I checked out Rite Aid and FOUND the MP3 player for the same price! Then I ran to the grocery store and they were having a 75% off sale on their books!!!!!! I got two bags of books for $7!!!!!!

I'm tellin you ... TOTALLY WORTH IT! I saved so much money, bought only the things I really wanted, AND WAS HOME FOR COFFEE BY 8:30!!! How awesome is THAT?! I got almost ALL of my Christmas shopping done, at half price, hit 5 stores and was home for coffee with DH at 8:30!

OMG YOU GUYS ... it's such a HIGH ;D LOVE BLACK FRIDAY!!!!

For more chick Talkin Bout stuff on Tuesday check out Lazy Organizer!