a beautiful ceremony of love in beautiful napa.

the highlight of our napa trip was an absolutely gorgeous wedding of one of blake's best friends from college & his beautiful bride.  we are so thankful to have shared in their big day, so thankful to see so many of the wonderful friends blake made in college, so thankful to experience a lovely example of love.

the wedding took place at an amazing estate in the napa valley, full of vineyards & gardens, a lovely home, & an amazing view.

{the isle the bride walked down to her groom}

the ceremony was so unique, so special.  the bride & the groom each had written a love letter to the other during their engagements.  words of respect, words of awe, words of fun, words of joy, & words of love.  each letter was shared during the ceremony.  it truly was a neat experience.  we had not yet met the bride, but we felt like we knew her by the end of the ceremony.  & we certainly learned why a-mar was so smitten with his now bride.

{introducing the new mr & mrs martin}

for those wonderful friends that were in our wedding, this was the first time we had seen them in three years.  for the other amazing people, blakey hadn't seen them since college!  {that's seven years, if you're counting :) } 

{grahamy & jess!}

it was so great to meet even more of the awesome people that shaped blakey's college days.  as has happened every time, i am amazed at the quality of people from depauw.

{three stellar gentlemen}

{so happy to have finally met you, kate!}

{dylan!}

after the beautiful wedding was a fantastic party.  we danced, we toasted, we laughed, we took a pretty fabulous photo flip book, & we even got to spend some time with the happy couple.  it was a great party.

{he boys!}

{good quality man love}

{what favor do you give at a napa wedding?
wine, of course.}

the perfect end to the perfect vacation.

love love,

kjp.

one limo, six friends, & a bit of wine.

riding around napa valley in a limo with a few of your greatest friends is one of the most wonderful days of fun.  throw in three fabulous wineries & the opportunity to catch up with friends you haven't seen in three years - absolutely fabulous.

our first stop on our winery tour was beringer, one of the older & larger wineries in napa.  with it's beautiful historic grounds & classic wine caves, it was quite pretty.  we also learned quite a bit about wine making on our tour.  &, of course, a little bit of wine tasting concluded our tour.

{graham & jess!}

{foster monster & his gf kate!}

next up was one of my favorite wineries during the entire trip - schramsberg vineyards.  this is the home of napa & america's sparkling wine.  in fact, we learned, schramsberg is the house sparkling wine at the white house!  that's pretty neat.

we had the opportunity to walk through the wine caves & learn how sparkling wine is made.  the beginning of the process is similar to the wine process we had been learning about all week.  however, to make the bubbles at schramsberg, yeast is added & a very specific bottle turning technique is used.  pretty neat stuff.

we learned that schramsberg uses oak barrels for fermentation, which is unique for most sparkling wineries.  & that explains why i love their sparkling wine!

oh!  we also learned that schramsberg produces the sparkling wine we had at my bachelorette party that i absolutely loved - mirabelle!  you definitely need to try this sparkling wine.  we loved the mirabelle brut rosé.  

really, all of the sparkling wines were fabulous.  if you get a chance, try schramsberg sparkling wines. 

our last stop on our winery tour was a very different & unique stop - quintessa wine.  this winery is quite new & modern, opening only in 2002.  part of the wine-making process is done on the concrete roof, concrete eggs are used in fermentation, & each cork is individually tested by hand.  pretty neat stuff.

we began our tour on top of the hill with the most gorgeous, breathtaking view of the vineyards.  we could have happily sat here all day.  

{my dapper husband}

quintessa produces a singular estate wine also called quintessa, which is a red blend.  for our tasting, we got to try three different vintages of the wine.  we were all quite surprised at how different each tasted & how we all fancied a different year.  a fun wine tasting indeed.

a truly fabulous day with truly fabulous friends.  

one more post to come.

love love,

kjp.

a hike to the top of the valley

after a day filled with incredible wineries, we decided to get a little active.  mount st helena is the tallest mountain in napa valley with gorgeous views all around.  we decided to make the five-mile hike all the way up to the top!

the first mile of the hike was under the beautiful forest of tall tall trees.  the sun peaked through and shone all upon us.

during our hike, we got to see a little bit of history.  robert louis stevenson, the author of classic literature such as treasure island and dr jekyll & mr hyde, is said to be napa's first tourist.  towards the end of his time in calistoga, stevenson & his wife "squatted' in an abandonded cabin on mt st helena.  this book statue now sits where the house once was.

after the mile through the woods, you reach the fire road for four miles of paved trail hiking up a winding path with incredible 360 degree views of the area.  it is absolutely stunning.  enjoy...

{rock climbing on the bubble rock!

haha.  not really.

the ground is at the bottom of the photo.}

after a lot of walking & picture taking & breathing in the beauty, we finally reached the top!

& to celebrate our success, we enjoyed a lovely bottle of wine & two delicious cheeses.  well worth it.

after enjoying our wine & cheese & breathtaking views, we started our descent...

{more fake rock climbing.  hehe}

it was a long & wonderful hike.  we loved the outdoors, the fresh air, the exercise, & the awesome time together.  a fun fun day in napa.

you know i'm not finished yet.  come back for more!

love love,

kjp.

food & fun in napa valley!

oh my goodness, this vacation was absolutely wonderful & perfect & lovely & amazing.  first off, napa is ridiculously gorgeous.  all week long we were oohing & ahhing over the beauty - mountains & vineyards & trees & the beautiful blue sky.  gorgeous homes & wineries & quaint little towns.  it was cold in the mornings & hot in the afternoons.  & it was oh so peaceful.

when we arrived in san fransisco, we decided to cross the golden gate bridge, as that was the one thing i really wanted to do that we didn't do last time we were there.  it was gigantic & really neat.  the views of downtown san fran & alcatraz & the bay are so pretty.

after traveling all day, we were starving.  so where did we stop to eat in lovely california?  in-n-out burger, of course!  man, california knows how to do fast food.  burgers & fries, animal style.  so good.  confession: in addition to this being our first meal in cali, we went back for it to be our last meal there too.  yummmmmmm.

we stayed in the adorably quaint town of calistoga, which is on the northern end of napa valley.  it's tiny with one main street of shops & restaurants, the one grocery store, & surprisingly, two coffee roasters.

calistoga roastery made a very tasty americano, while yo el rey roasting was more of the hipster vibe i love.  {of course i went to both!}

as you know, eating is blakey & my absolute favorite thing to do on vacation.  & we certainly did a great job of it in napa.  these little towns have some fantastic restaurants, from tasty little breakfast diners to fancy chefy dining to a man's dream of meat & craft cocktails.  & we did them all -

our favorite breakfast was from a deli in a train depot, called palisades cafe.  we ate three meals here.  all delicious.  blake had the best breakfast burrito he's had outside of oklahoma.  & my salmon, cucumber, & cream cheese bagel was fantastic too.

my absolute favorite meal of the entire trip was at a place called farmstead in st helena.  it's a beautiful rustic restaurant at long meadow ranch that showcases seasonal & local ingredients.  they grow their own fruits & vegetables, raise grass-fed beef, & create wines & oil olive.  if i could have eaten here for every meal, i certainly would have.

to start, we shared the carpaccio with their own steak, arugula, shaved san joaquin gold cheese, citrus, beets, & toasted almonds.  it was fabulous.  blake, of course, had their cheeseburger with a fried egg, cheddar, arugula, & delicious herb potatoes.  i enjoyed a fantastic 12 hour pulled pork sandwich with bleu cheese coleslaw.  i am totally recreating the bleu cheese coleslaw idea.  a beautiful meal on a gorgeous patio in napa valley with my wonderful husband.  what more could you ask for?

we had to stop by the one & only bouchon bakery in yountville.  {ok, so they actually have more than one.  but you know what i mean.  & this was the first.}  this delightful little bakery has many beautiful treats, including many kinds of macarons, tarts, pastries, & cookies.

my coffee macaron was delicious & everything a macaron should be.  blakey loved his pecan sticky bun.  it might have been his favorite thing he ate the entire trip.

one afternoon, we stopped in at barolo for happy hour drinks & appetizers.  this italian kitchen had arancini, which are little rice balls & one of blakey's favorite apps.  they were filled with mozzarella & pesto & fried.  you certainly cannot go wrong with that.

jole is a fancy little farm to table in calistoga, where you can tell the chefs have fun making beautiful & creative dishes.  blakey & i enjoyed a fabulous 10-course tasting menu - from grilled corn fritters & lobster ceviche with popcorn to pork belly & tempura shrimp & flat iron steak & lamb tongue & the most delicious scallops i have ever eaten.  a fun evening with very fun food.

goose & gander must be the definition of blake's dream meal.  the restaurant is dark & rustic & oh so manly.  the craft cocktails were creative twists on delicious originals.   that beauty up top is a cucumber collins with pickled cucumbers & little huckleberries floating around.  it was so tasty.  & the food.  oh, the food.  we started with a fantastic charcuterie plate with the best sopressata.  we shared the two entrees recommended to us by our fun waiter - the grilled flat iron steak with creamed spinash, bearnaise butter, paprika mushrooms, & crispy onion rings.  & the goose & gander burger, get this, with bone marrow on top, gruyere cheese, house smoked bacon, & duck fat fries.  it was amazing.  absolutely amazing.  if blakey could only eat one meal the rest of his life, this one might win.

an incredible week of eating.  & so much more to come.

love love,

kjp.