Before the wedding weekend hoopla, Lee and I spent a day in San Fransisco as well as a day and a half in the Sonoma Valley wine region. In keeping with my goal, I got up very early on Wednesday morning and marched myself to one of the country's original Bikram Yoga studios. I must say, before entering I was already nervous. A seemingly shadier part of town than I was expecting, class at 9am (when I'm used to late afternoon classes at 4 or 5pm), and a VERY bare bones studio. The instructor, a Spanish man by the name of Oscar, was very welcoming yet warned me of the intensity of this class versus the ones in NYC. They attempt at all costs to mirror the conditions of the Bikram studios in India in this location meaning the heat and humidity are at a maxiumum. The 1960s air vent pumping out scolding hot bursts were enough to make my fingers feel like I was getting too close to an open flame(like when you roast marshmellows over a campfire and you get 1" too close). I kept up and felt fantastic mentally sustaining myself through 3/4 of the class at which point I was a pile of sweat and shaking limbs and had to call it quits in savasana for the remainder. Chalk one up to the attempt. I'm so glad I went. Later on that day, Lee and I had brunch at the most amazing French soul-food style restaurant called Brendas in (apparenly) a not so good part of town, but we didnt know better. The beignets and the croque monsieur were some of the best I have ever had. We then strolled through the Marina area of SF stopping to shop and lunch and relax over beers and our Kindles. The evening was spent catching up over wine & italian food with our friends Dief and Emily who moved from NYC to SF about a year ago. Haha, we love to eat clearly. Thursday morning, it was up an at'em as we picked up our rental car and headed north towards the Napa Valley. A chillier day with intermittent sun, we arrived at our hotel for the night, the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, and relaxed over coffee and people watching. At 9am, our bike tour guide was to pick us up for our day of bike trekking through the Sonoma Valley---and we were in luck! In our attempt to save a few dollars by booking a group bike tour, we were welcomed by our tour guide, Steve, who said we were the only people to book a ride for today! Woohoo! Private tour, wineries of our choice, personal guide. We were very happy :) Our beautiful back roads ride took us along the dirt roads behind and through the vineyards and winery homes. You could smell the vines' grapes and the eukelyptus lines roads with each inhale. My personal heaven. We stopped at a variety of wineries (Homewood, Gunlauch Bunschu, Buena Vista and Ravenswood) with Homewood being our favorite. It was the most unassuming and simply run winery owned by a man named Dave who was head winemaker, owner, and if I had to guess a Grateful Dead fan (or at least someone who just came out of one of their concerts). Later on that evening, Lee and I had dinner at a lovely little place called the Girl & the Fig which lead to more bread, cheese and wine (clearly). We talked and talked and talked:) On Friday morning, we rose early for a drive up Route 12 to meet an old friend of mine, Pete Soergal, from high school whose family owns and opperates Soergal's Orchards in Wexford. After college, Pete made his way out to Cali and after years of putting his time in at various wineries is now the assistant winemaker at Landmark Winery in Sonoma. The personal tour of the property and hearing the histroy of the place firsthand made for an awesome start to our weekend (not to mention, the Overlook Chardonnay was fabulous, too). We bopped on over to St. Francis Winery for another quick tasting of their zinfindels and syrahs before making our way to the wedding destination spot in Santa Rosa. What a trip!
This past Saturday(!) on our 6 month wedding anniversary, Lee and I were able to stand next to our great friends, Elizabeth & Jeff, as they became husband and wife in Santa Rosa, California. It was a magical day full of girly giggles, loving laughter and bottles and bottles of the bubbly. This was the first wedding that Lee and I have attended since our own and it was so fun being a one placecard couple (Mr & Mrs Lee Markle!). Elizabeth was an absolutely radiant bride with calm nerves and a smile to go on for days. I would get the chills everytime I would catch her ear to ear grin as they talked to their guests. Effortless glam and just the eptiome of happiness. Three cheers to love.
Before the wedding weekend hoopla, Lee and I spent a day in San Fransisco as well as a day and a half in the Sonoma Valley wine region. In keeping with my goal, I got up very early on Wednesday morning and marched myself to one of the country's original Bikram Yoga studios. I must say, before entering I was already nervous. A seemingly shadier part of town than I was expecting, class at 9am (when I'm used to late afternoon classes at 4 or 5pm), and a VERY bare bones studio. The instructor, a Spanish man by the name of Oscar, was very welcoming yet warned me of the intensity of this class versus the ones in NYC. They attempt at all costs to mirror the conditions of the Bikram studios in India in this location meaning the heat and humidity are at a maxiumum. The 1960s air vent pumping out scolding hot bursts were enough to make my fingers feel like I was getting too close to an open flame(like when you roast marshmellows over a campfire and you get 1" too close). I kept up and felt fantastic mentally sustaining myself through 3/4 of the class at which point I was a pile of sweat and shaking limbs and had to call it quits in savasana for the remainder. Chalk one up to the attempt. I'm so glad I went. Later on that day, Lee and I had brunch at the most amazing French soul-food style restaurant called Brendas in (apparenly) a not so good part of town, but we didnt know better. The beignets and the croque monsieur were some of the best I have ever had. We then strolled through the Marina area of SF stopping to shop and lunch and relax over beers and our Kindles. The evening was spent catching up over wine & italian food with our friends Dief and Emily who moved from NYC to SF about a year ago. Haha, we love to eat clearly. Thursday morning, it was up an at'em as we picked up our rental car and headed north towards the Napa Valley. A chillier day with intermittent sun, we arrived at our hotel for the night, the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, and relaxed over coffee and people watching. At 9am, our bike tour guide was to pick us up for our day of bike trekking through the Sonoma Valley---and we were in luck! In our attempt to save a few dollars by booking a group bike tour, we were welcomed by our tour guide, Steve, who said we were the only people to book a ride for today! Woohoo! Private tour, wineries of our choice, personal guide. We were very happy :) Our beautiful back roads ride took us along the dirt roads behind and through the vineyards and winery homes. You could smell the vines' grapes and the eukelyptus lines roads with each inhale. My personal heaven. We stopped at a variety of wineries (Homewood, Gunlauch Bunschu, Buena Vista and Ravenswood) with Homewood being our favorite. It was the most unassuming and simply run winery owned by a man named Dave who was head winemaker, owner, and if I had to guess a Grateful Dead fan (or at least someone who just came out of one of their concerts). Later on that evening, Lee and I had dinner at a lovely little place called the Girl & the Fig which lead to more bread, cheese and wine (clearly). We talked and talked and talked:) On Friday morning, we rose early for a drive up Route 12 to meet an old friend of mine, Pete Soergal, from high school whose family owns and opperates Soergal's Orchards in Wexford. After college, Pete made his way out to Cali and after years of putting his time in at various wineries is now the assistant winemaker at Landmark Winery in Sonoma. The personal tour of the property and hearing the histroy of the place firsthand made for an awesome start to our weekend (not to mention, the Overlook Chardonnay was fabulous, too). We bopped on over to St. Francis Winery for another quick tasting of their zinfindels and syrahs before making our way to the wedding destination spot in Santa Rosa. What a trip!
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AuthorSarah: one part of a family of THREE with my husband Lee and sweet girl Morgan, simply wanting to chronicle the path I'm on and the path that will come to be. For now it's NYC urban mamaville where everyday is a new adventure! (Actually, just getting to the post office is an adventure.) Ask Me Anything!Blogettes I LoveJoey & The Owl
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August 2015
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