Napa Valley

We recently spent a few days in Napa Valley. I want to move there! The weather is wonderful, the food is great, the wine is outstanding, and the scenery beautiful.

I saw two Teslas in Yountville. This is Ben's dream car (only not in Orange).

Some of the things we did and my reviews:

The town of Yountville was our favorite town in Napa Valley.

Hope and Grace Tasting Room, Yountville

We loved their wine, the people were nice, and the tasing room had a good atmosphere.

Silenus Vintners Tasting Room

Beautiful setting. I loved that they represent several small wineries so you get to taste a wide variety.

Ma(i)sonry -

LOVED the atmosphere. The wine was good. It has an awesome outdoor tasting area with a fire pit. We met the owners around the fire pit the night we were tasting. They were very nice. Ma(i)sonry is also an art gallery. This is a must see even if you don't taste the wine.

Girard Tasting Room

Good wine. This place and Hope and Grace had the nicest people, and one of the girls working there is an Auburn Alum!

Cakebread Winery

If you do the reserve tasting, the room you are in has a breathtaking view of the winery. Loved the wine.

Robert Mondavi Winery

I hate to say it but this was our least favorite tour/tasting. It is a good tour to see the process but it was way too commercial. It also didn't help that we had some really annoying people on the tour with us. However, we did meet a really nice Norwegian couple.

Cornerstone Cellars Tasting Room, Yountville

We like the tasting room, but these were our least favorite wines. This was taste specific for us. They had several wines from vineyards on Howell Mountain that we didn't like. When we were at Cakebread we had a wine from vineyards on Howell Mountain that we didn't like. We realized that it was the taste from Howell Mountain that we don't like.

Chateau Montelena Winery

We unknowingly visited when they were not doing tours so we didn't see the barrel/bottling area of the Chateau. The Chateau is beautiful. This is something we had on our list to do because of Bottle Shock. The movie is great! The wines were good and we had a great conversation with the people we met tasting.

Yountville Deli

Great sandwiches!

Bouchon Bakery

I loved this bakery! We ate lunch here a couple of days and I would go back while I was waiting on Ben to finish working. They have a great courtyard with a big shade tree. It was so peaceful for sitting and reading.

Hurley's

This was was Ben's favorite restaurant of the trip. The outside seating is great! One thing we really loved was the weather. We broke out the wrap and long sleeve shirt and the waiter brought a patio heater over by us. The food here is great and they have no corkage fee.

Bottega

I really liked this restaurant. It is owned by Michael Chiarello. We met Michael Chiarello. Our dinner was great and we had one of his wines that we really liked. The calamari was to die for! The patio has great fireplaces.

Mustards Grill

We loved Mustards! They have a garden beside the restaurant. We walked through the garden before we ate, then ate some of the foods we saw growing. This was the best "California cuisine" we had.

Bistro Jeanty

Every time we asked a local about good restaurants, we were always told Bistro Jeanty. It lived up to its reputation!

Momma Needs a New Pair of Shoes

Hey, you can still need shoes even if you have a closet full of them.

In addition to all the working on the house, traveling, family things, and everything else, I am submitting applications and going to interviews for a job. Maybe when things get more settled, I'll post more often. I'm not sure if I'll get a job or where it will be, but hopefully I will. At an interview I went to yesterday, the interviewer told me that he thinks my law school's graduating class this year only has a 50% employment rate so far. Wow! He also said that many experienced attorneys are looking for jobs, like people in all industries right now. I'm looking for something specific, so there aren't as many possibilities out there for me, but we'll see how it goes. . .

Yikes!

I haven't written a new post in over a month. We've been busy. We had the outside of our house painted and a door replaced. Also added a security system. If you don't have one, think about it. You can save on home insurance (ours monitors for break-ins and fire). I'm also still working on painting the inside of the house. Oh, and Ben went on a work trip to France a couple of weeks ago. I was very jealous! Here are a few if his pics:

Groupon

Do you use Groupon? I signed up a month or two ago for deals in my area. When I signed up, the Bham area was still in the works. They just started offering deals this week, and I love it! Check it out.

Habitat for Humanity

Last week, we volunteered a day for Habitat for Humanity. We worked on a site here in town which is an entire neighborhood of Habitat homes. If you have never volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, you should. You're helping someone, you're helping a community, and you will have so much fun!

We have volunteered by ourselves and through organizations. This year, Ben's company sponsored a work day (employees could volunteer one day, still get paid, and not have to take vacation). Check with your employer. You might have the same program. If not, ask your employer to start one. Also, you can volunteer on Saturday. Having a home that is safe and that you can be proud of is one of the most important things in life. It makes me so happy to help, even just a little, make that dream come true for someone.

Pay It Forward

Today is Pay It Forward Day. Do something today for someone else with no intention of getting something in return. Do it anonymously if you can. What can you do? Whatever you can. You could compliment someone, mow your neighbor's grass, pick up the tab for the table next to you at lunch or dinner and leave before they know you did it, pay someone's hospital bill. Obviously, not everyone can afford to pay someone's bills, but amount is not what it is about. It is about doing something nice for another person with only the hope that the person will pay it forward. What will you do?

Great Movie

Last night while we were waiting out the storms (a live feed of the weather on my laptop, sitting in my lap the entire time), we watched Phoebe in Wonderland. It's not new. It has been out a couple of years, but we just watched it off our instant play on Netflix. It was great! Not great in a feel-good way (although it does have some of that), but great in an everyone-should-have-to-see-it way. You know those classes that universities make you take before you can graduate. This movie should be played in one. Even better would be showing it to students entering middle school. It's about a girl who is different. She happens to be different because of a condition she has, but the message would work even for someone who is just quirky. I have always believed that there is no "normal" where people are concerned. Normal is relative to each individual person. Normal is the way your close group (family, friends, etc.) functions. Additionally, everyone has something "crazy" about them. Whether it is a quirk, a bad habit, a mental condition, or issues caused by suffering (such as physical or emotional abuse), EVERYONE is different (or "crazy" or "weird" or whatever words you use). Never discount anyone. Some of the craziest people have also been the most brilliant. I remember once when I was in elementary school and stayed overnight with a friend. The next morning her mother made breakfast which included scrambled eggs. Everyone at the table put ketchup on their eggs and then passed the ketchup to me. I politely said "no thank you," but what I was thinking was, It is so weird that they put ketchup on their eggs. It was normal to them. She would have thought my family was weird if we had scrambled eggs and had no ketchup on the table. There are so many important lessons in this movie. One is accepting people who are different or have difficulty. Another is that you should never assume that you know what is going on with another person. People are very good at hiding things that are embarrassing or different. If someone seems weird, that person might just be quirky, but it could also be the result of something that he/she is going through. Don't add to that burden. Help if you can. Also, it was incredibly moving to watch the mother deny what was going on for so long. It made me cry that the little sister had the clapping, hopping, and twirling memorized and the mother didn't even know how bad it was. It know a mother like this. Nothing is ever wrong in her family. Nothing runs in the family (unless it is something good), not cancer, not hair loss, not depression, nothing. Nothing bad ever happens to anyone, nor does anyone do anything wrong. If something bad does happen, she tries never to tell anyone else in the family. What is worse? Knowing about something bad or sticking your foot in your mouth when you see that person the next time, or, even worse, not knowing your own medical history? This behavior makes me so sad. This mother never has accepted anything (unlike the mother in the movie) and her family has suffered for it. The family gatherings are like several acquaintances, who don't really like each other, being forced to spend a few hours together. Everyone is polite and pretends to have a good time, but no one is close, no one really talks to each other. None of them know each other.

I also have to say that Elle Fanning's performance in this movie is amazing! She is so young, yet she delivers a haunting portrayal of a troubled soul. Needless to say, this is a thought provoking movie that everyone should see and learn from!