we were perfect when we started, i've been wondering where we've gone

I had a fantastic day in the yay area, thanks for asking. I didn't get quite enough sleep last night and so I was dragging this morning, but I got up in time to shower, grab coffee, and get myself to Berkeley in time for a ten a.m. rendezvous with John and Jess. Normally when we get together at that hour it's for breakfast (never brunch) at Saul's, but today we drove up to Healdsburg for a winery excursion. Lauren (aka Subz) hosted a belated 40th birthday for Nathan today, and when she found out I was coming into town she added me to it, which was super fortuitous and incredibly fun. And the fact that I got to spend some quality car time with John and Jess was definitely an extra bonus.

So, we spent the afternoon at a winery called Reeve, which I really enjoyed. It was a perfect day up there - the weather was great and everyone was eager to see other humans, so it was lovely. I ended up sitting in the middle of a table with John and Jess and some others to my left, but I mostly talked to the group on my right (Anthony, Domain, Andy, Zaia, and a split between Lauren and Nathan). The conversation meandered between meaningful topics and jicama, both of which I can contribute a lot of words to. And the food was gorgeous and the wine was even better (but since I basically drank Jess's tasting in addition to mine, and also went deep on some leftover rosé at the end, I may not be an impartial judge).

Sadly, all fun must end eventually, and John and Jess were definitely late getting back to their sitter, so we eventually said our farewells and drove back to Berkeley. I said hi to Ian briefly, and then John v. kindly gave me a ride over to Claudia's so I could hang out with her. I hadn't seen her for the same seventeen months that I hadn't seen anyone else, but the last time I saw her she was eight months pregnant, so I was v. excited to meet Téo. I am sorry to tell the rest of you that he might be the cutest baby of all time and that everyone else's baby is just in the race for silver at this point. Claudia ordered Thai food, which was delish, and we hung out and caught up for a couple of hours (never enough, but I'll take it).

Then I caught an Uber back to the city of sin, took a million ibuprofen, and am going to go to bed early since I need to work all day tomorrow before going to the airport. Goodnight!