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To one of my favorite places, Charleston, for a long and much needed girl’s weekend. We plan on eating our way through Charleston and taking in the sights of this beautiful city. Hope you have a fabulous weekend!
On our recent trip to Napa, we made the short drive up to St. Helena. The main street is very quaint and picturesque. This place made me happy.
The owner describes her store as a nod to classic California wine country style. Her store carries French antiques, vintage wine bottles, table linens and tableware. I purchased a dish towel. It was about all I could afford in my “price range”. But as they say….the inspiration is free.
Here are some pictures that I took. They are kind of blurry…I took them quickly. Kind of felt like I was doing something illegal.
Nice coffee table. Love the color combinations of the these pillows. The color of my sofa is similar to this one. I’m thinking I might need to change things up for Fall. Who am I kidding, who needs an excuse.
Now I just need a farmhouse on a vineyard to decorate. Maybe something like this.
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Today I am picking up on part II of our California vacation. For me the highlight of our trip was our stay at The Carneros Inn. It was the ultimate in relaxation. We had a blast venturing out each day, but we couldn’t wait to get back to the Carneros. Our favorite spot was definately the hot tub, with amazing views and poolside drinks….we were quite happy. The “rooms” at Carneros are actually bungalows with private courtyards and outdoor showers. The patios also have double loungers with heat lamps and each bungalow has a wood burning fireplace. The grounds are perfectly manicured and the views are beautiful. There were great design details every where you looked. I will let the pictures do the talking.
We were given a glass of wine upon check in and a drive to our room. We knew we would like this place.
Love the wood treatment on the walls. I am going to try this in my upstairs bunk room.
Farm. It was very fancy.
After dinner, we headed outside to sit by the outdoor firepits.
The wine tasting and vineyards were pretty amazing also. We had a private tour of Benzinger.
Our driver knew we would like the views at Artesa. He was right.
The wine tasting at Whetstone took place in an old farm house that the husband and wife team behind Whetstone had restored and brought back to life. The beautiful flag stone walls and fireplace are original. The wife had previously worked as an interior designer and designed the interiors for this space. Sorry the picture is blurry. The old farmhouse table was purchased from a nearby antique store. We sat around the table, sampled the wines and enjoyed the delicious spread that she had catered for us. This was probably my favorite wine tasting experience, loved the intimate setting and great conversation.
I had to include a picture of the ol’ Buick. We had a lot of laughs in this car. When we weren’t wine tasting, this was our mode of transportation.
More laughs at Del Dotto.
And ate at the famous Mustards Grill.
Oh, how I miss you Napa.
In June, my husband and I went on vacation with a few of our close friends, sans kids, and headed to the west coast. We spent a couple of days in San Francisco and the rest of our time in Napa. It was the first time my husband and I have been on a week long vacation together since our honeymoon, 13 years ago(!). It was peaceful, relaxing and so. much. fun. In an attempt to not bore overwhelm you, I thought I would do 2 posts. Here is a look at our time in San Francisco. Fill up your coffee mug and get comfy!
We spent our first night in San Francisco. This is the view from our hotel room and at night it was incredible.
After we checked in we headed to the lounge on top of the hotel to relax a little before we headed to a Giants game.
Here is 1/3rd of our group, Michael and Alison.
It was fun to experience game day at the Giants stadium. I love being in a big city. There is always so much going on.
We were told to try the garlic fries, apparently they are know for them. They did not disappoint.
The walk to the stadium was far, but the walk back was worth it. We managed to make a couple of stops on the way back to the hotel. The gang is all together….that is Joanne and T.J. in the middle (the other 1/3rd of our group).
That is Craig, Joanne and T.J.’s friend. We liked him. He drove up from Sacramento and met us at the Giants game. Our first night was a late one but we managed to make it to breakfast the next morning before we headed out of the city.
We made our way over the Golden Gate Bridge into Sausalito. It is a tiny town tucked away on the bay and looks back on the city of San Francisco. The bay is filled with sailboats (and a few yachts) and on a clear day you can see Alchatraz.
We could have spent the entire day in Sausalito, but …….the wine country was calling.
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