My husband and I just celebrated our 7th wedding Anniversary!
I can't believe it has been that long already! There have been so much change in our lives for the better of course; number one being our daughter, then our dogs, our life in Long Beach, the friends we've made, my love and now business of photography. We have endured hard times as well and it is those challenges in life that make our love and devotion for each other stronger!!!
We were engaged 8 years ago on summer solstice as well and it become almost an annual tradition to visit where he proposed ( Santa Ynez) and where we married (Santa Barbara). Last year we visited our chapel, the El Presidio, in Santa Barbara and made our rounds to the Mission and to the Annual Summer Solstice Parade. This year we headed straight up to the vineyards to visit our 2 favorite wineries- Sunstone (where he proposed) and Kalyra. Plus we made it to our stomping grounds of Brophy Bros and the Summer Solstice Parade!!!
I can't believe it has been that long already! There have been so much change in our lives for the better of course; number one being our daughter, then our dogs, our life in Long Beach, the friends we've made, my love and now business of photography. We have endured hard times as well and it is those challenges in life that make our love and devotion for each other stronger!!!
We were engaged 8 years ago on summer solstice as well and it become almost an annual tradition to visit where he proposed ( Santa Ynez) and where we married (Santa Barbara). Last year we visited our chapel, the El Presidio, in Santa Barbara and made our rounds to the Mission and to the Annual Summer Solstice Parade. This year we headed straight up to the vineyards to visit our 2 favorite wineries- Sunstone (where he proposed) and Kalyra. Plus we made it to our stomping grounds of Brophy Bros and the Summer Solstice Parade!!!
Kalyra was our 1st stop. We have been visiting here since it was a quaint shack before it became big from the movie Sideways! The proprietors/brothers are down to earth guys from Australia. Mike Brown is the owner and winemaker; he has worked at some of my favorite wineries such as Buttonwood Farms & Zaca Mesa. We haven't seen them in a while but I know they make appearances every so often.
My two staples- wine & my iPhone...hee, hee 
This is Macy ( I think) the watchdog of Kalyra winery; she is such a sweetie with wise eyes and stinky breath! 
Sunstone Vineyard- I just love the details of this place. It's only 8-9 years old and it holds a natural rustic look! We fell in love with this place the 1st time we visited 8 years ago June 21st- summer solstice. Little did I know this would be the place where the beginning of our lives together would begin.... 
These are the steps where he actually popped the question (8 years ago)! I remember him buying a bottle of Viognier and moving from a table outside to a short walk here to these steps. He sat me down and said he wanted to use our new video camera- we still have that same one from 8 years ago... too bad we have never looked at a single video from it. As he set up the tripod and camera I was swatting bees away and pleading to move somewhere else. I almost pleaded myself out of a wedding proposal! Luckily he is just as stubborn as I and he convinced me wait until we could enjoy one glass of wine together. He approached me and tried to get on his knee but the stones were hurting him so he asked for a folded brochure then placed it under his knee. I told him to just sit next to me. He joked saying "Look I'm on my knee...". We chuckled then he got a bit teary-eyed and started to pronounce his love and devotion and list the reasons why he loved me and then the big one "Will you marry me?" ! I said "Are you kidding? this isn't funny." Well it was legit and I said yes!!!! Wow- I just relived it all over again in my head while writing this. The funny thing is, he didn't propose as he had planned. Originally he had a note in his pocket that was attached to a stick meant to look like a white flag and then he was going to say " I surrender". The nerves must have gotten to him, but he told me of his original plan right after- funny man. Now the picture of this quaint ranch motel is where we stayed shortly after finishing out bottle of viognier and celebrating our engagement at the vineyard. Back then we were scraping to stay at the Carpenteria Beach campsite for this weekend getaway. We knew we shouldn't drive back to Carpenteria from Santa Ynez after having some vino plus we were so excited...we wanted to splurge and get a place to stay. So we came across this Red Barn Motel that had white picket fences, roses and a dirt trail. We asked how much, the lady said $60 for one night...out of our price range- too bad we thought. We told her we just got engaged and that we just couldn't afford it, so sorry. As we walked out the door, she yells how about $30? Crazy we worked this lady down to $30 dollar stay! Now a days I try to work our stays down to $200 at any other hotel. So now we were set...we could enjoy some more wine (which cost nearly the same as the motel) and call our family & friends to give them the news. Oh I wish I had pics of the inside- it was hilarious! The decor was retro disco, a complete opposite from the exterior barn style! BTW- back then when we made calls we were charged roaming fees, so when we received our next bill it was a fabulous $350. At least we saved money on the motel! 
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