Honeymoon in My Hometown: Wine Country Livin'

Wine country may not be my hometown, but Mr. Peep lived in Sonoma and Napa County for about nine years- and he was living in Napa for the first 1.5 years of our relationship, so I've spent a fair amount of weekends with various visitors traipsing through wine country. For all of you wanting to get out of the City and explore Wine Country, consider this post to be written with heavy consultation from Mr. Peep- an almost native.

I also must preface this post: Mr. Peep isn't a fan of big built up wineries, so you won't see any of those on the list. We also love finding a wine that is a great deal for the money. As Mr. PT says, anyone can make a great $100 bottle of wine- but can they make a good $20 bottle too??

And finally, our #1 rule of wine tasting: if you you like it great!! There are no rules of who says a wine is good or bad- all that matters is that you enjoy drinking it!

In the vain of my previous post, and some of Mr. Peep's favorite books growing up- think of this post as a choose your own adventure:


First choice: choose the region that you want to visit. While wine country can look pretty easy to navigate on a map, the roads are small and windy, so for a perfectly relaxing mini-moon I'd choose one of the regions below for a weekend or two for a longer weekend. What ever you do, don't attempt all of them unless you have a week.

The three regions that I am going to focus on are: Napa Valley, Sonoma, and Healdsburg. Each has something different to offer. To way over generalized: Napa Valley is most known for Cabernet's and Chardonnays and it's probably the most built up (read: expensive). Northern Sonoma is more known for Pinot Noirs, Cabernet's, and Savignon Blancs, it's probably the least built up, which gives you a feeling of Napa about 15 to 20 years ago. Healdsburg is quite possibly Mr. PT's very favorite place- he lived there for two years and would love to move back. It's generally known for Zinfandel's and Savigvnon Blancs with some Pinot Noirs. The town square itself is pricey, but I love the wineries and the people in the area. Here's a map to get you situated:


So you've chosen to spend a few days up in Napa Valley:

Heading up from the Bay Area, your first stop is one of the most beautiful wineries you'll hit: Domaine Carneros. Although it's technically in Sonoma, it's the perfectly romantic place for a mini-moon (I've even seen a proposal on the deck). Make sure you sample one of their scrumptious flights of sparkling wines.

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Next, go straight to the City of Napa and go to the Vintner's Collective. It's a group of small wineries that are too small to have their own tasting rooms, but the wine is awesome!! It allows you to taste a bunch of great wine in one setting. For lunch, walk across the street to Pizza Azzurro (where Mr. PT and I had our first date) or drive over to Ox Bow Public Market- it's based on the idea of the Ferry Building in San Francisco and a great place to taste some local fare. And within walking distance is the brand new Westin, which might be one of the best deals in Wine Country.

After lunch, head North, to Cliff Lede (maybe you can sample some sparkling wine made by Mr. PT), and if you have some major bucks to spend stay at the phenomenal Poetry Inn. We also like Miner and Chimney Rock. And if you want a truly unique and personal experience take a few hours out of you day and make an appointment at Newton Winery.

For dinner, go to my all time favorite restaurant: Zuzu. Fun, romantic and perfect for a mini-moon. Before you head out of town, ask a local for directions to Las Palmas Mexican Food!!

If Sonoma is more your speed, make your first stop at Larson Family Vineyard. It's a great low key place for wine novices and I absolutely love their Roses. We also love VJB Vineyards and Frank Family, and a stop at the fantastic Olive and Vine is a must, which also has an amazing cheese shop attached to it. If you have a bit of money for a place to stay- I'd recommend the Carneros Inn. It's amazingly beautiful, but if you want to save your bucks to buy wine- I'd recommend staying at the El Puelbo Inn. A must have reservation for dinner is the Girl and the Fig. Other places nearby to check out are Gloria Ferrer, the Cornerstone Gardens and Sister Peep got married at B.R. Cohn.


So you've chosen Healdsburg: our absolute favorite!! A few wineries we love are MacPhil for some Pinot Noir, Dutcher's Crossing, Quivera, and the Family Wineries, which is another collective where I'd suggest sampling Forth, Amphoria, and Dashe Cellars. I also wouldn't miss making a reservation at Unti (or in a pinch- just try walking in).

You must stop off at Diavola Pizzeria for lunch and Scopa for Dinner. Both are so amazing. I'd recommend resting your head at Hotel Healdsburg for a splurge, or the Dry Creek Best Western for a good deal for the money.

Once you've eaten and drank your way through Wine Country don't forget to pamper yourself a bit. If you are in Napa Valley, take the time to drive North to the Hot Springs in Calistoga. A local favorite is Dr. Wilkinson's Hot Springs. If you are in Sonoma, the Spa at the Sonoma Mission Inn is fantastic. And in Healdsburg, Hotel Healdsburg's Spa is beautiful.

In the end, half the fun of wine tasting is choosing your own adventure, so if you are driving around and you want to stop- by all means stop and check something out- you may find your favorite wine of the day!

And that's all we have time for today (let me know if you are interested in driving up to Anderson Valley).

Wine Country Livin according to the Peeps. Do you have a favorite local winery??

All pics from Mama Peep unless otherwise noted.

I am a klutz!!

Hive, again, I need your help. I was taking some pictures last week (for Weddingbee no less) and I dropped my camera (ok, maybe more than once). All of a sudden my pictures went from this:*


To this:


Mr. PT looked it over and gave a very non-professional diagnosis- it's broken. He thinks it has something to do with the white scale. Or something like that.

This posses a big problem- with all our exciting events coming up- hello, we are getting married- we NEED a camera. And seriously, how will I take a before and after picture of my hair trial this weekend without one!! I can't let the hive down again.

Since this is not an expense that we had budgeted, I want to take advantage of a Target Gift Card that we have. Thus, our options are slightly limited. Here are the top three that we are considering. Please weigh in and let me know what you'd recommend.

Mama Peep highly recommended the Panasonic Lumix because of the Leica lens. While I wish we could afford this one:

I think this one would better fit our budget:


My co-worker is all about the Canon Powershot, and I have to admit, this one seems to have great ratings online:

And last but not least: the Casio Exilim, which would be the upgrade from my busted camera that I acutally really liked:



*These pics are a preview of our blurb guest book.

So hive, if you were buying a point and shoot camera, which one would you get!?? Help, I need it by this weekend.

Friendor: My Sparkler Maker

My friend Katie is a master jewelry maker. In fact, she's so amazing that she made all the jewelry she wore to her own wedding, and all the bridesmaid's jewelry as well. Katie is second from the left, and Bridesmaid C is third from the left:

While at my friend M's (the lovely lady on the left of the photo) wedding last year, Katie offered to make a bracelet for me for my big day!! I was so excited. Finally, my first friendor! I gave Katie basically no direction. I said make it sparkly and make it dangle. Really, that was about it; oh, and I mentioned that my bridesmaids were wearing brown.

She is so amazingly awesome she sent me three options. Here they are- aren't they all great? I tried to capture how much they sparkle!


Option 1: felt perfectly dainty on my wrist- I even wore it around the house for a few hours, I loved it but needed something a bit more.


Option 2: gorgeous, and the brown fits in perfectly with my bridesmaids outfits.


Option 3: The one I picked. I love it. It sparkles and dangles just perfectly. And I love the hint of brown to match my maids!!


If you like any of the above bracelets; would like to purchase Option 1 or 2; or would like to work with my friend Katie to custom design something: you can find her on Etsy. She does a lot of custom work so you won't find too much on her site, but she'd be more than happy to work with you doing anything. And her prices are totally reasonable. Plus, she's based in Seattle, so if any PNW brides are looking for a local jewelry maker, you must look her up!!

Any one else have a friend make you something fabulous for your big day?

Finally, we have a Rehearsal Dinner Venue!!!

With less than three months before the wedding, we finally have confirmation that we have a place for the Rehearsal Dinner!! In fact, it's such an awesome venue that if I could rewind a year and re-pick our wedding venue- this is where I'd actually host the actual wedding reception (but don't tell).

Our goal was something casual, fun and within walking distance of the hotel. And we decided early on that we'd invite all 60 guests because 55 of them are from out of town. Unfortunately, everything by our hotel is pretty pricey and formal so we had a really tough time finding something casual where we could all fit.

The first place we looked into was Epic Roasthouse. Originally we checked it out for the wedding. The view is breathtaking, and it was a fantastic second choice, but nothing about it was casual and it was a bit pricey. The scariest part is that drinks are per consumption, so we'd have no idea how much the whole thing would cost until the end of the night. I realize this is common for a wedding (but we wanted no surprises)!!


Next, we went super casual and looked into hosting a box or a space at the Giant's Stadium. But surprisingly, this would have been the most expensive option. A private room during a ball game at AT&T park is uber expensive and we couldn't have fit all of our guests in a box (or two).

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For about two seconds we looked into La Mar which is right down the street from where Mrs. Pinot Noir had her Rehearsal Dinner. It's the hot new restaurant that specializes in seafood with Peruvian flare, and Mr. PT, well, he basically wouldn't eat any of the seafood on the menu. And without the seafood- what's the point of a seafood restaurant?

After looking into everything within walking distance, we finally realized that we needed to expand our search. Yet, we didn't want to expand too far- this is a big City and I didn't want to open a can of worms. Somehow in a conversation with Mr. Peep's Dad he brought up a couple more potential options: Lulu Bis and Coco500, which both happened to be closer to our cheaper hotel option.

We spent a night having bites to eat at both places, but we both knew that as soon as we walked into Coco500 we had found the place.

There is no view like Epic; it's not as fun and casual as the ball park; or as close as La Mar. But we get to rent out the entire restaurant. And the vibe screams San Francisco modern and casual all at once. And did I mention that they served local organic food?? Perfect!!

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The dining area:

Source: Coco500


Source: Coco500

For one flat rate: we get the restaurant to ourselves for the entire night, a cocktail hour with four signature cocktails (seriously, we aren't even serving cocktails at the wedding!) and passed hor d'oeuvres, and a three course dinner with wine pairing!! I think now I might be more excited for the Rehearsal Dinner so we can feast on these: Green Beans Fried in Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. YUM!!!


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How did you choose where you'd have the Rehearsal Dinner? And how close to the wedding did you book it??

Oh, Diane, no you didn't!!

I am the absolute worst Bee Blogger ever. I went to my first dress fitting- and the camera in my battery was dead!! I feel like I committed a blogging crime by doing something so important and not taking my camera. If it's any help, my Mom was a bit disappointed that I didn't take any pictures either.

The good news is: the fitting was fantastic. To my surprise, it wasn't just a muslin of my dress- but the actual dress. At first I was totally disappointed because it was so big on me that it just looked like a satin sack. Then two fabulous seamstresses came down from the 6th floor and did their magic. Using tons of pins and a seam ripper they completely modified the dress to fit my body. At the end of the experience, I got to meet Lilly- the women who actually sewed my dress. The even more good news, I will have at least 3 more fittings- and I promise to take my camera to the next three!!

Since I feel like I owe the hive a picture of me in a dress, I thought I should follow up on my fabulous DVF dress. I've already introduced you to Peyton, but here she is on me (Sorry, I had to cut off my head):


I love her, yet very soon after she arrived I had major buyers remorse. The dress was just too much money. Last weekend, Sister Peep, SIL Peep and I had a quick moment while their little ones were napping to do a little window shopping.

We just happened to walk by a window that advertised a 60 to 80% off sale!! Within 30 seconds of being in the store, I spotted Ravine. Another Diane Von Furstenberg dress, but this one was 60% off the original price. A much better price than Peyton, and it had a lot more pizazz!! Both ladies loved the dress- so I bought the dress immediately!! It's non-returnable, but I love it so much and the price I was so great, I know that I will never regret the purchase!! I wish it photographed better (and I wish I had been wearing the right bra):

It's fun and flirty, and the price doesn't break the bank!!

Since I bought Peyton at Nordstrom, it was super easy to return her. But I am sad that I had to return the perfect little black dress.

What do you think; a lot more fun huh? How many RH Dinner Dresses did you try on? Did it take a few family members to help you finally decide on a dress?

Mr. Peep's Wedding Kicks

While I might be slightly obsessed with finding the perfect pair of peep toe shoes to wear for the wedding, Mr. Peep has known since day one what he wanted to wear. Chucks.

I don't know if I was sold on him wearing Connies for the wedding, but as soon as I found out that he could design his own Connies, I knew he needed a pair.

So for Valentine's Day- he spent about half an hour picking and choosing colors and stitching. They came on Friday. He loves them and I actually think they are pretty fantastic too!! In fact, he's persuaded me to let him wear them for both the wedding and the reception.

He got to choose all the colors (of course he's the best fiance- they match the wedding colors!)




And he even got to personalize them with his name:


I think this is pretty cool way to personalize Mr. Peep's outfit, and it was only 60 bucks!! I think we'll have the Groomsmen wear brown Connies too.

Is your Groom adding a little excitement to his outfit??

Underthings

So my first dress fitting is today!! I am so nervous.

It won't actually be my dress, but a muslin of my dress made to fit my body!! While I have been working extra hard to get my body into shape (I'll post on this soon), I figured it wouldn't hurt to have some extra under-roo help.

So I went looking for the holy mecca of underwear shapers- Spanks!!!

With the help of the woman in the undies department, I grabbed a few shapers and headed to the dressing room.

First up, the Spanks shaper and smoother.

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I hate to go against the grain, but I didn't love the spanks!? They were totally comfortable, and they made everything smoother, but it didn't feel like anything was sucked in.

But the winner of the trip, a surprise contender: Wacoal

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It is totally comfortable, super thin, and it feels like everything is in the right place.

I only tried on two shapers so by no means am I an expert. Anyone have a shaper undergarment that they recommend?