Last weekend Casey & I went on a much needed vacation; we were totally due! My parents watched Cooper (thank you, parents!) and we were able to indulge in some great wine as well as some crazy good food. This was our first vacation away together in a little over 2 years, so were able to save up and splurge!

This is our second time staying at the Gaige House in Glen Ellen. We absolutely fell in love the first time we went in 2009 and we’ve made it our destination when we want to get away. I like that it’s a little less than a two hour drive from our home. Though people come from all over the country to stay there and I can totally see why. It’s truly a ZEN oasis.

When you walk to one of the suites, you pass by a forest of bamboo. Isn’t it lush and pretty? It’s so quiet that you can hear birds chirping and the wind blowing throw the leaves. You cannot hear kids whining or banging trucks against the floor! It’s wonderful. It’s vacation!

We like staying in one of their “zen” suites when we go. It is spacious and totally uncluttered.

There’s an amazing tub in the bathroom!

The bedroom is so calm & relaxing. I’m not normally a fan of beige, but it’s so clean & soothing here.

I love how they pair the beige with dark wood & black embellishments. Also love those two end tables.

In between the bedroom & bathroom is a little rock garden with a water feature.

I spent a good half hour watching a few birds playing around in the water. Relaxing!

One of my favorite parts about this hotel is the CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST. It’s super fancy! These perfectly hard boiled eggs were sprinkled with sea salt and fresh tarragon. The cantaloupe carpaccio was drizzled with orange blossom syrup & mint. The mini croissants were fantastic too.

They also make homemade granola & fresh squeezed OJ. What a way to start the day….of eating!

They also have cookies in the hotel lobby in the afternoon as well as a cheese tasting for all the guests. Nice!

It’s fun to go and meet other people staying at the hotel. We met a couple from Arkansas who came to Glen Ellen to beat the heat. They were super cute!

There’s a gorgeous pool in the back. We didn’t get a change to dive in this time around because we were too busy eating…

But what I love most is that right down the street you’ll find two really great restaurants.

Just a short walk away….

Is the Glen Ellen Inn Restaurant where we had dinner on Friday night.

They have herb biscuits in their bread basket and the corkage is pretty reasonable too. One of the dozen or so bottles Casey brought from home on our vacation was this 2008 Radio-Coteau Pinot Noir – Alberigi Vineyard.

We ordered the fried oysters with Tabasco Butter. TABASCO BUTTER! I’m so making that at home.

We overheard a few locals ordering the fish tacos so we tried them out! They were good.

I can’t wait to make these when I get off my cleanse.

I ordered what I got last time. Mussels & Fries! The creamy broth has a bit of bacon in it…it’s TO DIE FOR.

Casey got a dish with wild boar with a mustard sauce. He likes meat. I like his shirt.

I should also mention that the Gaige House has a wonderful movie selection in their library.  We checked out 500 Days of Summer (we love that movie) and watched it that night.

The next morning I woke up on my own; there was no toddler running into our room & jumping on our bed!  Don’t get me wrong, I love it but sometimes I just ACHE to wake up on my own!

I leisurely painted my nails because I was going to see Joy that night at the French Laundry & wanted to impress.

Started off with a bronze base & added crackle polish on top. Loved it.

Turned out pretty awesome!

We walked down the street to The Fig Cafe for lunch that day. There’s Casey with his wine bag again!

It’s a cute little place and they don’t charge for corkage! WOOT!

I couldn’t stop staring at my nails. Umm look there’s sticky toffee banana cake on that menu! Ahh!

Casey brought a nice bottle of 2007 Flowers Pinot Noir Andreen-Gale Cuvée for us. I love the bubbly water at this cafe!

I wanted something green so I ordered the arugula salad with dried figs, house cured bacon & goat cheese.

YES. Another thing to make at home! I love getting inspired by restaurants.

We ordered a pizza with fontina & bacon and I requested arugula on the top to cut the richness.

It was soo soo sooo GOOD.

And here’s a picture of our wine and THE BEST FRIES EVER. Seriously. Hands down. BEST.

After lunch we relaxed, watched a bunch of shark shows (it was shark week!) and then indulged in a couple’s massage in our room.

Ahhhhh.

We took our sweet time getting ready for dinner at The French Laundry. I wore my new favorite stripey dress!

And when the sun came down, we drove over to the French Laundry.

The next morning we packed up & went to Ad Hoc for Brunch! You can imagine how hard it was to get back to reality after that.

My favorite part of traveling is collecting decorating ideas and food inspiration from our trip to implement in our life at home. It definitely helps us relive good times!

No compensation was given for this post; I just wanted to give you some good tips on were to go in Sonoma County!