Life Lately: Golden Hour

August 23, 2019

Tuesday evenings generally consist of a pilates class for me before I head home for the night to make dinner and unwind. Last Tuesday, however, following a VERY long interview with a very passionate candidate, I wound up missing my class and found myself at work a little later than normal. The last 60 minutes before sunset are almost always golden at the vineyard, but on this particular night, the light was exceptional. I wound up strolling through the garden and vines, camera in tow, to capture just a sliver of nature’s magic.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

[ view to the pathway/entry to the garden at the vineyard ]

[ tobacco drying racks currently being used as make-shift gates until our “real” gate gets installed ]

[ our green beans took off like wildfire and are finally climbing the arch into the garden! ]

[ the tiniest green beans! ]

[ the light on the vines was incredible! ]

[ august cabernet grapes ]

Sauvignon Blanc Harvest / 2017

October 23, 2017

UPDATE: I wrote this post before the devastating fires that swept through Napa, Sonoma, Lake County and Mendocino beginning October 9th-20th, 2017. I’ll share my thoughts on the fires and how it impacted our community as soon as I get my head back above water. xo – Meg

In Napa Valley, harvest is one of the first indications that the seasons are changing. This summer was so jam packed with work, sourcing trips, events, photo shoots, and multiple design projects, that the 2017 harvest season arrived shockingly fast. When our Director of Wine at ONEHOPE called to tell me that we were going to be harvesting our Sauvignon Blanc on August 24th, while ecstatic that I was going to be in town to shoot, I was simultaneously a little bummed that summer was really coming to a close and that it felt like it had passed by in a blink. Now that pumpkins and fall produce have arrived in stores and the temperatures are cooling with particularly chilly mornings, I’m choosing to embrace it and I’m looking forward to a change in pace after a marathon of a summer. Here are a few of my favorite shots from that day.

PS: I blogged about harvest last year here and how monumental it was in shaping my views on the Mexican American farmworkers here in Napa Valley. Watching this crew harvest 12 tons of grapes by hand in just under three hours only reaffirmed my views that we need to be taking care of our farmworkers here, not only in the wine industry, but in agriculture in general. As consumers become more and more conscious of how and where their food is being farmed, I hope they also pause to think about where their wine is coming from and the work behind it, the next time they open a bottle. I’m so honored to be working for a company that cares so much about the production process and the people behind it. Cheers!

Have an Adventurous Weekend!

June 10, 2017

{Tuscany 2016}

What are you up to this weekend? My parents AND sister have officially moved to California so we are all getting together for our first dinner together since they all became California residents. I’m so excited! This is a tremendous step for our family and having them near by for the first time in eight years fills my heart to the brim.

On a totally separate note, we haven’t done any major travel this year and in the midst of so much chaos at work, I’m really starting to really get that itch to go somewhere new. Seeing friends jetting off to Europe and Asia has my awakened my inner travel bug and I’m craving the disconnect and adventure of being in some place totally foreign. Are you doing any big traveling this year? Where are you headed?

Cheers!

Meg

Spring in Napa

April 18, 2017

Swung by the vineyard on Friday to give the girls from Found Rentals a tour. So grateful for sunshine!

Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a lovely Easter or Passover weekend with loved ones! My parents were in town so it made for a fun and delicious day in the kitchen. Northern California has had the wettest year on record with Easter being no different, so while it wasn’t bright and sunny like last year, it made for a cozy afternoon of cooking and table setting with my mom and dad. Jake and I celebrated my 30th (for the final time!) at The French Laundry the night before with friends (Megan, who was also turning 30 and Erik, Megan’s fiancé and Jake’s college friend & business partner), so we were really feeling Saturday’s wine consumption – ha! The low key Easter celebration was just what the doctor ordered. Here are a few snaps from the weekend!

PS: I wanted to acknowledge what a privilege it was to celebrate at the iconic French Laundry. As two foodie couples, this was a dream of all of ours and we took some time to reflect on that before dinner. Jake and I decided that 2017 was going to be a year of experiences, not things, and it was truly an experience that I’m so thankful for and that I’ll never forget.

F R I D A Y // Happy place

Tiny clusters of Sauvignon Blanc forming.

SATURDAY // The French Laundry (iPhone snaps)

Had to grab a group shot in front of the famous blue door.

Excited and anxiously awaiting the first course!

Kitchen tour! The energy was magnetic. There was plenty of hustle bustle, but I was shocked at how calm, collected, and genuinely kind the staff was. They made us feel more than welcome and even offered to take pictures for and with us.

S U N D A Y // Easter

Easter table with my mom. Recreated last year’s look (more details here).

Spring strawberry salad with pomegranate vinaigrette, candied walnuts, and feta.

My dad’s famous Deviled Eggs (with parsley ironically resembling the Michigan mitten).

So thankful for my parents. It was truly wonderful having them here and I can’t wait for them to be officially California residents in six weeks!

Hello Spring!

April 14, 2017

Spring has arrived in Napa Valley and I always seem to have a new burst of creative energy when the seasons change. Excess creative energy inevitably leads me to my little home on the web which is how I ended up here! There are so many things that have gone down in the past few months that I haven’t shared, but below is a quick rundown without diving into too many details.

Estate8 is moving along faster than ever (drywall starts next week)! I’ve been posting about this pretty regularly over on Instagram so you’re probably pretty up to speed if you follow me over there.
My parents officially bought a home in Vacaville, CA (about 30 minutes from our home) and I could not be more thrilled for them to move here in June! They’re visiting right now to get their new home spruced up and move-in ready in about six weeks.
My sister and her husband decided to move to California as well and are officially enroute to the west coast! This was the biggest shock for me of all and I seriously can’t believe they’re moving here!!! I’ll share more on this story at another time because it’s a good one!
I turned 30! It’s still setting in so more on that later too… ha!

Things have been crazy busy while trying to juggle the Estate8 project and still keep up with my real full time job at ONEHOPE so I hadn’t had time to think about Easter (one of my favorite holidays) until last week. Since we’re hosting some friends and family and there was no real time to try to think of something new for our table this year (and because I loved last year’s so much), I decided to stick with almost the exact same look. I was flipping through pictures from 2016 and realized I never shared these so I figured I’d get them up here on the blog.

The inspiration for it all started when my parents and I were exploring St. Helena a few years ago and I found these tiny, vintage farm animal caricatures at a resale shop. I had no idea what I’d ever use them for and my mom thought I was crazy, but at $20 for the set, I knew I had to have them. I believe they were labeled as cupcake toppers, but last Easter I decided to put one at everyone’s place setting as a starting point for the look and took things from there. I had these rose wine glasses on hand from a photo shoot, picked up some peachy pink napkins (similar) and a vase (similar), pulled out my gold flatware, tossed in some simple florals from Trader Joe’s and we were ready to go! I’ll be recreating the look on Sunday and I can’t wait for everyone to gather round. Wishing you a very happy Easter or Passover! Cheers!

PS: Links to the products I used (or similar) are below if you want to recreate this look in your home for a spring brunch or dinner. xoxo

Update / My Grandpa

October 3, 2016

Hey there! It’s been a little while and with life passing by faster than ever, I simply haven’t had the time to dedicate to writing recently. At the tail end of August, right after our Sauvignon Blanc harvest, I received word that my grandpa wasn’t doing well. Honestly, he hadn’t been doing well for almost 20 years when he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, but this time it was different. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of skin cancer earlier this year and with an already weak heart, the additional illness was just too much for his body to bear any longer. He passed away in the loving arms of family on August 27th at 88 years old.

No matter how mentally prepared you are for someone to transition to the other side, you’re never fully ready for the heartbreak. The helplessness, the worry about those he left behind (my grandma, my aunts, my younger cousin who was there in those final moments), and the grieving of a better life when everyone was young, healthy and together were almost too much to bear in those first few weeks. My grandpa had the kindest soul, a jokester spirit and the most contagious laugh. He fiercely loved his 4 girls, sailing, and the next project around the house or yard. My grandma was the love of his life and their stories of him chasing her in their earlier years will live on forever in my heart. I will never stop missing him.

After a couple of weeks in a funk, I’m feeling almost back to normal, but I’m missing my family more than ever. This is our first fall in Napa and the temperature change and fall colors make me nostalgic for home in the midwest. I’m looking forward to returning later on this month for my grandpa’s service and being able to hold my grandma once again.

With love,

Meg

Have a great weekend!

August 26, 2016

Fall harvest officially started on Tuesday of this week and I’m so honored that I had the opportunity to capture it on behalf of ONEHOPE. I had no idea what to expect, but I certainly did not expect what I ended up experiencing: the shocking, gritty, exhausting, exhilarating pace of the process and people working harder than I’ve ever witnessed in my life. I talked a little bit more about it here.

My grandmother’s side of the family was made up of primarily migrant workers that moved from state to state to find work, so in my heart I have a real connection and love for agriculture and all her family endured working in the fields to survive. There is something about Northern California that has always felt like home to me, particularly when I’m out in the “country”, and since she was born in Salinas, maybe it’s just something that’s in my soul. Because of that, I felt like it was really important to experience our first NorCal harvest in person, not just on a professional level, but on a spiritual level too.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the team that harvested our Sauvignon Blanc all week. To be honest, it felt so petty and insignificant going back to designing this huge home right smack-dab in the middle of the vineyard. What has kept me going, however, is the mission behind this property… that this structure will incubate and house change on a global level, that it will bring together leaders in all different industries to experience what I just witnessed and more. And if people can leave here with even a sliver of the inspiration that I have felt this week to do good, to be a better person, and to enact change, then we will have succeeded.

I’m thrilled that tomorrow we’ll be at STOMP to help raise money for the Mexican American farmworkers in our community. While we’ve attended in the past, it will most certainly have an even bigger meaning to us this year. I can’t wait to share more next week.

Have a great weekend!

-Meg

Wine Wednesday / Tasting in the Vines

August 10, 2016

Happy Wine Wednesday! This summer has flown by crazy fast and while the official start of fall isn’t until September 22nd, Labor Day (in just three short weeks!) really marks the end-of-summer for most. With this being the first summer in our house, I had such grandiose plans for our yard and get-togethers that were probably unrealistic for the number of work priorities, weddings and travel planned, so I’m definitely feeling like there’s still so much to squeeze in before September rolls around. It’s no secret that I LOVE fall, but I’m trying to keep that nostalgia at bay by doing at least one summery thing a day, whether that’s sipping on a glass of Rosé or picking berries at the property.

One thing that we’ve had no shortage of this year are wine tastings at the vineyard! With so many partners excited about the progress of construction, we’ve blocked out days and weekends for property tours and tastings for people to attend if they’re in town. Last weekend was a bit of a treat when some friends joined us for a casual wine tasting in the vines with their family. Our site is definitely a construction zone so it’s rough, dusty and hot, but we’ve made do with a makeshift barrel bar and a few umbrellas for shade. While I would have loved to have spruced this little section of the vineyard up a bit more, it’s made for an authentic, rustic Napa experience for our guests and it’s always a treat to see peoples’ excitement when they see our property for the first time and taste barrel samples of our estate cabernet. Here are a few shots from this past weekend.

Life Lately / Summer in Napa

July 25, 2016

Life has been seriously chaotic this year so I’m trying to make a concentrated effort to spend every moment outside of work to soaking up my first summer in Napa. I trekked around the vineyard last week to check out our construction status and I wound up covered in scratches, pickers, and blackberry juice when I discovered heaps of ripe berry bushes along our creek bed. Nature is surprising me around almost every corner here and continually makes me fall harder for this new place we call home. Here are a few snaps of my favorite summer surprises.

Hope you’re having a great week!

Hello July! // Life Update

July 5, 2016

Hello, July! Summer is in full swing! The days in Napa are incredibly hot, the nights are cold (still getting used to these 40 degree daily temperature swings!) and I’ve been totally under water trying to keep up with preparations for our big holiday 2016 push at ONEHOPE. Since October-December are our biggest months, the bulk of our holiday prep happens in June and July. Being that we’re coming out with so many new products this year, our holiday catalog shoot took a few weeks of preparation, one full day of setting up and three, head-spinning 12-14 hour days of shooting. Last week I was in LA handling that (Monday-Friday) and I feel like I’m still recovering from being on my feet for so long moving backdrops, flower market runs, styling, shooting, adjusting, restyling, etc.

My parents flew into town on Saturday to visit us for a few days before we head back down to LA for a big conference we’re hosting in Manhattan Beach. Things have been so stressful for the past few weeks, that there was honestly nothing better than being able to give them a big hug when they pulled up. Family just makes everything better – am I right? Jake and I were planning on possibly hosting some friends in Napa for the 4th, but being that I was still exhausted from travel and he was wiped out having just returned from being on the road for 10 days, we decided to keep it low key with just our parents for the day. It was truly a different vibe than our typical Sangria Flip Cup championships we’ve hosted for the last three years while living in Hermosa. Yes… SANGRIA flip cup. Maybe next year? Or maybe we just finally grew up…Yikes.

As different as this year was, we still had a blast. Jake’s mom brought over a few delicious dishes and my parents helped us whip up some great barbecue. We did a ton of yard work this weekend, thanks to my dad figuring out a plan using what we had in materials (so much rock in our area!) and we got to work sprucing things up. Our plan is to add on to our garage and house, but that can’t happen for at least a year, so it’ll be nice to have things looking a little more polished for the time being. Here are a few snapshots from the past week!

Quick stop by the vineyard to check out our construction progress. Look at those grapes!

Summer staple: Vine ripe tomatoes, fresh basil and mozzarella.

Kept one 4th of July tradition: homemade triple berry cake!

Love this festive cake topper from Meri Meri so much!

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