The Wright Life!

October is over and my energy is finally coming back.  To say that October in the wine industry is busy would be a huge understatement.  My days were long and exhausting so there hasn't been much time for blogging, decorating or home improvements.  November isn't going to slow down much either.  This past weekend one of our closest couple friends from LA came up to visit...but I'll have a whole post on that later.  For now here are a few pictures from one of our most recent wine tasting trips.  The first weekend of October Rollie and I headed into Napa to for some good old wine tasting.  Terra Valentine, Clif Family, Chappellet & Miner Family. Cabernet coming in at Terra Valentine Great views from Terra Valentine Mansion at Terra Valentine Pathway up to Chappellet Views coming down the mountain Vines changing color More great views Looking out from the patio at Miner Family Three Palms Vineyard

I was lucky enough to score a free wine barrel from work about a month ago...and was also luck that once cut in two it fit in my car!  I knew I wanted to use them as end tables out on the deck...and now I want to more for the front patio...but that might have to wait until after harvest when I can score another used one.  Anyways, after bringing them home I realized that the furniture outside needed to be re-arranged a bit...I really like the way it looks now.   There is of course alot more that we want to do out on the deck but we've really been enjoying it during our home improvement 'break'.  Here are some before and after shots. After shot with wine barrels and furniture moved around Another after pic One more Before

Were almost 'finished' with our guest bathroom temporary remodel...until we have money to replace the vanity, lighting, floors and shower this will do for now.  And we both agree that its probably the most improved project we've done for the least amount of money.  We painted the walls and ceiling, installed laminate tiles, threw down some area rugs, replaced the wonky broken closet doors with a shower curtain and hung some art.  Here are the before and afters.  We went with mocha latte Behr ultra premium paint with primer and it really makes the 80's brown and cream tile blend in rather than stand out.  We still need to install   the baseboards and accessories/hang some more art but its come a LONG way since July. Before the week we moved in Water damaged floor...we put in new sub floor after ripping up tiles  After! After...looking out into hallway (guest bedroom across the hall) Step plate installed on the weird stair curtain for a closet door

We agreed to take a month break from any home repairs.  We were trying to do too much and burning ourselves out, so after our housewarming party we took a little break.  We've done little things here and there such as replace more outlets, hang curtain tie backs, re-arrange some accessories and furniture and clean up/organize the garage...so I guess that's our version of a 'break'.  Last night while driving back from the Stanford game we came up with a new list and its definitley not short.  This is in no order of what takes priority...although the outdoor things most likely will come first while we still have nice Fall weather.  Here it goes: -Finish guest bath which includes:   *buy/install light & plug cover   *buy/install step plate for weird step up to toilet/shower (pics to come)   *tighten toliet/buy new wax seal   *install baseboards   *patch tile by shower -Sand and paint 2 black ledges in dining room -Finish door trims (dining room and master bath

We had a wonderful housewarming party this past Friday night.  A few close friends came over to help us celebrate our first house! I was able to put up a few 'fall' decor items too.  We did a few last minute projects before the party...I'll post more on that this week...but for now here are a few pictures from the party.

Things are finally starting to slow down around here with Fall approaching us quickly.  At the end of August we both took some time off and crammed in one of the busiest vacations we've ever planned...a little too busy but oh well!  I flew to Chicago for a night, drove home with my best friend Stephanie to Michigan for 3 nights and a wedding, flew to LA for 2 nights where I met Rollie (who drove down by himself) visited LA friends, drove to Santa Barbara for a night, and then ended it with one night in Carmel....geez! I didn't have my camera in Michigan but snapped a few pictures on the latter part of the trip...here are a few: The poopdeck in Hermosa Beach...where we had our first kiss :) Kerrington...our good friends Ray and Tanya's little daughter Madison(our friends Todd and Kerry's daughter) and Kerrington playing together Add caption Some pretty roses in Los Olivos Walking around downtown Solvang Our balcony view from our room in Solvang.

We are back from vacation and ready to start working on the house again.  Right before we went on vacation we bought, painted and had our baseboards installed.  We also finally got a fence put in...so Rufus now has full reign of the yard!  Pictures on that to come... Last night a worked on a few small decorating projects.  A few weeks ago I was at Farmstead restaurant with some girlfriends and saw a neat idea with ball jars, tea-lights and small rocks.  While we were at OSH I noticed that a whole dozen ball jars was on sale for $12...plus the 15% coupon we found :) Here are a few pics of the quick, simple and cheap project to spruce up our deck a bit. Still can't believe this is our backyard this guy was a big help :) Love this deck! 

Friday was our one month anniversary of the closing of our house.  The list of to-do's continue but we've taken some time to sit back, relax and enjoy all of our hard work this past week.  Neither of us can 'relax' very well so we've of course still been working but just not as hard.  Here is a list of what we've been working on: -trimming trees -cleaning  up side yard (well paying someone to clean up all the junk that was left here plus what we've added to from our demo's) -continuing to replace outlet covers and light switches -bought 2 lamps on craigslist for $25 (total) for behind the couch -took down huge ugly dry/erase board that was left in the kitchen -brought in all the bookshelves and organized books in living room, bought a 4th at ikea -bought and put together sofa table (actually a desk from ikea but you can't even see it so nobody would know!) -bought and installed a temporary light above the dining room table ($13...thank you ikea!) -re