Five of my dearest friends landed in Houston for a much needed, highly anticipated girls weekend.
Showing posts with label wine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wine. Show all posts
February 19, 2015
friendship
One week ago, I awoke with that kind of anxious happiness you feel right before something really fabulous and special is going to happen...
Five of my dearest friends landed in Houston for a much needed, highly anticipated girls weekend.
Five of my dearest friends landed in Houston for a much needed, highly anticipated girls weekend.
May 16, 2014
five things
{1}
It's official.
We've got a crawler in the house.
She's been a roller and a body surfer with a mean army crawl, but now her belly is off the ground and it's one hand in front of the other. Her legs get caught up behind her in a sweet little pretzel twist, but we know that in a matter of days, she will be zipping through the living room.
{2}
Bella and Lauren's relationship continues to grow.
{especially since she became mobile}
One of the sweetest things about moving back to the US, was knowing that Lauren would grow up with Bella.
When Lauren is napping, from time to time Bella can be found relaxing on her elephant chair.
Whether it's her way of getting a well deserved break or staying close to Lauren while she's asleep,
we think it's pretty much adorable.
{3}
I've shared my love of wine before and my devotion to Cakebread.
I've even mentioned my hope to be a lucky Cakebread Wine Club member.
My husband made that happen for me at Christmas.
Every other month I happily await a heavy box, containing four bottles of wine.
For a girl who loves mail and wine... it makes my day.
{4}
Lauren is still exploring the world of purees.
While she isn't gagging as often, she still doesn't love her greens,
which kind of breaks my green loving heart.
In time, I am sure she will learn to appreciate her nutrient rich vegetable choices,
but for now, one green option we can both agree on...
avocado.
{5}
Before I became a parent I swore my living room would never be the playroom.
This is the current state of my living room:
While a large part of this situation is due to lack of space...
this whole parenting thing is really humbling.
It's official.
We've got a crawler in the house.
She's been a roller and a body surfer with a mean army crawl, but now her belly is off the ground and it's one hand in front of the other. Her legs get caught up behind her in a sweet little pretzel twist, but we know that in a matter of days, she will be zipping through the living room.
{2}
Bella and Lauren's relationship continues to grow.
{especially since she became mobile}
One of the sweetest things about moving back to the US, was knowing that Lauren would grow up with Bella.
When Lauren is napping, from time to time Bella can be found relaxing on her elephant chair.
Whether it's her way of getting a well deserved break or staying close to Lauren while she's asleep,
we think it's pretty much adorable.
{3}
I've shared my love of wine before and my devotion to Cakebread.
I've even mentioned my hope to be a lucky Cakebread Wine Club member.
My husband made that happen for me at Christmas.
Every other month I happily await a heavy box, containing four bottles of wine.
For a girl who loves mail and wine... it makes my day.
{4}
Lauren is still exploring the world of purees.
While she isn't gagging as often, she still doesn't love her greens,
which kind of breaks my green loving heart.
In time, I am sure she will learn to appreciate her nutrient rich vegetable choices,
but for now, one green option we can both agree on...
avocado.
{5}
Before I became a parent I swore my living room would never be the playroom.
This is the current state of my living room:
While a large part of this situation is due to lack of space...
this whole parenting thing is really humbling.
November 30, 2013
{five things}
If you are a faithful follower of this blog, you've probably noticed the severe lack of updates. You may believe this has something to do with my new role as a mother and this is how the blog will continue from now on.
Wrong. {I hope.}
I have full intentions of being a better blogger and documenting all of our adventures, especially as new parents.
But lately, I've been a little busy.
These five things may help to explain that…
{1}
Lauren had her first road trip. Little Bird can travel.
My mom and I set out with Lauren for the windy city to attend our dear sweet Kathleen's baby shower. We left on Friday morning and Lauren did fabulously. She was happy and slept most of the trip, amazing us with her content demeanor during an 8 hour road trip.
{Lauren after an 8 hour road trip + an hour of traffic}
Lauren had the pleasure of meeting a few of her dear sweet 'aunties' and we had a wonderful afternoon celebrating Kathleen and sweet baby girl Grace.
I had my first night out, dinner with friends, to celebrate Kathleen's 30th birthday. I loved catching up with everyone and enjoying a relaxing glass of wine, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't itching to get back to my dolly girl.
We ventured for home on Sunday, the day that Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and several other states were riddled with tornadoes. We made the decision to get a hotel in Indiana and stop traveling around the time the severe weather warning went into effect. We stopped in Edinburgh, Indiana. Our hotel happened to be in the area of an outlet mall, so we stopped to do some Christmas shopping before checking in. While heading to our car, post shopping, a woman standing outside the Coach store informed us that a tornado had touched down to the South and we were welcome to take shelter inside the back room of the store. Obviously, we took the offer. It was slightly scary to think that we were hunkered down in a Coach store with my dear sweet babe, but it also reaffirmed that we made the right decision by stopping, as the storms were directly in our path home. After about 15 minutes, we were released from our 'shelter' and since we could see our hotel from the front of the store, we safely and quickly made our way to settle in for the evening.
Thankfully we didn't experience any severe weather, but I learned a little lesson about being safe rather than sorry, especially with Little Bird.
What else did I learn?
That a baby requires an incredible amount of items when traveling.
I don't believe this will be the last time I mention this…
We've got quite the itinerary ahead of us.
{2}
My mom celebrated her 50th birthday last weekend.
Her birthday party was last Friday night and we had an incredible evening celebrating.
She laid a few ground rules early on… no surprise party and something small and intimate. My father started from there and planned a truly wonderful evening.
My parents best friends, The Wilkenings, flew in and my dad rented a loft in downtown Knoxville for the weekend.
That's all that Annie knew.
The evening started with a wine tasting. A friend of my father's, who owns a local liquor store in Knoxville, arrived at the party with two wine reps. Together they prepared both a white and red wine tasting for the party guests, which consisted of our family and a few close friends. My mom loves wine and the education that comes with a tasting, so this was the perfect way to start off her celebration.
While we sampled several wines, a chef was in the kitchen preparing a delicious Italian meal, of caprese salad, cesar salad, grouper and chicken parmesan, and tiramisu. We also had an awesome cake prepared by a local bakery, decorated with my mother's favorite wine. As we finished up dinner and got to visiting, the real surprise was under way. My father had contacted one of their favorite musicians, Otis Gibbs, and had scheduled a surprise performance for Ann's birthday party. I've mentioned Otis in a previous blog post and even Little Miss Lauren had the opportunity to hear him live this summer.
When he walked in my mother was shocked.
And she is not an easy woman to surprise.
We had a wonderful evening, celebrating an amazing woman, wife, mother, and friend.
{3}
I'm a big fan of birthdays. Both yours and mine.
But this year, mine sort of snuck up on me.
I usually have a birthday countdown and celebrate the entire month of November.
This year was different.
Last year for my 30th, Matt surprised me with a trip to Chicago and I began 30 with a trip to Saks to pick out a pair of Christian Louboutin heels and ended it surrounded by friends and drinks at a bar.
It was fabulous…
but somehow a low key day, spent with my husband and our sweet sweet sweet baby girl was even more amazing.
What a difference a year makes.
{4}
Each time Matt has traveled back and forth to Colombia he has taken a good amount of baby items back to Colombia. His latest trip was his last haul, before he hauls us back with him.
It's been interesting to try and prepare for our lives 'con bebe' in Colombia. The wardrobe, the necessities, toys… trying to decide what I think I can find in Colombia and what I absolutely need from America.
It's going to be an adventure...
{and while it is fast approaching, I am having a hard time fathoming that final pack job…}
And last but not least….
{5}
We are homeowners.
No, we are not leaving Colombia.
Let me start from the beginning.
When I traveled back to Colombia in July, Matt mentioned that he had been thinking about buying a home in Knoxville. I was quite surprised by his proposal, but as we began talking about our five year plan I began to understand his house proposal. Through the following several months, not a lot went on in the house hunting front. Matt would send me a few emails with properties, most of them older homes with the potential for some upgrades. When Matt arrived for Baby McQuinn's birth, he got pretty serious about 'Project Let's Buy a House'. He contacted a realtor and our first house hunting excursion happened to be on my due date. House hunting continued after Lauren's birth and the house we were looking for evolved from something older to something on the newer side. The day before Matt went back to Colombia, he had a few new construction homes he wanted to check out before he left. I chose to stay back with our little darling. Matt came back excited and with pictures and drove me by the site of the house the following day. Within 48 hours, we put an offer on the house and had a contract. We closed on the house last Friday and are currently waiting on a few things to get finished up.
So the last several weeks have been filled with paperwork, countertops, fixtures, shopping, phone calls, emails, more countertops...
There are probably a lot of questions that go along with trying to figure out why we bought a home that we aren't going to live in full time. While I am not sure I can answer all of them, I can say that we were ready to have a place to call our home. While it is wonderful to spend time with our families when we are in the US, we have missed a space that is ours, that holds our things, a space where we can be a family. I think our new little addition really motivated us to create a little more stability in our lives and while we are far from what some define as 'settled down', we feel good about our family and our exciting future.
Wrong. {I hope.}
I have full intentions of being a better blogger and documenting all of our adventures, especially as new parents.
But lately, I've been a little busy.
These five things may help to explain that…
{1}
Lauren had her first road trip. Little Bird can travel.
My mom and I set out with Lauren for the windy city to attend our dear sweet Kathleen's baby shower. We left on Friday morning and Lauren did fabulously. She was happy and slept most of the trip, amazing us with her content demeanor during an 8 hour road trip.
{Lauren after an 8 hour road trip + an hour of traffic}
Lauren had the pleasure of meeting a few of her dear sweet 'aunties' and we had a wonderful afternoon celebrating Kathleen and sweet baby girl Grace.
I had my first night out, dinner with friends, to celebrate Kathleen's 30th birthday. I loved catching up with everyone and enjoying a relaxing glass of wine, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't itching to get back to my dolly girl.
We ventured for home on Sunday, the day that Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and several other states were riddled with tornadoes. We made the decision to get a hotel in Indiana and stop traveling around the time the severe weather warning went into effect. We stopped in Edinburgh, Indiana. Our hotel happened to be in the area of an outlet mall, so we stopped to do some Christmas shopping before checking in. While heading to our car, post shopping, a woman standing outside the Coach store informed us that a tornado had touched down to the South and we were welcome to take shelter inside the back room of the store. Obviously, we took the offer. It was slightly scary to think that we were hunkered down in a Coach store with my dear sweet babe, but it also reaffirmed that we made the right decision by stopping, as the storms were directly in our path home. After about 15 minutes, we were released from our 'shelter' and since we could see our hotel from the front of the store, we safely and quickly made our way to settle in for the evening.
Thankfully we didn't experience any severe weather, but I learned a little lesson about being safe rather than sorry, especially with Little Bird.
What else did I learn?
That a baby requires an incredible amount of items when traveling.
I don't believe this will be the last time I mention this…
We've got quite the itinerary ahead of us.
{2}
My mom celebrated her 50th birthday last weekend.
Her birthday party was last Friday night and we had an incredible evening celebrating.
She laid a few ground rules early on… no surprise party and something small and intimate. My father started from there and planned a truly wonderful evening.
My parents best friends, The Wilkenings, flew in and my dad rented a loft in downtown Knoxville for the weekend.
That's all that Annie knew.
The evening started with a wine tasting. A friend of my father's, who owns a local liquor store in Knoxville, arrived at the party with two wine reps. Together they prepared both a white and red wine tasting for the party guests, which consisted of our family and a few close friends. My mom loves wine and the education that comes with a tasting, so this was the perfect way to start off her celebration.
While we sampled several wines, a chef was in the kitchen preparing a delicious Italian meal, of caprese salad, cesar salad, grouper and chicken parmesan, and tiramisu. We also had an awesome cake prepared by a local bakery, decorated with my mother's favorite wine. As we finished up dinner and got to visiting, the real surprise was under way. My father had contacted one of their favorite musicians, Otis Gibbs, and had scheduled a surprise performance for Ann's birthday party. I've mentioned Otis in a previous blog post and even Little Miss Lauren had the opportunity to hear him live this summer.
When he walked in my mother was shocked.
And she is not an easy woman to surprise.
We had a wonderful evening, celebrating an amazing woman, wife, mother, and friend.
{3}
I'm a big fan of birthdays. Both yours and mine.
But this year, mine sort of snuck up on me.
I usually have a birthday countdown and celebrate the entire month of November.
This year was different.
Last year for my 30th, Matt surprised me with a trip to Chicago and I began 30 with a trip to Saks to pick out a pair of Christian Louboutin heels and ended it surrounded by friends and drinks at a bar.
It was fabulous…
but somehow a low key day, spent with my husband and our sweet sweet sweet baby girl was even more amazing.
What a difference a year makes.
{4}
Each time Matt has traveled back and forth to Colombia he has taken a good amount of baby items back to Colombia. His latest trip was his last haul, before he hauls us back with him.
It's been interesting to try and prepare for our lives 'con bebe' in Colombia. The wardrobe, the necessities, toys… trying to decide what I think I can find in Colombia and what I absolutely need from America.
It's going to be an adventure...
{and while it is fast approaching, I am having a hard time fathoming that final pack job…}
And last but not least….
{5}
We are homeowners.
No, we are not leaving Colombia.
Let me start from the beginning.
When I traveled back to Colombia in July, Matt mentioned that he had been thinking about buying a home in Knoxville. I was quite surprised by his proposal, but as we began talking about our five year plan I began to understand his house proposal. Through the following several months, not a lot went on in the house hunting front. Matt would send me a few emails with properties, most of them older homes with the potential for some upgrades. When Matt arrived for Baby McQuinn's birth, he got pretty serious about 'Project Let's Buy a House'. He contacted a realtor and our first house hunting excursion happened to be on my due date. House hunting continued after Lauren's birth and the house we were looking for evolved from something older to something on the newer side. The day before Matt went back to Colombia, he had a few new construction homes he wanted to check out before he left. I chose to stay back with our little darling. Matt came back excited and with pictures and drove me by the site of the house the following day. Within 48 hours, we put an offer on the house and had a contract. We closed on the house last Friday and are currently waiting on a few things to get finished up.
So the last several weeks have been filled with paperwork, countertops, fixtures, shopping, phone calls, emails, more countertops...
There are probably a lot of questions that go along with trying to figure out why we bought a home that we aren't going to live in full time. While I am not sure I can answer all of them, I can say that we were ready to have a place to call our home. While it is wonderful to spend time with our families when we are in the US, we have missed a space that is ours, that holds our things, a space where we can be a family. I think our new little addition really motivated us to create a little more stability in our lives and while we are far from what some define as 'settled down', we feel good about our family and our exciting future.
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November 6, 2012
Florence
|Wednesday, October 10|
Our morning began with a departure from Venice by train to Florence. Our first destination was Piazzale Michelangelo, a square known for its impressive panoramic view of Florence.
From this view point we spotted the Ponte Vecchio brige {Italian for Old Bridge}. A few months before we ever booked our European holiday, I purchased a puzzle with the image of the bridge. I was quite excited to see it "in real life" after staring at the details for a month.
We took some time to walk through the city before our visit to see Michelangelo's David.
We made our way to the Accademia Gallery where David is housed. Matt and I were immediately impressed with the sculpture. Both the size and the detail of the statue were incredible. No pictures are allowed of David, but they had a modern interpretation in the garden.
After marveling at the 'perfect man' our walking tour continued including stops at The Duomo {Basillica of Saint Mary of the Flower} and Piazza Signoria.
A copy of Michealangelo's David is located in the Piazza Signoria as well as a gallery of other statues.
Our walk continued on to the Ponte Vecchio bridge.
After our walking tour of the city, we had the opportunity to explore for ourselves.
Matt and I checked out several leather shops and both came away with a find.
After checking in to the the hotel, we prepared for the evenings scheduled group dinner in a Florentine trattoria. Unfortunately, we were not impressed with the menu. As a lover of Italian food, I didn't want to waste a meal on substandard food. So Matt and I enjoyed some wine and visited with others at the table. After the dinner was over we made our way to a restaurant and shared a proper Italian meal, bruschetta and ravioli.
| Thursday, October 11|
We were quite excited as we started the morning... this was the day we had a scheduled Chianti wine tour. Our morning began early, with a walk around the city before we had to meet for our tour at the library.
We made our way back to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge...
...followed by another visit to Piazza Signoria.
At 9:00 am we met for our tour. We were with one other couple from Wisconsin and a beautiful Italian tour guide named Hillary. We made a quick stop at Piazzale Michealangelo for another glance at that view.
As we made our way into the Tuscan hills, Hillary informed us of our agenda for the day. We would be visiting two wineries, both focusing on Chianti wine and we would also have the opportunity to do an olive oil tasting. She was very excited about the first winery. It is a small winery, specializing in Chianti, that is located in a castle. There is a villa on the winery that is rented out so it is only available to tour when the villa is vacant. Lucky for us it was.
We arrived at Torre Alberghieri and met Rodolfo, wine maker and artist. We toured his winery, learning about Chianti wine {must be 80% Sangiovese grapes} while we ate fresh figs from the trees.
After our tour of the grounds it was time for a tasting. Rodolfo welcomed us inside his gorgoeus home, full of all of his personal artwork, to taste his wines. When we walked in there was a full spread of cheeses and meats set out for us to enjoy with our wine. We were in heaven.
After our tasting of delcious wines, including Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Reserve, and a blend called Sorbentino, Rodolfo invited us on a tour of his home, stopping to share with us stories about his artwork.
This piece was recently finished after four years. Rodolfo carved the wood by hand and created his own paint with eggs. I was in awe of this man.
Then we went up to the top of the tower to catch a glimpse of his amazing view over the vineyard.
We left Rodolfo with an order for six bottles of wine to be shipped to the US and hopes to see him the next time we are in Florence {when we stay in his villa, of course}.
We stopped for a delicious lunch, ziti and gnocchi, and made our way to the second stop, San Michele A Torri.
We took a tour through the winery and saw both the wine making process and learned a bit about olive oil, including that an olive tree never dies.
Our tour concluded with a tasting of wines and olive oils. We left San Michele A Torri with an order for wine and an olive oil made exclusively by 25 Italian olive oil makers.
Our tour finished after 4 pm, so we spent a few hours walking around Florence, wishing we had one more day to try to see a bit more. Our wine tour guide recommended a restaurant for dinner that had a tasting option of five different pastas, selected by the chef. Paired with a bottle of Chianti we had a lovely final dinner in Florence. Our evening ended with a walk home in the rain, which was the perfect way to end a romantic Italian day.
**********
Our morning began with a departure from Venice by train to Florence. Our first destination was Piazzale Michelangelo, a square known for its impressive panoramic view of Florence.
From this view point we spotted the Ponte Vecchio brige {Italian for Old Bridge}. A few months before we ever booked our European holiday, I purchased a puzzle with the image of the bridge. I was quite excited to see it "in real life" after staring at the details for a month.
We took some time to walk through the city before our visit to see Michelangelo's David.
We made our way to the Accademia Gallery where David is housed. Matt and I were immediately impressed with the sculpture. Both the size and the detail of the statue were incredible. No pictures are allowed of David, but they had a modern interpretation in the garden.
After marveling at the 'perfect man' our walking tour continued including stops at The Duomo {Basillica of Saint Mary of the Flower} and Piazza Signoria.
A copy of Michealangelo's David is located in the Piazza Signoria as well as a gallery of other statues.
Our walk continued on to the Ponte Vecchio bridge.
After our walking tour of the city, we had the opportunity to explore for ourselves.
Matt and I checked out several leather shops and both came away with a find.
After checking in to the the hotel, we prepared for the evenings scheduled group dinner in a Florentine trattoria. Unfortunately, we were not impressed with the menu. As a lover of Italian food, I didn't want to waste a meal on substandard food. So Matt and I enjoyed some wine and visited with others at the table. After the dinner was over we made our way to a restaurant and shared a proper Italian meal, bruschetta and ravioli.
| Thursday, October 11|
We were quite excited as we started the morning... this was the day we had a scheduled Chianti wine tour. Our morning began early, with a walk around the city before we had to meet for our tour at the library.
We made our way back to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge...
...followed by another visit to Piazza Signoria.
At 9:00 am we met for our tour. We were with one other couple from Wisconsin and a beautiful Italian tour guide named Hillary. We made a quick stop at Piazzale Michealangelo for another glance at that view.
As we made our way into the Tuscan hills, Hillary informed us of our agenda for the day. We would be visiting two wineries, both focusing on Chianti wine and we would also have the opportunity to do an olive oil tasting. She was very excited about the first winery. It is a small winery, specializing in Chianti, that is located in a castle. There is a villa on the winery that is rented out so it is only available to tour when the villa is vacant. Lucky for us it was.
We arrived at Torre Alberghieri and met Rodolfo, wine maker and artist. We toured his winery, learning about Chianti wine {must be 80% Sangiovese grapes} while we ate fresh figs from the trees.
After our tour of the grounds it was time for a tasting. Rodolfo welcomed us inside his gorgoeus home, full of all of his personal artwork, to taste his wines. When we walked in there was a full spread of cheeses and meats set out for us to enjoy with our wine. We were in heaven.
After our tasting of delcious wines, including Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Reserve, and a blend called Sorbentino, Rodolfo invited us on a tour of his home, stopping to share with us stories about his artwork.
This piece was recently finished after four years. Rodolfo carved the wood by hand and created his own paint with eggs. I was in awe of this man.
Then we went up to the top of the tower to catch a glimpse of his amazing view over the vineyard.
We left Rodolfo with an order for six bottles of wine to be shipped to the US and hopes to see him the next time we are in Florence {when we stay in his villa, of course}.
We stopped for a delicious lunch, ziti and gnocchi, and made our way to the second stop, San Michele A Torri.
We took a tour through the winery and saw both the wine making process and learned a bit about olive oil, including that an olive tree never dies.
Our tour concluded with a tasting of wines and olive oils. We left San Michele A Torri with an order for wine and an olive oil made exclusively by 25 Italian olive oil makers.
Our tour finished after 4 pm, so we spent a few hours walking around Florence, wishing we had one more day to try to see a bit more. Our wine tour guide recommended a restaurant for dinner that had a tasting option of five different pastas, selected by the chef. Paired with a bottle of Chianti we had a lovely final dinner in Florence. Our evening ended with a walk home in the rain, which was the perfect way to end a romantic Italian day.
**********