Santa Barbara... our go to event/party/vacay spot!

In July I headed across the country (6 months pregnant) to Santa Barbara again for a bachelorette party. Santa Barbara seems to be our (me and my friends) spot for all events, parties and vacations. In the last several years I've been there many times, one of which was for my wedding at Firestone Winery! So of course SB holds some really great memories for me and I'm always glad to go back.

I must admit I was really nervous about traveling at 6 months pregnant. I'm not sure why since my doctor said it was perfectly fine. But having never done it before I expected (of course) and prepared for the worse. I wasn't sure if I was going to get air sick (which I've never been before), if the 5 hour plane flight would be totally miserable or if I'd be too tired to keep up. But all of those concerns were happily unfounded as I soon discovered I was just fine!

We stayed at our tried and true Hotel Mar Monte, where we always stay when in SB. It's a great mid-range hotel that's recently been updated and is located right on Cabrillo Blvd, right across from the beach. Conveniently there's a trolley (it only costs .25 cents!) that picks up right in front of the hotel (on Cabrillo Street) that'll take you to State St. where all the shopping and restaurants all.

We booked the wine tour through EOS, a transportation company that does wine tours to the Santa Ynez valley about an hour north of Santa Barbara. The price was very reasonable, they provide you with a gourmet sandwich lunch, pick your group up at your hotel and even offer a cheaper price for those in your group who may not be drinking- like me and our friend Donna who are both pregnant.

Anyways, enough about the deets... onto the fun photos...

 Good ol', trusty Hotel Mar Monte! Our go-to spot in SB.

 Part of the girls...  me and my burgeoning belly!

 The bride-to-be flanked by her beautiful sisters.

 Me and Donna with the Stork wine glasses I made for us. More deets on that after the photos!

 Two prego mamas on a wine tour- he, he!

 The whole gang.

 Can't get enough group pictures!

 Firestone Winery! My FAVORITE stop on the tour but I'm biased

because I was married there in 2009!

Stork/Baby Wine Glasses

It may seem like an oxymoron- stork/baby and wine glass but I thought I'd paint these wine glasses for me and my friend Donna to use while on the wine tour so that we would have something to drink water out of and to hold up in all the pictures I knew we'd be taking! I didn't want us to be left out!

I purchased two cheapo wine glasses at the 99 cent store and a small, paint pot strip of acrylic paints at Joann's that cost $2. Not being a particularly great artist, I perused the internet for clipart of a stork and baby that I could use as a template. After finding what I wanted I printed it out and taped it inside the glass to use as a guide as I painted.

I also purchased a black, fine point paint pen which I used to outline everything and to write on the glass. After painting in the solid parts of the birds body and adding a white banner where I'd later put the month and year we each were due, I let the paint dry over night. (Depending on how much paint you put on it could take longer to dry) The next day I when in and outlined everything, putting in the details on the stork and baby and writing in the initials and due dates.

Of course I coordinated the color of each glass to the baby's gender. On the sack with the baby 

I later wrote in the initial of the baby's last name.

 

 I decided to paint the bottom of each wine glass filling in the middle with light blue and outlining it with white. I did it freehand so it was perfectly proportioned but that just adds to the whole "handcrafted" feel.

It was as easy as that! Simple and quite fun to do. Donna loved the glass and we both had something to use during the tasting, hold up in the photos as well as a keepsake of the trip and our pregnancy.