Mike and I went to one of our new, favorite hangouts this past Saturday: Riverbench Winery. We succumbed to membership back in October...or more like threw our money at them and asked when the first shipment was. This is the only winery that we are members of...and I have been thinking it over as to why this is.
Track back to when we first moved to Santa Barbara: Mike and I decided to go check out some of Santa Barbara County's wineries. We drove up and down the winding path in the middle of nowhere, checking out the scenery and checking out all the tasting rooms. We were almost ready to head back, but I saw a sign for Riverbench and then checked my handy, dandy Foxen Canyon Road winery trail map and noticed that this particular winery wasn't listed. Being a curious person, I told Mike that we needed to go check it out. Riverbench is located towards the end of the wine trail and unfortunately, is not on the map. But just as most things in life, you have to look hard for the worthwhile :)
Fast forward 4-5 months later and we are hooked. We absolutely love going to Riverbench and not because we are wine thirsty, but because of how we are treated when we arrive. The girls behind the counter; Carlin, Jackie and others treat us (US!?) like celebrities when we walk in the door and being that hams (uh, I mean, grown-ups with a capital G) that we are...we bask in the glow of celebrity-ism! I've been rolling these thoughts over and over in my mind the past few days, because we were at Riverbench this past Saturday for their release of their limited edition Rose and I can't stop thinking about their stellar customer service and the experience of just being on their property.
As a business owner myself, this is something that I pay attention to and is important to me as well as my clients. I am always willing to spend more money and time on something if the customer service is above and beyond and my hope is that my brides feel the same way :)
Here a few photos of some of the wines we have sampled from them...I went to take a few shots and ended up having a full fledged photo shoot with the bottles...geez!
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend :)
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Well, I would like to think so....! :) Mike and I had some dear friends fly in the for the weekend and we have been busy trying to show them a good time. We have known Kari and Nahir for a few years now and they are definitely in the top ranks of folks that we miss from Charlotte! We took Kari and Nahir around Santa Barbara and checked out the shops on State Street and today, we all went to the beach. Let's just say that my pasty self hasn't seen the light of day since who knows when and I got a tad bit sunburned...OK, just a tad is an understatement....I look like a 5'7 giant lobster! Umm, can we say painful!? I am usually OCD about sunscreen (trying to keep the wrinkles at bay!), but I totally with a capital T forgot to put on sunscreen....ouch, ouch, ouch!
BUT, before Lobsterfest '09, we did a bunch of fun, touristy activities in LA and Hollywood and then wrapped up a great weekend by visiting a few wineries in Santa Barbara County! It was a hazy, semi-cloudy day in LA, but we still had a great time. We also visited Demetria Estate for the first time and this is, by far, my most favorite winery in SBC....it felt as if we were wine tasting in Bordeaux....Bonjour Mes Amis! :)
Dottie Barkman says:
hi Whit...love your pics, as usual. Sounds like a great visit ; tell N. & K. a big hello from us !!! love ya
(03.24.09 @ 01:52 PM)
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I had a wonderful visit with my family in Charlotte and yes, my mom was SUPER surprised :) It was so awesome to be able to see my parents and sisters and brothers-in-law and nephews and grandparents and friends and colleagues...all in one trip :) (whew, I'm exhausted just typing it out)
Jackson lost his VERY FIRST TOOTH! How exciting....so glad I was there to witness it! These are the little things I miss...
And Benjamin, hamming it up for me in front of the camera...he demanded that I take a few photos of him, which I was more than happy to :) I do have a few cute photos of my sisters, BUT I know that if I posted them, unfortunately, they probably wouldn't speak to me for the next week, but know that there are some cute photos of them as well!
On more work related news, I did a shoot while in Charlotte and got to meet a bunch of really awesome photographers...yay for networking! Any photogs checking the blog, be sure to let me know if you're in town or near LA because I would love to meet up!
Here is a sneak peek of a baby shoot that you will be seeing on my children's site/blog once it's finished, but for now, here is baby R....isn't she a cutie? She was so fantastically great in front of the camera and made my job soooo easy!
Hope everyone is having a great Friday the 13th!
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winter...Spring! I want to let clients and the world know that I will be out of the office Sunday through Thursday. I am flying home to Charlotte to surprise my mom :) By the time she reads this, I will already be there! Yay for surprises!
And, of course, I am super excited about seeing everyone else, including these two awesome guys....
I know, aren't they too cute??!? They're my nephews and no, you cannot have them! ;)
I will be reachable by phone and email, so you know what to do!
Catie Ronquillo says:
Awww cuteness! Reminds me of my little cousin! Have fun in Charlotte :)
(03.08.09 @ 12:51 AM)
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Remember how I said I love Mike's Friday's off? Well...I started to get worried when he wanted to go hiking. Hiking to Mike is like mountain climbing or something insane like that. I got especially worried when he wanted to go hiking on "Rattlesnake Trail." I mean, why would you just go looking for rattlesnakes? He assured me that the trail was named Rattlesnake Trail for some other reason (yeah, riiiight...I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm not falling for that). So, at my bequest, we chose another trail. We started packing for our hike and I began to get worried..."what if we fall off a mountain?" "what if a snake jumps out of a tree and bites us?" OR "what if we don't have cell phone coverage?!?!" The last numbing thought freaked me out, but I soldiered through it and hey, guess what? I had a great time! We didn't see any snakes (that I know of) and I didn't fall off a mountain, as you can tell. I think I want to go again this week!
Of course, I took tons of photos...we saw all kinds of cool plants that I have no idea what the names are!
Look at the cute little barn down there...they had all kinds of crazy animals (like a hee-hawing donkey!) I didn't bring my zoom lens, because let's face it, that thing is a beast!
The hike master with our sweet dog, Bear
I love crooked trees!
See, I don't even know the name of this plant...I am botany illiterate (if that's even a real thing...?)
Bear made a friend!
Gorgeous sunlight!!
Thanks for stopping by y'all and check back tomorrow for a cute, little wedding post :)
Mike says:
See, and you thought you'd see a snake!? You gotta give me credit for o-so-quickly brushing that one off your back that slithered out of the tree....oh wait, you didn't even feel that or know it happened?? Umm..... Just kidding!!!
(03.03.09 @ 10:48 PM)
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love wine and wine tasting! we should go together sometime!!!! (with our spouses)
(03.24.09 @ 12:24 PM)Ooohhh! I haven't been to RiverBench yet.. I'll have to check it out!
(03.26.09 @ 09:29 AM)