Sometimes life is better than dreams.  This may be one of those times for me.  I mean, I have been having good dreams lately, don't get me wrong- but life is also rather pleasant.  Some of my highlights this weekend have included: winery/vineyard visits; hanging out w/ Amber and a friend's b-day celebration.

I'll start off w/ the wine.  The wineries did have vineyards which we saw, but did not walk through, so I suppose I should refer to it as a winery visit.  I'd never been before, and had a blast!  Only 3/5ths of us sampled at the first place.  I learned the proper way to sample.  At that point, both reds and whites were about equal in my book (I came in preferring champagne, but wanted to be open).  We had a white with lunch.  It was good company and good food and good weather- what more could I ask for?  They weren't giving tours, so we went to another place, and this time, everyone 'tasted.'  I limited mine to fruit (other than grape) and dessert wines... well, and some of Sarah's, so I guess quite the variety.  My favorite was plum, and I got a bottle.  The tour was interesting- the girl was a young teen w/ braces and it reminded me of other small-town farm-girl type stuff.  She just seemed so happy and full of life and family ties.  I could tell some of my friends were bored, but I'm sure I would be, too if I'd heard it all (multiple) times before.  Overall, it was a relaxing day, which is exactly what I'd hoped for.  And I didn't laugh much or do anything else that I thought would happen after drinking.  I swear it seemed like I had more clarity than usual at the time.  It could also be because I wasn't thinking of a million things at once.

Time w/ Amber:  I've been busier than usual lately, and haven't spent as much time w/ Amber, so it was nice hanging out this weekend.  We walked and talked and that was good.  I think I understand more where she's coming from and what she thinks and perhaps feels- hurray for good conversations and communicating!!

Yesterday, a group of us got together to celebrate our friend Jonathon's birthday.  We went to Maggiano's, which was a first time for me.  It was good Italian food not too dissimilar to The Old Spaghetti Factory or Villa D'Carlo.  I got lasagna, which i never order out, but I missed my mom's, and it hit the spot.  I ate about half.  The birthday guy also shared his Tiramisu, and that was the most chocolate-intense variety I've had.  It has the bitter- or semi-sweet thing going on, and it was a nice finish to the meal.  Villa (linked above) still serves my all-time favorite (creamy kind), but I'm satisfied that there are decent varieties here.  Buca di Beppo serves the most rum-soaked variety I've found, just fyi.  (can you tell it's my favorite food/dessert?!)  One last thing- I felt a little out-of-place at the restaurant, because it was all married couples, with one seriously-dating pair, and then two guys w/ me in the center (and one is my dad's age).  Can't say I didn't perceive some raised eyebrows.  When I got past that, it was a really good time- I love hanging out and eating!