she green

when nick & i started thinking about our 30th birthday...all we wanted was to have our friends all in one place and celebrate. i randomly started looking at houses to rent in guerneville a tiny town on russian river in sonoma county...i found an amazing house that seemed too good to be true. and then we started planning...and it was one of the best weekends of my life. again, i feel so lucky to have family & friends that surround us with love every single day. there are literally thousands of photos of the weekend...so here is a snap shot of the weekend.

first, we were so lucky to have cassie fly out early - the time that we got to spend with just the three of us was so special. everything from the drive up north to an amazing dinner at big bottom market to a special visit to merry edwards for wine tasting before costco.

second, we were so happy J-Bow were also able to head down a night earlier. i can not imagine what we would have done without all of their help throughout the weekend. they are truly the best.

after the first breakfast outside.

meli-cholas.

after lots of relaxing & cooking...we could hardly wait for the 1st group to arrive. so it was basically a photo shoot. i call the lighting - the magic hour.

this post may be a little long...

dinner on the first night was a taco fiesta. it was so fun and after jamie, casey & cher arrived it was time to eat cupcakes!

the next morning, was the fabulous wine day that nick planned but it had to start with a hearty breakfast!

wine tasting started at ridge - which we had an amazing tour & tasting.

learning about wine.

medlock ames tasting room

the ladies!

greens.

after ridge and the tasting room at medlock ames - we headed to the medlock ames winery - which was by far the coolest winery tour i have ever done!

after all of the wine tasting we stopped in healdsburg for ice cream - it was really hot!

after that we headed back to the house to get cleaned up and make some dinner. the 2nd night was an italian partito! i think this was one of the most delicious meals i have ever made. the lasagna bolognese was the best i have ever had. here is the recipe.

this is one of my favorite pictures of the entire weekend, it is me and cher and kel all cooking in the kitchen. love.

appetizer hour!

italian feast!

dinner time.

the next day was a hiking and river day...which was loads of fun! and it was our final night all together...more to come.

xoxo
mel

i was so happy we were able to fly home for a quick weekend to celebrate the big 30 with the family and friends at home! again, feeling so lucky about having the family we have surrounding us and the literally lifelong friends we have.

the weekend started off with the most relaxing day of pampering, bloody mary beverages and delicious food. unfortunately no photos of the girls day.

nick arrived in town after work on friday and we celebrated his birthday with the fam.

saturday night was the big bash at one of my favorite places in the whole world. greasewood flats. i have had quite a few birthday parties up there and i love everything about that place. here are some photos of the amazing time we had.