Mark and I spent this weekend up at one of our happy places, Lake Arrowhead, CA.
The lake is an under 2 hour drive from Los Angeles and SO quiet and peaceful. We are fortunate enough for Mark’s family to have a house up here so we try to make it up once every other month or so. Because we go up regularly I love experiencing all the different seasons that we don’t get in LA.
In the Summer we love spending time on the lake, boating around and soaking up (or in my case, completely hiding from) the sun. The Winter is magical, especially when it snows, because you can stay cozied up by the fire the whole time. Fall up there is enchanting; you get some changing leaves, crisp air perfect for a hike, and the feelings of changing seasons. Each season definitely has it’s own set of activities and it’s usually pretty clear what your activities will be based on the weather.
This weekend was a little different because while it’s technically still Fall we are getting into the COLD. Please note I am a Southern CA native so extreme cold to me is anything under 60 degrees, but still. It was in the high 40’s low 50’s the whole weekend, a bit cold for us to want to hike, but still too pretty to sit inside by the fire all day (only all night). I wanted to be outside but also cozy, so I suggested to Mark we do a little wine picnic down on the dock.
Normally when we head down to the dock with something to eat or drink it’s a whole ordeal. Picture giant coolers with useless “wheels” that constantly get stuck in the dirt and on rocks. We are always carrying about 724 things and it’s very dramatic. Mostly because when I say “we” are carrying things it’s actually Mark carrying them and he has his bitter critter hat on until we get settled.
Needless to say his initial reaction to my magical wine moment was a hard NO. Luckily I literally just got my hands onthe new CleverMade portable insulated WineCooler so I shocked him by saying he didn’t have to carry ANYTHING. I would handle it all. I really made myself out to be a martyr, to be honest with you. It was a very dramatic moment I made sure to maximize lol.
We bundled up to head down and when he saw the cooler he thought it was a new purse lol. It has a top handle and long shoulder strap option so since I started with the strap his direct quote was “Is this your new outdoorsy purse?” So that shows you how cute and perfectly sized it is. Yet it still manages to hold two bottles of wine and has a built-in removable ice pack surround so it keeps it chilled for 12 hours. It’s like a Mary Poppins bag but for wine. Into it. I mean, there’s definitely a reason they call the company CleverMade. There’s even a mesh zip pouch in the lid to hold the corkscrew it comes with and other little goodies like cheese knives etc. TBH that’s my only regret from our outing, should’ve brought cheese. I totes could’ve fit a wedge of brie and some crackers in the top of the cooler! Next time.
If you want to snag one for yourself the cooler JUST launched today here and you can get 20% off with my code: CaitlinSauer20% They’re also going to be at Target and target.com on the 25th!
We had a perfect little wine moment on the edge of the dock! I was pretty bundled up by the time we left but the wine definitely bought us some time feeling warm. If you’re wondering if Mark stole my scarf anyway the answer is 100% yes. If you’re wondering if I made him carry the cooler back even though I promised to carry everything the whole time the answer is also yes. I mean… I carried everything the whole way there and my arms just don’t work the same after wine, tbh. It’s hard being me. #victim
What’s your favorite place for a little wine picnic? Pretty sure I need to wine my way around the world now with this lil purse/cooler sitch. Reminder it is 20% off with my code CaitlinSauer20% – let me know if you snag one and we can plan a picnic!
Xx,
Thank you to CleverMade for sponsoring this post!
