This Wino Wednesday post was inspired by a recent trip to the wine country. It confirmed that love is possible!

A few weekends ago, I went to Napa Valley. This is my heaven. I love Napa. This love affair began when I was in college and dating a wine master. We spent a gazillion weekends up there. But since I moved to Utah 15 years ago, I’ve only been back to thearea a few times. Napa mixes all the things I love: wine + mild temperatures + sun + wine + friendly people + green + beautiful estates + wine+  magnificent food + everything Napa Valley.

In an effort to combine Wino Wednesday and Wordless Wednesday, you can experience my trip with pictures and very little text. I love that I can have solid justification for not putting too many words in this post. I’ve not been in the mood to write much lately.

So the story goes like this…

I took a large suitcase with lots of extra room to bring back wine. Found a place that shipped it to me so didn’t need the space in the end. I had a morning flight and started my day with vodka and cranberry juice. I’ve got to stay healthy! Vitamin C, people.  

I flew in to Sacramento airport. I love their baggage claim area. Crafty for that town.

The view from our villa was awesome. There were cows grazing in the hills behind us. The cows are the black spots. Me soaking up the sun first thing Saturday morning. It felt so good. Don’t mind the natural look, but I had just rolled out of bed to enjoy this.

First stop on Saturday, where I fell in love, was Gloria Ferrar. Just to be clear…I fell in love with the amazing sparkling wine. We went to several other wineries, but I got sidetracked and forgot to take photos.

Gloria Ferrar was so impressive, we went back on Sunday. I kept my champagne Sunday tradition by enjoying a few more glasses of bubbly. Which were served to us. While sitting in the sunshine. And looking out at the amazing view.

On our way out of town, I fell in love again. This time with a vineyard on the hill.

And this is my story.  And this is how it left me…

Super happy with a smile that can’t get any bigger.

Blue skies. Sunshine. Vineyards. Bubbly. Love. This makes me happy.

What makes you happy?

Wino Wednesday…this weekly feature is designed to share my wine alcohol related stories.

Tags: bubbly, Napa, trips, wine

This Wino Wednesday post was inspired by my new house pour….Yellow Tail Shiraz-Cabernet. So delicious. So inexpensive. So worth my time. So worth sharing. (Photo is courtesy of the Yellow Tail website.)

I had a lovely evening drinking wine and hanging out with a friend (who, by the way, brought me dinner). We enjoyed a few glasses of wine. And by few, I mean heavy handed pours of my house wine. My friend and I chatted. We laughed. Friend left my house.

Then the worst thing EVER happened.

I went upstairs to wash my face. I set my phone  on the bathroom counter. Hell, I’m never more than two feet away from it. I reached over to grab it. It slipped out of my hands. It fell on my cushy bathroom rug.

It shattered.

And left me with this face…

Suddenly I hate my hands for being slippery. I hate my iPhone for being fragile. I hate my bathroom rug for not being made of feathers. I hate my iPhone cover for not protecting it. I hate my iPhone for leaving glass shards in my hand. I hate drinking for causing clumsiness.

I hate…wait, I don’t hate anything!

Shit happens. (Although I still think the sad look in the photo is justified.)

Now I just wonder what I did before I had this piece of equipment. Hell, it’s only been in my life for a few years but it feels like I couldn’t live without it. Is there anything you have that you can’t imagine surviving without (besides other human beings)?

P.S. For those who care, I have an appointment at the Apple store to get  a replacement at 10:10 am today. Twelve hours is long enough for me to be without this appendage.

Wino Wednesday…this weekly feature is designed to share my wine alcohol related stories.

Tags: broken, hate, iPhone

This Wino Wednesday post was inspired by the size of the bottle.

There is something to be said for that saying. You know the one. Size matters. Well it does as far as I’m concerned. Bigger is better. (Disclaimer: Unless you’re talking about the size of my ass. In which case, you’re wrong.)

Clearly I have a thing for big. Huge really.

Especially when it involves juice with bubbles.

January 2010

December 2009

Recently fell in love. I saw the perfect bottle. It is double the size of either of the the bottles pictured above. It was beautiful. And as big as they come. And It was on sale for less than $2000.

I want it for the next big celebration in my life. Hello Veuve Clicquot, you make me smile. Really big.

Wino Wednesday…this weekly feature is designed to share my wine alcohol related stories.

Tags: bubbly, celebrations, wine