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.

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.

Months ago it started with only one character. But Elle got all crafty on me. She made more than are shown in this picture, but she had to give them to her best friend. You know, so her friend’s parents could see the art supplies I provide for my kid. Awesome.

In order to prove my unlushness, I’ll be running to a crafts store this weekend. Clearly my house needs some fucking canvas or foam board or something.

Here or here    

And you’d find me in either place with a glass of bubbly in one hand and a coconut popsicle in the other.

But hell, it’s Friday. Which means I can make it happen in no time.

Happy weekend to you all. Anyone got big plans?

While I was in Dallas, Texas we visited a restaurant that featured this frozen beverage. I finally broke down and had one. Hell, it was only $1. If you’re wondering what a belini is, I’ve provided an online recipe. I don’t “cook” so I can’t vouch for this one.

I was telling a friend about my drink choice and she was quick to say, “Oh, yeah! Dallas is famous for those.”

I’ve heard of popular drinks in different regions of the world. Sangria in Spain. Tequila in Mexico. Cosmopolitans in New York City. Mojitos in Cuba. Irish coffee in well, Ireland. Even beer in Germany.

But frozen belinis in Dallas? Who knew!

What signature drinks do you know about? Please share it so next time I travel, I’ll know what to order.

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

I was dropping off a gift to my friend who was celebrating her birthday. Apparently that was a reason enough to pop a bottle of bubbly. She offered. I accepted. I’m a good friend like that.

We added a splash of Chambord which is a French black raspberry liqueur. The best part of this goodness…the sweet flavor and the beautiful bright pink color.

We enjoyed. We visited. I left.

Afterwards this innocent little beverage caused a chain of events.

Clearly drinking bubbly with Chambord caused me to eat crap for dinner, primp in an attempt to get pretty, sit on my ass and drink more. Perfect. This is clearly now my new evil drink.

Cheers to evil goodness.

What does drinking make you do?

My pick would be champagne (technically sparkling wine). It’s crisp, refreshing, sparkly and goes with EVERYTHING. By everything, I mean breakfast, lunch, dinner, casual events, fancy gatherings, indoors, outdoors, etc.  You get the idea. I’ve even been known to drink it with pizza. 

To make this versatile beverage even better, add a few girlfriends on my deck to enjoy a sunny afternoon. This is exactly what I did. First though, I had a very clear message for my friends.  I needed their commitment. I had a magnum bottle of bubbly stored in my wine fridge that I was dying to open. This bottle is the equivalent of two regular sized bottles of bubbly. Once you pop it, you can’t stop it. It must be finished. They promised they were committed.

Once the bubbly was poured it didn’t take long for our chatty asses to kick in to high speed. Bubbly makes people happy. It makes us chatty. It enhances my ADD tendencies. We jumped around covering every conversation topic within the first 3 minutes. (I lied…three minutes is an exaggeration.) 

Several sips later and the discussion took a dive. Not to a negative place. But to a deep level. An intense discussion. And my bubble popped! We talked about heavy subjects such as failed relationships and love lost. When I say we talked, I really mean I listened. Our conversation turned into more of a whiskey discussion.  In fact, I would have imagined listening to country lyrics in a dark bar while smoking with the topics we covered. 

Lesson learned: Popping a bottle of bubbly definitely deserves a commitment to finish it. Additionally champagne commitments should only include light, fun conversations. 

That lesson probably explains why I would pick bubbly as my beverage of choice if I had to pick only one to enjoy for the rest of my life. I’m most comfortable living my life in a fun, light, chatty way.

What would you pick? Why?

Cheers!

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