Life 2.1

With all the wedding activity that immediately followed my mid-week birthday, I didn’t have a chance to recap the fact that I’m 29.

Yes, I’m 29. Next year will be 30. Next year I’ll have a party or something. 29 just seems like a non-event in comparison.

Since it was a Tuesday (read: a work day) and of course because of Murphy’s Law, it was the busiest work day I had had in a long while. Phones ringing off the hook, meetings galore…you get the picture.

Dave took me out to dinner at a new restaurant neither of us had tried…Brassica is the new Cindy Pawlcyn place that features Mediterranean-inspired dishes (it used to be Go Fish, which had an awesome lobster mac-n-cheese).

It wasn’t bad; I had braised beef and Dave had the roasted chicken. All was tasty and the portions were ridiculously large. We enjoyed dessert, which was something that looked like flan when it was served but had the consistency of creme brulee. It was delicious and mocha-y and cinnamon-y…yum!

We asked the server to take our photo but she accidentally took a video; here is the screen capture of that since the video looks similar, only with Dave and I smiling, asking each other through gritted, smiley teeth if we thought she had taken the photo yet.

Corner Booth – prime for people watching

Dave knew that the weekend coming (wedding weekend) would be far too busy to continue the celebration, so being the thoughtful one that he is, he booked my birthday present– a massage at The Meritage Resort in Napa– for this past Saturday. The day turned into a one where we played tourist, doing all things Napa Valley and taking advantage of the things that we never get to do despite living here.

The massage, to start, was flippin fantastic.

Because he is a smarty, Dave booked it for 11 so I could sleep in, then informed me that I had access to their spa, jacuzzi, steam room, etc. for the rest of the day if I was so inclined. I thought that sounded good but I haven’t ever done anything like that so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The massage itself was an hour and it was so relaxing. Following that luxury, I helped myself to some lemon-water and hung out in the steam room for a bit. My skin felt amazing and so clean. 2 hours later, I was showered and felt so rejuvenated that I debated putting make up on because my skin actually felt like it looked good enough to forgo. Then I thought it was probably the fancy spa lighting and I dabbled a little bit on for good measure. Good thing too, because we went out to lunch at Fremont Dinner afterwards, which meant being seen in public, something for which I prefer to be wearing make up so as not to look like I just rolled out of bed.

It was such a gorgeous day, we decided to cap off our afternoon with some wine tasting at Artesa since I had never been and the views were amazing, especially on a clear day. It is down in Carneros and so high above the valley floor you can see for miles. I had no idea!

The picture doesn’t even do the view justice–it’s awesome

It was such a relaxing morning/afternoon…

No Comments | In: Social Adventures | tags: birthday, Napa Valley. | #

Let’s be clear with the title of this post– it was my cousin LEIGH’S wedding weekend that just took place. As such, I was her Maid of Honor and this of course comes with VERY important duties, such as her bachelorette celebration! Leigh is in retail and October-November-December are essentially akin to my August-September-October, which is to say, insanely busy and not so easy to plan a getaway. So to work around her (and selfishly, my “busy season” I opted to do a spa day the morning before her Big Day to try and help her relax and get ready to be a bride. This was especially appropriate because she had literally been working every.single.weekend.ever and I thought it would be a good idea to get her out of her work mind and into bride mind.

I arranged a private “retreat” room at the Villagio Inn & Spa in Yountville and we had optional mani-pedi appointments for those who wanted to take advantage. For those who didn’t need their nails done, they joined us for breakfast and hung out in our room. The below documents the girly-ness that went on Click to enlarge photos and an actual wedding post will follow shortly.

PS- I know my birthday was also last week, but given that it was a Tuesday (work day) and the wedding took place Saturday, that post is on hold. Dave and I celebrated with a nice dinner out (more on that later) and he is giving me a present this Saturday, as it’s our first 2-day weekend together in a while. The birthday post will come post-birthday present

2 Comments | In: Living the Vine Life, Social Adventures | tags: bachelorette party, Napa Valley, spa day, Villagio Inn & Spa, wedding. | #

Rarely do I blog about work because, truly, I like to keep my personal life and my professional one separate but since work today included being able to cross something off My Bucket List, I figured it was acceptable to share.

I drank this today. Please refer to #5 on my (albeit small) Life-long Bucket List.

A wine so special they count bottles produced, not cases. I drank from bottle #09513.

That’s right. I got to drink my DRC (2001 vintage). And not just a sip but a whole TASTE! It was such a treat.

It was delicate, more orange-red than purple-red, showing some signs of how nicely it had aged. The flavors swirled together in my glass, none of which were overpowering the other. There were slight notes of clean minerality, paired with hints of rhubarb, red berry…sigh. It sure put my coffee to shame at 9:30 this morning!

I learned about DRC when I first began work at the distributor in New Orleans. It was my first couple days and my boss told me to go through the portfolio and select some wines that I was not familiar with from some of our largest suppliers and sample them out so I would know what I was selling. I put DRC down on my sample request and was promptly laughed out of the building for even trying to requisition out a bottle of wine that went for more than my whole paycheck. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti has a handful of grand cru vineyards, with grand cru being the premiere level of vineyard in Burgundy, France. Of their grand crus, there is one in Puligny Chassagne, six in Vosne-Romanée (one of which is the Grands Echézeaux) and three in the Aloxe-Corton region.

So, back to what I was saying.

Later that year at the distributor, when the DRC allotment came in, one of my customers had pre-ordered a bottle (which was awesome, since I was on full commission.) In order to receive said bottle, I had to hand deliver it to the customer. No big deal. But when I went to pick it up, handling it came with strict instructions.

I was to head to the warehouse, leave my car running with the air conditioner blasting, then ask the warehouse staff to take me in the golf cart to the back “cold room” where this heralded wine was kept. Then I had to take the wooden box in which the wine was to be delivered and buckle it with a seat belt. Once I arrived at my account, the customer signed for it and I was safe.

The particular wine we tasted today is so highly coveted they are numbered.

Cheers Bottle #9513, you made my day.

No Comments | In: Living the Vine Life, Pulled Corks, Social Adventures | tags: Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands Echézeaux 2001, wine. | #

I had arrived on Thursday night and Dave took me for pizza. Long Island has not shortage of delis or pizza places with Italian names all claiming the Island’s best pizza. Friday was spent around his hometown of Northport and Saturday was New Year’s Eve, which was spent in Queens with his friends from high school (all of whom were lovely and hilarious and fun). We lounged New Year’s Day. He got bagels for breakfast brunch from one his favorite places and we walked from his parents’ house to the beach, where it was brisk, but nice. We visited the North Fork for wine tasting on Tuesday, where we ended up bringing back 14 or so bottles. I fell asleep in the car. Dave found it hilarious to take a picture of my with my head back, completely knocked out, with my mouth open. It was not one of my more flattering pictures but it brings him immeasurable entertainment. I will delete it off his phone when he isn’t looking.

We made it home in time to watch the Oregon Ducks emerge as Rose Bowl Champions. Fantastic. Tuesday was the day to go to NYC. I could give you a play-by-play of the trip into NYC but the visual tour just does it so much more justice. (click to enlarge)

I hadn’t seen the Statue of Liberty up close. In all the times I have visited NYC. Mental note: Winter is not the time to do it. It was so cold that tears were literally drawn from my eyes by the biting wind.

South Street Seaport. More importantly, the point at which I begin to feel my ears again

South Street Seaport was downright balmy compared to Battery Park

So much warmer here. If 40ish degrees is considered warm.

The most amazing display of all edible Italian things. Following the traumatic cold at Battery Park, Dave took me to Eataly where we were amazing/overwhelmed at the marketplace and cafe(s) of Eataly. Go there. It’s awesome.

I was dying to see this tree. I was unimpressed. So much space between those branches! And colored lights aren’t my favorite. But I still like this photo, which comes complete with protestors in the background.

Heading to a subway station on the way home, I subjected Dave to taking photos next to pretty things like this fountain, which we are blocking. But trust me. It was pretty. Pretty and cold.

We shopped on Wednesday and I got a taste of some Long Island culture when a mother of two began yelling (in a voice not unlike that of Janice from “Friends”) at her young son for pushing his younger brother in a stroller while she was busy in J Crew. Later, another woman who donned bleached white hair, a faux fur wrap, serious raccoon eyes and enough gold jewelry to retire thanks to cash4gold.com, was wearing so much perfume, I had a sneezing fit. My eyes began to swell and it was all down hill. We left and I went home and napped. Then took a long steaming shower to remove that horrific scent from my nasal cavities. Long Island Mall: 1, Colleen: 0.

Thursday I had sushi. Kind of. I had bites of Dave’s tuna because the seaweed brings back awful flashbacks from college where we had 3 rice cookers (one of which was branded with Hello Kitty) and a constant supply of dried seaweed and kimchee. I actually ordered the teriyaki chicken because I wasn’t feeling adventurous. But his tuna roll thing was tasty. We spent the evening on our last full day in Queens again, having dinner with Eric and Maria. Maria is Irish and her accent is fairly awesome. The 4 of us laughed, drank wine and indulged in what we all agreed were calories that don’t count since we were on vacation. I really enjoyed having dinner with the two of them (our hosts from NYE) and I’m glad Dave got to spend some time with them too.

Friday was spent in the air before we landed in SFO. Vacation was officially over 12 hours later when I was back at work but at least I had a full week to unplug and unwind.

It was fantastic.

No Comments | In: Social Adventures | tags: New York, vacation. | #

I love Dave’s hometown. We walked around the village yesterday, down to the dock. It was sunny and 50 degrees (in New York. In late December.) Fabulous.

No Comments | In: Social Adventures, Thoughts & Ponderings | tags: New York, Northport, vacation. | #