The Adnostic

The wedding was surprisingly lovely. Not one single breakdown, blow-up, or bridezilla moment occurred. For me, it was really nice to be away and not worry about who I'm interviewing with, who I could be interviewing with, what agencies I need to follow up with, and who has my resume.

I drove from Los Angeles to San Francisco to pick up Dave listening to Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman the entire way. (side note - For long drives I highly recommend audiobooks. They help defeat the monotony and keep the brain engaged, preventing nod-offs and those disconcerting where-did-the-last-ten-minutes-go moments. Gaiman has become somewhat of an audiobook standby for me. His books are light and funny while still being clever and interesting and topped with a healthy layer of geek.) I arrived right on time at SFO after negotiating their parking structure, met Dave at the baggage claim, and we were off to wine country for a weekend of food, wine, ceremonies of fidelity, and family dealings.

In Napa we of course did the winery thing. We went to the Robert Sinskey Vinyard, which was okay. I wasn't terribly impressed with any of their offerings besides their most expensive Cabernet and mom was far more interested in feeding the koi fish on the patio than drinking. From there we traveled to Domaine Chandon for a champagne tasting only to have the serendipity to arrive on a day they were having a special on champagne and oysters. Ms. Jen had once told me that they had a surprisingly good Pinto Noir, but I didn't get a chance to try it. Instead I had a sample of their sparkling red. It had a gorgeous color, but the taste left much to be desired (too sweet, like a mild medicine).

The day of the wedding Dave and I had some time to kill before I got my hair done so we stopped by the Rubicon Estate of Coppola family fame to do a quick tasting and tour the movie memorabilia upstairs. When we got there it was immediately explained there there was a $25 visitor's fee just to tour the estate. Dave wouldn't let me pay for that racket given our time constraints so we got a couple glasses of wine from their cafe, sat on the patio, and enjoyed the morning view. I did manage to con the server into letting me try their estate reserve blended white, which was amazing. It was probably the most complex white I had ever tasted and it put my Sauvignon Blanc to shame.

The ceremony was wonderful and seemingly effortless. Leah and Tom's vows were honest, funny, and heartfelt. Leah, in all of her wisdom, let the professionals do their jobs and just laid back and enjoyed the day. Dinner was delicious and we danced well into the night to a healthy mix of 80's nostalgia and modern pop. Dave didn't even need coaxing onto the dance floor. He was right there with me the entire time, dance for dance. He is certainly my perfect partner.

The next day we stopped at Acme Fine Wines to say hi to Karen and to try a few of their more obscure selection. My dad got a case of Prisoner to split with himself and a colleague, Dave got a bottle of Prisoner for himself and one for me, and I walked away with a bottle of Luli Chardonnay and a bottle of Bridesmaid because I couldn't help myself.

Then it was off to San Francisco to meet up with our internet friends for coffee before I took Dave to the airport.

After a long goodbye to Dave I headed to Oakland for a nice Chinese dinner with the newly blended family and then I drove back to SanFran to crash at my friend Cindy's place, but not before American Idol karaoke and Mario Kart on the Wii with a few of her friends.