I went back to California for a week for work and it was so weird being there without Tripp! We had meetings Mon, Tues & Wed... then had a team offsite in NAPA that I planned for the group. It was a blast!
I was pretty tired most of the time and was a bit stressed about fake-drinking on Thursday in NAPA... I did tell Julia Mills, client and friend from P&G, so she could be my confidant. She had already anticipated that was the case, but it was finally confirmed! It was nice being able to talk to someone else about it throughout the week :)
Pics from the week - I was so ready to get back home!
Monday night we had dinner at a seafood place in Pacifica... right off the water! It was freezing and windy outside, but we all watched the ocean for a bit.
Tuesday night we went to a Giants game together - I bought 17 seats together... we took up an entire row at the game!
Julia and I bundled up!
Julia and I didn't
have meetings Wed afternoon, so we headed to the city early to shop. We
hit up Anthro, JCrew, the mall, Sephora, etc. So fun!
That night, we had dinner in the city at Stones Throw. For our large group, it was a prefixed menu and all of their food is a little out there. It made me nervous because I didn't know what was in most of the food and I didn't want to appear high maintenance given I was trying to keep my pregnancy quiet... so I was stressed and didn't enjoy the food. It was a cool experience and everyone enjoyed trying things they would have never ordered on their own, but I didn't get to eat much.
This was Jacques and the waitress doing faceswap. Hilarious.
NAPA time! The bus picked us up at the hotel at 10:30 and miraculously, we were on the road only 15 minutes after that. This group is a fun one. 3 of us from SSX and the rest from the P&G eComm team. Bad pic of me, but good of everyone else :)
First winery for the day - Artesa Winery. You walk up steps when you arrive and at the top, these are the views. Beautiful!
Group pics before we head in.
Artesa was able to work with us and serve lunch before we started the tour and tasting which is exactly what I was hoping for. We sat down in this glass wall room and each had our box lunch waiting on us with wine. Perfect if you ask me!
Views from the tour and tasting...
Julia took this pic of me double-fisting it ha. She and I swapped wine glasses and I fake-sipped in between.
After the tour and tasting, we sat outside on the veranda with perfect weather. Last time we were in NAPA in September, it was pretty hot. Not this time!
Second stop - Frank Family Vineyards. The group went here last time and LOVED it, so we added it to the agenda this year. Chance was able to work his magic and we didn't pay a tasting fee... intent was to buy enough wine to more than make up for it and we didn't end up having trouble doing that ha!
This place was a country-farm house dream.
We had a room for our group and Pam, #partypam, served us so many wines! Everyone loved the wine and it was super fun.
Last stop was dinner at SolBar in Calistoga. Beautiful restaurant - I want to come back and stay at the hotel! Dinner.... I laughed so hard. Sitting across from Jeff Smith will do that to you and we had the best time. Everyone was wine happy and glad to be eating :)
The group was rowdyyyyy on the way home. Everyone was singing and dancing - so fun. Long, wonderful day! I didn't go out with a few people because I woke up the next morning about 4am for a 6am flight to get back home since I was leaving for the beach the following day!
On Friday (day after our appt), we took a half day off and drove to Helena for the weekend. The plan was to share the news with Tripp's parents and grandparents that night! Tripp had orchestrated the night - we had to think of a way to get everyone together without being too obvious. The plan was for us to meet at Pudd's for drinks and then have dinner after.
On the way down, we heard that Papaw wasn't going to be able to make it to Pudd's so we stopped by his house first. We were sitting down and Tripp told him we had something to show him... handing him the ultrasound pics.
I videoed the moment, but it didn't work! boo! Tripp's dad called while we were there and Papaw did a good job pretending we weren't there and he had talked to us a while ago while we were driving.
It's like we are at a hog football game throwing the #1 up ha. I guess it's for the first great-grandchild! :)
We dropped Reggie off and unloaded the car at Mary Ann & Jay's before heading to Pudd's. When Tripp was talking to his mom earlier that week, she said "are ya'll planning to tell us something?" After I heard this, I was determined to de-bunk their suspicion at the beginning of the night so we could still surprise them.
We got to Pudd's and per ususal, I was offered a drink within 3 minutes from Pudd the bartender. Love her.
I ordered a drink and fake sipped for about 30 minutes while we caught up. I went to the bathroom and poured some of my drink out... but I texted Tripp to get the party started. We then realized we both left our iPads at home - UGH! So we went to get Mary Ann's iPad and took pics of her opening her Mother's Day gift. We got her some Tennis gear since she is going to start playing - a racket, balls, sweatbands (Tripp's idea), etc. Then, we handed her THE gift! :)
I framed a picture of the ultrasound that said "Hello World" below it and a note that said "I can't wait to meet you. Love, Baby Hollowell"
They were so excited. We talked for the rest of the night about Baby H! They were really hoping for this news (not pushy though)... so it was fun. They asked a ton of questions about how we found out, how I was feeling, etc etc. Such a special night!
We relaxed on Saturday in Helena... and on Sunday morning, we went to mass and then the Country Club for lunch after. I walked in and standing in the bar area was Memom & Rannan! They were in Memphis and had arranged to come down for Mother's Day lunch with Pudd and Granddaddy - and wanted to surprise us! :) I LOVED having them there. BUT - we hadn't told them the news! I was nervous someone would spill the beans, but everyone did really well.
Hope I have my Memom's aging genes - she looks amazing!! Believe she is about to turn 85 next week!
The three grandpas!
Love that these two are friends!! They are talking about pearls ;)
Was a weekend we won't forget! This was hanging up in MA + Jay's kitchen :)
