San Francisco

We had the best time in San Francisco and Napa Valley!  We didn't want to come home.

This is our first vineyard and wine tasting we went to. It was Robert Biale's "Black Chicken", which is what they called wine during prohibition. We bought two bottles to take home with us, but they didn't last long, we drank them both later that night at the hotel. No judging!!

Chinatown market

A sickening display of dried fish hanging in a Chinatown market. Doesn't that look appetizing?

 

A little snap shot at fisherman's wharf, right before we took the Alcatraz tour. 

It was freakin' freezin

This was part of the wine tour for Domaine Chandon, they're best known for their champagnes and being owned by Louis Vuton & family. Our tour took us down to the wine cave were we got to see their Pinot Noir barrels. As Jeff said - "You definitely don't want to bump up against these bad boys".

The weather started to clear up and we could notice how beautiful their gardens were.

This is the phenomenal place we stayed in at Yountville, which is right in the heart of Napa Valley.

I highly recommend staying here!  It was a perfect walking distance to all the restaurants we went to and locally centered for the winery's.

Bouchon was a French bistro right across the street from Vintage Inn

This is at Robert Sinskey winery, or as Miss Deb puts it, Robert "Sandusky" winery. I told her she may want to get that corrected asap. Again, we bought two bottles and drank them later that night. What did I say about no judging?!

Meeting up with some old family friends of the Brooks; the Eaton's. Mackie Eaton on the far left helped Jeff plan the entire trip. She definitely recommended all the right places.

This is our last tasting of the day, at Beulieu Vineyards, they let us taste directly out of the barrel. One out of a French oak barrel and one out of an American Oak barrel - Tastes the same to me believe it or not.

The Marshall Store was a local joint right on Tomales Bay. Best oysters we've ever had. We meant to take pictures of them but ate them too fast. 

 That's a lotta wood

 One of last stops of the trip was Golden Gate Bridge.

My New Name ...

Is Aunt Coco!  On Friday at 9:12 a.m. my sister had her baby!!   Both Anne and baby James are doing great - Jeff and I headed down Friday afternoon to congratulate them and meet SBJ (Sweet Baby James) 

 

Just Born - 1st day in this world!!

 

They came home this morning and we had a champagne toast waiting on them!

 

 Proud Poppa

 

 

Piper meets him for the first time.  Throughout the weekend we brought home the blanket James was wrapped up in and one of his hats for Piper so she could get use to his smell.  I think it worked perfectly!  Piper is already in love with him!!

Picture of the grandparents 

(missing Big Jim - soon enough they will meet)

 Baby James with the Aunts and Uncles - missing Aunt Annie and Aunt Cindy - wish yall where there.  You are going to be just as obsessed with him as I already am.

What a cutie!!

Can you beleive this guy below is a father?!?!



 

 

 

  

    

Congratulations Anne and Jimmy we are excited for yall!!

Arts and Crafts

I am not good at Arts and Crafts - at all.  I don't do many around the house - only other one I have done is recover the stool.  Remember that?  It turned out well but that was a simple project.

Well this one I was going off something I found online - prior to Pinterest,  have since seen it on Pinterest (love it - you can find anything there!!) - and I decided to try it.  It looked simple enough and since we were spending our money elsewhere for the house i decided to give it a try.

What can you do with two plywood crates, wood stain, and screws??   

Make a Coffee Table of course!

 
 

Step one:  Get your supplies (crates, stain, legs, screws)  and get yourself a handy man

 Step 2: Stain the pallets and the legs - I went with more decorative legs (the site I was following just used 2X4's)
 






Step 3: Screw it all together and set it up with appetizers and drinks
Enjoy!!

 

About Time

It's about time I showed yall some updated pictures of the house.  

I don't know if you remember what the living room looked like so here are a few before pictures:

 

(above pic is prior owners furniture)

We ordered new furniture once we got everything cleared on the house and it came in just in time - we only had to use patio furniture for a day or two.  We sold our old sofa and chair to the girl who bought the townhouse, so it was crucial to get it in ASAP so we would have something to sit on.  Thanks to my helpers, I picked out some great fabric that will be durable and I will like for a long time.  (I promise I did not purposely adjust the pictures to have a yellow tone - since the trim was brown/yellow and the walls were yellow everything took on that glow)

Sofa: background fabric

Big Pillow: Left

Club Chair: Right

Step 1: Paint the trim and bookshelf.  We had someone do all the trim in the house and then got the best professionals (aka Jeff and his dad) to paint the walls. 

Well Hello Jeff!

Big Improvement already

Step 2: Pick out a wall color.  It's harder than it looks.  Jeff has been eager to paint everything right away (which I am very happy about) but it just made me have to choose paint colors right away.  For those of you who don't know me I am a very indecisive person, so making a decision that I am going to have to live with for a long time is a big deal to me.  I would hate to pick a color, have them paint everything and then decide I don't like it. This color was going to go in the living room, all down the hall, entry way, and kitchen so it had to be perfect.  I got several samples and painted them on poster board, then picked my favorites and painted them on the wall just to make sure I would like it (anything I picked would have been better than what was there - no offense previous owners - just not my style).  We lived like this (below pic) for a couple of days before I finally picked a color. 

But needless to say I picked a color and I LOVE it!!!  

It's Vapor Trails from Benjamin Moore

Step 3: Put everything back where it was, order a rug, and change out the faceplate on the electrical outlets and light switches (did you notice the light switch - Ugh!)

 
 

I love built in bookshelves!!  

It's my favorite thing about this room - they are a work in progress but so far so good!!