Yelp Elite's Red Party

I really need to catch up on my blogging. I've had stories to share but no time (or desire, I suppose) to write about them. But today is a bright, beautiful day in San Diego and I'm feeling alert and focused so I will take a break from working one of my million jobs to share the story of the most recent Yelp Elite party.

On February 13, Yelp threw an amazing pre-Valentine's red-themed party at Carruth's Cellars in Solana Beach. For my Seattle-based friends and family, Solana Beach is a mere two exits up the freeway from my place and this is the first Yelp party that we didn't have to drive at least 20 minutes to attend. The party immediately won points for its close proximity! Micah attended as my +1 and our friends Ashleigh (a fellow Yelp Elite) and Jeff joined us.

The winery was the perfect setting for the party. It was spacious and provided different rooms for different  activities. There was the wine and cupcake room, the food buffet room and the lounge-like upstairs area where we spent most of our time sitting on the plush red velvet couches. 

Of course, one of the highlights of a Yelp party is the food and this party provided an abundance of it! On the downstairs buffet table there was an assortment of bites, including an antipasto platter and deviled eggs. There were also servers walking around with trays of food. My personal favorite was the Filet of Beef on Potato Crostini. While a lot of the food was not "me-friendly," Micah loved it all! But I heard from several people that my deviled eggs are better. :)

There were four wines to try, a white, two roses and a red, and our glasses were never empty. 

The mini cupcakes were delightful. I was partial to the red velvet but the strawberry shortcake was good too. Even better, they never ran out!

This Yelp event stood out for the entertainment too. While there was a DJ downstairs, we avoided the loud music and hung out upstairs where a magician demonstrated mind-blowing tricks and a caricaturist drew our pictures. Amazing!

Possibly my favorite part of the Yelp events is the photo booth and we took full advantage of it again. This is just a small sampling of our awesome photos.

Overall, it was an amazing night and I can't wait for the next big Yelp event!

Red Dresses Are Hard to Find

Who would have thought that finding a red dress in February would be nearly impossible? Not I! No, I assumed that in the week before Valentine's Day the stores would have plenty of options. 

Ashleigh and I first journeyed to PB, where I found my adorable white dress for Yelp's White Party last summer. We stopped by about seven shops and found only a handful of red dresses, none of which fit my style or budget. The majority of stores seem to have switched over to spring colors already and pastels were everywhere!!! I don't even like pastels on a regular day but on a special search for red, they were extra annoying. 

Then we went to Mission Valley mall. I found a couple of dresses to try on but they didn't fit right. One of the dresses I couldn't even figure out how to get on!

Unsuccessful, we drove home. I babysat for a few hours in the late afternoon and then headed out for a quick shopping trip before dinner with Alyssa. 

After searching for a total of about three hours yesterday, I finally gave up on my quest to find a red dress for tomorrow's Yelp Elite party. Instead, I settled on a new red cardigan to wear over an already-owned black dress. 

Hope this is going to be considered enough red...I honestly don't own hardly any red so I'm out of options. Next time, Yelp should throw a blue, green or purple party...I'm much better off with the cool colors!