Balloons in Napa

It seems people in Napa are sometimes whiney. It's like life is easy enough here that they have to find something to occupy their time. Like complaining about the ballooners.

Personally, I absolutely love seeing the hot-air balloons on any given morning. Sometimes at school in the mornings, when all of the kids are lined up for the flag salute, anywhere from 5-8 can be seen in the sky. Yet another reason to love living here!

Donnie can hear them in the mornings on the weekend. I still laugh when he says, "balloon," when we're waking up, and I don't believe him. But, every time we run out into the yard and without fail is a hot-air balloon near our house. I don't mind it and love seeing them whenever this happens. I don't even hear them and would never hear them without Donnie pointing them out. But apparently, people get furious with them in the country. I happened upon a blog devoted to bashing the ballooners.
Citizens for Safe Ballooning

I guess I have never experienced what these homeowners have. But, I still think I would be understanding if a hot-air balloon had an emergency landing near us.

Sunday the 13th Burn

Do you know how the rich stay rich here in Napa? When they decide that their huge house isn't good enough anymore, they donate it to the fire department to burn down. The fire department can do training with it for a couple of days. The people donating get a huge tax write-off for it, and they get a free demolish of their house! So they can build their new huge house without having to pay for anything!

Donnie had one this past Sunday right down the street from his station. The houses they donate do have to be on a big enough property, so the neighbor's houses aren't effected. Lots of people line the streets to watch. I guess it would be exciting on a Sunday to watch your neighbors ugly pink house get burned down!

First Week Back

First week back at school. Always rough. Although the kids are always really nice. It's like they're scared of me again, and I love that. Although, unless you're a teacher, you have no idea how hard it is to have a whole week of rain. Stuck inside with 20 kids all day is no fun. They turn into little animals!

So, Stacey and Heather came up to visit on Saturday! I love it whenever anybody comes up and I can attempt at showing them around Napa. I'm still learning and always trying new places. Soon enough I'll have a couple favorites to show people. I'm still looking for free places that are just nice and friendly.


First we went to Domain Chandon. Sparkling Wine (I hate calling it that, why can't we just call it Champaigne too?) is always a good way to kick off a day. Domain Chandon was beautiful yesterday, the first day all week that the sun came out and there was no rain. If you ever are thinking of going, just know that it sometimes gets pretty crowded, since it's one of the first places going up-valley, and it's a teeny pricy ($15 for 3-4 tastes). If you're thinking of buying any, just wait! Don't buy it there, it's cheaper in the grocery store.

So, we make our way to Rutherford and head over to the Silverado Trail to go to Rutherford Hill winery. Nice there again. We were one of 3 groups there, and they had more old guys working there than people tasting. We all chose the red flight, which is $15 for 5 wines, plus port (which he brought out chocolate blueberries to taste with, so good!), and he added on another taste. Pretty good deal there! Always works for 3 girls to schmuz it up with the pourer (especially helps when he's a guy pushing 60+) to get some free tastes.

Ah, so the best part is that after Rutherford Hill, we stop for lunch, directly underneath at Auberge du Soleil. It is this beautiful mediterranean hotel on the hillside overlooking the valley. And we're lucky that it's nice enough to eat on the patio. With a view like this, we decide we are going to stay here as long as possible!

Heather had been here before and said the calamari is amazing. All she had to say is calamari at all, and we're already sold. Our calamari comes out with our wines, and it looks amazing, tentacles and all. If you're one who's scared of the tentacles, just do it! I swear they're better than the ring ones.

We all share a salad and pasta. 3 of us sharing 1 salad and 1 pasta and there's still leftovers. We decide we're too full for desert. That is, until the host brings out profiteroles to the table next to us and pours chocolate sauce all over the top. Yeah, we will be having desert. We had been debating over this warm cookie plate all afternoon and decide to it order, but please put a scoop of ice cream on top. I wish I had taken a picture of this plate of cookies! 12 cookies, chocolate chip, peanut butter, and oatmeal. All with ice cream on the top.

So, our day was amazing. On the way home I show them the parking lot where our party bus stopped and we met Donnie. (If you didn't already know, Stacey was the one who planned Heather's bachelorette, where Heather dragged Donnie out of the supermarket and gave him my number.) And they want to see the fire house, so we drive down the road. Donnie shows them around (no pole at Donnie's station), and give Donnie our many leftover cookies on the way out. Great day.

Stormy Day

The storm hit today. Donnie and I noticed how bad it was when the power went out at 9am and he immediately got called into work. He got called in for Swift Water Rescue Team, how exciting! But, that meant I'm stuck at home, with the power out and nothing to do. So, he brought me his little volunteer radio so I could listen to the fire calls all day. So, my last Friday of vacation I got to stay in bed reading all day, trying to keep warm, and listening to his radio. And, turns out, this thing is more interesting than television! I felt like a little old lady trying to listen to neighbors gossip. And a lot of interesting things get called in, propane tank busts, floods and roads closed, tons of tree and electrical wires flying, alarm sounding in a elderly home room turns out to be kids breaking in and smoking, and even a head-on collision (that was the sad one). Even Jazmin knew something was wrong because she kept trying to jump into bed with me, and she would never even try that on a normal day.

Well, when the power went back on in the early afternoon, I took Jazmin to the garage to let her out. And, sitting on my car are Donnie's fishing waders and boots. I don't know if he left them on accident or put them there for me. I started laughing when I saw them, could you imagine me trying to get through the flooded streets in his fishing waders? It was very nice if he did leave them for me, but I don't think I'm going anywhere.

Happy New Year!

What a fabulous year and 2008 is going to be even better! We came up with a few easy resolutions that hopefully won't be forgotten.

1. Wear more jewelry. I think that’s any easy one! (Obviously only my resolution! Donnie is not allowed to participate in this one!)
2. Get organized. We know it will be even harder with kids, so we would like to get organized now!
3. Try to save some money. This would be an easy thing for me to do, but I guess my goal is to try not to nag Donnie too much to get it done.
4. Find all of the best hikes in Napa.
5. Find a couple good wineries that allow picnics! And a couple more with free tastings.

I think those are easy and obtainable enough.

It was so sad to be away from Donnie for New Years, especially when he got to work and found out he could have had the day off! But LA was fabulous, Katie and I got to do the regular girly stuff we always used to. We watched a ton of movies, got a bunch of magazines, went shopping, went to some good eats in LA (Jinkys!), and went hiking in Hollywood.

New Years we got to see a bunch of girls from Chico that I haven't seen in a while.

I even brought home some Coffee Bean mix so I can have a my own Coffee Bean in Napa.

Hope everyone had a great New Years! (I guess some of you don't know that my hair is brown. Yes, I got bored and changed it. My hair doesn't really like it and it gets lighter every day. So, it will be back to blond probably by the spring!) Here's Donnie and me on my bday when it was darker:

The Best of 2007

Well, I'm off to LA for the weekend. Donnie has to work for New Years Eve, and I wasn't about to sit around the house and mope. So, I get to visit my best friend Katie in LA. Should be an excellent way to finish a great year! Donnie and I came up with our 27 Bests of the Year 2007!

27 greats of the year 2007 (not really in any particular order)

27. Getting my kickboxing certification and teaching what I already do anyways.
26. Finishing my horrible ’06-’07 class and getting a really nice ’07-’08 one!
25. Taking several random day trips to keep us on our toes.
24. Having none of the typical wedding stress!
23. Hanging out for a couple days with Katie in LA.
22. Going to Tahoe not just once, but twice, with the Caldwells.
21. My aunt throwing an amazing shower for me.
20. Not working during summer vacation.
19. Donnie got to go to Cabela’s this year.
18. I got to go to Palm Desert with the girls.
17. Donnie got to go to the mountains with the boys.
16. Going to Blair’s graduation from Northgate.
15. Going to Chico for Brynn’s graduation.
14. Finding our favorite new restaurant in town for our date-nights (Zinsvalley, no corkage fee!)
13. Seeing The Jersey Boys with my family.
12. Having several visitors to the house to entertain throughout the year!
11. Many fabulous wine tastings.
10. Not turning 30 this year.
9. Another year at Tahoe with the family.
8. Jazmin turned 3 whole years old!
7. Janet giving us the best and most beautiful wedding ever.
6. Hosting our first Thanksgiving.
5. Spending a week in Jamaica.
4. Our friends and family coming to our special day.
3. Our first whole year in our first house.
2. Marrying my buddy.
1. All of us being alive, healthy, and blessed to be born into this world!

Hope everyone has a fabulous New Years!

I think this picture really sums up our year!

Our First Blog

Well, Donnie came home last night and was very excited about the blog, and he wants it to be our family blog! Very cute. So, I changed around some information and made it our blog. I think I will still be the primary narrator for it. It would just be way too weird for me to talk in third person, that would be very annoying. I'm trying to think of 100 things you never knew about Donnie, but I'm not sure if I could come up with 100!

My first blog!

So, I've decided to officially become a blogger. Living in Napa is so wonderful and fabulous for me, but I am far away from many of my family and friends! So, I figure this will be an easy and somewhat fun way for me to keep in contact. And, it's much easier than having my own website. I'm going to give it a try and see how it is. Right now I'm on winter break too, so it may be easy to get it started. So, to start off right, here are 100 things you may have never known (or wanted to know) about me!:

1. Sometimes I care too much about what others think.
2. I am a very fast (although not always accurate) typist.
3. I love looking up recipes, but hate shopping at the store for so many ingredients.
4. I don’t really like staying up late.
5. I’m online way too much.
6. I love working out, especially during the winter and walking outside into the cold afterwards.
7. I don’t really watch many popular TV shows, although I feel like I’m always watching TV.
8. I always do the dishes and laundry in our house.
9. I hate vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms with a passion, but love how it looks once I’ve done it.
10. We really want twin boys and a girl, but know that it probably won’t happen.
11. Silver earrings hurt my ears, but I wear them anyways.
12. I love really long shirts.
13. I dislike it when people buy me things for our house. I’m extremely picky and return most of it. It's horrible, I know.
14. I love being on the beach with my family.
15. I love the smell of rubber and new shoes.
16. I wish all of my friends lived in the same town.
17. I love taking pictures and looking at them online, but hate lots of pictures around a house.
18. I think I would like to take up scrap-booking, but hardly ever finish a project.
19. I love blue, purple, red, and dislike pink.
20. I love cheesy girly movies and comedies.
21. I think Donnie and I could move to the mountains and love it.
22. I love how I grew up and wouldn’t change it for anything.
23. I love math.
24. I went to every kind of camp as a kid and loved them all.
25. I wish Donnie and I had met earlier.
26. I can’t do one thing at a time. I usually do 3 or 4 things at once.
27. I love to pluck my eyebrows.
28. I would much rather be burning hot than freezing cold.
29. I think 70% of people should have their driving licenses taken away.
30. I hate being wrong.
31. I love buying plants, but it takes me a long time to plant them.
32. I wish there was a Coffee Bean in Napa.
33. I have no problem doing things by myself.
34. I wish I had a walk-in closet and would keep it super-organized.
35. I love how sometimes I know more about sports than Donnie, and I am so thankful he isn’t obsessed with them.
36. I love black and white clothes.
37. I like to sleep in cars.
38. I talk to Janet about 4 times a day.
39. If I don’t make a list, I’ll forget something.
40. I don’t really like washing and drying my hair.
41. I’m always on the lookout for the perfect lip-gloss.
42. I love naps, but rarely take them anymore.
43. I like to get stuff done in the morning.
44. I’m extremely indecisive.
45. I’d much rather do something than get something.
46. I either eat really healthy all day or really horrible all day.
47. I hate it when people mess up “good” and “well”.
48. I can’t standby and watch someone put together something.
49. I get stuck on certain clothes at a time and forget about the rest.
50. Jazmin and I are best friends when Donnie’s away and enemies when he’s home.
51. We follow the DeBarr’s tradition of Thursday night Survivor and Panda Express.
52. I don’t like writing thank-you cards but feel better when I do.
53. I steal Donnie’s socks and shirts at least once a day.
54. We go to Tahoe with the family once every summer, the best vacation ever.
55. I’ve seen every Friends episode ever taped at least 15 times.
56. I hate talking politics, because obviously I’m right!
57. I will only eat KFC once a year, if that.
58. I love trashy celebrity magazines, even though it only takes about 20 minutes to read through them.
59. I love beef, but barely ever order it at a restaurant.
60. I am an excellent colorer.
61. My favorite book is The Great Gatsby, even though my high school boyfriend obnoxiously gave away the ending to me.
62. I’m very competitive. All the time. When Donnie and I wrestle, it infuriates me that I can’t win.
63. I hate the word ginormous.
64. Sometimes commercials will make me laugh out loud or cry.
65. My favorite animals are raccoons and lobsters (I don’t know why, I really like lobsters)
66. I’m horrible at refilling the fridge with soda.
67. I think having the heater on is worth it.
68. Donnie always falls asleep before me.
69. I hate getting up early during the week, but then I can’t sleep in on the weekends.
70. I think many things are ridiculously over-priced.
71. It sometimes takes me a long time to warm up to people.
72. I still stare at my ring at least 3 times a day.
73. I love kid’s meals.
74. I think I’m generally a good person.
75. I can’t buy ice cream because I will eat the whole thing in a couple of days.
76. I can’t stay at home all day ever.
77. I am an excellent parallel parker.
78. I have no idea how to file taxes.
79. I can actually do charcoal drawings very well, but I don’t do them.
80. I get really obsessed with any one subject or thing for a while, and think about it all the time.
81. I like things that are plain. Plain colors, plain ice cream, plain clothes.
82. I sometimes get hooked on bad reality shows on MTV (The Hills & Shot at Love)
83. I didn’t go on a plane until I was 17.
84. I actually like feeling hungry.
85. I think my worst physical feature is my toes.
86. I hate it when people chew gum on TV.
87. I love to take stickers off of things.
88. I like things neat, but I hate to clean.
89. I’ve owned 8 types of pets throughout my life.
90. Even if I know I shouldn’t answer the door, I do anyways.
91. I love kids, but worry sometimes about how their parents raise them.
92. Donnie and I eat cheese & crackers for dinner a couple nights a week.
93. I don’t like mismatched things, cups, towels, etc.
94. I think I have good morals.
95. I don’t like when things or people are loud.
96. I notice when things are misspelled.
97. I love to daydream.
98. I think I have the best family and friends.
99. I think I’ve had an amazing life.
And 100! I can’t believe I thought of 100 things about myself!