Meet me in the vineyard

You already know about my love affair with wine.

And you probably know me well enough to not be fooled by the strategically located half marathon I completed recently right? ;)

Once that crazy run was over, there was wine to be tasted and vineyards to be seen.

First stop was Mason Cellars (post here), second~ Opus One .

Although I had a hard time climbing the 4 sets of stairs up to their rooftop patio, once there I realized it was well worth the pain.
This was the perfect wine and setting to toast to finishing the race, and to the good friend and wonderful husband who made the long journey there with me.



We ended the first day at Paraduxx winery, sitting outside under this big tree and tasting their yummy wines. I will never forget the setting here and the smell in the air. It was pure heaven to me and the best way to end the day.
It's not often you'll see me looking so relaxed. The next day we ventured up to Healdsburg to visit Silver Oak and my all time favorite, Dutcher Crossing: In the photo of Dutcher Crossing above, the vine covered hill in the distance is Bella.

A trip out to Bella winery and caves is a must, although their wine isn't my favorite. The tasting room is inside this cave:
Once inside the cave:

Our final stop was a surprise {a sneaky man in my life set this up}.

We mixed our own blends of red wine straight out of the barrel at Ahnfeldt:

We did do more than just drink wine. There were some incredible meals too.

Ristorante Allegria in downtown Napa, where I filled up on pasta the night before the race.

We also thoroughly enjoyed meals at Ad Hoc and Bottega.

Thanks for coming along with me...I couldn't enjoy a wine tour without all of my fabulous wine loving cyber friends!

Mason

We visited Mason Cellars in Napa and it was such good wine and such a cute tasting room, it deserves it's own post.

The tasting room was quite small, but as you can see it didn't lack for cheery, fresh color and character.

The best part about it was the wine was SO tasty and very reasonable {well, the white, chippy decor wasn't too bad either}. I'm talking $20 for a bottle of cab. GOOD cab. It was unanimous. I also really enjoyed their new Pinot Grigio.

This was our first stop after my race on Sunday so here I am with crazy wet hair, wine in hand.

Living the good life.

Up next~ a full post on wine tasting in Napa, Sonoma, and Healdsburg with these two amazing peeps.

Inspiration and some comic relief

I haven't had much time to make the rounds through the blog-o-sphere this summer but I'm trying to play catch up this week, before I'm off for my next big adventure {I'm SO excited and can't wait to tell you}.

I had to share some beautifully inspirational blogs with you AND one that is sure to make you laugh.

Have you met Colette from La Brocanteuse yet? Well head on over, she is a lovely blogger living in South Africa and she has few stunning homes to feast your eyes upon.

Or how about Rozmeen over at Pastels and Whites? She lives in the Netherlands and I'm SO envious of her lovely back patio, check it out.
I just found Lisa from Re-inspire today. She is offering up a set of coffee stained gift tags to her first 10 followers...I was #6 so hurry on over. She has lots of inspiration to share. Look at this stamped linen towel she made:

I also just found Janet from The Gardener's Cottage this week and I love her and her incredible blog. Let this image of her dining room lure you on over.

And then there's Heather from Simply Daisy. She's a runner, a DIY queen, an avid wine drinker and she had this Jack Handy quote on her post this week which made me love her immediately.

"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyard and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, it is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver." ~Jack Handy

Heather made these concrete letters herself!

If you ♥ Jack Handy then this site is right up your alley. Catalog Living is a site full of witty commentary on catalog images and the people living inside of them. You must scroll through at least a few pages, some of these are just hilarious! Elaine was concerned that Gary was drinking too much soda, so she kept them by her feet at all times. To retaliate, Gary threatened to loosen the umbrella buoys.

Or this one:
Sure Gary’s out of town, but I’m perfectly capable of starting a fire in the fireplace by myself, thank you very much.

Thanks to all of you for inspiring me.

When life gets crazy and the earth spins way too fast for me, I have to stop and keep my priorities in check. While my posts may be sporadic and mostly about travel this summer, it's your comments AND your blogs that keep me coming back.

Thank you for doing what you do!

xoxo~

T

What have I started?

I just wanted to give the powder bath a fresh coat of white paint~ eek!

Artefact design salvage

This was our first stop in the Napa/Sonoma area last week. Our race expo was held at Cornerstone Gardens {here}. After picking up my bib number I was quickly drawn to this incredible store, Artefact Design Salvage {here}.

Over sized, aging wood doors outside.

To driftwood sculptures and industrial pieces inside.
I spotted this large table out in the back and immediately thought of Linsey and her dining room table drama.
Lots of yummy succulents in concrete planters inside the store.
Old wagon wheels hanging from the ceiling and I couldn't take my eyes off of this over sized clock. If I had a huge house I would love to have this big architectural piece out by the pool.

Heck I'd even put it inside the living room I ♥ it that much!

Driftwood, zinc, and stone.Industrial lighting.
Burlap covered lighting. You know I gasped when I saw these and thought for certain that they must be a direct knock off of my burlap shade (below)...hee, hee~ dream on, I know.

A close up of the monstrous, chippy, rusty clock.

Claude Cormier's Blue Tree: Stores like this make me thankful that my hubby has a strict 'no checked luggage' policy and my carry on was packed full with no space to spare.