Monday, January 12, 2009

Napa Info...Add on #2

Okay, so to answer your questions about our trip;

Yes, we were able to choose our room - we stayed in the garden suites, the noble vineyard room and we just loved it.

Food, well we ate on the Nappa Valley Wine Train - the Vista Dome Car which was just such a fun experience and well here is a list of the other places we ate that we want to go again.

Bleaux Magnolia – great food, my favorite place http://www.yelp.com/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bleauxmagnolia.com&src_bizid=ARwPBwWDk4Rqn6Lw9wqZUQ
Elements – just opened, good food
Napa Valley Wine Train - you can make reservation on line so much fun, I would recommend you do the lunch time trip, it’s less expensive and a better view of Nappa plus you can stop for wine tasting on the trip.
Bottega – great Italian food - Chef Michael Chiarello from the food network - here is his blog http://www.michaelchiarello.com/blog/ and his restaurants website http://www.botteganapavalley.com/

As for the wine tasting, we were lucky enough to have Innkeepers that new their wine and food so we went with all their recommendations and both Jose and I are glad that we did.
Here is our list of wineries to try;
Black Stallion Winery -I loved this place, it has such a great history about the property and when you walk in its like wow I would have never guessed it would be like this. One thing is for sure for bring one of the newer wineries in the area they have a great selection of wines. Plus Jose and I tried their Cheese pairing and I love cheese but wow I had this cheese called TRAILHEAD and now I am on the hunt to find it here in socal. http://www.blackstallionwinery.com/
Coppala's Estate - We didn't do wine tasting but we toured the estate for fun and the estate is so beautiful, being one of the oldest estate in Napa it is really a grand place - http://www.rubiconestate.com/site.php
Peju – This place was so much fun, they have great wine, and a fun atmosphere. They have a great California Red & White Blend called Provence (we bought two bottles) that is a definite buy. Almost forgot if you go there you have to ask about the yodeler there, he can also rap...lol its great. http://www.peju.com/
Castello di Amorosa - Was just such a neat place to visit, it was such a blast from the past and yes, they have good wine. http://www.castellodiamorosa.com/
Goosecross Vineyard - Talk about fun, this place is a smaller operation but has so much personality that you can’t help love the people there and their wine. It is such a great place and as soon as you step on to the vineyard you get such a relaxing feeling over you and then you try the wine it is just a great time all around. http://www.goosecross.com/
Sterling Winery – This was the first place we went too, it’s in Calistoga which is far north in the Napa Valley. It’s a self guided tour and well you definitely learn a lot about how wine is made. It a great place to stop if it is your first time doing the wine tasting thing. It is up in the hills and you take a gondola ride up to the winery and when you get to the top once you get off you start your first station with a glass of wine and the tour begins, ending in the tasting rooms for more vine. http://www.sterlingvineyards.com/Default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fhome.aspx

We also stoped at Mumm Winery which is mostly sparkling wine, Jessup Celler (in one of the smaller towns) and Wineries of Napa Valley you can try an assortment of wines from a bunch of different wineries throughout the Valley, plus its open later than the winers.

I hope if any of you decide to stay in Napa this helps you a bit.

CHEERS!!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Add on...

By the way I forgot to add to my last post that we stay at a great Bed & Breakfast for the first time ever and we loved it. We where there for a week and loved every day of it. If you ever go to Napa Valley and want to stay in down town Napa, stay at the Inn on First, Jim and Jamie the Innkeepers are great and pay so much attention to every detail. The breakfast’s are FANTASTIC!!! You will not go wrong staying there. Here is a link to their website.

http://www.theinnonfirst.com/

Please check them out, they are walking distances from a lot of the great gourmet restaurants highlighted in the San Francesco papers.

The End of a Great Year!!

Well it has been awhile since I have blogged...The 2008 year ended well. Jose and I enjoyed our first Christmas as a married couple with our families and friends. We went to some gift exchange parties and enjoyed time with the family. Then we left on our honeymoon which was so relaxing and something really different for us. We went to Napa Valley and just enjoyed having a relaxing and romantic honeymoon. We wanted to stir away from the tropical scene sense that is something we do every year and we did and loved every minute of it.

We meet a lot of great people that were on their honeymoon as well, had great wine and made a lot of new memories together. We went on a hot air balloon ride which was such a thrill, I hate heights but I was very proud of myself that I got in the basket and was able to handle being 2,000 ft in the air. The going up part was easy it was coming down that was difficult below are a few pictures of the landing and you will see what I mean…Jose loved it and thought it was fun, me on other hand was freaking out a little. We also went on the Napa Valley Wine Train for dinner which I would recommend to everyone, great food and such a romantic ride in the vista dome. I put a few pictures of our trip to Napa and a few of our stops along the way up the coast.

Castello de Amorosa Winery






Tasting at Mumm Winery, sparkling wine



Napa Valley Wine Train - Vista Dome dinner car

Rubicon Estate Winery - Francis F. Coppola's Estate Winery

Goosecross Winery Tasting Room

Getting for our balloon ride

The landing - on our side

When we were in the air with the other balloons

At Hearst Castle the pool...

Hearst Castle
My number one guy!!









Monday, December 22, 2008

Wedding Photos...a few

Well, finally I am uploading a few of the pictures from the wedding. I hope you enjoy them. My photographer took about 4,000 photos...can you believe that, I am still not completely finish looking through them.


The Mr & Mrs...I was so excited

At the reception, the x-mas decor matched our decor perfectly...



The Wedding Party - gotta have the formal church photo...

My Best Friend and Maid of Honor Kerry Mutter and I!!!

Friday, December 12, 2008

We are married!!

We tied the knot on December 6th 2008 at 2:00pm on the dot. After 6 years of being in each other’s lives we are officially husband and wife. I am so happy to have my best friend and the love of my life at my side for the years to come.

We have a video preview of our photos we got from our photographer the night of our wedding but I need to upload it to the site so you all can see it. I also got my photos from the wedding so look for those to come soon…most likely this weekend.

For those of you wondering Jose and I decided to take a few days off from work and relax and after Christmas we are heading away for our honeymoon. I can’t wait to relax and just enjoy each other’s company.

Until next time….

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Twilight....Books, Movie, Girls

Well, i jump on the bandwagon and read all four books and became totally obsessed with Edward, in fact i have read the 1st book twice, i know i am nuts Jose thought so too. It would make him so upset; all i wanted to do was read and read, he had to take care of himself for awhile.

The girls from work and I started reading them at the same time, so every day at work that was all we talked about, plus the fact that we could barely keep our eyes open throughout the day. My sorority sisters were also all into it so i had to jump in, but it sure did take a lot of time away from the wedding planning and poor Jose.

Anyway so a group of the girls from work went to see the movie last Saturday, but i few of us a couldn't make since we were leaving for Vegas. So we ended up going to the 12:01AM showing at Edwards in Rancho the day it came out, again what was i thinking....so many little girls. I thought anyone under 18 had to be home after 10:00pm, guess not they were all at the movie theater. Okay so we get there early to get seats, thank god one of the other girls was already there and saved us seats because at 9:30pm it was full already. There were 6, i mean 6 theaters playing the movie and all of them were sold out. All you saw were girls between the ages of 10 - 18 which was the majority and then the rest of us oldies but goodies. Yet for there being so may girls they actually were quiet during the movie.....I was so happy for that.

On that note; i liked the movie but i think more could have been done, the book was much better, i don't think i will ever go to a midnight showing again.

Photos

Well it took me awhile but here are the pictures from October Fun, The Diaz family party, our trip to Oakland for the Raider game with Stephanie and Victor. My favorite day going to the Dodger Game, what a great game that was....

Randy, Carmen, me, Jose, Suenly & Frank

Gaby and I


Jose and I in Oakland tailgating before the game.


The sea of cars and easy-ups at 9:00am, the parking lot opened up at 8:00am. We were in the line at 5:30am on Sunday, such craziness. Don't think We will do it again but we had a great time.


The view from the seats, the guys liked it. 2nd row from the 20 yard line.



Stephanie and I having a few drinks, it was 12:00pm somewhere..... :)


6:00am still waiting in line....


LOS DOJERS!!!!


Our great friends and neighbors




The love of my life and Jose ;)


Hope you enjoy the pictures....