Monterosso al Mare to Faulty Architecture

Our trip to the hotel Porto Roca was a very long, confusing and stressful trip.  The GPS has not been the biggest help, and we didn't read the itinerary very closely.  This particular hotel does not have a parking lot so we were told to park in a lot and call the hotel to get picked up via taxi.  We followed signs to Monterosso and found a public parking garage that we assumed was where we were supposed to be...it turns out we were only 5 minutes away from our hotel, but because of severe flooding last year, the town limited the driving to a few roads.  The lot we were supposed to be in was up the windy road and back down another windy road and took 20 minutes to get there.

We then called the hotel and were told that the taxi driver was there, we just had to go to the front, so we went to the "front" and saw the taxi driver go past us to the entrance gate.  At this point, I looked at Robert and said "this hotel better be worth all this!"

We loaded up in the taxi and started driving through the town on the beachfront.  We then pulled up to this road:

Yes, that is a road, and a walking path to and from the hotel.  We were in a van that maybe had an inch on either side.  It was quite the adventure.

I am happy to say that the hotel was worth it and was probably my favorite hotel from the trip.  It wasn't glitzy or glamorous, but the staff was extremely friendly, the view was gorgeous, and it was very relaxing.

I still wasn't feeling great, so I ended up taking a nap before dinner.  We had dinner at the hotel and tried some of the local wine.  All the wait staff was very friendly and we were treated to limoncello and sweet wine as a congratulations.  

The tub in the hotel room was a jacuzzi tub, so of course, I had to try it out.  Afterwards, I walked out onto our deck and was greeted by a flash of lightning off in the distance.  The rest of the night it was quite the light show, and the sound effects were pretty impressive as well.

The next morning, I started feeling slightly better, and we asked what the suggested "to-do's" were for the area.  The town itself had some walking paths and a few things to see, and there was a train that could take us to the other towns in Cinque Terre.  The hotel also offered a few spa services, and we asked what time we could schedule massages, and opted to do that instead of touring the other areas. Before the massage we had lunch in a small, family owned restaurant and wandered around Monterosso.  It was raining hard off and on all day, so we went back to the room to warm up and dry off.  

After the massage (70 minutes of heaven!) we made reservations for the restaurant at the bottom of the hill.  One of the specialties of this place, was a seafood soup that was boiled in a ceramic pot.  There were several large groups at the restaurant that ordered the soup and even though I don't like seafood, it was pretty impressive to watch them serve it.  They basically dumped the lobster out and some of the juice and the spread out the rest of the contents which included varying fish, crab, oysters, mussels, octopus and who knows what else.  

The next morning, Tuesday, we woke up to beautifully sunny skies, and a nice cool breeze and then sadly had to say goodbye to Monterosso, but I have a feeling we would be back.  We both really liked the place and it was nice to relax after touring the Tuscan countryside for a week.  

We hopped back in the car and headed to Pisa before heading to Florence.  We wandered around Pisa and took pictures, but when we saw that it was 15 euros to go up to the top, we opted not to.  We found a pizza joint and had pizza in Pisa just for my dad.  Picture coming soon.  

After Pisa, we headed to Florence for a few days...I think that will have to be another post though!! 

On to the coast

We made it to Florence (just wait until THAT blog post is up!), now a quick blog post before heading out to dinner, maybe, just maybe, I will be all caught up before I leave on Saturday!

Saturday morning we said goodbye to our Tuscan villa (and the horribly uncomfortable mattress) and headed towards the coast.  On the way, we decided to take more country roads and swing by Volterra, which we heard was a beautiful medieval town (also apparently the town that inspired Stephanie Meyer to make her villain's the Voltari, another random Twilight fact from a girl who could care less).

It was indeed beautiful, but what I didn't know was that they "recently" discovered a Roman Theatre.  By recently, I mean in the 1950's but from the tour guide said that that time period was recent for an archeological find this big (no we weren't part of the tour, but I wanted to hear more about it and there was a tour group that arrived just as we were about to start walking away, free tour!!).  The theatre is still somewhat intact and the tour guide said that before they started to dig, it was a soccer field and before that it was apparently a donkey racing track.  Behind the stage, there is the layout for another building that was built when the Christian church outlawed theatre (sigh).  That building became a bath house and the foundation for a few of the bath tubs are still intact!  I was definitely in awe of this piece of theatrical history.  To think about performing on a stage like that in front of over 2,000 people is amazing.  So much so that I sat here and waited for these pictures to upload!

After more wandering and shopping in Volterra, we got back in the car and headed out again.  We had talked about swinging by Pisa and checking out the tower, but when we got there, traffic was so bad and we were both starving so we opted to stop at a pizzeria outside of town and try again on Tuesday.  We then headed for our final destination of the day, the beach town Rapallo.

The hotel was nice, and we were given a bottle of Prosecco to enjoy on the balcony looking over the Mediterranean Sea.  It was a gorgeous view, and thankfully a gorgeous day.  The hotel had a spa so we decided that we would treat ourselves to a massage.  It was a great massage, but very different from what spa's are like back home.  There wasn't much to cover up with and I had to remind myself that nudity isn't as big of a taboo in Europe as it is in the US.  

That night we had dinner at the hotel restaurant looking over the harbor, and then walked along the seaside and back.  We then headed back to the hotel room and Robert went out again to take pictures of the town at night.  I started reading and suddenly came down with a nasty sore throat that stayed with me through the next morning.

Sunday, we wandered around the town of Rapallo, which is very much a seaside resort, and very expensive to boot.  We were told that there was a cathedral on top of a hill that you had to either hike several hours, drive an hour or take the 8 minute funicular up to the top.  We decided to take the funicular and headed over to buy tickets.  It was pretty exciting going up, even though I still wasn't feeling all that great, but the view from the top was gorgeous.  The cathedral had just started mass, so we didn't stay long after taking pictures, and then headed back down.  

And there is where I will stop for now...next up, our exciting journey to Monterosso al Mare...

This is a road? Really?

We are getting packed up to leave our current hotel, the Porta Roca, and I thought I'd take a moment to write more.  It has definitely been my favorite stopping point so far.  When it was storming, its been very soothing listening to the ocean outside our window.  Not too many tourists since it is the end of the season here, so its been fairly quiet.  But back to the trip.

I ended with the trip to Multepuliciano.  Driving home that evening was exciting as the GPS was proving to be difficult.  We took country roads all the way home instead of the bigger highway so it wouldn't cost us anything.  At one point it started pouring rain, and the roads were so tiny and windy that I was pretty nervous.  We made it back to the villa just fine and planned for the next day.

Friday, we went up the north wine road through the Chianti region.  This region was gorgeous.  Hills and trees and ancient ruins spotted throughout the valleys and on the hill tops.  Every time we turned there was a new site to be seen and lots of pictures were taken.  We had heard about a place called Badia a Passignano , where there was a famous restaurant and it was the home of one of the oldest wine makers in the world.  The normal road to the small town was closed, and we had to take a detour...it was a dirt path.  To remind you, we are driving a tiny Ford Fiesta.  No four-wheel drive on this thing!  And it kept going and going and going and we saw many other cars give up and turn around, but we kept going.  When we finally got there, the road became paved and it showed us a beautiful medieval abbey, and a quaint little town.  Probably the smallest town we have been in so far.  We had a very expensive lunch at the Osteria di Passignano  and tried some delicious wines (haven't had many this trip that haven't been good) and took off on what we thought was a paved road out of the town.  It wasn't...but it was a shorter trip than the one coming in!

Our next stop was Greve in Chianti, where there is a wine bar that holds hundreds of types of Italian wines and oils for you to try.  You buy a card with a certain amount of money on it, and you can try any of the stations that are set up for you.  It was a lot of fun, however, I ended with a sip of Grappa and that did not sit so well with me.  I was done wine tasting for the day, but we had a few more stops along the way.

We briefly drove through the town of Radda in Chianti, but there didn't seem like much to see and do other than yet another medieval cathedral, so we read our guide book and heard about a nearby town called Volpaia.  Volpaia was a small hilltop town, where the residents are all winemakers.  They have turned the old city into a winery where all the machinery is hidden by the ancient walls.  We unfortunately were too late for the tour, but I'd definitely like to go back and see more of it.  Robert tried some of their wines and I tried their Olio (olive oil) and red wine vinegar.  We are bringing some samples home with us, it was so good!

That was our last stop in the Chianti area, and we decided that since we had such an expensive lunch, we would buy our own food and have it at home.  Since it was our finally evening in Tuscany, I asked Robert to pick me up one of the profiteroles we had had the other night...He did and made me a very happy camper!

Its time to check out of the Porta Roca, so I will continue with our trip out of Tuscany and to the sea at a later time!

Touring the wine country

I am sitting in the third hotel we have stayed at relaxing before dinner and thought, its been far too long since my last post, and I am starting to forget everything that we have seen and done!  Internet connection is still not great out here on the Mediterranean Coast, so pictures will be uploaded later.  I believe I left off with Wednesday October 10th, so here goes...

Thursday October 11th:  We were advised by the villa staff to try the La Crete drive which is known to be very scenic and takes you through several old towns.  We finally were able to get the GPS to work, but even with the GPS and two maps, we still got lost!  We finally figured out the road we were supposed to be on and headed out.  Our first stop was the town of Asciano after looking for parking on very narrow roads, we wandered through the town to look for lunch.  Asciano is a small, old town that had very few tourists.  We had a delicious lunch and wandered a few more minutes before getting back in the car and heading towards our next stop.

La Crete was somewhat reminiscent of California's I-5.  A lot of farm land that has been recently dug up and harvested.  Not exactly what we were thinking of, but it was still a nice drive.

On the windy roads, we stumbled across the Abbey di Monte Oliveto Maggiore.  It was a very quiet, beautiful monastary out in the middle of the woods.

Our next stop was Montalcino which is the home of Brunello wine.  Robert was very excited to be here and taste the Brunello's, I was enthralled by the beauty of this hilltop town.  We wandered the streets heading towards the fortress where they had wine tastings.  The wine's we tasted were delicious, but way too much money for our tastes.  We headed up the fortress stairs for yet another panoramic view of part of Italy.

After Montalcino, we headed towards Montepulciano, a gorgeous, huge, gothic town which if we hadn't arrived so late, we would have spent more time in.  While looking for parking, we mistakenly entered the old towns street and had quite the adventure.  We watched as the car in front of us tried to back up and ended up hitting a statue, and fumbled through the steep hill that was the road, in our little Ford Fiesta!  I have a video of that, so I will post it later!  We finally found parking and started walking up the steep hill.  Montepulciano is the home of what is now my favorite type of wine Vino Nobile.  We had dinner at a lovely restaurant and drank amazing wine.  Its definitely a place I will want to go back to and explore someday.

I'm going to cut this blog short, because there is an amazing sunset happening!  I will try to write again later tonight or tomorrow morning about our fun trip on Friday through the Chianti area!!

Food, friends and vino

Before I start, I must rejoice in the fact that my luggage FINALLY arrived!  It is so good to have all my clothes with me!

I believe I left off on our third day in Tuscany.  On Monday, we found out that our luggage had been found and would be delivered that day, so we decided to hang around the villa and wait for it.  When the doorbell rang we jumped up and ran to the door only to find that they just had one suitcase not both of them.  Of course, mine was the one to still be missing, but we were assured it would be there later that evening or the next morning.  Well it didn't show up that night, or the next morning and of course that day there was a huge lightning storm which my little flats and Italian sundress were no match for.  I sent Robert to the reception to have them call the airport and find out what was going on.  He came back with directions to a "superstore" and the assurance that my luggage would arrive later that day.  We didn't want to just hang around the villa again, and the weather started clearing up so we went to the store and bought some clothes just in case the luggage didn't make it.  

We then headed toward the town San Gimgnano.  On our way, we went to a few wineries to taste, but only one was open so we headed towards the town center.  You can see San G from where we are staying because it has several tall towers.  Its another old old town that is just breathtaking.  We wandered around for awhile and had our first Italian gelato, which was delicious.  

Our villa was having a wine tasting and dinner, so we headed out from San G.  When we got back, we had enough time to drop everything off and my luggage was waiting for me!  I can't explain how happy I was, but maybe this picture will sum it up:

Dinner that night was a lot of fun.  We went on a tour of Le Torri's wine production center, got to taste their wines and had a delicious dinner with other guests at the villa.  There was a group of people from California as well as Pennsylvania and a Brazilian family who live in Switzerland.  I spent the evening teaching their kids some English words and having them teach me Brazilian (I don't remember much, probably due to the wine consumption!).  Robert even gave them a small concert!

Wednesday morning, we woke up early to have breakfast and then headed out on another touring adventure.  We were told that the city Siena has a huge market on Wednesdays and we decided to check it out.  The city center was huge and it took us awhile to find parking and then find the location of the market.  Basically, it was a large flea market with knock off clothing, purses, shoes and even animals.  We wandered around for about an hour and a half and still hadn't seen everything.  We went back to move our car and headed for the center of Siena where the Duomo was.  The old part of Siena is like a maze.  There is so much to see and it just keeps going and going and going.  It is very beautiful though, and we were able to go up to the top of one of the towers near the giant cathedral and get a gorgeous view of the city.  Pictures of that coming soon.

The internet connection at the villa is spotty, so I will have to post more pictures when I find a better connection.  Its almost dinner time here, so I am signing off!  I will update more in the next few days!

Bongiorno from Italy!

Hello everyone!  Thought I'd take some time to give you an update on our adventure to Italy!

We are currently staying in a gorgeous villa in the Chianti region of Tuscany.  Everywhere we look there are rolling hills covered with grape vines.

Our flight from the US, was relatively uneventful, except for the fact that we were delayed almost an hour due to the Blue Angels air show.  Thankfully our connecting flight in Frankfurt was also delayed slightly, but we were very worried about our luggage not making it.

Those worries turned into reality when we arrived in Florence and our bags didn't show up along with about 30 other passengers.  We made a claim to the lost and found department, who assured us we would get our bags either that night or the next morning.  After picking up our rental car, we headed out of Florence towards our villa.

After arriving at the villa (we did get a little lost at first, but that was fine as the countryside is beautiful!) we dropped off our carry-ons and ventured into the town of Tavarnelle to pick up some food supplies and look for a dress for me.  We found a cute little clothing shop, where after a lot of gesturing and pointing, I was finally able to relay the fact that our luggage hadn't arrived and I was hoping for a dress to wear for the next day.  Then we came back to the villa, cooked some dinner, and fell asleep around 7pm!

The next morning, Sunday, we didn't get up until 11am, which meant we were in bed for 16 hours or so.  We called to check on our luggage and were told that they still hadn't found it.  So we went to reception to find out what we should do for the day since most shops were closed.  We were given several ideas on what to do, and she suggested we go to a festival in a nearby town named Certaldo.

Certaldo is the ancestral home of an Italian poet, Giovanni Boccaccio, and every year the "old town" has a food and wine festival.  I say "old town" because there are two parts to Certaldo, the newer part is down below the hill and is more modern and industrial and the old town is up above it.  To get to the old town, you can either walk up a steep, cobblestoned hill or take a trolly up to the top.

When we got to the top, it of course started to rain, and where were both our jackets?  In our suitcases!  Thankfully we were able to duck inside a building and look around until the rain stopped.  Afterwards we wandered around the medieval town tasting wine and food goods and marveling at the beauty that surrounded us.

When we got back to the villa, we checked on our luggage again and there was no change.  As we headed back to our room, a group of people were sitting at the base of the stairs, and invited us to come join them as they were celebrating a birthday.  So after dropping off our stuff, we headed back down and had wine and pizza with a delightful group of people.  Most of them were English, but only a handful still lived in England.  The others lived in Venice and gave us all sorts of helpful tips.  After a very fun evening, we headed back to our room, checked the luggage status (still nothing) and then fell asleep.

Monday, morning, just a few hours ago for me, we checked the status of our bags and were very excited to see that they had been found and were on there way!  We decided to stay around the villa today because we were feeling very gross after wearing the same clothes multiple days.  We went back to the grocery store to get some lunch, and then read and dozed all afternoon.  Around 2pm there was a knock at the door!!  We jumped up and answered it very hopeful that it was our lost luggage...

Well, it was one of the two.  At this time, Roberts luggage has arrived safe and sound but mine is still out there.  We were assured it would be here tonight or tomorrow (yeah, I've heard that before!) so until then, I wear my little Italian sundress and hope that it doesn't rain again!

We are going to see if we need reservations for dinner tonight and wander around the villa grounds.  I will keep you posted as the luggage saga continues!

Ciao!!!

A Singleton no longer

I cannot believe that today is September 28 and that tomorrow, Robert and I will be getting married.  The past 6 months of been a whirlwind of activity and planning, and tomorrow I get to see if it all will work out!

The one thing that I know for sure will work out is my dream of having family and friends surround us and help put this wedding together.  There were craft nights, special trips to the city to buy fabric for veils and to try on dresses, dear friends who are currently working very hard putting all my flowers together, and special family items apart of the wedding, some reminders of those that are no longer with us.  We are truly blessed to have so many that care for us and without all of you guys, this wouldn't have been possible!

We will be heading out to the Sonoma Valley later this afternoon after we load the rest of the boxes up in a rented truck.

For any of you who can't make it, we are hoping to have a live broadcast of the event, but I can't promise anything.  If we do, I will post a link here and on the website.

Thank you to all of you for following me on this journey!  Looking forward to celebrating with most of you on Saturday!  Pictures will be posted later on for everyone to enjoy!

Here we go!

Something borrowed...

Growing up, I always thought I'd wear my mom's dress for my wedding.  When I was 12, the dress fit me almost perfectly.   26 years later, the dress doesn't fit.  I still wanted something that my mom wore when she walked down the aisle 30 years ago, so we decided to take the netting from her veil and create a veil for me.  Thanks to our good friend Jan Weldon, I have my beautiful veil.

Since my ring belonged to my great-grandmother and the veil was my mom's, I thought it would be neat to have something from both my grandmothers.  I emailed my mom's mom and she sent me the garter that she wore, and my mom and aunt wore as well.  Finding something from my dad's mom was a little trickier since she died when my dad was young and we don't have much that belonged to her.

I called my dad and sent him on a search.  He was able to find a charm bracelet that his uncles had made out of military metals to give to his mom.  He also started on a quest to find out more about his mom's side of the family.  I think it was good for him to look into that, and maybe we will find out even more over time.

So, as I walk down the aisle, I will have 3 generations of my family's belongings walking with me.  Since I never got to meet my grandmother on my dad's side, this small part of her life means a lot.

With less than 6 days to go, things are really starting to come together.  We've been blessed with a lot of generous gifts and excitement is building.  Can't wait to share this day with all of you!  It should be a great party!

Saying goodbye to the single life...

This weekend, Robert and I had our bachelor and bachelorette parties.  I won't go into all the details other than saying, we had a lot of fun!

Spending time with all my bridesmaids made me decide to tell all my readers about the girls I picked, and what I know of the guys that Robert.  Each of them represents a certain aspect of our lives, so enjoy!

My Matron-of Honor is my former neighbor and mother of my goddaughter.  Laetitia and I met when I was in high school and her and her husband had just moved across the street.  We became close friends and I was their go-to babysitter when they had their first child, Max.  Over the years, we got as close as sisters and it was an obvious choice for me to ask her to hold this position in my wedding.  She jumped on the chance with a lot of enthusiasm and has been a big help.

Adena Demonte and I met 6 years ago when she started dating one of my best friends, Dan.  She represents the theatrical side of me.  We've directed multiple shows together, laughed, cried and drank...a lot...together.  She is always traveling now with her job, but I know that when we do get to see each other, it will be like no time has passed at all.

Narineh Ferderer represents the high school part of my life.  She was a year ahead of me, but we had a close knit group of friends that hung out at the C-Wing at Woodside High.  When she left for college, we lost touch with each other, but a few years later, reconnected and became best friends.  We are both book nerds.  I had the honor of helping her and her husband, Chris, plan their wedding and doing the flowers for them.  Now I get to watch them as their little family grows!

Becca Ohlin is probably my longest lasting friendship.  We've know each other since, well...she waved "hi" at my sonogram?  We were raised in Redwood City at PCC and even though she moved all the way to Vacaville, we are still as close as ever.  She is a goof ball, but one of the sweetest most genuine people I've ever met.

Brandi Minter represents the dance part of my life.  We met in second grade when her mom started teaching at the school I was going to.  We became inseparable and would spend our summers together watching Nickelodeon, while her mom was teaching summer school.  We were on the dance team together at PCC and choreographed many many dances for church and for fun.  I accompanied her to LA when she auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance, and now I teach with her at Community Street Jam.  She is funny, extremely talented and a great friend.

Jen Driver is my cousin, so obviously she is the family representative.  We grew up playing games like "Pretty Pretty Princess", and have always been pretty close.  She is a bundle of energy, very intelligent and an over-all amazing person.

Robyn Stuart is another life-long friend.  Her dad and my dad went to San Jose State together and all the college friends and their families would spend Memorial Day Weekend together every year.  She was several years older than I, so I was always in awe of her beautiful curly hair, and how cool she was.  Out of all of the kids from that group, the two of us have stayed in touch, and I couldn't imagine not having her standing up there with me.  She is beautiful, talented, smart and extremely kind.

I've known Stacey Sondy since she was born.  I was always very protective of her and I look at her as if she were my younger sister.  I had the honor of being in her wedding last year, and just had to have her share in my day as well.  She has gone through a lot in her young life, but she is one of the strongest people I know.

On to Roberts side.  I don't know as much about them as I do about my own girls, but here it goes...

Michael Taylor is Roberts vocal coach and his Best Man.   They have been working together since before he and I met, and they both share the same sense of humor.  Michael has a great big laugh that you can hear from miles away, and he is an incredibly talented performer.  I know he was really excited when Robert chose him to be his Best Man.

Dan Aden is having a bro-mance with Robert.  They met at Google and discovered they both went to the same college at different times.  Dan's wife, Melissa and I sit back and watch our men's shenanigans with lots of eye rolls.  He and Rob are two peas in a pod and get into so much trouble together.  Somewhere on the Google campus, there is a concrete bust of an Android that the two put together.  Drive around and see if you can find it!

Joe Dowd is one of Roberts Cal Poly roommates.  I don't know half the things they did in college, and I probably don't want to know most of them!

The last two on Roberts side is his brother, Ryan, and my brother, Jonathan.  I have to give a shout out to Ryan for how helpful he has been during this planning process!  My brother got a long with Robert as soon as they met.  Not sure what else to say about the brothers!

So that is our wedding party.  A lot of great friends and great memories with all of them.  11 days left!  Things are coming along!  Just a few more details to iron out and we are good to go!  Looking forward to partying with everyone!

16 days...

I can't believe how quickly time has flown by, but here we are with 16 days left until the wedding!

My head has been spinning with all the little details that are in need of attention like, final guest count, shuttle and valet services, song choices for the DJ, types of flowers and designs, ceremony timeline and layout, reception timeline and lay out, seating chart, hair, makeup...and the list goes on and on and on.

More craft projects are getting checked off the list.  There are just a few finishing touches to be done, and then we are good to go!

The bridesmaid dresses are in, and there only needs to be simple alterations, but they all seem happy with them!  Speaking of dresses, my dress is looking more and more perfect every time I go in!  The last fitting will be on the 25th (cutting it close, I know!) and then after spending some time with my mom in the city, we will be able to take it home!

This weekend our wedding party is throwing us separate bachelorette and bachelor parties.  Looking forward to spending time with our friends and living up the single life one more time!  Not sure I will be sharing many pictures of that night!  We shall see!

Well, off I go to work on more details!  Here's hoping for no more bumps in the road!

Things to do...

The last time Robert and I went up to see the venue, we decided to check out some wineries and other attractions near by and let you know how they were!

We didn't spend a lot of time in the town of Geyserville, but we did have lunch at Diavola Pizzeria.  It was delicious!  They have a lot more than just pizza,  and they also have this dipping sauce that is very tasty.  Definitely a place for you to try when you are in town!

We tried out four new wineries, but only three are worth mentioning (partly because I forgot the name of one of them, and partly because it didn't stand out to us).

The first we tried was Hawkes Winery.  Its a very small production, but has some great wines.  The manager of the tasting room turns out to be the daughter of the family that is renting their house to us for the wedding.  We bought a couple bottles of whites for the wedding, so be looking for it!

The second, White Oaks, was a recommendation from Hawkes.  Its a little more upscale than Hawkes, but it has beautiful grounds and some good wines.  I think there will be a few bottles of white from this winery as well!

The third is Passalaqua winery.  Another small winery, but had some interesting wines, and pretty grounds.  You can even do tasting on the patio and enjoy the scenery.

A few of the others that we have tried in the past are Simi Winery, which is on the way to the venue and has nice picnic grounds and their Cuve is delicious.  Going on the other side of 128, there is Amista winery, which isn't great, but is dog friendly!  One of our favorites is Lambert Ridge.  The road to Lambert Ridge is windy and you lose all cell reception, but it is beautiful and the wine is amazing!  They also have two large fuzzy dogs that welcome you by lifting their heads off their bed!  Its a definite must when you are in town!

I hope this gives you something to do while you are visiting the beautiful Sonoma Wine Country!  27 days left!

Accomodations

Hello everyone!

If you are keeping up to date with our wedding planning via this blog,  then here is an important update!

The Holiday Inn Express no longer has rooms at the discounted rate.  Apparently only 3 people made reservations even though we had asked for 19 rooms!!  You can try and see if there are any openings without the discounted rate, but I can't guarantee it.

I am waiting to hear about the number of rooms left at the Days Inn in Santa Rosa, which is also apparently now called the Palms Inn.  If you call them, you must ask to speak with someone named Kent, otherwise the front desk staff gets very confused!

Also, if you are reading this, can you please email me at beth@bethandrobert.com and tell me where you will be staying and if you'd like to take advantage of the shuttles we have arranged to pick up guests and bring them back to both the Holiday Inn and Palms Inn.  There is room for 30 people to be picked up at the Palms Inn and 50 people to be picked up at the Holiday Inn.

Thanks!

Beth and Robert

32 days!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind!  I don't even know where to begin with this post!

I'll start with the most recent events:

Sunday, my bridesmaids threw me a wonderful bridal shower.  Having my friends and family there was wonderful.  Lots of laughs and lots of fun times.  Big thanks to everyone who came out and celebrated with me, and for those that couldn't be there, you were missed!

Plans are almost finished.  For anyone interested, there will be shuttles from the Days Inn in Santa Rosa and the Holiday Inn Express in Windsor.  Email us if you are staying at one of those hotels and if you are interested in taking the shuttle!

We took a day trip to the venue a few weeks ago to see the few changes that have been made and get an idea on where to put everything.  It was a very helpful visit, and helped solidify a lot of ideas.  Next week, I will share a few different wineries that we suggest visiting while you are there!

The dance for my dad and I are done.  We had a great time at Boogie Woogie Studios.   The first dance for Robert and I...is coming a little slower than I'd have liked, and its not Robert's fault.  He is actually doing pretty well (even though the only arguments we've had over this whole wedding revolves around dance steps!).  Our instructor is interesting.  She's really nice, but she changes the choreography almost every session.  We've had to add two more sessions to the original five and we still aren't really done with the dance.  We have one more on Tuesday night, and we will see where it stands from there.  If we don't get it finished, we may just go to Boogie Woogie studio's in Foster City and work on it there.

Other than all that, things are coming along!  I can't wait to see it all come together!

2 months!!!

So, I have not posted in awhile, as I'm sure you are aware.  I started working at a summer camp a few weeks ago, and our internet has been spotty at home.  Its working on this computer, so I suppose an update is in order!

Since my last post we have:

• Gotten the tuxes rented
• I had a first trial for my hair
• ordered manzanita branches and other decor
• Put the final payment on the venue
• Sent out several rounds of invitations
• Added more things to the rental order and took a few things off
• Started taking dance lessons with my dad and Robert (my feet have only been stepped on about 3 times between the two of them so thats not too bad!)
• Got the call that my dress is in!!  I've been playing phone tag with the salon for the past few days, but I hope to have the first fitting scheduled by Tuesday!  

I cannot believe that in just two days, it will be August!  Where did July go?  This month will be extremely busy.  A wedding I was hired to do floral design for, birthdays for my dad and brother, bridal shower and finishing up all the crafts for the wedding!  Robert pointed out that this will probably be the last "slow" weekend we have until after the wedding! 

 Next Sunday we will be taking a day trip up to Geyserville to check out the venue one last time.  The owner says she made a few changes to the layout, and we will be able to see what everything will probably look like at the end of September!  

I think thats all for now!  

If its not plates, its napkins

The Great Plate Hunt of 2012 has been resolved (well, mostly.  We still need to find dessert plates), but of course once that got resolved, The Great Napkin Conundrum of 2012 rose its ugly head.  A little back story:

On Tuesday of last week, my bridesmaid Brandi and I headed up to Sonoma to check out a rental place.  After a short detour in Petaluma thanks to my GPS, we finally made it to the right spot and started a rental order.  Tables, chairs, linens, etc.  The nice lady got all my information and said she would get me a quote in a few days.

On Thursday, I got the quote and nearly died.  With just tables, chairs, napkins, plates, table cloths and a dance floor, the total quote was $4900!  Of course I had picked the most expensive napkins since they were the only ones in the right color!  $600 for 200 napkins.  I immediately started looking for other options.  The rental company also had cotton napkins for $1 each, and $200 was much better than $600, but I still was not satisfied.  I realize that they are just going to be used to wipe BBQ sauce off of hands and faces, but I want my table settings to look nice.  Even if no one notices, I will, being the planner and detail freak I am.

After a few nights (and I'm pretty sure several crazy dreams about napkins), I finally found an amazing solution!  I typed in to the wonderful Google search engine : "wedding napkins bulk" and was led to a site where I found 200 white napkins for $106 with shipping and tax!  Sure I will have a ton of napkins to deal with at the end of the night, but compared to spending $200-$600 on napkins for rentals, I am feeling really good about this purchase.

Now to figure out how to make the napkins look nice while sitting on the table.  My amazing mother has been playing with different ideas that will be simple and pretty so at the next craft night, we can put them together!

Other than all that, things are coming along.  Our wedding website went up this week and the electronic invitations are getting worked on as we speak.  Our invitations for family have been shipped and will hopefully arrive next week so I can get them put together at the next craft night!

This week, I meet with my amazing floral team and can't wait to see what they come up with!  Most of the crafts are almost done, and our wedding favors are being designed.

84 days left!  I can't believe it!

96 days and counting...

This past weekend was a whirlwind of wedding activities.  Saturday morning, I took the final bridesmaid in to pick her dress out.  Eight girls, eight dresses!  I just hope that when the dresses come in there is very little to alter!!!  Now we just have to get the guys in to get their suits ordered.  In the afternoon, my friend Allison, owner of Cake Done Right, came over and brought us some amazing samples of her delectable cakes.  We tried the chocolate back in February for Roberts birthday, so we decided to try a lemon chiffon, red velvet, mud cake and Irish Car Bomb inspired cake!  So many different flavors and so much cake!  The lemon chiffon is the winner all around.  We also decided to go with the regular chocolate and the Irish Car Bomb cake.  So there's another thing checked off the list!

Sunday, the ladies on the board for the floral design club threw me a bridal shower.  It was strange to go to a bridal shower and knowing it was for me.  I've been to so many for other friends and family.  It was such a lovely afternoon with all these friends that I have made since starting to take classes three years ago.

The show Robert has been working on finally went up this weekend which means he will be around a little bit more to help with some of the planning...hopefully!

The other update is the great plate hunt of 2012.  We are trying to figure out a way to save money and be "green" so we have been playing with a couple of different ideas on the dishes.  One of the suggestions has been to use bamboo plates which are biodegradable.  The plates look really nice and its definitely a more cost-effective idea.  The other idea is to buy dishes from the dollar tree store and re-sell them after the wedding.  We still haven't decided as of yet, but hopefully we will come to a conclusion by the end of the week!

Well, its time for me to sign off and get to work!  Last week of the first session of summer camp starts today!

Planning a wedding...the drama never stops!

This weekend was the soiree for my parents 30th anniversary.  It was a lot of fun and a wonderful way to celebrate 30 years of marriage.

Now that this party is over, its time to start getting on track with wedding details again.  After this week, Robert will be around more, which will be really helpful.  As I am typing this, he has yet to finish asking a few of his friends to be groomsmen, but his deadline for asking is by the end of tonight (Sunday).  

Now for the drama I mentioned in the subject line.  Last weekend, we went to Benicia to see an old friend of Roberts who owns a barbecue catering company called The Bibber.  The food was amazing and we made the decision to switch caterers.  

Now, remember the caterer that forgot about the tasting we had scheduled with her?  I am still not sure why I gave her another chance, but we weren't having luck finding anyone else.  After we finally were able to try her food (which as my father puts it, was mediocre), she announces to us "Great, lets go in my office and sign the contract".  There wasn't even any chance to think about whether we wanted to retain her services or not.  Everyone who was tasting with us was also in shock at her abrupt and rushed behavior.

Robert and I decided that we were going to walk in there and tell her we still wanted to think about it before signing anything, but when she handed us the contract, it stipulated that we could cancel for any reason 3 months prior to the event date with a  full refund of our deposit.  When we saw that we decided it couldn't hurt to sign with her while still shopping around for something better.  Well, we found it with The Bibber.  

A couple of days ago, I sent an email to Chef Cecilia telling her that we no longer wished to have her as our caterer.  I told her we found a family friend that was willing to do it, and we were sorry for any inconvenience.  Well, the next morning, our phone rings at 7:30 AM.  Yes, you read that right, AM.  I was still in bed and decided to let the machine get it, and a few minutes later, my cell phone begins to ring.  I don't get the best reception at the house and I didn't recognize the number, so I also let that go to voicemail.  Well then the house line rings AGAIN!  

I decided it must be urgent for whoever was calling to call so many times, so I got up and answered the phone.  I was then given a lecture on how we had a contract and why would we sign with her if we had no intention of using her in the first place.  I reminded her that her contract stipulated  that we could get a refund and cancel 3 months prior and her response was "Well, yes, but this has never happened before".  After I got off the phone with her, I was in shock at the lack of professionalism this company has shown in my dealings with them.  I would have suggested her to other people because her food was good, but after that phone call and how she handled herself, I will discourage anyone from using this company for their event.  

We are still waiting on an official quote from The Bibber, but the food is well worth every penny.  They also suggested using bio-degradable bamboo plates which I was wary about at first, but when I saw them, I was surprised by how nice they look.  It will not only look different and interesting on the table, but it will be environmentally friendly and save us a big chunk of money!  Thats a win on every level!

Other than the catering drama, things are still coming together.  Four of the eight bridesmaids that will be standing up there with me have found their dresses (I am letting each girl pick a dress that they feel comfortable in as long as its the right color!)  Another craft night is scheduled for the 29th of this month.  We've also asked friends and family to donate items that they are getting rid of to a garage sale that will help raise money for the wedding!

I also signed us up for a wedding service called Honeyfund.com.  Its a way for guests to send monetary gifts to the couple instead of sending a gift.  If you'd like to send a gift that way, you can go to our page at https://www.honeyfund.com/wedding/bethandrobert.

I think thats all the updates for now.  See you next week!

It's all in the details

Now that all the big to-do items are completed, I've been spending my time on the smaller details including invitations for family and close friends, the wedding website, and much more.

Yesterday, we went to Stanford Shopping Center and registered for a few things that will round out the stuff we already have.  You can go to the Williams and Sonoma website or Macy's to see our registries.  I almost felt bad during the Williams and Sonoma registry.  The woman helping us kept directing everything to me.  I still feel that this whole event is about me and Robert as a couple.  I don't like the whole focus on the bride only thing.  I will be trying to figure out more ways to focus on both of us as a couple.

There is still so much to do, but for a few days, I will set aside wedding planning details and focus on my parents 30th anniversary party!  It just never ends!

4 months to go...

I've been quiet on this blog for awhile because Robert and I have been grieving the loss of our sweet pup, Darby who left us May 3rd.  Its been rough planning for the wedding all the while knowing she won't be there like we had planned.

With exactly four months until the wedding, I am slowly starting to get back into the swing of planning.  Robert, however, still feels like there is plenty of time left.  Can anyone share with him that four months will go by really quickly and the tasks I have assigned him should really start getting done...like gathering his groomsmen?


So lets see, what have we done since the last post?  At the end of April, we had a friend take some fun engagement shots for us.

It was fun getting all dressed up.  There are more engagement shots, but these were my favorite by far.  

Coming up June 29th will be the next DIY night and I will have plenty of projects to work on if anyone would like to come help!  

See you in four months!!

Craft night fun!

One of the things I really wanted for the wedding is to have craft nights with friends and family.  I think it gives the wedding a personal touch, plus saves money on decorations.  The first DIY night took place this past Friday evening and it was a ton of fun!  We started on my ambitious project of chinese lanterns covered in coffee filters, painted some wood cut out letters, painted wine bottles with chalk board paint and sanded and primed my old toy chest which will be used for props and costumes at the photo booth.  Here are a few pictures of everyone that came out to help that night!

My cousin Jen and Robert working on my old toy chest.  My friend Adena will be painting it in the near future.

Narineh, Lucie, Jan and Charlene working away on the paper lanterns.   We got three of them finished that night and two half way done.  Still have four more to work on!

Kim and Ju painting initials and wine bottles.

Buster P., my moms puppy came and helped out too...and by help I mean distracted everyone!

My Matron of Honor and Flower Girl, Laetitia and Zoraya painting wine bottles.

Ju, Robert and Nar taking a snack break!  Get back to work you guys!

Laetitia joined in on the fun of the paper lanterns!



A big thank you to everyone who came out and helped that night.  Not pictured are my mom and my friend Brandi.  Looking forward to the next night!!!

One step forward, two steps back

Last weekend, we gathered a group of friends together to go and have dinner with a caterer we were trying out.  Everyone was very excited and we all arrived at 6:30.  However, when we arrived, the doors were locked and the chef was no where to be found.  I gave her a call and it turns out that she has two calendars and only wrote our appointment in one and not the other.  She has offered to waive the tasting fee of $200 for her mistake, so I have rescheduled the dinner for next weekend.  In the meantime, I am contacting other caterers.  Not sure how much I trust this one, but we shall see if we can find a better deal elsewhere.

The food is the last big item that needs to be found.  After that its only the details.  This upcoming Friday, a bunch of friends are coming over to start working on some of the decorations.  I will post pictures next week!

We have a dress!

Friday the 13th was a lucky day for me in dress shopping!  My mom and my Matron of Honor, Laetitia drove up to San Francisco to Marina Morrison Bridal Salon.  Walking into the place, I knew that it was where I would find my dress.  The fact that they carry Claire Pettibone's line of gowns was just a bonus.

I tried on about 6 or 7 gowns, and they were all gorgeous and lacy and romantic.  The second dress I tried on though, was 'the' dress.  Its very simple and romantic and perfect for the garden wedding.  In four and a half months will be my first fitting for the dress.  I can't wait!

Say 'yes' to the dress...or just 'maybe'

The dress shopping process has begun.  While there are several gowns that I have seen pictures of and really liked, there has been a voice in the back of my head saying "But how does it look on you?".  So today, I attempted to answer that question.

I am not a big fan of the popular strapless, mermaid, flair style that is out there in all the magazines.  I've always been attracted to more of a vintage, whimsical style.  Several years ago, I stumbled across Claire Pettibone.  I immediately fell in love with her "Forget Me Not" dress as well as several others.  When I found a San Francisco boutique that carried her line, I knew that when I started shopping I would have to go to this shop and try some of the CP dresses on, which I will be on April 13th!!!

Ms. Pettibones dresses are rather expensive, so I decided to try and look into a few other designers that were whimsical like her.  There really aren't that many out there, but I was able to find a boutique in San Mateo called, Nouvelle Vogue.  This past Friday, my mom and I headed over there to try on some dresses.  Here's what I learned:

Empire waists with a plunging neckline are very flattering on me.  I tried on 6 or 7 gowns and only two really flattered my body type.  One Jenny Packham gown had the empire waist and was chiffon and silk.  A very romantic style that was very comfortable.  It was definitely a dress that I could imagine me walking down the aisle in, but it didn't say "this is it!".

The other dress was a fun ruffled skirt that could be adjusted to show some leg, with a fitted bodice on top also by Jenny Packham.  It definitely showed off my curves and was very cute on me, but I decided that I didn't want to be wearing a corset all night long.

The ladies that own the shop were trying to make the sale and pressure me into making the purchase that day.  After reading several articles and talking to friends who have recently gone through the dress buying  process, I knew that I shouldn't feel pressured into making a decision, plus I still have my appointment at the San Francisco boutique.  If I can't find anything that speaks to me (and my pocket book), I will probably go back to the romantic empire waisted Jenny Packham gown.

Since I have less than 6 months, the pressure is definitely on for finding the gown, but I am going to really try to not rush into anything.  Cross your fingers for me!  The hunt continues!

Checking off Wedding To Do's

Slowly, but surely we are getting vendors lined up.  We have a magician for the cocktail hour, a DJ, and a photographer.  This week, I am calling more caterers to try and find a better deal and hopefully, I will start making appointments for the wedding dress.

We are also planning all the pre-wedding festivities like the engagement party, the bridal shower and of course, the batchelorette party!

Thats really all there is to update right now.  According to my check list on TheKnot.com, there are 180 days left!

Lodging

We've been busily planning and pulling things together for the wedding.  The first DIY night is set and many of our friends have offered to come and help with the multiple projects I have in mind!  Photographers, DJs, caterers and other entertainment has been contacted and a few have been booked.

Of course, there are always the speed bumps to deal with in the planning process.  The latest bump is lodging problems.  With 200 guests, most of which are out of town, it hasn't been easy finding a hotel that isn't booked for another wedding.  We have found blocks of rooms at a few different locations, and we are still looking for more.  For anyone reading this, we will be getting the discount code for the Holiday Inn Express in Windsor .  There are also rooms available at the Geyserville Inn and we are trying to negotiate a lower price for those rooms as well.  What we have been told is that if you call again in July, more rooms will be opened up, so here's hoping!  We will keep you all updated as we figure it out!

On to securing a photographer for engagement photo's and then the Save the Date!

We have a date!

On March 11, Robert and I took another day trip to the wine country to see a potential venue.  This time we went a little further and ended up in Geyserville.  

The venue is called The Little House and its a privately owned home that the couple rents out for weddings 6 times a year.  The owner had both her sons weddings there and decided it was a lot of fun, so she opened it up to the public.  

We were greeted by her and her two dogs Felix and Olive, and were taken out into the gardens.  It was beautiful!  Lush lawns with a quiet pool surrounded by large oak trees, and all around the gardens we saw vineyards and hills and beautiful landscape.  I fell in love with the place.  Robert made me wait a few days before deciding for sure if this was the spot.  Had to way the pro's and con's.  Here is everything I had to think about:

Lodging:  Healdsburg and Geyserville are the closest cities to the venue.  They are about 20 minutes outside.  Not too bad.  Roberts task is to look into hotels and book a block of rooms and then arrange a shuttle service.

Parking:  Not a lot of parking.  Have to have a valet service and/or shuttle service to bring guests to the location.  It will be an added cost, but at least we won't have to worry about anyone driving home when they shouldn't.

Set up:  We will have to rent our own tables, chairs, and a dance floor which is another added cost.

Food/beverages:  We get to pick our own caterer and bring in our own alcohol and soft drinks.  This will ultimately save us money.

Vendors:  We get to bring in any vendors we want which has been a problem at most of the spots we have looked at.  They all require their own florists and bakers and caterers to be used.  Understandable since those vendors know the spot, but those vendors always tend to be a little more expensive.

Location:  Its charming, quiet and exactly what I was looking for.  There is even a play structure in a grove of trees that my "little" guests can play in while the grown ups party!

So, the pro's out weighed the cons (but really I loved the place and would make it work any way I could!)

So...save the date.  September 29th, 2012!  Here are some pictures of the place:

The view from the one of the lawn.  It will have a lot more color and foliage in September.

As guests walk in they will see this view.

A view of the lawn where ceremonies usually take place.  

Stairs leading up to the other lawn.

A view from the second lawn.  This is usually where the receptions are

The back part of Little House

The kids play ground

The pergola leading to the front entry.

Now I'm off to locate a photographer and a caterer!!!

Picking a theme for the wedding...

One of the first things I started thinking about (besides finding a venue) was the theme for our wedding.  I wanted something that really fit both our personalities and described our relationship.  Whenever we went on long car rides, we would chat about what theme we would like for the wedding and came up with a few, but none really clicked or seemed cohesive with other aspects of the wedding.  We thought of using romantic theatrical plays or operas, Shakespearean plays, and book titles, but it just wasn't clicking.  As I was perusing through a bridal magazine, I saw an article on "storybook" themed weddings and I showed it to Robert and we both loved it right away.

Now I'm sure you are asking, how does this describe their relationship?  Lets go back a ways; one of my favorite Disney movies and the "princess" that I connected with the most was Beauty and the Beast. A few years ago, my mom found a Lennox figurine set with Belle and the Beast, however she felt that having the Beast on the cake was a little offensive to Robert and wrote to Lennox that they should create a set with Belle and the Prince.  A year later, they came out with that figurine, so my mom bought it as well.  Also, for our one year anniversary, I told Robert not to buy me any gifts, but to make me something.  He made me Storybook cookies and pulled them out one by one and told me the story.  Here are a few of the cookies:

The final piece of the puzzle was the television show we were watching when he proposed, "Once Upon a Time".  Funny enough, the episode was the Beauty and the Beast episode.  It was meant to be.  

The search for the "perfect" place...

This past weekend, Robert, my parents and I took a day trip to Sonoma to look at venues.  We started out with three appointments and had plans to drive to Healdsburg to look at a venue there.  We ended up dropping in at one other on the way, so we saw a total of five venues in one day.  That was exhausting, and the worst part, none of them clicked with us.  Here's where we went:

First stop was Kunde Family Winery.  Robert and I visited this winery in July 2011 (there is a blog post here about our trip) and decided we wanted to come back to have a tour of the venue.  My dad really liked their Syrah, so I figured that at least the wine would be drinkable for our guests, which is always a plus.  We looked at their Boot Hill site and the view was amazing.  The entire site is out doors, which for September, shouldn't be a problem and you have a 360 degree view of the Sonoma Valley.  There are giant oaks that give just enough shade.

The positives of the venue:

• Wine is good, not great but good.
• Views are incredible
• The site is picturesque
• The winery is close to a lot of lodging and other attractions
• Price is affordable at $8,000-$10,000 depending on season and day
• Limited electricity is available
• Bathrooms are on the site
• Dog friendly

The negatives of the venue:

• No indoor area at all in case of inclement weather so we would have to rent a tent
• The site is all lawn and a bit uneven, but there are plans to fix that for next season
• You have to hire a shuttle to take guests from the parking lot or hotel up a dirt road to the site 

All in all, it just didn't click with us as the "perfect" spot, although it is a contender still.

Our next step was Paradise Ridge Winery which I did not do enough checking into.  There was a tasting room in the Kenwood area, but the winery itself was in Santa Rosa.  Thankfully I had enough time scheduled between Kunde and Paradise Ridge to have lunch and get up there!  This site really didn't work for us at all.  

Positive:

• Affordable at $7500
• Had a separate room for child care
• Dog friendly
• Views were pretty
• Staff was friendly

Negative:

• Closest lodging is a dumpy Travelodge 30 minutes away from the site
• Bridal changing room was small and shabby
• A lot of stairs to get to the scenic parts of the site

We crossed this place off our list pretty quickly.  It just wasn't right for us, and the lack of lodging is not cohesive to the amount of out of town guests we will have.

We then drove back to the Kenwood area (so. much. driving!) and decided to take a detour to Landmark winery which I had heard did weddings.  My parents really like this venue and it definitely is pretty, but their maximum amount of guests is 150.  Since it was just a drive by, I don't have a lot of information on it, but I have sent in an email to get more.  We shall see!

After Landmark, we headed to a little place called Kenwood Farms and Gardens.  It was right off of Highway 12 next to Kenwood Winery.  There is a dirt driveway and to the left is a field for parking.  There is a cute little barn for dancing or eating and a nice lawn area for the ceremony.  The owner was friendly, but a bit scattered.  Its very charming and quirky and I liked it, but it didn't feel right.  After talking with the owner and going over some things with him, it was too much of a cookie cutter wedding venue.  They do all the catering and have an in-house wedding coordinator and florist and baker, which sounds great for people who don't have plans for that, but I already do.  Anyway, lets list out the positive and negatives:

Positives:

• Affordable venue price at $3500
• Charming site
• Friendly staff
• A very nice Bridal suite

Negatives:

• They have a special with Kenwood Winery, which, in my opinion, has horrible wines, however, they do let you bring in your own bottles for a corkage fee of $4.50
• All the in-house requirements really limits your choices for your wedding, although for a small family venue, it is understandable that they have this package deal
• The owner was scattered.  I would tell him the number of guests and two minutes later he changed the number.  He also forgot our names a couple times and went on a lot of tangents.  It was a little hard to follow his train of thought

I wouldn't say Kenwood is off the table completely because I like that we could bring in our own wines, but having to work with a wedding planner working for the venue makes me a little nervous.

After Kenwood, we still weren't done.  My mom wanted to go and see Villa Chanticleer in Healdsburg.  My grandfathers family was from Healdsburg and my mom has a lot of memories visiting.  The town of Healdsburg is so much fun, so I was all for it.  I had tried to get an appointment to visit the site, but ended up playing phone tag with the site coordinator who ended up not being there this weekend, but she assured me that there was another event and staff would be on-site to answer questions, but she couldn't remember when the event was or when it ended.  We got there, and no one was there.  The garden area where the ceremony would be (I'm assuming) was closed and we only were able to peek in.  It was pretty, but if I wanted that sort of setting I'd book the Mountain Winery in Woodside.  It was a bit of a disappointment, especially after dealing with the site coordinator.

So, after six hours of touring venues, over 300 miles driven and seeing five very different venues, we came home with nothing decided.  When I got home and updated a few people, I ended up with a lot of suggestions and friends and family willing to do some foot work on finding the location.  Thanks to Deby Minter for her suggestions, my future brother-in-law Ryan for all his help and several more who gave me some great ideas.  Hopefully in the next few weeks I will have a post with the location and date picked!

The engagement story

On July 4, 2010, Robert asked me to move in with him.  At the time, I had one dog and three cats so it was obvious that moving into his apartment wasn't going to work.  So we started the search for our first home.  In December 2010, we closed the deal and moved in to the house.

One of my stipulations for moving in with him was that he would have to propose to me before his 40th birthday.  

Month after month went by and nothing.  We went on several romantic get-a-ways where I thought for sure he would pop the question, but he wanted to surprise me and keep me guessing.  The week before his 40th birthday he took me on another romantic wine country get-a-way.  All our family and friends were expecting him to do it that weekend, but I was skeptical.  It was too obvious and I didn't know how he would manage to "surprise me".  We had several lovely dinners and wine country travels, but there was no proposal.  We got home and I resigned myself to the fact that it was just not going to happen.

We sat down and started watching one of our weekly television shows, "Once Upon a Time".  About half way through I went to grab a bag of desserts that he had picked up on our way home from Napa.  Inside was this:

When I asked what it was for, he said it was the key to my Valentines Day present and presented me with this hand made heart shaped jewelry box.  Inside of the box was my great-grandmothers ring.

My initial response to him was "What is this?".  After laughing at me, he looked in my eyes and asked me if I would marry him.  And I said "yes!".