Memories of a perfect day. and ponies.

I am so busy that I think I might explode.

My life goes in cycles of boredom and crazed panic-filled frenzy. Right now I am experiencing the latter. To be fair, it is 100% my own fault. I say yes to a lot of things, and most of those things are fun, like being a bridesmaid and throwing a wedding shower, or helping a friend design a logo, or offering to make a 30" diameter pinata by hand (this will be another post in the near future). The list goes on and on. Suffice it to say, I've maybe bitten off a little more than I can chew. And usually I can chew a lot.

Today however, I'd like to take a trip down memory lane to one of the most relaxing days I've had in recent history. It was a blustery Sunday afternoon about 2 weeks ago, and my friends Daniel and Lauren and I went to the Annual Malibu Family Wines Pick-Up party. The three of us are members of a wine club there, and every May, they throw a big party at the Saddlerock Ranch. It's invite only, and you can bring a date, so obviously, I brought my good friend Annalise (who you may remember from other Beach City Girl adventures, like this one). Now, I've been a member of this wine club for a couple of months, and have been to the Malibu Family Wines tasting room dozens of times, but nothing could prepare me for how absolutely paradise-like the estate is.

It's like a painter put that one tiny cloud in the sky.

The Saddlerock.

We drove up a winding road, through vineyards and fields, past horses, zebras, camels, peacocks, llamas (my favorite!), and some of the most gorgeous countryside I've ever seen.

Miniature pony. His name is Shaggy-do. or at least it should be.

I'm a writer, and I'm prone to exaggeration (I admit it), but this place took my breath away. Everywhere we looked there were little ponds, and waterfalls, and rose gardens, and that was just the natural beauty! In addition to all of that, there were white tents filled with appetizers, and cute little sitting areas, and a Spanish guitar duo, and wine. Oh my. So much wine. It was lovely. Normally, the assortment of wines and their ready availability might have gotten the best of me, but that didn't happen because there were tiny plates of tomato-basil quiche, sun-dried tomato and tangerine quinoa, tiny meatballs and gravy, and brownies and cookies, and strawberries, and cheese plates, and I tried them all (at least twice).

There's not much more I can say to describe how perfect this day was. It got crowded quickly, so we ended up sitting on the grass, but even that was divine. We laid out, and let the sunshine and the breeze wash over us, while we sipped good wine, and laughed, and listened to beautiful Spanish guitar music. And then, just when we thought things couldn't get any better, we went and played with the miniature ponies.

This may not seem very exciting, but trust me, it was. Those ponies were a hoot. As you can probably tell they were very friendly. They kind of reminded me of mischievous, scruffy little children running around and trying to eat things they shouldn't.

Lauren's pony was eye-ing her wine glass the whole time. Lush.

The fairytale ending to this perfect day was that we all got to be together, we took home three bottles of wine, and we took pictures with a camel. That's right, a camel. And while I'm not in possession of these particular photos, as soon as they are sent to me, I will add them to the post, because during the photo session, the camel tried to eat Lauren's hair. Seriously. He bit her on the head.

If that's not the perfect end to a perfect day, I don't know what is.

Anyhow, in the midst of my craziness, I try to recreate the utter contentment of that day at Saddlerock Ranch. There's something about spending an afternoon in the sun with friends that makes me feel calm, happy and relaxed. My goal is to recall that feeling later this week when I'm 10 seconds away from spontaneous combustion. I'll let you know how that works out.

P.S. If any of you are in Southern California, and interested in being a wine club member, I highly recommend Malibu Family Wines. Their wine is great, the membership is super affordable ($43 per quarter), and I always have a fabulous time whenever I visit their tasting room. Annalise liked it so much she signed up on the spot at the pick-up party. I can't say enough good things. Check them out here: Malibu Family Wines

A Tale of Heartbreak

There once was a girl who never had pets as a child because her family moved all the time. All of her friends had dogs, and cats, and gerbils and hamsters, and turtles and crickets and doves.

But this sad girl had no pets. Well, she had a couple of goldfish in college, but they were emo and one of them committed suicide. Anyhow, this girl went through 23 years of life with no pet to call her own, and the longer she lived, the more she realized that she wanted a pet, but she wanted a really special pet. Not a dog, cat, gerbil, hamster, manatee, a cricket or an emu.

Something really special. And one day, she found it.

It was perfect.  A Petite Lap Giraffe.

Through the wonders of the interwebs, the girl found out that these tiny giraffes like air conditioning, hugs and kisses and filtered water, all things which the girl also liked. She also found out they only grew to be about 30 inches tall, which meant it would be the perfect size pet for a girl who lived in a studio apartment in Venice.

The girl spent lots of time reading about Petite Lap Giraffes and trying to figure out how to get on the waitlist to buy one from a farm in Russia. She also spent time day dreaming about how happy she would be when she and her tiny giraffe could run around the beach and frolic merrily in the sun.

And then it happened: The girl saw a commercial with a petite lap giraffe in it! She watched the commercial excitedly, and showed it to her friends and her Mom too. For some reason though, her Mom seemed to doubt the actual existence of the Lap Giraffes. The girl scoffed at her mother, and quickly set about proving her wrong in the most efficient and reputable method possible: Wikipedia.

Unfortunately, that backfired, because she found that there was no wiki page for lap giraffes. She then employed Step #2 of the Scientific Method: Google searching "are petite lap giraffes real?"

From this point, a downward spiral occurred that left the girl reeling in shock and anguish. Several blogs pointed out that the pictures of Lap Giraffes were actually stock photos with giraffes photo shopped in. Others pointed out the the Sokoblovsky Farms website where the giraffes could be purchased was actually a website run by a media company that does advertisements for DirectTV.

It all fell into place with a crushing and terrible devastation. The girl's beloved lap giraffe, who loved filtered water, hugs, and bonsai trees, was a hoax.

This is a cautionary tale about the cruelty of DirectTV and the internet. Make no mistake, this can happen to you. Adults and children alike have fallen into this terrible trap of fictitious lovable pets, and so I felt it was important to let this be a lesson to everyone:

Lap Giraffes are not real, and Direct TV is no closer to gaining my business because of their dirty, dirty advertising tricks.