Nature.
It really gets taken it for granted when it is all around you. Once I moved to Los Angeles, I yearned for green hills and trees. Every time I went back home, I would breathe deeply and savor the crisp air that wasn't laden with smog. Don't get me wrong, I love southern California. I just realized how much I missed all the beautiful landscapes of Sonoma County.
In fact, once I moved back home, the whole first week I kept freaking out about how green everything was. Also, there seems to be an influx of GIANT bugs. I'm not kidding; twice now I have seen monster-sized moths.
It was as big as my hand!
On the fourth, we drove up to Calistoga for scenery and good food. For those who don't know of this little place, it is tucked up in the hills towards Mt. Saint Helena. We followed the winding roads past the Pepperwood Preserve and the Worlds Largest Petrified Forest; all the while listening to Mom's stories of her more adventurous days.
I love little towns. They are always filled with local shops and restaurants. In Calistoga, there is a little strip of shops housed in railroad cars. We wandered past the office for hot air balloon rides, peeked through the windows of novelty shops and discovered the Sugar Train at the end.
I don't think I need to remind you how much I love candy shops.
The best thing about this particular shop were the homemade frozen juice bars of every flavor imaginable. After a quite a bit of deliberation, I decided to go with the Jamaican Hibiscus. Oh man, it was delicious. Next time I want to try the kiwi flavor.
Speaking of delicious, I made my brother-in-law thirty-one cupcakes for his thirty-first birthday. Well, I made forty-eight and then just only set out about thirty-one. I didn't make them from scratch, but I marbled chocolate and yellow cake together, which was a lot of fun.
They turned out well and I think I'm getting better at decorating. Now I just need to remember not to decorate when the frosting has started to melt...
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