Inspiration

In April, the twins' school is holding a Bull and Oyster Roast with a silent auction to raise money for new technology. We have been working on this event since November and it's really starting to come together. We are holding the fundraiser at the Oregon Ridge Lodge...think "rustically chic"! Imagine my delight when I walked into the St. Helena Olive Oil Company and saw the way it was decorated!

We are currently looking for an old barn door so that we can do something like this for our check-in table.

Love the burlap bags. We are thinking that we will use burlap to wrap empty bottle and cans and use them as a display somewhere in the building. We have also been buying old milk jugs on Craig's List.

The flowers will be super easy. Our centerpieces are painted boots filled with flowers, but we figure we will have arrangements like these around the rest of the place. They also had flowers in mason jars that were really simple, yet pretty.

These tags are the company's business cards. Too cool. I have to find a way to incorporate these!

If you have any other "rustically chic" ideas or an old barn door I can borrow, please leave a comment.

Solbar

After our day of vineyard tours, we went to the Solbar at Solage in Calistoga--it was right around the corner from where we were staying so we could walk. Their menu is " driven by the seasons of Northern California and showcases the healthy freshness and flavors of local organic farms."

The food was amazing.

Pasilla chile rubbed pork cheek tacos with lime and crème fraîche

Grilled loch duart salmon, seared treviso, sweet potato purée, tangelo vinaigrette and fines herbes

Painted hills ranch beef shortribs, creamy anson mills polenta, gremolata, bloomsdale spinach and red wine jus (This is what I ordered and it was to die for!)

Another wonderful meal with great friends.

8.5

In third grade, half-birthdays are a big deal for those children who have summer birthdays.

And nothing is better than boxes of yummy donuts to help you celebrate!

Happy Half-Birthday Kellen and Ammy!

Rubicon Estates

The last vineyard that we went to on the tour was Rubicon Estates.

The chateau and grounds are beautiful.

I imagine that they do a lot of weddings here.

We did another cellar tour--our guide was not nearly as entertaining as Jason. Outside, she showed us where Francis Ford Coppola lives...see the white house?

The inside was pretty spectacular...especially this staircase. Francis likes his stained glass.

Upstairs he houses all sorts of strange things...movie memorabilia, a car, magic lanterns, and other really odd stuff.

This was my least favorite tour of the trip. It was very commercial--I tend to like the small, family-run vineyards the best. They do however, have an amazing gift shop with things from all over the world.

And the best thing is that Rubicon is right down the street from one of my favorite places, The Rutherford Grill. They have outside seating with heat lamps and an outdoor fireplace. It's a great place to hang out, drink a good bottle of wine (because we certainly did not have enough to drink at all of the vineyards) and eat grilled artichokes.

Cool side note: the winemaker of this bottle of Mi Sueno El Llardo red wine started out as a dishwasher in a local restaurant. It's a great wine if you're looking for a red.

Flora Springs

Our second stop for the day was Flora Springs. We went to the actual winery and not their tasting room. We had a special tour just for our group.

This was my favorite tour/tasting of the entire trip.

Jason was our guide. He was from Tennessee and very entertaining. He obviously loves his job.

We started our tour in the courtyard with a Sauvignon Blanc, Soliloquy. It was really good. Flora Springs grows grapes for a lot of other vineyards and makes a limited amount of wine under their label. Their wines are hard to find unless you buy them there.

Then we went down into the caves where the wine is stored.

We did several barrel tastings.

After the cave tour we had an amazing lunch in their dining room. We tried several other wines with our meal...I tried the chardonnay (AWESOME) and their Hillside Reserve Cabernet.

I would highly recommend stopping here if you are ever in St. Helena. Rumor has it that the tasting room is a lot of fun too...complete with a disco ball.

Funny

We could get 8 more inches of snow this evening!

Grgich Hills

On our second day in Napa, we met up with a group of friends that had been with us in San Francisco. We traveled by wine tour bus and visited 3 vineyards in Rutherford and St. Helena.

Our first stop was Grgich Hills.

The property was beautiful--you entered the estate by driving down a tree-lined lane.

We only did a tasting at Grgich. The only thing about being in Napa is that the tastings start early in the day! (not that I'm complaining) Kimberly and I hanging out in front of the barrels of wine.

After the tasting we wandered around outside. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day.

I thought this photo was hilarious--everyone checking their phones for e-mails and texts. You're never really on vacation when you have your phone with you.

My favorite photo from our vacation was taken at Grgich Hills.

Hall

After all the snow, I am feeling the need to revisit my vacation! After our Shafer tasting, we headed over to Hall in St. Helena.

They also have a vineyard dog.

This was our tasting guide, Scott. He was pretty fun and we got to taste all of these wines in the picture. (Yes, there were 10 of them)

Cheers! All of their reds were good; although, I prefered their premium Cabernets. I am usually a Chardonnay girl, but I'm working on branching out.

I loved this vase filled with corks. (I'm sure it didn't take them long to fill it up) The tasting room at Hall was small, but decorated with really neat lighting and artwork that has been featured on their labels.

So, while it wasn't as good as the Shafer tasting, it was worth the visit.

Fat Tuesday

We celebrated Fat Tuesday at church.

We made these super cute jester hats. Go here for the pattern.

I made 400 pancakes that night.



It will be another year before I make another one.

Proof That I Have Lost My Mind

As if you needed it.

Over the past 13 days, I have had a lot of time to surf the internet. I came across Crap I've Made and my life has been forever changed. I don't know if I should love Char or hate her. She's definitely raised the craft bar...especially when it comes to Valentine's Day. This post provided us with hours of pleasure (torture) during the Blizzard of 2010.

I am not a fan of store-bought valentines so when I saw her ipod valentines, I just knew I had to make them (and make them I did--I had some help, but the helpers grew weary after completing just a few.)

I would suggest that you not make them for a class of 30.

They sure are cute though. Go here for a template and directions.

Char set up a McLinky to other crafts in her post and we came across these crayon heart valentines.

We had fun breaking the crayons into pieces; however, taking the paper off the crayons was a huge pain in the rear. The pieces in this photo were a little small--I chopped them in my food processor which I would not do. The little pieces melt together and they just look like mud when they are done. Big chunks make for much more interesting hearts as we found out with our second batch.

I got the heart mold at Walmart. Target also had them.

Ammy made all of her Valentines in one sitting.

Since I signed up to make the snack for Kellen's class party, I thought we would give MckMamma's recipe for petit fours a try. They were a lot of fun to make. They were also WAY too sweet for me. Note to self: Do not give these to children who are cooped up in the house for days.

Anyway, the kids finally went back to school today. I admit that I was dancing in the street this morning. They are 2 hours late all week, but at least they are out of the house!

Rumor has it that more snow is due to hit on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Time to find some more crap we can make!

I Take It All Back

You know those beautiful icicles I blogged about? They have become the bane of my existence. Did you know that icicles like those that are hanging down from my roof are an indication of a BIG problem? My roof is one big ice dam.

The snow is melting and finding it's way into the house through several second story windows.

We have spent the past two days chipping away at the ice on those gutters that we could reach.

It's been great fun. It's snowing again and school is already canceled for tomorrow.