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I'm spending the weekend with my mom scrapbooking. It's close to home, but at a hotel so I'll be gone all weekend. The only time I scrapbooked at a hotel was just for the day. I wonder how much time I'll actually spend in the room?
I'm working on Star Wars Son's album, that means I'll be working with pictures like this...
I hope whatever you do this weekend you enjoy yourself!
Catch up with all of you on Monday!
Are there places, other than Seattle, that make a total news day out of the possibility of snow?
Are there radio talk shows, other than in Seattle, that take "snow watch" calls from listeners?
Are there people where you work, other than Seattle, who head home at the first sight of a snowflake?
Do buses, in places other than Seattle, chain up when the roads are bare and dry then drive 35mph on the freeway?
The snow that was supposed to start yesterday around 4 am in Seattle was pushed back to mid-day.
This is what it looked like out my window around 3:30 pm...
I could see patches of blue!
The mid-day snow was pushed back to the evening commute.
The evening commute snow was pushed back to 7ish.
It did snow up north and down south, in fact some places really got dumped on but in my little corner it was business as usual.
The snow on the houses down south taunted me...
The snow that was expected around 7ish made an appearance. It continued to snow for a few hours. This is what it looked like out my window this morning...
I'm off to scrape snow off the big rig and head in to work.
On a side note this is the 3rd morning in a row that I've been awake at 3 am without being able to go back to sleep. It's going to be a long day!
Dancing Daughter started the second semester of her 10th grade year at the end of January. Her school does four period days, so one semester equals one full credit per class. This semester she has Math Analysis/Trigonometry, Chemistry and French 1. She also has an art class.
Dancing Daughter is a mover and shaker. She is constantly busy. She takes 5 dance classes, volunteers at her church, is in the school play and is maintaining an honor roll GPA. That is just during the week. On Saturdays she works at a dance store.
This semester she's finding hard, if not impossible, to keep everything up. After a couple weeks of discussing it with Handy Man and me, she decided to quit dance. I was very sad about that decision. She's been dancing since she was 4. It's as much a part of her as breathing. I tried to picture her life, and ours, without dance and I just couldn't.
Fortunately her dance teachers felt the same way. When we went to the studio today for DD to break the news to them, they wouldn't have it. The first thing they asked was, "You don't want to dance anymore"? I was very proud of DD, through her tears she told them that she didn't want to stop dancing at all, but she was feeling the pressure of school and not having time for homework. She told them what was stressing her out more than anything was being a part of the Company Dance team. It was more challenging than her regular dance classes. She felt like if she missed class she was letting everyone down.
They were very supportive and told her she's a great dancer and if she only wanted to take one class then that's what she should do. She, with the help of her teachers, came with a plan where she can continue to dance but on two nights a week instead of three. She is discontinuing her volunteer work with the church during the week, and dropping Company dance classes, but that's ok. She can volunteer in the Summer and they will take her back in Company when she's ready.
DD is relieved, I'm relieved and I know her teachers are thrilled to not be losing her. I truly cannot imagine her life without dance, after all what would I call her on my blog?
I couldn't resist posting one more photo from my trip through wine country in Willamette Valley, Oregon.
Check out great sky shots from around the world here.
Happy Friday!
If you missed the beginning of my wine country journey you can read about it here. Part II is continued here.
The tasting and tour at King Estate was something I was very excited for. After tasting other Willamette Valley wine I was looking forward to tasting wine from a larger winery and see what went on behind the scenes. As with every other aspect of this trip I was not disappointed.
We sampled some Pinot Gris first, both the oak and stainless steel aged and not surprisingly I loved them both, but enjoyed the stainless steel one slightly more. Kevin, who poured for us, also took us on a tour. Being the wild women we are one of us dropped the f-bomb which broke the ice with Kevin (and I believe got us some preferred treatment, see the tower shot of us)
Kevin told us all about the size of the property and the organic growing of the grapes.
The inside of the building was just as impressive as the outside.
How cool is that door?! There were a few of them throughout the winery. The whole place was immaculately clean, I was impressed.
We were told about the making of the wine, the pressing, the fermenting, the transferring to oak barrels. It was all rather fascinating.
The next place we went was to see where they store some of the barrels of wine. We learned all about "toasting" of the barrels (the inside of the barrels are charred to give the wine different flavors). I thought this was the prettiest room in the winery.
Can you believe the size of those barrels?
We went back to the tasting room to sample a few more wines, then we went to the tower where we met some fun people and drank more wine (shocking, I know).
We headed back to the house to prepare for dinner, this involved drinking more wine! The journey back might have included some mooning and flashing done by someone in the car to the brave souls who were walking, this might have caused one of the brave souls to jump in the car to avoid peeing her pants was uneventful.
Dinner at the main building was beyond words. The food was perfect, the wine was perfect and the company was perfect. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!
Appetizers:
The main course:
Completely forgot to take pictures of the desserts. We ordered five and passed them around the table taking a bite of each until they were gone. One of us might have latched on to one and refused to let go We all shared nicely.
The wine obviously consumed:
The loud, gluttonous pigs happy diners!
I started the telling of this epic journey with Sherri and I'm ending it with Sherri. I can't thank her enough for putting this trip together for us. I had the best time and I can't wait to do it again!
I'm working on my final wine country post, really I am, but life keeps getting in the way. So until then enjoy this picture of us in the tower at King Estate having a great time. I think we all have a playful glow which makes us look young and happy. Of course drinking wine helps!
If you missed part one of my journey through wine country you can read it here.
As we left Newberg Oregon for Eugene the sun was setting on what had been a wonderful day. There was still an adventure waiting for us at King Estate. Driving along the dark windy road to the winery was very nerve racking, but once we got there all of our nerves turned to joy. Even though it was dark when we arrived we knew it was a special place. The light of morning did not disappoint!
Our home away from home...
We hung out and chatted in both the living room and dining room.
The kitchen was a cooker's paradise! It was stocked with wine and there were two refrigerators, one covered adult beverages, the other snacks and breakfast fixin's.
There were four bedrooms, two were suites with pull out beds in addition to the regular bed. All the bedrooms had an adjoining bathroom. It was truly heavenly. Here was my little room...
We all did our own thing Saturday morning, three of us went jogging (after the guy who checked us in said that people intend to jog but never do while visiting). I guess they proved him wrong!
I grabbed my camera and went on a walk. I couldn't wait to see the vineyards in the daylight. The King Estate property is very large, 1,033 acres to be exact and includes 470 acres of organic vineyards, as well as 30 acres of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. I was not disappointed.
I saw my first blooms of the season...
As I made my way up the road I saw the castle like structure that is the winery, tasting room and restruant...
At 1:00, after showers and breakfast we made our way to the main building for a tour and tasting...
The structure is so beautiful...
The views from up there were breathtaking, I don't think my camera (or my ability to use the camera) did the views justice.
Stay tuned for Part III - The tasting and tour!
A few months ago, while out to dinner with my lovely friends, I proclaimed that it was time we all took a trip to wine country. Nevermind I had never been to wine country and had no idea how to make a trip like that happen. Thankfully we have Sherri who stepped up and planned the whole trip.
I'm not sure why she chose the Willamette Valley in Oregon over going to Eastern Washington (maybe something to do with the winter weather east of the mountains) but I'm glad she did. The weather was perfect, although a little hazy and the scenery was beautiful.
I was mesmerized by the rows and rows of vines. I couldn't stop photographing them. It's kind of embarrassing how many pictures of vineyards I took. Don't worry, I'm only sharing a few with you.
Aren't they pretty?!
Our first stop was Adelsheim Vineyard where I found out I like Chardonney aged in stainless steel. Who knew?! I also pretty much fell in love with their Deglace, which is a dessert wine made from Pinot Gris grapes that have been frozen before being made into wine. The flavor explosion in my mouth when I took that first sip was unlike any wine I'd had before! I wasn't the only one who loved it!
Here we are tasting at Adelsheim.
We learn a thing or two about pruning vines from Derek at Patton Valley.
Umm yeah... You might notice he's kinda cute! And he's a budding business owner, making the first NW Vermouth called Imbue. He said it will be perfect with Gin or on the rocks with a twist of orange! I can't wait to try it.
We also stopped at Owen Roe Winery, but we were a little late after getting lost, so our tasting was a little rushed. That didn't stop us from buying up some of their wine. I purchase their Pinot Gris and a yummy red called Sinister Hand.
Next up I'll share all about our little oasis where we stayed for the rest of the weekend.
Happy wine drinking!
