charlotte

Gosh, it's been awhile hasn't it?
I didn't mean to take such a big blog break, but stuff just kept - well - getting in the way.  And the longer I waited, the bigger the bar became for what I should post about when I finally emerged from my blogging burial ground.  

But today is a day worth reemerging for.
Because today marks the birthday of my very best friend: Miss. Charlotte VanWagenen.

char at range

While I couldn't be with her to celebrate the big day today, I was lucky enough to have her come visit for an entire weekend a few weeks ago.  If you know her, you know she is the absolute easiest guest in the entire world.  She is game for anything (any activity, any restaurant, any schedule), she is totally fine sleeping on the couch (which she had to do because our air mattress has gotten in the habit of deflating over the course of a night leaving its inhabitant waking on the ground), and she's the definition of easy going.  

So easy going in fact, that when our bathroom tub decided to clog while she was here (and by clog - I mean, to the brim, not draining one little bit), and we had to spend 2 hours on Saturday waiting while a heavy-duty plumber snacked out our drain, she pretended as though the event was the most exciting and fascinating thing that had happened to her all year.  (She leads a very adventurous, travel-filled life, so I know it most certainly wasn't.)

Thankfully, the plumber sorted it out and we were able to take showers and get on with the rest of our weekend.  Stefan managed to finagle an appointment at A. Rafanelli - one of our absolute favorite wineries that is close to impossible to get into.  While their wines are out of this world and could easily go for $150+ a pop, they refuse to raise their prices, leaving their amazing Zinfandel at the absolute bargain price of $30.  While that's awesome if you can get them, their wine club has a multi-year wait list and requires you to hand write them a letter requesting to be put on it.  Luckily, our time had come so they were willing to let us new wine club members come show "our extra special guest" what they were all about.

After some decadent tastes, we opted for a European-style picnic overlooking the nearby Sonoma Lake.  

Char carried the essentials:

wine and water that is

We sat and chatted and ate and drank and before we knew it, it was late and time to head home.  The weekend was over before it felt like it had even started - a common occurrence with Charlotte.  Even though she lives in New York while I'm in SF, she's the type of friend who I can not see (or even talk to) for weeks, and then when we get together, it feels like not a single second has passed.  You know: the type of friend whose presence alone rejuvenates you.

Happy Birthday Char! Hope you're being spoiled rotten.

xoxo
KK