Weekend Recap ...

If you're reading this ... then my scheduled post worked!  Yay!  This is the first time I've tried scheduled posting.  I can't commit to regular posting while on vacation so I did some in advance!

Anyways ... J. and I had a pretty tame weekend.  It was slightly ruined by the Navy (when doesn't the Navy ruin things??) so it was pretty much just another two days in my stay at home life.

Friday night, J. and I went to Thai Gusto, a restaurant here in Everett that we have been meaning to try.  We actually tried to go once a couple of weeks ago, but everything in Everett closes at 9:00 p.m. and we showed up at like 8:45.  We're (well at least I'm) used to city living, where I can go to dinner at 9:00 or later and still have to wait for a table!  Anyways, it was a really nice little restaurant.  They had the typical Thai menu, but one different thing they did was set dinners you could get for 2-4 people.  We had the "Central Thai" themed dinner.  It came with spring rolls, Tom Kha soup, Pad Thai with Shrimp and Chicken and Spinach with a peanut sauce.  It was SO good and a great price too.  Especially for having a four course dinner!  Then we came home and watched countless episodes of Criminal Minds.  I LOVE that show.  I might have to add it to my Netflix Queue.

Saturday, J. had to "work" at the base.  They were having some kind of ball and he had to go help with parking.  So, I spent the day cleaning, going to the grocery, buying mass amounts of books at Half Price Books and making dinner.  Sounds like a typical day to me.  We started to watch Sherlock Holmes after dinner, but J. fell asleep.

Sunday, J. had to do a "work party" to help clean up after the ball.  In my opinion, work and party are not words that go together.  Just because they tacked on "party" to the end of the phrase does not mean he's going to have fun!  I did mass amounts of laundry and started packing, YAY!

It was a very uneventful weekend, but we've got a lot coming up in the next few weeks so that's okay.  We are pretty much going non-stop from now until the end of September!  I am REALLY looking forward to all our upcoming trips and visitors :)

Hope you all had a much more exciting weekend than we did!

S.E.J.

Houston, here we come!

I'm leaving bright and early tomorrow morning for my week-long trip to Houston!!!!  SO excited ... for multiple reasons:

1.  I consider Houston my second home.
2.  I haven't seen my family since graduation in May.
3.  I haven't seen my sister since I moved at the end of May.
4.  I haven't seen my cousin since Christmas!!!!
5.  THE CHOCOLATE BAR
6.  Ninfa's Fajitas
7.  We will be celebrating my sweet Grandma's birthday while we are there!
8.  SUMMER WEATHER!
9.  And probably a million other things I forgot to mention ...

So, I hope you all have a fantastic week!  I've written a few posts this weekend that will post during the week and I will try to blog a bit while I'm there ... but I don't like to commit to anything while on vacation.

Guilty Pleasures ...

I stopped by Half Price Books today to get ONE book for my plane ride on Monday ... and I came out with TEN books.  Whoops.

I couldn't help myself.  I found the ONE book that I was looking for and then I decided to peruse the Clearance section and they had so many books that I have been looking for on Clearance ... and how can you say no to a book you want that is only $2.00?  And hardcover?  You just can't.

So, now I just need one book to complete my Confessions of a Shopaholic Series and one book to complete my Big Stone Gap series.  And I have a few books to choose from for my plane reading next week :)  I just love having a nice large stack of unread books!

Now, where to put those books ...

Hope you are all having a good weekend!
S.E.J.

Two things ...

1.  I made these brownies this week and OH MY GOD, they are AMAZING.  And I wonder why I can't lose weight ...  I did freeze half of the pan to bring out when we have guests in September, so I guess that is being semi-good.  But, the other half of the pan ... they are going to be gone ASAP.

2.  I finally used my Nordstrom gift card that J. gave me for my birthday.  I am the proud new owner of these:

LOVE THEM!

The photo is a little large but whatever.  They are so cute!  And came in the signature Tory Burch box with Tory Burch tissue paper ... I want to be cool enough to have tissue paper with my logo on it.  Well, I'd have to have a logo first, but you know what I mean.  My only issue with the whole experience is that the guy who helped me at Nordstrom was so dang RUDE.  I love Nordstrom.  And one of the reasons I love it is because the sales people are SO nice and friendly and helpful.  Not this guy.  He apparently did not think I belonged in Salon Shoes and could not believe that I did not yet own a pair of Tory Burch Reva Flats.  Ummm, maybe not everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon right away?  I was super irritated ... especially because I was wearing designer jeans, some pretty expensive jewelry and carrying Louis Vuitton ... and trying on $200 flats.  Clearly I like nice things and have no problem purchasing them.  Apparently that is not good enough in his eyes.  And it really shouldn't matter WHAT I was wearing ... it's his JOB to bring people shoes to try on.  He shouldn't be passing judgments.  I should have just marched out of there and given my commission to someone else!  Anyways ... I'm just about over it.  But I will most definitely be taking any of my future Salon Shoes business to the downtown Seattle Nordstrom to avoid Mr. Rude.  

Anyways ... I hope you all have a FANTASTIC FRIDAY!  And a great weekend! 

S.E.J.

Sonoma or Bust! (Part III ... Probably should have been called San Francisco or Bust!)

Whew ... it had been a whirlwind weekend so far.  And we had one day left.  We got up and headed out to brunch.  We tried Bullit in Russian Hill ... it was exactly what we needed.  I loved their menu.  I could have ordered a million different things ... they had a grilled cheese bar, burger bar, SLIDER bar, and a brunch menu.  I went with the grilled cheese bar and had the "Wake and Bacon," cheese, bacon and a fried egg.  I also substituted my salad for tater tots ... all of the online reviews said the tater tots were a must, so I thought what the heck, I'm on vacation.

From there we headed over to the Painted Ladies ... the Full House house.  We did a quick drive-by and then headed towards Fisherman's Wharf.  After dropping L.Rae at a random intersection (she was heading to Outside Lands, a concert in Golden Gate Park) we headed to meet up with Bart and the rest of our wine tasting crew.  We said a quick good-bye to them and they headed to the airport.  J2K, J. and I headed to Del Monte Square where we sat outside at Jack's Cannery Bar.  There was live reggae music in the square, so we wanted to sit and enjoy the music.  Then we headed to Lombard Street, which was conveniently next to J2K's house and then we were off to the airport.

The Painted Ladies:

 A famous San Francisco trolley:

 View of Alcatraz from Fisherman's Wharf:

Fisherman's Wharf:

 View of Golden Gate from Fisherman's Wharf:

Ghirardelli Square:

Me and J.:

 J2K and J.:

Lombard Street:

It was a quick trip, but SUCH a good one.  I am so thankful that J. and I were able to join our friends out in Sonoma and see L.Rae and J2K.  B. is heading to Afghanistan for a year at the end of September so this was my chance to say "Good-bye for now."  It truly was such a special weekend and the memories are stamped on my heart.  (And now in my blog! Yay!)  And a big THANK YOU to everyone who gave me money for graduation ... your gifts made this weekend possible!

Sonoma or Bust! (Part II)

Sorry about the delay in posting about Day 2 ... J. had the day off yesterday so we went to the beach :)

We had a slow start on Saturday morning ... but we managed to make it to the rest of the wineries on our itinerary!  We started out at Benziger Family Winery.  It was gorgeous.  We took the tour around the vineyards, which was really interesting and informative.  The vineyard is actually a fully functioning organic farm, with its own recycling center on the premises.  Half of the acres are planted with grapes and the other half are planted with other crops, they've got vegetable gardens and cows, goats and sheep.  It was really interesting to learn about the different methods they use on the farm.  We tasted four wines, but the Chardonnay was by far the best (in my opinion!)  Then we bought some crackers, cheese, salami and a bottle of the Chardonnay and headed outside for a little lunch in the sun.  It was another gorgeous day and Benziger had tables set up for "picnic-ing!"

On the tour:

Barrels of wine in "The Cave:"

L.Rae and I in The Cave:

J. and I in The Cave:

Labels on the barrels:

Look, no hands!  The boys and their wine yokes:

Looking good boys!

Group shot in the "official" wine country vehicle:

A note about Benziger ... they have a sister winery, Imagery Estate Winery, and if you pay for the tour/tasting at Benziger you can taste at Imagery for free.  I think this is a great deal ... most tastings cost $10-20 and a free one is always appreciated!  We didn't taste at Imagery this time, but I've been there in the past and enjoyed it.  

After Benziger, we headed over to the Jacuzzi Family Vineyards ... B.'s favorite and a must-see on our list. This family was so cool.  Two of the Jacuzzi sons immigrated to the West Coast (from Italy) in the early 1900's, making their way down to California.  Their father, a wood-worker and vineyard farmer, joined them in 1911.  They were fascinated by aviation and made several notable improvements to the propeller.  However, a tragic plane crash, which took the life of the one of the Jacuzzi brothers, ended their stint in aviation.  The Jacuzzi brothers then started manufacturing water well pumps and eventually, the bath and spa that bears their name.  The family then got into wine making.  I thought their story was really fascinating!  The vineyard was beautiful, they had olive oil tasting AND their tasting was free.  They had a very extensive tasting menu.  Three of the wines were $1 to taste ... but I'd say that's pretty reasonable!  They also had my favorite ... the Chocolate Wine Shot.  We got them with the dessert port in it ... SO delicious!

The winery was GORGEOUS:

N., me, B. at Jacuzzi:

 J., with his wine yoke, and his new Mrs.:

We ended at Cline Cellars, right across the street from Jacuzzi.  We tasted outside in a big tent that they had set-up.  It was such a gorgeous day so it was great to be outside ... especially for our sun deprived San Fransican ... L.Rae.  Cline also did a free tasting which was very nice ... I think we tried 4 or 5 wines.  And then we proceeded to have one last wine country photo shoot in the parking lot: 

And then we piled into the car and headed back to San Francisco.  We had a quick dinner at Blowfish Sushi, which was AMAZING.  I haven't found a new sushi place in Everett/Seattle yet and this definitely satisfied my sushi craving.  After dinner we went back to L.Rae's and crashed, HARD.  We had such a good night's sleep, which was much needed!  

Come back tomorrow to find out about our last day of vacation ... a few hours of sight-seeing in San Francisco before heading off to the airport!

Sonoma or Bust! (Part I)

Talk about a FANTASTIC weekend.  I don't think I can do it justice in a post, but I will try.  I left on Thursday afternoon, had my first trip to Sea-Tac (the Seattle airport) and made it to San Francisco right on time.  B. picked me up in his rental car ... a 4-door Jeep Wrangler with the top down!  It was perfect for wine country.  We had two hours to kill before we picked up the couples that were arriving, so we headed into downtown San Bruno to find somewhere to get an appetizer and a drink!  We settled on B.J.'s Brewhouse ... B. had a brew and I had a pomegranate margarita and we shared the avocado rolls.  They were delicious.  We picked up the rest of the crew and headed to the Presidio Social Club in The Presidio, where L.Rae met up with us.  It was a really neat little restaurant ... I wish I would have taken some pics!  After dinner, B. and the crew headed out to Sonoma and L.Rae and I headed to her boyfriends, J2K.  But first, we stopped at Safeway to pick up some essentials ... two bottles of Menage a Trois and Pepperidge Farm cookies.  We proceeded to stay up until 3 a.m. talking, even though we had to be up at the crack of dawn to pick up J. from the airport!

A few short hours later we were up and on our way to the airport.  J.'s flight was delayed, leaving us justenoughtime to make it to Sonoma in time to meet the crew and the limo.  We had arranged for a limo to take us around the wineries on Friday so nobody had to be DD.  We picked up J., made a quick stop at In-N-Out burger, made 2 wrong turns before I turned all navigating skills over to J., and were only 10 minutes late.  Pretty good if you ask me.  Especially considering L.Rae and I were involved ... we're notorious for being bad at directions and LATE.  But we made it, hopped into the limo and we were off to the first winery ... Ty Caton and Muscardini Cellars:

J. and Me:

L.Rae and Me:

Group shot with George, our tasting guide!

B.'s aunt lives in Sonoma, and true to form, B. had quite the hook-up everywhere we went.  He knew George from several previous trips to Sonoma and George treated us like royalty!  Thank you George and Ty Caton/Muscardini Cellars!  We took one last group shot outside ...

And then headed off to the second winery ... Loxton Cellars.  L.Rae and I bought a bottle of Chardonnay here ... their Chardonnay was fabulous (I'm a lover of Chardonnay).  I didn't take a single picture of the winery but here are some pictures from their vineyards:

J. and Me: 

L.Rae and Me:

Group photo:

Are you sensing a theme here?  We piled back into the limo, might have had a glass of wine on the road and headed to B.R. Cohn Winery and Olive Oil Company.  This was the winery I was the most excited to visit, because they also have olive oil tasting.  However, I was sorely disappointed.  I thought that olive oil tasting would be like wine tasting, where you sidle up to the bar, the tasting guide pours you some samples of olive oil and you sit around and eat bread and olive oil.  Not so.  They had a separate store, which had cubes of bread and different kinds of olive oil to try.  It was still delicious and a new experience, but not what I was expecting!  I bought an olive oil/herb mix for bread dipping and then we headed into the winery.  This winery was founded in 1984 by Bruce Cohn ... the manager of the Doobie Brothers!  He had several of his vintage cars on the property and the winery itself was gorgeous.  

  

At this point, a very long photo shoot ensued.  I love this one of L.Rae and me:

I love this one too ... "But L.Rae, there's BEES!"

Finally, a good picture of us:

Group shot:

Girl photo!

From L to R: L.Rae, me, K. and E.

We picked up a Doobie Brothers CD and a bottle of wine for the limo, and we were off!  We were ahead of schedule, so we had our limo driver, Lou, just drive us around Sonoma for a bit.  It was a GORGEOUS day.  We stopped at Hawkes Winery's tasting room in downtown Sonoma.  We had a really cool tasting guide and got to sit outside in the courtyard.  Unfortunately, I did not take a single picture :(  

We loaded up and headed to our final winery of the day ... Sojourn Cellars tasting room!  

Their tasting room was so cool, it was in a house and we sat around a big dining room table to taste.  This picture is by no means good, but it kind of gives you an idea: 

After our tasting at Sojourn, Lou dropped us off at the Girl and the Fig where we had dinner reservations.  I had the Flounder, which I think was a daily special, and the Lavender Creme Brulee.  Delicious.  

You'd think our day ended there, but nope, we headed over to Murphy's Irish Pub after dinner.  I don't know how I made it through Friday, especially since L.Rae and I got very little sleep Thursday night ... I'm exhausted just writing this post!  B. knew the former owner of Murphy's and he came out to meet us all.  He was a retired Naval Aviator, so B. really wanted J. to meet him.  B. and the boys were ENGROSSED in a multiple hour conversation with him!  He even had a tail hook in the bar.  

All the girls with the owner ... I cannot for the life of me, remember his name 

and J. isn't here to help me out!  

One last pic of the whole group:

Whew, that was exhausting!  Come back tomorrow to hear about Day 2 in Sonoma! 

S.E.J.