The Wright Life!

Its spring in January!  Its been soooo nice here and Rollie and I had a day off together yesterday so we took advantage of the weather and headed out to Glen Ellen (probably the closest wine tasting valley to us, yet it was our first time!)  We started at Loxton, which is a very small production winery, roughly 3000 cases a year specializing in syrah and zin.  We took home a bottle of late harvest zin (neither of us are usually dessert wine drinkers but it was yummy).  Next we headed over to the Glen Ellen market for some sammies...I thought our market, Olivers was great...this place was amazing...will definitely go back. Next we hit up Eric Ross, a quaint tasting room just up the road from the center of Glen Ellen, also specializing in zin, although we took home a bottle of struttin white, an albarino with a touch of muscat...great place to come back on a chilly day, they have couches and a fire place. Third we hit up Imagery, a winery I had heard great things abo...

Well its been a week since I posted my '30 before 30' list so I wanted to check in with myself to see how its going and if I make it public (like this blog) I tend to hold my self a bit more accountable. 62. lose 20 lbs (yep just throw the hardest one out there first) down 2 lbs from last Monday 63. Finish our stairway photo gallery printed out ideas and Aaron brothers penny sale is going on so I need to act fast! 64a. Make a dentist appointment this month (1/11) 64b. Make a doctor appointment (yearly check up) also this month (1/11)   Appointment was 1/13 65. Save $500 for our Chicago/Michigan vacation in April $100 so far :) 66. Pay off best buy credit card next month (2/11) 67. Go to gym or hike/run outdoors M-F for 30 days (started 1/10/11) 6 out of last 9 days...not bad but room for improvement 68.Visit 5 new restaurants in Sonoma or Napa county Mikes at the Crossroad in Cotati for lunch on 1/13 with Rollie & Flavor in Santa Rosa for lunch with Jessica on 1/...

Yesterday felt like spring, and I had the day off!  I finally took my camera out and just drove...I got lost a bit but that's ok!  I shot some pics of this old tower that I pass by almost everyday, the lighting was great...a few pictures have some really cool sun spots.  I forgot how much I enjoyed just driving around and seeing what catches my eye...hope the weather stays like this for a while :)

Everyone has been asking "what are your resolutions?" and of course I've thought of many things I want to stop, improve, do better or try for the first time so today while I was thinking of a creative way to write them down and actively 'do them' I remembered my 'bucket list' which I first blogged just shy of a year ago 1/29/10, but created in August of 2008.  I glanced at the list and realized I've forgotten to cross a few off from the past few months...#9 find a job I love (Duckhorn 7/17/10) and #21 Travel to Italy (9/29/10-10/8/10).  Looking at the list its pretty far fetched and of course I would love to think that most things on the list are 'do-able' in my lifetime but for the meantime I need a short term list so I came up with '30 before 30' which I quickly learned from googling is not a very original idea.  30 things to accomplish, try, work on, or stop doing before I turn 30, and since my original bucket list only had 61 items ...

I've been cooking and baking more over the last few months and I'm sure alot of has to do with the time of year but I also LOVE our kitchen so that doesn't hurt!  Usually its somewhat 'healthy' unless its for a special occasion...like my recent work bake-off and my Holiday Cookie Swap party...with the exception of tonight... we made beer cheese soup with some great local Bear Republic Racer 5 beer...and it was delicious!  I usually just snap a pic with my Iphone vs. getting out the SLR so Rollie suggested that I blog about our beer cheese soup adventure tonight and add a few other pics from the past few months of baking and cooking so her goes... Beer Cheese Soup 1-10-11 Duckhorn Bake-off, Apple pie with Carmel Rum Sauce Cookie Swap Holiday Party, Andes Mint Brownies My first whole roasted chicken (At the time practicing for Thanksgiving) Roasted Caprese Salad for the Muro's visit to Wine Country      

Last night we ventured over to Napa to try out Tyler Florence's new restaurant Rotisserie and Wine with a few of my friends from Duckhorn.   I of course researched the menu and yelp reviews prior to our visit and was very excited to try new dishes...as did Rollie, which I was very surprised/proud of.  The decor was to die for, half cut wine barrel chandeliers, pottery-barn-ish rustic wood and metal table and chairs, a great foyer with cozy leather chairs and a coffee table made from crates resting on wheels...along with a great centerpiece of real cotton branches in a short wide jar.  This is exactly the new decor scheme I'm going with!  We got to our table and noticed that all of the dishes, glasses, water jugs, and napkins have the initials "R.W" engraved in them for Rotisserie and Wine...or in our house Rollie Wright!  This made our experience even better.  We all started off with some great local beer, Racer 5 from Bear Republic up in Healdsburg....

Today I post a picture of my mom and I from her last visit to California in May 2010.  She will be here in 17 days along with my Grandma and two Aunts!  I'm so excited for our girls trip...Pismo Beach, Carmel, San Fran, and Wine Country!  It will be time for some new pictures and memories.  Now off to finish paying bills, workout, and run some errands.

I had intentions of doing pretty much nothing today (maybe a little laundry) but after a crazy busy work week last week and our trip to Tahoe this weekend there was much needed TLC to tend to around the house.  I woke up after a great nights sleep and attacked our closet.  Our master closet is insanely large but its also the ONLY closet in our whole place...so holiday decorations, sporting equipment, extra blankets/pillows, and all coats have to be stored in there.  With the help from my handy label maker and storage bins I went to town and it now looks and feels great!  Next up I tackled our dining room table, coffee table and island...it looked so bare after taking down all the Christmas decorations so I needed a new 'theme'.  I decided to go with a rustic/wine/pottery barn look and it turned out great!  But I really wanted to post about our NYE 2011 weekend at Lake Tahoe. It was my first time up there and WOW it is gorgeous!  We shared a house with...

  We are heading up to Tahoe on Thursday (its my first time!)...I'm so excited to see the snow! This pic was from last winter up at Butte Meadows.

Feeling a bit sentimental sitting here on Christmas day looking at our beautiful tree snuggled up with the worlds cutest (loudest snoring) dog and my amazing hubby I suddenly felt the need to document times like this.  But I realized that I failed with my last promise to post a picture a day :(  I (we've) been busy...which is a good thing but I need to get back to my passion, photography...so although I normally don't have resolutions...that will be it for 2011.  We've been in Santa Rosa now for just over 5 months and I've never lived anywhere that feels more like 'home' (except of course Birmingham, Michigan...my hometown).  The amazing friends that we've met in such a short period of time, two great jobs, and our cozy home (even if its just a rental) all factor into this but I think I'm finally learning how to just live life and not worry about the future too much, something I normally have a really hard time doing.  And sometimes its the little, sim...

First week we brought Rufus home!

Fall '09 Chico, CA amazing colors!

Going forward I'm going to TRY really hard to post one picture (old and new) along with a little blurb about the picture...here goes the first one! This was a couple weeks ago at Hale's Apple Orchard were we went to pick out some pumpkins and apples.

10/6 Museums We slept in a bit and walked north of our hotel to explore before heading to the Duomo Museo. 12 Euro for both.  The museum is small but had some great pieces of art including: Michelangelo 'Pieta' and Donatellos 'Magdalene'. After the museum we headed over to piazza croce, grabbed 2 diet cokes and 2 calzones at a little cafe along the way.  10 Euro.  We sat on the steps of Santa Croce and ate our lunch.  After lunch we headed over to the Uffizi, we had reserved tickets online prior to our trip so we could avoid the lines. 20 Euro.  No pictures are allowed in the Uffizi which is sort of a bummer, and there is no ac!  I think we would have lasted a little longer with some cooler temps.  The building is great though as well as the sculptures and paintings.  On the way back from the Uffizi we stopped at a few street vendors for some gifts (25 Euro) and then grabbed some beer to enjoy back at the hotel for our own happy hour. 6 E...