Yesterday Jason and I had an appointment with another caterer in Calistoga at 4pm. We thought we'd make the most of the 1/2 hour trip so we left to get there early and stop at a restaurant for an appetizer and drink. It was a beautiful day, not too hot, so we took the convertible. When we got there we drove up to one of my favorite Calistoga wineries, Cuvaison Winery, off Silverado Trail and did a little wine tasting. Their wines are Okay, what I really love is the quaint little building you taste in underneath the oak trees.
We then drove back into town and went to the Calistoga Inn. The Calistoga Inn has it's own brewery so Jason loves their beers but I like it because you can sit outside in their garden patio overlooking a creek. The caterer had told us to come hungry because they taste "family style" but I had to have a little snack because I was starving. We had some fried calamari and hung out for about an hour. We still had about an hour before meeting with the caterer so we walked up to Brannon's and had a drink at the bar. Now I was wishing that I didn't have the calamari because I wasn't too hungry and it was almost 4. ;)
We arrived at the caterers and were greeted by the chef/owner's daughter who is in charge of booking the events and coordinating the tastings with potential clients.
She was very nice and went over the proposal in full detail. I didn't think she was as smooth as the last caterer with wanting to cater to our suggestions. She was a bit more forward with saying what she thinks is best (which it very well may be) but we had something else already planned in our heads. Not that we are against wanting to do the food another way but with the last caterer what we suggested that we wanted they were all for it.
As we were talking the chef brought out the food and oh boy did he. Not even joking we could of fed 20 people with the food they brought out for us to taste. 6 different appetizers, 3 main entrees with a starch and a veggie for each themed recipe and all in HUGE quantities! We tried to taste everything and by the time we were done I could hardly take a breath. The food was good... but I think the first caterer's presentations were a little bit better and had a little more flavor. They let us take home some of the food... we didn't want it to go to waste of course! ;)
We talked about this caterer as we drove back home and Jason felt just the same as me.
But we are not counting out anyone yet... we still have one more to meet with and hopefully that will confirm who we feel would be the best. I know for a fact that this caterer would have so much food at our wedding all the guests could have 3 helpings and still take home doggie bags!
We had such a great day together and I'm sad it's already over, he had to go back to work today and I still have today and tomorrow off. We hardly ever get to hang out on Monday's because I usually have plans with Heidi and he has plans with Marc so we had so much fun. Now it's back to cleaning, chores, the gym and grocery shopping.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
One step closer
Last night Jason and I went to our first appointment with a caterer. We didn't know what to expect but we did know we were going to be tasting some food and I brought my wedding books and a list of questions I wanted to make sure to ask the caterer.
(I don't want to name names, or the company... since we are checking out a few different caterers)
I chose three caterers from a list that the Vine Hill house provided. They work very closely with the vendors for the weddings they host and like to use the same vendors that they know will be very professional. Jason, unaware of what caterers we were going to meet, came home the other night excited about a caterer one of his clients highly recommended. When he told me the name, I laughed and said, "That's the caterer we are meeting with tomorrow night." Jason was then more excited because of the high recommendation and the fact that he could name drop.
Once we arrived we met with the owner and she showed us to a picnic table, set under a great oak tree, with two table placings. She had opened a bottle of Syrah and had us sit down and pour some wine. (Already I was loving this, Jason too) She is an extremely nice and very professional woman. She has owned this company serving Sonoma County 30+ years and has done parties for Governor Davis as well as other high-profile clients. The chef came out shortly after we arrived and introduced himself as well. He was Bobby Flay's sous chef when he lived in New York and came to work for this caterer when he moved out here about a year ago.
We talked a little about what Jason and I do and Jason was able to tell her of the client that recommended her and she was thrilled to hear it. Apparently he uses her for every type of event he hosts, so she knows him very well.
The chef then brought out some appetizers for us to taste, (this menu we were tasting was based on an event they were preparing for today, they customize menus based on what the clients want so they don't have a "set" menu.) a salad and then the main dishes. Everything was wonderful and we were able to talk to both her and the chef about the ideas we have.
She is really particular to how we want the wedding to flow, where we want the food to be, when the food should be out, etc. They run on a timeline and will let us know when to do the toast, first dance, cutting of the cake, etc. so we (or our guests) don't have to think about it. She also told us how much she loves the Vine Hill House and how they make sure that everything is perfect and runs smoothly throughout the night. They take care of all the rentals, the set-up and break-down, the servers and the bartenders which is great because once we settle on a caterer I can cross off a million things off my list.
All and all we really enjoyed our time with them, loved the food and look forward to seeing the proposal they will make up for us next week. Although Jason was getting a little carried with all the food he was suggesting so I think we'll have to revise it a bit to bring down the cost to consider.
We had so much fun and are looking forward to our next meeting. We are going out to Calistoga this coming Monday to meet with the next caterer at 4pm. I thought it would be fun to take the convertible for a nice drive and go a little bit earlier so we can sit outside at the Calistoga Inn and have a cocktail. Now that we have already done one meeting we know what to expect so it'll be interesting to compare.
I was finally able to talk to my (very popular) Uncle about performing our ceremony. He's a musician and has been touring a lot so we have been emailing back and forth but haven't had a chance to talk on the phone. So we had a very nice conversation this morning and we he will do the ceremony! Jason and I are very excited! Another thing taken care of! :)
Tonight Jason and I have two parties to attend. The first is a sangria party which we'll be arriving late since we both work but we'll at least be able to hang out for an hour or so. Then we are going to Matt and Laura's for Laura's birthday party. The are good friends of ours and we haven't hung out in a while so I'm excited to see them.
Tomorrow after work I'm going to Kela's bridal shower which will be so much fun! Whew! And then the week is over! It goes by so fast! :)
(I don't want to name names, or the company... since we are checking out a few different caterers)
I chose three caterers from a list that the Vine Hill house provided. They work very closely with the vendors for the weddings they host and like to use the same vendors that they know will be very professional. Jason, unaware of what caterers we were going to meet, came home the other night excited about a caterer one of his clients highly recommended. When he told me the name, I laughed and said, "That's the caterer we are meeting with tomorrow night." Jason was then more excited because of the high recommendation and the fact that he could name drop.
Once we arrived we met with the owner and she showed us to a picnic table, set under a great oak tree, with two table placings. She had opened a bottle of Syrah and had us sit down and pour some wine. (Already I was loving this, Jason too) She is an extremely nice and very professional woman. She has owned this company serving Sonoma County 30+ years and has done parties for Governor Davis as well as other high-profile clients. The chef came out shortly after we arrived and introduced himself as well. He was Bobby Flay's sous chef when he lived in New York and came to work for this caterer when he moved out here about a year ago.
We talked a little about what Jason and I do and Jason was able to tell her of the client that recommended her and she was thrilled to hear it. Apparently he uses her for every type of event he hosts, so she knows him very well.
The chef then brought out some appetizers for us to taste, (this menu we were tasting was based on an event they were preparing for today, they customize menus based on what the clients want so they don't have a "set" menu.) a salad and then the main dishes. Everything was wonderful and we were able to talk to both her and the chef about the ideas we have.
She is really particular to how we want the wedding to flow, where we want the food to be, when the food should be out, etc. They run on a timeline and will let us know when to do the toast, first dance, cutting of the cake, etc. so we (or our guests) don't have to think about it. She also told us how much she loves the Vine Hill House and how they make sure that everything is perfect and runs smoothly throughout the night. They take care of all the rentals, the set-up and break-down, the servers and the bartenders which is great because once we settle on a caterer I can cross off a million things off my list.
All and all we really enjoyed our time with them, loved the food and look forward to seeing the proposal they will make up for us next week. Although Jason was getting a little carried with all the food he was suggesting so I think we'll have to revise it a bit to bring down the cost to consider.
We had so much fun and are looking forward to our next meeting. We are going out to Calistoga this coming Monday to meet with the next caterer at 4pm. I thought it would be fun to take the convertible for a nice drive and go a little bit earlier so we can sit outside at the Calistoga Inn and have a cocktail. Now that we have already done one meeting we know what to expect so it'll be interesting to compare.
I was finally able to talk to my (very popular) Uncle about performing our ceremony. He's a musician and has been touring a lot so we have been emailing back and forth but haven't had a chance to talk on the phone. So we had a very nice conversation this morning and we he will do the ceremony! Jason and I are very excited! Another thing taken care of! :)
Tonight Jason and I have two parties to attend. The first is a sangria party which we'll be arriving late since we both work but we'll at least be able to hang out for an hour or so. Then we are going to Matt and Laura's for Laura's birthday party. The are good friends of ours and we haven't hung out in a while so I'm excited to see them.
Tomorrow after work I'm going to Kela's bridal shower which will be so much fun! Whew! And then the week is over! It goes by so fast! :)
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Three day weekends!!!
Ahhhhh.... I had the best best best three day weekend!!!
Well not to start though because Jason was out of town until Tuesday and I missed him terribly. He missed me too and told me that he would never leave me again! I told him that I'm sure he'll change his mind in a week. :)
So on Monday I cleaned the whole house top to bottom. It was easy without Jason there and I got it all done in about 3 hours. So now I had my whole weekend left without chores! That afternoon I met up with Heidi at Ru's house and we layed out and swam. It was so fun to just lay around and relax and "girl" talk. Jason was driving back from Oregon and had been on the road for about 7 hours when he got to Eureka and originally wanted to make the rest of the trip that afternoon but he was too exhausted so he decided to stay. So I was on my own again for dinner! Since I knew he was so much closer to being home, I enjoyed my last night by myself and caught up on all my shows, listened to music and had wine.
Jason got home around noon on Tuesday and it was funny because I think the cats could sense it because they were sitting on the couch with me while I was reading and they just stared at the door... too cute! We were starving and wanted to go out to eat so we decided to try this new Thai restaurant that we've been hearing is so great. Sea Bistro is in Montgomery Village where East West Cafe used to be and it was so delicious!! They did a great job at refurbishing the place and the food was so fresh and flavorful. I can't wait to go back. I then offered to buy us a glass of wine across the street at Monti's which we then went and did (Monti's is where we went on our first date) and then we decided to go see a movie. We went and saw "SuperBad" it was okay... kind of funny but there are so many movies just like it that I've seen before so the plot isn't too original.
After the movie (we were in Sebastopol) we walked across the street and went shopping at Whole Foods for dinner. Jason BBQ'ed chicken and made Spanish Rice and I made a salad and we hung out talked and listened to music. Usually by now I'm sad because my weekend is over and I know that I'll have to get up early in the morning but not this time! So I tried to stay up and party (my parting = watching tv) after Jason went to bed but I fell asleep on the couch.
Heidi and I had plans Wednesday to go check out another new restaurant, Rosso, and we weren't meeting till 1:00 so I planned on going to the gym. But when I put on my tennis shoes and walked around I realized I couldn't go because of last week when I was working as the glass server at the event I ruined the back of my heels from these STUPID (but really cute!) shoes I was wearing. I wasn't even wearing high heels... I was wearing flats (mean horrible flats) they were leather and I haven't worn them that often so they cut up the back of my heels to the point where I couldn't walk... anyway it's been over a week! and I still can't put on regular shoes. I've just been wearing flip flops. Sigh
What to do now?? I had about 3 hours... so I decided to go shopping!! I went to Target, Old Navy, the mall, etc. I got my ring cleaned at the jewelers for the first time since Jason gave it to me and it's so sparkly! I can't believe I went that long without it getting cleaned. I have not once taken my ring off since Jason put it on my finger so I did have to take it off for two minutes to have it cleaned but it was well worth it. I know I'll get over that after we are married... I just have that tinsy winsy superstition of taking off my ring.
So by now it's almost 1:00 so I head home, change and then meet Heidi. This new restaurant is where Anthony's Club used to be... or the Music Box (my parents generation) used to be, right off Montgomery, across from the hospital. Anyway it is the cutest restaurant ever! They make oven roasted pizza's, salads, pastas... great wine list! Very affordable! So we sat at the bar and shared a bottle of wine, grilled artichokes and salads. An older gentleman (probably in his 70's) sitting at the bar bought our bottle of wine. So sweet! I told Heidi that we are still young enough for people to buy us drinks! :) My mom came by and met us there and we had some more wine and chatted and then another friend of ours (Allen) stopped in randomly to check out the restaurant too and so we kept sitting there having wine and talking. Heidi ended up leaving to go up to Ru's to go swimming because Charlie (her husband) was out there working on Ru's property. It was so hot out yesterday and as much as I loved hanging out at this restaurant I soon followed, went home changed and went back out to Ru's to go swimming with them.
I stayed in the pool as long as I could before I started turning into a prune. It was really refreshing.
It was now about 6:30 so I left, went to the store to get stuff for dinner and then waited for Jason to get home. We had a nice night together and now I'm back here at work!
Work is going great because I'm super busy with all the boys here... we are bottling our Syrah and next week our Zinfandel so it's crazy hectic around here. I'm normally by myself so it's a different vibe.
Jason and I don't have a life until October. We are busy EVERY single weekend for the next month and a half. Plus I've actually planned 3 meetings with potential caterers in the next few weeks, the first one tomorrow evening. Jason is grumbling about it but he's the one who said he wanted to be there to try the food in the first place! He said "I want to be in charge of the food and music" But so far it's been all up to me! ... lol So he can't back out. ;)
I'll post Saturday about our first meeting/tasting... this is the most expensive caterer so far so the food better be great!
Oh and I still get another three day weekend next week! I wonder what kind of trouble I'll get in this time? ;)
Well not to start though because Jason was out of town until Tuesday and I missed him terribly. He missed me too and told me that he would never leave me again! I told him that I'm sure he'll change his mind in a week. :)
So on Monday I cleaned the whole house top to bottom. It was easy without Jason there and I got it all done in about 3 hours. So now I had my whole weekend left without chores! That afternoon I met up with Heidi at Ru's house and we layed out and swam. It was so fun to just lay around and relax and "girl" talk. Jason was driving back from Oregon and had been on the road for about 7 hours when he got to Eureka and originally wanted to make the rest of the trip that afternoon but he was too exhausted so he decided to stay. So I was on my own again for dinner! Since I knew he was so much closer to being home, I enjoyed my last night by myself and caught up on all my shows, listened to music and had wine.
Jason got home around noon on Tuesday and it was funny because I think the cats could sense it because they were sitting on the couch with me while I was reading and they just stared at the door... too cute! We were starving and wanted to go out to eat so we decided to try this new Thai restaurant that we've been hearing is so great. Sea Bistro is in Montgomery Village where East West Cafe used to be and it was so delicious!! They did a great job at refurbishing the place and the food was so fresh and flavorful. I can't wait to go back. I then offered to buy us a glass of wine across the street at Monti's which we then went and did (Monti's is where we went on our first date) and then we decided to go see a movie. We went and saw "SuperBad" it was okay... kind of funny but there are so many movies just like it that I've seen before so the plot isn't too original.
After the movie (we were in Sebastopol) we walked across the street and went shopping at Whole Foods for dinner. Jason BBQ'ed chicken and made Spanish Rice and I made a salad and we hung out talked and listened to music. Usually by now I'm sad because my weekend is over and I know that I'll have to get up early in the morning but not this time! So I tried to stay up and party (my parting = watching tv) after Jason went to bed but I fell asleep on the couch.
Heidi and I had plans Wednesday to go check out another new restaurant, Rosso, and we weren't meeting till 1:00 so I planned on going to the gym. But when I put on my tennis shoes and walked around I realized I couldn't go because of last week when I was working as the glass server at the event I ruined the back of my heels from these STUPID (but really cute!) shoes I was wearing. I wasn't even wearing high heels... I was wearing flats (mean horrible flats) they were leather and I haven't worn them that often so they cut up the back of my heels to the point where I couldn't walk... anyway it's been over a week! and I still can't put on regular shoes. I've just been wearing flip flops. Sigh
What to do now?? I had about 3 hours... so I decided to go shopping!! I went to Target, Old Navy, the mall, etc. I got my ring cleaned at the jewelers for the first time since Jason gave it to me and it's so sparkly! I can't believe I went that long without it getting cleaned. I have not once taken my ring off since Jason put it on my finger so I did have to take it off for two minutes to have it cleaned but it was well worth it. I know I'll get over that after we are married... I just have that tinsy winsy superstition of taking off my ring.
So by now it's almost 1:00 so I head home, change and then meet Heidi. This new restaurant is where Anthony's Club used to be... or the Music Box (my parents generation) used to be, right off Montgomery, across from the hospital. Anyway it is the cutest restaurant ever! They make oven roasted pizza's, salads, pastas... great wine list! Very affordable! So we sat at the bar and shared a bottle of wine, grilled artichokes and salads. An older gentleman (probably in his 70's) sitting at the bar bought our bottle of wine. So sweet! I told Heidi that we are still young enough for people to buy us drinks! :) My mom came by and met us there and we had some more wine and chatted and then another friend of ours (Allen) stopped in randomly to check out the restaurant too and so we kept sitting there having wine and talking. Heidi ended up leaving to go up to Ru's to go swimming because Charlie (her husband) was out there working on Ru's property. It was so hot out yesterday and as much as I loved hanging out at this restaurant I soon followed, went home changed and went back out to Ru's to go swimming with them.
I stayed in the pool as long as I could before I started turning into a prune. It was really refreshing.
It was now about 6:30 so I left, went to the store to get stuff for dinner and then waited for Jason to get home. We had a nice night together and now I'm back here at work!
Work is going great because I'm super busy with all the boys here... we are bottling our Syrah and next week our Zinfandel so it's crazy hectic around here. I'm normally by myself so it's a different vibe.
Jason and I don't have a life until October. We are busy EVERY single weekend for the next month and a half. Plus I've actually planned 3 meetings with potential caterers in the next few weeks, the first one tomorrow evening. Jason is grumbling about it but he's the one who said he wanted to be there to try the food in the first place! He said "I want to be in charge of the food and music" But so far it's been all up to me! ... lol So he can't back out. ;)
I'll post Saturday about our first meeting/tasting... this is the most expensive caterer so far so the food better be great!
Oh and I still get another three day weekend next week! I wonder what kind of trouble I'll get in this time? ;)
Thursday, August 16, 2007
My first Bridezilla outburst! The countdown begins!
I was quite surprised by my outburst I had the other night. Me turning into a Bridezilla?
Jason and I were invited over to my parents house for dinner and naturally the conversation turned towards our wedding. We were discussing the different caterer's and quotes we've been receiving when it happened. Some people (I won't name names) started giving opinions... opinions?? on different ideas other than caterer's. I yelled: "None of your opinions count, my opinions are the only ones that count and that's the way it's going to be!!" Which was then met by silence and then some nasty things said to me about my attitude. lol... I deserved it. But from now on I don't want any opinions unless I ask! I have a vision of our wedding and as long as I keep within our budget that I formulated then things should be just fine. On to other things...
I worked over my "weekend" (Monday and Tuesday) because we had an event here in the Pinot Wine Country of California. There is a group of 20 top Pinot producers in the area (called the Piont Forum) that once a year invite 60 sommeliers from around the country to come and spend a few days here to attend seminars and winemaker dinners to further their education on the great Pinot Noir we make in this area. I was pouring wine for one seminar on both mornings at my boss' vineyards. It was absolutely beautiful out and very educational for me. I got to hear 5 different winemakers talk about this area and why it's such a great place to grow Pinot. (It's really going to help me out with my new tasting room project - I'll blog about another time).
Then on Monday night I was a "wine glass server" for the Grand Dinner with all the winemakers and sommeliers. I thought this was going to be the worst part of the weekend because of what I had heard from other people that helped out in the past.
I had hurried home from the seminar and cleaned the house top to bottom. Marc (Jason's brother) was coming over in the afternoon to BBQ and watch the Yankee's game. I'm kind of fanatic about having the house in perfect condition before people come over and Jason just laughed at me because he could care less because it was just his brother. Non the less I wanted the house looking nice. Plus I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning for the next 2 days and I could focus on work. I was so jealous when I had to leave that night for the dinner! There's Marc and Jason hanging out downstairs having burgers, a great bottle of Syrah and watching the game in the clean house. I so didn't want to go and be a server at this dinner. :(
I get there and have to wait an hour before doing anything, so bored, I just talk to the rest of the "help" there was about 15-20 of us. Here's the set up: In front of each person are 4 burgundy wine glasses that need to be replaced with clean ones after each course (there are 6 courses every 45 minutes) and there are approx. 90 people at this dinner. This is totally separate from what the caterer's servers are doing which is why the Pinot Forum had to volunteer us to help.
So as soon as the caterer's servers cleared a table we would come in and replace the used glasses with new ones. Behind us the "pourers" come through and poured new Pinot (all in all they got to taste all 20 pinots in the forum). It was hectic and hurried because we were on a time schedule. After the first round I relaxed a bit because it wasn't as bad as I thought. Once in the back they announced that pizzas were here for the "help" and so we sat outside by the vineyards and ate. I was a gorgeous evening... and became even better when they started bringing out the left over wine for us to sample! In the years prior they didn't let the "help" drink any wine but this year things were a little more lenient. I don't see why not, as in this case we all started having more fun and socializing/relaxing in between the time when they would be enjoying their meal. We were really only working 15 minutes out of the hour. It was so fun to taste through all these wonderful Pinots! I have tasted most of them before but not all lined up so it was fun to compare and contrast all at the same time. So again we did our routine 4 more times with the switching of the wine glasses and phew! it was over. I was tired but content with the overall experience.
Next day: Again first thing in the morning with the seminar and then I only had a few hours to kill before I had to go set up at Rodney Strong for the Bacchanalia. This is the big ending party for the guest and winemakers. I only had to work from 3:30-7:00 so I was excited to have my night with Jason. I ended up staying till 8:00 though because I was in charge of the bar (we were pouring about 60 different wines) and I felt inclined to make sure everything was running smoothly with the volunteers that were taking over.
So finally I was done! I was so exhausted from the long weekend that once I got home and sat down I couldn't move. Jason was the absolute sweetest! He made me my "tofu" salad and it turned out delicious! I started the bedding when I first got home and got it into the dryer and after dinner I went upstairs to watch T.V. but I fell asleep soon after that. When he woke me up I found that he finished the bedding for me too (that's his worst chore, so I always do it).
I had Wednesday off and I had planned on sleeping in but because I had already slept for about 12 hours I got up early and tried to get my life back in order (I had tons of gossip blogs to read!). Later that day I met my mom and we went to the little store we love, got lunch and sat and talked for a bit, then did our "shopping". I hadn't seen Heidi for weeks so I went over to hang out with her for a bit. We sat out on her front porch and had some wine and caught up. We had a lot of fun!
I'm back at work now and I have another (waaaayyy less stressful) event this Saturday but the good news is that I have the next two Wednesdays off (two three day weekends in a row!)
But more sad news... Jason is leaving tomorrow to go up to Oregon and visit with his best friends and he'll be returning on Tuesday. We haven't been away from each other (for a long period of time) in over a year so I'll miss him a lot. 4 nights without him :( But I can't be selfish because these are his best friends and he only gets to see them once or twice a year so I'm happy for all of them and I know they'll have so much fun!
Jason and I were invited over to my parents house for dinner and naturally the conversation turned towards our wedding. We were discussing the different caterer's and quotes we've been receiving when it happened. Some people (I won't name names) started giving opinions... opinions?? on different ideas other than caterer's. I yelled: "None of your opinions count, my opinions are the only ones that count and that's the way it's going to be!!" Which was then met by silence and then some nasty things said to me about my attitude. lol... I deserved it. But from now on I don't want any opinions unless I ask! I have a vision of our wedding and as long as I keep within our budget that I formulated then things should be just fine. On to other things...
I worked over my "weekend" (Monday and Tuesday) because we had an event here in the Pinot Wine Country of California. There is a group of 20 top Pinot producers in the area (called the Piont Forum) that once a year invite 60 sommeliers from around the country to come and spend a few days here to attend seminars and winemaker dinners to further their education on the great Pinot Noir we make in this area. I was pouring wine for one seminar on both mornings at my boss' vineyards. It was absolutely beautiful out and very educational for me. I got to hear 5 different winemakers talk about this area and why it's such a great place to grow Pinot. (It's really going to help me out with my new tasting room project - I'll blog about another time).
Then on Monday night I was a "wine glass server" for the Grand Dinner with all the winemakers and sommeliers. I thought this was going to be the worst part of the weekend because of what I had heard from other people that helped out in the past.
I had hurried home from the seminar and cleaned the house top to bottom. Marc (Jason's brother) was coming over in the afternoon to BBQ and watch the Yankee's game. I'm kind of fanatic about having the house in perfect condition before people come over and Jason just laughed at me because he could care less because it was just his brother. Non the less I wanted the house looking nice. Plus I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning for the next 2 days and I could focus on work. I was so jealous when I had to leave that night for the dinner! There's Marc and Jason hanging out downstairs having burgers, a great bottle of Syrah and watching the game in the clean house. I so didn't want to go and be a server at this dinner. :(
I get there and have to wait an hour before doing anything, so bored, I just talk to the rest of the "help" there was about 15-20 of us. Here's the set up: In front of each person are 4 burgundy wine glasses that need to be replaced with clean ones after each course (there are 6 courses every 45 minutes) and there are approx. 90 people at this dinner. This is totally separate from what the caterer's servers are doing which is why the Pinot Forum had to volunteer us to help.
So as soon as the caterer's servers cleared a table we would come in and replace the used glasses with new ones. Behind us the "pourers" come through and poured new Pinot (all in all they got to taste all 20 pinots in the forum). It was hectic and hurried because we were on a time schedule. After the first round I relaxed a bit because it wasn't as bad as I thought. Once in the back they announced that pizzas were here for the "help" and so we sat outside by the vineyards and ate. I was a gorgeous evening... and became even better when they started bringing out the left over wine for us to sample! In the years prior they didn't let the "help" drink any wine but this year things were a little more lenient. I don't see why not, as in this case we all started having more fun and socializing/relaxing in between the time when they would be enjoying their meal. We were really only working 15 minutes out of the hour. It was so fun to taste through all these wonderful Pinots! I have tasted most of them before but not all lined up so it was fun to compare and contrast all at the same time. So again we did our routine 4 more times with the switching of the wine glasses and phew! it was over. I was tired but content with the overall experience.
Next day: Again first thing in the morning with the seminar and then I only had a few hours to kill before I had to go set up at Rodney Strong for the Bacchanalia. This is the big ending party for the guest and winemakers. I only had to work from 3:30-7:00 so I was excited to have my night with Jason. I ended up staying till 8:00 though because I was in charge of the bar (we were pouring about 60 different wines) and I felt inclined to make sure everything was running smoothly with the volunteers that were taking over.
So finally I was done! I was so exhausted from the long weekend that once I got home and sat down I couldn't move. Jason was the absolute sweetest! He made me my "tofu" salad and it turned out delicious! I started the bedding when I first got home and got it into the dryer and after dinner I went upstairs to watch T.V. but I fell asleep soon after that. When he woke me up I found that he finished the bedding for me too (that's his worst chore, so I always do it).
I had Wednesday off and I had planned on sleeping in but because I had already slept for about 12 hours I got up early and tried to get my life back in order (I had tons of gossip blogs to read!). Later that day I met my mom and we went to the little store we love, got lunch and sat and talked for a bit, then did our "shopping". I hadn't seen Heidi for weeks so I went over to hang out with her for a bit. We sat out on her front porch and had some wine and caught up. We had a lot of fun!
I'm back at work now and I have another (waaaayyy less stressful) event this Saturday but the good news is that I have the next two Wednesdays off (two three day weekends in a row!)
But more sad news... Jason is leaving tomorrow to go up to Oregon and visit with his best friends and he'll be returning on Tuesday. We haven't been away from each other (for a long period of time) in over a year so I'll miss him a lot. 4 nights without him :( But I can't be selfish because these are his best friends and he only gets to see them once or twice a year so I'm happy for all of them and I know they'll have so much fun!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Weekend break
Oh, it's funny how plans change and I'm never one to totally commit to something just in case I change my mind later. Sometimes I feel that my weekends fly by and I don't ever have a chance to relax and unwind.
Last Sunday night I met my parents after work for a glass of
Monday I was supposed to go with Heidi to the races so I got up early, had my coffee and read the news (gossip) and went to the gym. While I was at the gym I kept thinking of ways I could get out of going to the races. It was kind of nasty out, colder than it's been all year with lingering dark clouds and to me being outside at the race track having to socialize and network didn't seem very fun. So I planned my escape!
Heidi had called while I was at the gym so I called her right back and told her how I felt. I was hoping that she wouldn't be too upset since I was bailing out on her at the last minute. She didn't seem to be too upset and said that she was going to go anyway. I told her to call me if she was going back home later and maybe then I'd come by to hang out for a bit.
It's harder now that I live on this side of town (north/west
So guess what I did? Nothing! It was so fabulous! I came home and showered and got into my lounging clothes and played on the computer and bothered Jason (no not really, he loved it). I had so much fun. Usually Jason has Monday afternoons to himself so this was a change and we both were having so much fun, talking about the wedding, playing with the cats, etc. I made him Macaroni and Cheese in the crock-pot for dinner. I was really nice to just relax and not have to do anything outside our home.
Heidi did call me later and wanted me to go out and meet up with everyone for a drink waaayyy on the other side of town. I so didn't want to drive 30 minutes (this was during rush hour) to have one drink and then drive 20 minutes back home. I think at this point she was mad at me but she has to understand that I was having fun with Jason at home.
Yesterday I did keep my plans with Eric to go out to a few tasting rooms and we had fun. It ended up being a beautiful day and we met a lot of nice people and tasted a lot of nice
All and all it was a nice relaxing weekend and I was able to spend a lot of time with Jason.
So here I am back at work... it's going to be a long week too because I'm working an event on Monday and Tuesday night (my days off) but it’ll be fun too!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Thunder
It's Sunday and I'm actually happy to be here at work because I left Mister Cranky Pants at home. From the moment we woke up this morning I could tell Jason was going to be in a not-so-good mood. Last night though was great! We BBQ'd halibut, zucchini and squash and I made a salad. We listened to Jazz, had the candles going and we decanted a bottle of Oregon Pinot. It was very romantic! Even Captin a.k.a "Thunder" was enjoying the moment.
Here he is sprawled out on the couch while we eat dinner:
Jason just started calling him "Thunder" as you can probably tell in these pics Captin is huge! He is also called "The Tank" sometimes. He's getting older and more cranky these days. If he's outside and we ask him to come in he will meow very angrily at us and even this morning we pushed --- no pulled him, as he hung on for dear life to the comforter, off the bed and he yelled at us. Between him and his brother Cajun it's hard to sleep when they are both on the bed. Captin usually sleeps in his cat bed in our room but if one of us wakes up and Captin hears he'll jump up on the bed and crawl right in between us and nestle in. We can't move because all his weight is on the comforter so we get stuck in one position. Then Cajun comes up from the end of the bed and wants to snuggle with everyone and that then turns into the two of them fighting over our attention. No more sleeping! I guess it's preparing us for when we have kids!
Here are the two monkey's up in my office:
Jason has today off and I left him with a lot of projects to do. First though he went to get the newspaper and some sausages for breakfast and I could hear him trying to start the car and after a few trys it started up. It just started doing this yesterday (not wanting to start) and he thought he had the problem fixed last night but it looks like he'll have to take it into the shop. He just put a ton of money into it a few months ago so this really sucks. Especially since he's been complaining about his clothes, I've been telling him to go shopping and he was probably going to this weekend but now with the car problems and not knowing what that'll cost he might not be able to. We are being extremely frugal because of the wedding coming up. Especially now since I just started getting quotes back from the caterers! I could buy a nice car with the quotes they are giving me. This wedding is going to be a lot expensive than I thought...
So when he came back home I had to sadly inform him that the coffee I made was really weak. I didn't realize we were almost out so tried my best but it pretty much tasted like water flavored coffee. He really wanted a good kick of caffeine this morning because all of the projects so I just told him to take a shot of Tequila with the weak coffee and that should work. Hey, at least I made him laugh. As I was getting ready I could hear him banging around in the downstairs bathroom, along with the banging I heard cursing. Great.
I had purchased all new fixtures for both bathrooms and he was trying to install the towel rack and couldn't screw enough into the wall because there was a beam there. He was getting all sorts of cranky and by the time I came downstairs to make some toast he was very frustrated. We had to re-asses the situation of where else it could go and once we did of course it didn't work there either. I was so ready to get out of there and come to my quiet office here at the winery and not listen to him bitch and complain about how shitty his day is.
Of course he's already called twice because the upstairs towel rack is missing an allen wrench. Go to ACE! If the car doesn't start he can just walk it's right down the street.There's nothing I can do up here in Healdsburg. His other project is to finish the rest of the trim and the crown molding in the bedroom which will be a pain in the ass.
I'm planning on going to the gym tonight and so I hope by the time I get home he's having a beer and relaxing on the couch in a better mood. I totally don't blame him, I would feel the same way if I were him. I'm just trying to be as nice and supportive as I can.
This also means that he most likely won't be coming to the fairgrounds for the last day of the races tomorrow with Heidi and I. I really wanted him to come with us but I have a feeling that he'll be too upset about taking his car into the shop.
Tuesday my friend Eric (he works at Deloach Vineyards) and I are going to do a private tasting at Chalk Hill Winery. Every few months we go out to visit tasting rooms we haven't been to that way we can recommend other places for our customers to go to. So it's sort of work but tons of fun!
Whew! I feel like my weekend will be over in a matter of minutes!
Here he is sprawled out on the couch while we eat dinner:
Jason just started calling him "Thunder" as you can probably tell in these pics Captin is huge! He is also called "The Tank" sometimes. He's getting older and more cranky these days. If he's outside and we ask him to come in he will meow very angrily at us and even this morning we pushed --- no pulled him, as he hung on for dear life to the comforter, off the bed and he yelled at us. Between him and his brother Cajun it's hard to sleep when they are both on the bed. Captin usually sleeps in his cat bed in our room but if one of us wakes up and Captin hears he'll jump up on the bed and crawl right in between us and nestle in. We can't move because all his weight is on the comforter so we get stuck in one position. Then Cajun comes up from the end of the bed and wants to snuggle with everyone and that then turns into the two of them fighting over our attention. No more sleeping! I guess it's preparing us for when we have kids!
Here are the two monkey's up in my office:
Jason has today off and I left him with a lot of projects to do. First though he went to get the newspaper and some sausages for breakfast and I could hear him trying to start the car and after a few trys it started up. It just started doing this yesterday (not wanting to start) and he thought he had the problem fixed last night but it looks like he'll have to take it into the shop. He just put a ton of money into it a few months ago so this really sucks. Especially since he's been complaining about his clothes, I've been telling him to go shopping and he was probably going to this weekend but now with the car problems and not knowing what that'll cost he might not be able to. We are being extremely frugal because of the wedding coming up. Especially now since I just started getting quotes back from the caterers! I could buy a nice car with the quotes they are giving me. This wedding is going to be a lot expensive than I thought...
So when he came back home I had to sadly inform him that the coffee I made was really weak. I didn't realize we were almost out so tried my best but it pretty much tasted like water flavored coffee. He really wanted a good kick of caffeine this morning because all of the projects so I just told him to take a shot of Tequila with the weak coffee and that should work. Hey, at least I made him laugh. As I was getting ready I could hear him banging around in the downstairs bathroom, along with the banging I heard cursing. Great.
I had purchased all new fixtures for both bathrooms and he was trying to install the towel rack and couldn't screw enough into the wall because there was a beam there. He was getting all sorts of cranky and by the time I came downstairs to make some toast he was very frustrated. We had to re-asses the situation of where else it could go and once we did of course it didn't work there either. I was so ready to get out of there and come to my quiet office here at the winery and not listen to him bitch and complain about how shitty his day is.
Of course he's already called twice because the upstairs towel rack is missing an allen wrench. Go to ACE! If the car doesn't start he can just walk it's right down the street.There's nothing I can do up here in Healdsburg. His other project is to finish the rest of the trim and the crown molding in the bedroom which will be a pain in the ass.
I'm planning on going to the gym tonight and so I hope by the time I get home he's having a beer and relaxing on the couch in a better mood. I totally don't blame him, I would feel the same way if I were him. I'm just trying to be as nice and supportive as I can.
This also means that he most likely won't be coming to the fairgrounds for the last day of the races tomorrow with Heidi and I. I really wanted him to come with us but I have a feeling that he'll be too upset about taking his car into the shop.
Tuesday my friend Eric (he works at Deloach Vineyards) and I are going to do a private tasting at Chalk Hill Winery. Every few months we go out to visit tasting rooms we haven't been to that way we can recommend other places for our customers to go to. So it's sort of work but tons of fun!
Whew! I feel like my weekend will be over in a matter of minutes!
Friday, August 3, 2007
Here’s how it happened… Part 3
The story of our Engagement – Part 3
Here I am on the river:
I think Jason felt the same way about being on the river so he suggested we walk down to Jackson Square. Jackson Square is a beautiful garden area about 5 blocks from where we were. I thought "Genius!" that would be the perfect place, it's quite and private. As we are walking into the square we hear a street band playing jazz and they were awesome! We stopped and listened to them play and then walked into the gated garden and sat down at one of the benches. It was very romantic, we were all by ourselves and we could still hear the music playing behind us.
I knew he was going to do it then so I just stared at him and waited for him to talk. I laugh about what I must of looked like. He said, as he was reaching into his pocket, "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do this but..." and he pulled out the box with the ring, opened the box and said, "I love you deeply, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, will you marry me?"
"YES!" I said and I kissed him a million times. I was still shocked even though I knew about it and I was so happy and excited. He put the ring on my finger and it couldn't have fit any better and it was the perfect ring, so beautiful.
I asked him who knew about this and he told me that he asked my parents (Annie, Dawson and Terrell) blessings and permission the day before we left and he had told his two brothers.
I was like "Um, I sort of knew"... and we both laughed... so we talked about the whole airport situation and how he initially thought that I saw... etc. but then he wasn't sure if I did because I didn't give anything away. He was a little disappointed because he wanted it to be a total complete surprise... remember the "assessment period"? That was all a ploy to further my suspicions of him asking me in the near future. That sneaky kid.
He had bought the diamond and had it set about 3 weeks before we left and kept it hidden in the closet. I couldn't believe it! I was so wrapped up in our trip that I didn't notice any odd behavior from him. He later told me stories of what he had to do to get it without me noticing anything, like hiding the credit card bill and sneaking home early from work to hide it. Also the morning before he went to pick up the ring from the jeweler I told him about a dream I had: That he had bought me an engagement ring. No joke... I didn't remember until he reminded me. He said that when I told him he froze for a second, thinking maybe I knew something but then soon realized that I didn't. (We sometimes dream the same dreams so I'm sure I picked up on something while we were sleeping)
Although it didn't work out the way he planned it was still so beautiful and romantic and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Plus it's a great story to tell!
This just prepares me more for the wedding, knowing that everything won't go as planned. So there you have it!
Here we are in Jackson Square right after we became engaged:
Finally we are in
We arrive at our hotel, about 5 blocks from the French Quarter, and check in. Our room wasn’t ready yet (since they had given away our original room we paid for the night before) but said that our new room would be ready in an hour. Famished for
The whole time I keep thinking “When is he going to ask me?” I was hopping that he would wait until we freshened up at our hotel room since we had been traveling so long and I hadn’t had a decent shower. We had lunch at a little po boy sandwich restaurant in the French Quarter and just relaxed and felt the weight of the stress of traveling lift away. After lunch we walked back to our hotel room checked in, took a nap and showered up.
Jason then suggested we take a walk down the
As we walked down to the river we were trying to hold hands but our palms were sweaty and we didn’t talk much because we were both nervous and anxious. If I didn’t know Jason was going to ask me I don’t think I would have gone along with walking down to the river, I’m might have been like, “Let’s do that tomorrow morning, let’s go get a drink at a bar right now.” But I knew so I went along with everything he suggested. We get down to the walk way and it’s beautiful and clear out but tons of people! Last year it was so private just the two of us but this year everyone and their kids were out so it was noisy and crowded. I was really hoping that he wouldn’t do it there because it didn’t feel right. We stopped to take our pictures by the river.
Here is Jason's signature pose: (We have a picture of him like this from every trip we’ve taken)
Here I am on the river:
I think Jason felt the same way about being on the river so he suggested we walk down to Jackson Square. Jackson Square is a beautiful garden area about 5 blocks from where we were. I thought "Genius!" that would be the perfect place, it's quite and private. As we are walking into the square we hear a street band playing jazz and they were awesome! We stopped and listened to them play and then walked into the gated garden and sat down at one of the benches. It was very romantic, we were all by ourselves and we could still hear the music playing behind us.
I knew he was going to do it then so I just stared at him and waited for him to talk. I laugh about what I must of looked like. He said, as he was reaching into his pocket, "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do this but..." and he pulled out the box with the ring, opened the box and said, "I love you deeply, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, will you marry me?"
"YES!" I said and I kissed him a million times. I was still shocked even though I knew about it and I was so happy and excited. He put the ring on my finger and it couldn't have fit any better and it was the perfect ring, so beautiful.
I asked him who knew about this and he told me that he asked my parents (Annie, Dawson and Terrell) blessings and permission the day before we left and he had told his two brothers.
I was like "Um, I sort of knew"... and we both laughed... so we talked about the whole airport situation and how he initially thought that I saw... etc. but then he wasn't sure if I did because I didn't give anything away. He was a little disappointed because he wanted it to be a total complete surprise... remember the "assessment period"? That was all a ploy to further my suspicions of him asking me in the near future. That sneaky kid.
He had bought the diamond and had it set about 3 weeks before we left and kept it hidden in the closet. I couldn't believe it! I was so wrapped up in our trip that I didn't notice any odd behavior from him. He later told me stories of what he had to do to get it without me noticing anything, like hiding the credit card bill and sneaking home early from work to hide it. Also the morning before he went to pick up the ring from the jeweler I told him about a dream I had: That he had bought me an engagement ring. No joke... I didn't remember until he reminded me. He said that when I told him he froze for a second, thinking maybe I knew something but then soon realized that I didn't. (We sometimes dream the same dreams so I'm sure I picked up on something while we were sleeping)
Although it didn't work out the way he planned it was still so beautiful and romantic and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Plus it's a great story to tell!
This just prepares me more for the wedding, knowing that everything won't go as planned. So there you have it!
Here we are in Jackson Square right after we became engaged:
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