Decadent

When you hear the word what comes to mind? A rich delicious chocolate cake? An afternoon at a spa being pampered?

Bathroom floor tiles? Oh yes! Truly decadent! The wonderful home that we stayed in last weekend had something truly decadent! Heated bathroom floors! I think it was one of my favorite parts of the house....not the 9 lovely bedrooms with fluffy down comforters and gorgeous quilts on each bed, the amazing kitchen with the Wolf stove, a center island as big as my king size bed or the surround sound that was like being inside a concert hall....yes it was the heated bathroom floors. It made getting out of the shower on a chilly morning more tolerable and that middle of the night run to the potty more bearable. Funny I know!

Here is where we were so fortunate to stay - this is the before picture of the Cow Barn before it was renovated. It's nestled in the woods with a wonderful creek running through the property.

And this is the Cow Barn Lodge today...gorgeous and room was on the right side towards the back. This sits on Francis Ford Coppola's estate is it not absolutely stunning!?

Thank you Mr. Coppola for allowing us the privilege to enjoy this home with our friends!

A Napa Valley Weekend

We spent a fabulous long weekend in Napa Valley celebrating the hubby's 50th birthday. We were joined by old friends and new...what a wonderful time, we were truly spoiled. Saturday started off with a private tour, tasting and a wonderful lunch at Quintessa. The family that owns the vineyard were so extremely gracious and opened up their home to us and served a most memorable meal of cauliflower soup, grilled salmon with asparagus, a cheese course and the most heavenly chocolate tart with raspberries. Here are a few of the glorious views. Is the playhouse in the vineyard not the most charming thing you have seen!

Yummy wine waiting to be bottled. We tasted some fabulous wines down in the cave.

The vines were asleep but so amazing to see with mustard flowers blooming all around

Breakfast in St. Helena to get our day started.

In the Dark

Literally, the power went out at around 4:30 tonight and it became dark very quickly. We lit candles and hung out for a while. The power was back on in a few hours - I'm glad because the house was getting chilly and it's hard for the kids to do homework by candlelight...just went out to pick up one of the boys from the High School and it looks like some of the neighbors are still in the dark...I hope their power comes back up soon! We're heading to Napa Valley this weekend to celebrate hubby's big "50"! We're meeting up with some friends. Looking forward to lot's of vino and delicious food. Good night, Erin

A couple of weeks into 2010

A friend of mine sent this to me on my birthday! I love it ~ "Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy. They just promised it would be worth it."

It's pouring here today in So. Cal. A nice change in the weather. I think we can handle a few days of rain every now and then. The garden and lawn certainly need it - everything seems so clean after a good rain. Speaking of clean....yes the garage is clean and I love it. Successful garage sale over the weekend and lot's of organizing and even a bit of posting to my Etsy site. Please check out the goodies over there. Have a wonderful week. Hugs, Erin

Getting organized

I have been away from the blog for too long. Getting back into the swing of things after holidays was my priority and I was slowed down a bit by hurting my back from of all things ~ sledding! Yes, we had a fabulous trip to Minnesota and went sledding with the kids non-stop. Going over a large bump and landing butt first on a plastic sled followed by a hard fall on an icy drive put me out of commission for a bit. I would do it all over again in a second, we had such a blast. Thanks to the chiropractor and muscle relaxants I'm getting back to normal! My first priority is getting organized and we are well on our way. Lot's of work in the garage - wonderful cabinets were installed before the holidays (whose idea was that??) They look fabulous and we are getting things put away and loving all of the extra cabinet and counter space. In order for us to finish this up we are having a garage sale tomorrow! Lot's of wonderful things we are selling. . I need to pair down my antique business inventory a bit and make things more manageable. My Etsy site has been doing very well and I need to get my little shop posted with some new things over the weekend too! Soooo much to do but it's such a good feeling to get things like this accomplished! If you are in the neighborhood tomorrow stop by the sale!

I also celebrated by birthday after the New Year. My husband and friends spoiled me with dinners out and we even got out to see "It's Complicated" with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. Loved that movie, it was laugh out loud funny and at times you could not hear the next line in the movie because the audience was still laughing. It did not disappoint me.

Back to work for me and I'll be back soon with more posts! Hugs, Erin