Ojai

To celebrate our first wedding anniversary yesterday, Brian and I drove up to Ojai for the day- a sleepy little town 80 miles from Los Angeles. Ojai holds a special place in my heart. One of the last times I was there was for a weekend Manifestation Retreat with my dear friend Jen Pastiloff. That was the same weekend I drove home to a house filled with candles and roses and one very adorable and nervous boyfriend standing in the center of it all with a diamond ring in a box. Talk about manifestation! Now every time I think about getting engaged to Bri, I invariably think about Ojai.

So it seemed like a perfect place to get away for the day to celebrate year one of marriage.

The plan was to wake up early and be out the door by 8am but like most plans go we weren’t on the road until 10am. Mapquest advised us to take a different route then either of us had ever taken before. One that had us coming in the back way instead of the coastal route. Brian and I like driving new routes so we went with it. The weather was absolutely perfect for a drive through the mountains. The light was simply perfection. I kept excitedly pointing out the window and saying….Seriously?!?! How gorgeous is that?!??

On the itinerary for the day…

A stop at Meditation Mount, a 32 acre garden perched above Ojai with a gorgeous view of the valley. We wandered the grounds taking in the natural beauty- it was so serene.

After Meditation Mount we strolled through the main drag of town exploring all the little shops. I fell in love with a new store called Fig Curated Living. If I could have, I would have purchased every single thing in that store. But since that wasn’t an option, we settled on a new Christmas tree ornament in the shape of the state of California. We thought it would be a sweet reminder every holiday season of our first wedding anniversary spent in Ojai.

Next up was lunch at Osteria Monte Grappa, an Italian place in town. We sipped on wine and beer and dined on bruschetta, avocado salad and spicy sausage pasta.

After filling our bellies we made the short drive to Old Creek Ranch Winery to go wine tasting. The last time we went to this winery it was for Brian’s 30th birthday and it was pouring rain. So this was the first time we got a good view of the property and it is lovely, it’s surrounded by rolling yellow hills. After wine tasting indoors (which is an incredible deal…ten different wines for ten dollars) we both picked our favorite (a glass of rose for me and a glass of grenache for Brian) and found a spot on the patio over looking out over the hills and took in the warm afternoon sunlight.

After finishing our glasses of wine we decided to make the drive back home, this time taking the coastal route in hopes we would catch a beautiful sunset over the water. Boy did we time it right…it was the perfect way to end the most perfect 1st anniversary.

Love you, Mr. Glodney! Here’s to many many many more.

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all photos by Brian Glodney 

Tags: 365 til 30, anniversary, Brian glodney photography, day trip to Ojai, fig curated living, first wedding anniversary, happy, italian food in Ojai, Jennifer Pastiloff, Kate McClafferty, Los angeles, Love, manifestation retreat, marriage, meditation mount, Ojai, old creek ranch winery, Osteria Monte Grappa, travel, universe, wine tasting, wine tasting in ojai