F4L in the bay area!

So, yes, my high school girlfriends and I are big dorks and we have a name for our group, we call ourselves the F4L....it stands for Friends for Life. We came up with the acronym during our senior year of high school and we've used it so much in our friendship videos (yes, we have a number of friendship videos featuring us being our dorky selves) talking about our group with others, that even our families and other close college friends, work friends etc refer to us as the F4L. In recent years we have started branch offs, ie---H4L - F4L husbands and K4L - F4L kids...oh the dorkiness is never ending with us!

In any case I never cease to be amazed by the friendship that we share and it's always such a treat when I get to spend time with any one of these girls!

This weekend Amber flew up to the bay area and I got to spend two lovely days with her, an old friend from elementary and middle school and a couple of her college friends. It was a gorgeous weekend of Friendship as Amber kept calling it, and as is always the case when I'm in the presence of another F4L there was lots of fun stuff going on...breakfast at Borrones, Filoli, wine @Cask in San Carlos, dinnner and MORE wine at Town with Katie's fam in San Carlos, breakfast at Hobbee's, a mini Stanford tour and even MORE wine at Fogarty...and I even managed to sneak some yoga in there! Here is a little sneak peak into our weekend...

Amber and I at Filoli. Interesting tidbit...Filoli is a made up word, it is the combination of the builder's 3 life philosophies...FIght for a just cause, LOve your fellow man and LIve a good life. Beautiful house and beautiful gardens and we even got to see an area where the San Andreas fault runs...yikes!

Oh cheese, I love you! This aged gouda with some tomatoe chutney at the Cask was deeelish!

Refreshing Pinot Grigio on a warm afternoon at the Cask.

Dinner at Town in San Carlos with Katie's family. I haven't seen them in 14 years! I loved my heirloom tomato salad with mozarella and the yummy Chateau St. Michel riesling that Mr. Paul chose! Katie and Miss Patty's fillet mignon sliders were awesome too!

The road to Fogarty...it was gorgeous!! Can't wait for an excuse to get back out there! Beautiful trees, beautiful views, so refreshing!

My Pinot Noir....the only red I tasted...I think I am converting to a white wine girl --- loved the Chardonnay!

At the winery with beautiful views of the bay behind us! Fogarty winery was founded by Dr. Thomas Fogarty, a world renowned Stanford cardiovascular surgeon and inventor. Check out the website for some photos, http://www.fogartywinery.com/

We were about 2000 feet above sea level and the views were gorgeous. I could see Hoover Tower from where we were standing!

It was so fun having you Amber! Come back soon!

On an unrelated note, I also got to have Yom Kippur Dinner with the second family tonight which was absolutely lovely We had beef brisket, potatoes, sugar glazed carrots and challah. I love getting to share Jewish holidays with these guys, although I am being a bit of a wimp and skipping out on the day of fasting tomorrow :). I can't believe I forgot pics of the brisket, carrots and potatoes...oi vei!

The Yom Kippur table.


Kiddish cups.

Isn't this challah beautiful?!

And one more random pic just because I love it's falliness...

Squash and gourds galore! Have a wonderful week everyone!!