Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival

Had a little outing last weekend to Temecula, a wine town just over an hour and a half away. It was my first Sunday off in a LONG time and I had seen ads for this hot air balloon and wine festival. Sadly, I didn't actually get to see a hot air balloons. They lit them up and had the balloons "dance" to music Friday and Saturday night, but not Sunday. Sunday morning they flew them at 6 am, but I had worked until 11 pm the night prior and it was going to take a lot more than beautiful balloons to make me get up at 4 am. I did get to taste some lovely wine though and got to keep the wine glass in the photo above.

The festival had plenty of cool vendors including the one above who made wicked crafts out of wine barrels. While I was there I spoke to a Golds Gym Booth and entered a raffle and guess who won?! I got a free 2 week pass along with a free nutrition consultation and personal training session. I also bought this cork crown for my mom, they were so cute I had to text her a pic and she wants to recreate them:

For the first hour of the festival I was really wishing David was there. What could be more romantic than a Wine and Hot Air Balloon Festival right?

So I did what lots of lonely people do; I drank a big ol' glass of Champagne and then took it to another level by watching a motorcross show with a crowd of rednecks (see below). By the end of that glass I was feeling much more optimistic about life and spent another few hours enjoying the festival solo without a care in the world.

The festival had many more treasures than I expected. I got to see the budweiser clydesdales parade and go to an exotic animal festival!

This is a Kookaburra - totally the highlight of my day!

After the festival I went home and hung out at my neighbor/co-worker Shannon's house. Her family is so kind to me and always tells me to come over whenever I want for food, the pool or a family environment. Feels good to have a second home = )