Choosing Love

June 15, 2016

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more and more aware of the fragility of life as a handful of people around me have gotten sick or lost loved ones and we’re reminded that we aren’t invincible. The news coming out of Orlando has shaken me to the core and frightens me for our future and the generations that come after us. I know I’m not alone in that I’ve been bombarded with CNN alerts and updates, watched interviews with survivors and parents of those lost, seen countless pictures and memes of the attacker and the seemingly endless social media banter and chatter about gun laws and policy in the United States. It’s incredibly easy to get sucked in over and over again throughout the day out of concern and the need to feel like you’re up to date on the situation at hand. What often results are feelings of fear and sadness, crippling anxiety and leave one with the subconscious reaction to recluse because “who knows” if you’re next.

I’m not going to lie, focusing on day-to-day responsibilities have been hard over the past two days. The last thing I feel like doing is going head-to-head with someone over the finish on the beams in our construction project. Who cares about something as trivial as a cocktail shoot when there are real problems going on in the world, when there are people dying just being who they are?

I was flipping through some of our pictures from our trip to Greece last night and it dawned on me that whenever something like this happens, we have to make the choice every day to move forward doing what we love, seeing the world and pushing the fears of the “what if I’m in the next subway or nightclub” away. Too many people have fought too hard for us to have the right to live freely, to build careers out of what sets our souls on fire versus necessity. Traveling teaches us to simplify our lives, to deal with adversity and to laugh at getting lost with schedules gone awry. It teaches us to see the other side of things – that there are people with entirely different backgrounds, with worse situations but with a heart of happiness lighting their way. It teaches us that there are complexities to every situation, that almost nothing is black and white and that there are layers of history compounded into our cultural norms and beliefs.

I realized in that moment, that every day I have the choice to see the beauty around us, that the paralyzing fear of “what if” is a choice and it’s only reality if I let it be. I realized that I live in a democracy where I can write to my representatives urging them to see different perspectives and that I can truly be a part of history instead of letting anger and arguments out of fear fester online. And lastly, I realized that doing what you love, no matter how small and insignificant it might seem, is one of the most important things in the world. Finding that sliver of happiness restores hope, ignites our soul, opens our hearts and allows us to see situations from all different angles and truly impact the world. Love and hate are ripple effects and today, I’m choosing love.

Sending you love and light.

Meg

Have a Great Weekend!

June 10, 2016

Between getting ready for our next catalog shoot, juggling a major design project and keeping up on normal day-to-day work, the past few weeks have felt so overwhelming and have been flying by faster than I can handle. I keep telling myself to quit sweating the small stuff and enjoy simple moments along the way. Whether it’s endless poppies blooming in our yard, lunch with my best friend in the city, or a glass of wine on the patio at the end of the day, I’m trying harder than ever to soak it all in.

We’re heading out of town for a friend’s wedding this weekend and have some filming at our El Segundo office on Monday so I’m getting ready to hit the road for a few days. The chaos continues! Here are some of my favorite moments from this week:

The tiny beginnings of our 2016 Sauvignon Blanc!

I could walk these rows for days.

So excited to find a row of pomegranate trees tucked away on our property.

Our architect (David Rulon) checking out the construction site.

Rebar and trenches – almost ready for footings and a foundation!

Blending some new top-secret juice with one of our winemakers, Tony Coltrin 😉

Grilling with Jake and testing out a new recipe 🙂 Cheers!

Have a Great Weekend!

June 3, 2016

This week was a total doozy. Monday started off with Bottle Rock Napa load-out (not much of a day off!) and Tuesday was spent recovering from the festival madness. We’re so scrappy at ONEHOPE, so much so that it’s written into our manifesto, and while it’s rewarding when all is said and done, the process is usually tough and can be wearing. I’m sure we’ll look back at the days when we were DIY-ing everything, loading 300 lb. cabinets in and out of a tent on our own, renting and driving over-payload Budget trucks instead of ever hiring movers or help, and laugh at how ridiculous we were and how hard we worked. But when you’re in the moment, it’s hard not to internally (or even sometimes verbally) scream “WTF am I doing all this for?!” And then I remember that we’re building really cool shit at our company, see my vision come together and want to pinch myself with excitement when it all pays off. Ahhh the emotional rollercoaster of scrappy entrepreneurship.

That being said, this weekend I’m looking forward to doing literally nothing. The weekend before last was spent moving a few tons (as in thousands of pounds) of gravel around our yard (more on that later), so I’m planning on kicking my feet up, drinking some wine outside and enjoying our cute little town for a few days. What are you up to this weekend?

PS: The above picture is what convinced me to pull the trigger on those crazy amazing West Elm chairs I’d been eyeing forever. I CAN’T wait for them to arrive in a few weeks! (image via)

Peony Season

May 24, 2016

Ahhh! Is there anything better? I was pleasantly surprised to walk into the biggest peony display I’ve ever seen last week at Trader Joe’s. Being that they were $6.99/bunch (!!!!) I had to grab a couple in every shade of pink. How gorgeous are these?

PS: Below is my current desk situation. In our bedroom. So much pink. Jake is going to kill me soon. I’ll dive into the working-from-home adjustment later this week 🙂

Hope you have a wonderful day! xo

What’s In My Bag – Europe Edition

May 18, 2016

Before Jake and I even found our house in December, he had booked us a surprise trip to Europe for our combination Christmas + Birthday present that has become an annual tradition. We’re both so passionate about traveling and exploring the world and value experiences more than things so we pool together what we would generally budget for Christmas, birthdays and travel and try to take one big trip per year. With a 2 week trip planned for mid April, we had just under 6 weeks to move and get settled before taking off for Greece and Italy. Basically, the week before our trip was a total scramble to organize, finish up a few loose ends at work and figure out what the heck I needed to bring with me to Europe.

I’d recently upgraded my camera for work and it no longer fit in my old bag so I’d had my eye on this replacement for a while. When my mom sent me money to put towards it for my birthday, I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait for it to show up on our doorstep – I knew it would be perfect for not only keeping my camera safe, but also for holding all of the necessities while abroad. When traveling, it’s so important to keep things light, versatile, organized and easily accessible (to you only) so this job did the trick. A large back pocket was perfect for storing my clutch/wallet, the large padded interior pocket was perfect for keeping my iPad safe, and the front two pockets were the perfect size for a charger, extra memory cards, passport, lipstick, etc. Before we left for the airport, I snapped a pic of what was in my bag – all of the essentials I’d need to have handy while traveling through Europe. Click through below to shop!

A Personal Update

May 4, 2016

Hey there! If you’re a close personal friend or follow me on Instagram, I’m sure you already know that we’ve had some BIG life changes over the course of the past few months that have kept me away from my little home on the web. We bought a house and moved to Napa! I still can’t believe we’re finally in Northern California (a move that we’ve been talking about making for the past 5 or so years) and how much our lives have changed in 2016!

I’ll spare you the full ONEHOPE history, but Jake started the company in 2007 with a team that had followed him from Gallo. They were all based in Southern California at the time, so while the wine was being produced in Napa and Sonoma, our headquarters have always been in Orange County. At the beginning of 2015, as we started developing an estate/winery project for ONEHOPE in Napa, it became pretty clear pretty fast that we needed to have a bigger presence up here and that we really needed a few people closely managing a project of this scale. Jake’s dad has been a construction manager at Stanford for many years and was the perfect candidate for managing the build, but to not have full-time teammates in wine country as a wine brand of our size was starting to seem silly. Since I’m doing the interior design on the project, making materials selections and designing the home from Southern California was becoming difficult. On a personal level, we’ve both spent the last 7-10 years away from family and wanted to be closer to Jake’s parents and sisters. My best friend Carla, who is basically family, also lives in the Bay Area – finally being close to someone from home made me SO excited to move north! We decided we’d save as much as possible for the remainder of the year and try to buy at the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016.

When the cutest house came on the market in November, I instantly had a gut feeling about it and knew I had to fly up to check it out. Jake was in China at the time on business so his parents picked me up from the airport and we drove to Napa where I fell head over heels for this house. I KNEW it was the one that we were going to celebrate holidays in together and build a family over the years. We scrambled to get pre-approved, made an offer and then waited. Jake had written the most wonderful, heartfelt letter to the sellers, our offer was strong and we were positive we had gotten the house…

And then we didn’t. I was absolutely crushed.

Everyone kept saying “it was for a reason” and “the right house will come along” which I truly believed in my heart, but I was too devastated to even continue looking for the right one. I kept waiting for their deal to fall through so we could scoop up our house and get on with our lives – still envisioning us in that cute little house that never was.

For Christmas, Jake and I traveled home to Michigan to visit my family. Every year, Jake and my dad get into their token political “discussion” that is inevitably heated and teeters on being a full blown argument. Trying to drown out their seemingly endless banter, I hopped on Zillow and a new listing popped up. It was so cute, smaller than the house we’d loved, but also with a smaller price tag and still in our favorite neighborhood. We decided to put in an offer sight-unseen and to our surprise, our offer was accepted! We traveled to Napa just after the new year to see it in person and confirm we actually liked it before moving forward and it was perfect! It was built in the 1930’s, had a lot of charm and a big back yard – we were sold! We closed at the end of January, packed up our tiny home in Hermosa Beach and moved at the very end of February.

{ signing our lives away! }

At this point, we’re almost completely settled in with the exception of some wall art and window treatment updates that need to happen. There are of course a million long-term changes we want to make to this place that we need to save for, but we’re comfortable for now. And most importantly, even with the changes I’d like to make, I still get butterflies when I pull up to our cozy little house.

So what does that mean for the blog? I’ve had this little site for over 5 years now, but my consistency has definitely lacked – especially when life gets crazy. But through all the years, posting here still feels like home to me and now that we’re settled into our real home, my goal is to use this as a place to document this great big Estate8 project and our new house, as well as some recipes, styling projects and events I’ve been working on for ONEHOPE. And, let’s face it – when you’re living, working and building a company together with your partner, sometimes a girl needs a little “me” time. I guess that’s how I’ll look at this little site from here on out 🙂 Cheers!

{ the most beautiful welcome home basket from new neighbors }

{ exploring the new neighborhood – favorite spot for brunch! }

{ love the morning light in our kitchen nook }

{ working from home – something new for me and something I’ll be chatting about one the blog }

{ visiting ONEHOPE’s vineyard in Rutherford on the first sunny day in spring }

Have a Great Weekend / Update

October 23, 2015

Hey there! This week has FLOWN by… I mean, life is just pure insanity right now. Last week’s recap:

Tuesday-Thursday: On top of all of the other craziness at work, we were granted a Demolition Permit for our BIG Napa project (for next Monday. MONDAY! Eeeek!) so I spent the week finding and coordinating movers, reserving storage, booking a truck, figuring out what to donate vs. what to sell, and making plans to get the current house cleared out in time.

Friday: Shot cocktails (sharing the recipes soon!) all day and into the evening followed by a late night of laundry and packing.

Saturday: My only day off! Kind of… 😉 Up at the crack of dawn to fly to Oakland, picked up a huge moving truck and drove it to Lafayette to spend the day with my best friend and her husband to watch the biggest game of the year – MSU vs. Michigan. Our team had an EPIC win in literally the last second of the game, I lost my voice from screaming profanities and jubilation, we celebrated our asses off, and I probably drank a little more than I needed to. Ooops! 😛

Sunday: Another early morning to get on the road to Napa. Got our storage unit situated with Jake’s dad and headed to the house to join the movers. Sorted through three bedrooms of stuff and helped move out of our cute little vineyard house. Thankfully, we had the best help in the world and I was on the road at 6:30 (in my huge truck!) to have dinner with Jake’s parents. I was SO sad as I drove away from the house for the last time. It’s a super weird and wacky place with a ton of issues that it doesn’t make any sense to try the salvage the structure, but it was such a shining beacon of hope when we bought it. I staged the entire thing (2 dining rooms, 2 living rooms and three bedrooms) back in January. Since we were doing it on such a tight budget, I, myself physically moved everything in and painted a few of the rooms with the help of some of the best teammates. It was an enormous project that we pulled together in two short weeks and it was truly a labor of love. A few months later, Jake and I got engaged in the vines and spent our first night there as an engaged couple. The happiest day of my life took place on that property and we celebrated with friends and family in that house. As weird as it was, it was a special place that I’ll never forget.

Monday: Up at 4:30 to drive down to LA. That drive is usually so annoying (the central valley can feel ridiculously long), but knowing I was going to arrive at our office around 11:00am was encouraging and it felt really fast compared to what I’ve experienced making that trip before. Our team helped unload the truck when I arrived and I dove into the work week.

Tuesday-Thursday was kind of a blur… styled a big video shoot all day/night on Tuesday and then just tried to knock out as many priorities as possible, but I’m thrilled for a weekend at home with the kitty, celebrating Beth’s birthday, a little fall baking, and some time to mentally prepare myself for demolition on Monday. What are you up to this weekend? I’ll be back on Monday with some great posts planned so stay tuned! xo

New Beginnings

October 12, 2015

Happy Monday! I hope your week is off to a great start! We spent the weekend playing major catchup (it was our first weekend without a wedding or major to-do in over a month) and fall is starting to feel a little less chaotic than the majority of our summer. I’m not going to kid myself, I know it’s going to pick up again soon since Q4 is the busiest time in our industry, but it’s nice to know that our major trips are out of the way for the rest of the year.

In addition to some serious headway on priorities around the house, I got one giant step closer to launching a fun project I’ve been working on for a while now. I don’t want to spoil the surprise so I won’t say too much more, but there is an exciting announcement coming this week that I can’t wait to share. Cue the happy dance! I’ll leave you with that, but will be back soon with an update!

PS: An old article, but still a great read for a Monday.

Have a great weekend!

October 9, 2015

TGIF! This week FLEW by thanks to being in the Bay Area until Tuesday morning and being under the weather/out of the office Wednesday afternoon-this morning. I’m super bummed that I won’t be going to camp this weekend as planned, but after 10 weddings this year (yes, 10!) and having 6 of them in the last 8 weeks, I’m totally burnt out and overdue for a weekend at home to recover. What are your plans for the weekend?

I can’t wait to try this easy crockpot recipe on Sunday!

This climate is cramping my fall style and it’s going to be a MILLION degrees in Hermosa for the next week. Thinking of whipping up a batch of this to stay cool while feeling festive.

I can’t stop laughing at this – it seriously gets me every year!

We’ll be in New Orleans for Thanksgiving, but I’ve never seen a better way to use up your leftover mashed potatoes in my life. Pinning this for sure. YUM.

The prettiest gold flatware I ever did see.

It might still be scorching in LA, but can’t stop burning through these candles. The Cinnamon Toddy is my favorite!

I had to watch this twice. So touching and a such a wonderful story. Worth the 5 minutes of your day to watch.

New York

September 24, 2015

New York is one of my favorite cities in the world so when one of our closest friends decided to get married there, we were thrilled to be making a trip back. This is by no means a full city guide as we only had a few days to explore, but here were a few of my favorite places on this trip:

E A T

The Spotted Pig: It’s honestly tough to have a bad meal in New York because there are so many restaurants that the competition is incredibly high and some the best chefs in the world call it their home. The foodie scene is unparalleled. The Spotted Pig was the best meals I’ve ever had in New York City – so much so that I went twice in a day with two different groups of people – Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone! You need to order:

The Deviled Egg – My dad makes a MEAN deviled egg, but this one was easily my second favorite ever.
Devils on Horseback – Absolutely insanely delicious dates wrapped in bacon – a wonderful balance of sweet and savory. The perfect salty, savory crunch of bacon followed by a soft, decadent date on the inside – YUM.
Sheep’s Milk Ricotta Gnudi with Basil Pesto – My mouth is watering just thinking about this dish. I’m a huge pasta person in general, but gnocchi and ravioli are my jam. The gnudi is made up of several balls of ricotta stuffed pasta – a little smaller than a golf ball each. Lightly covered in a delicious basil pesto, the gnudi is absolutely perfect. I ordered this dish both times and had a really hard time sharing.
Chargrilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese & Shoestring Fries – I was lucky enough to try this burger on both trips. I can say without a doubt that this is one of the best burgers I’ve ever had in my life. Perfectly seasoned and juicy with just the right amount of mild/medium blue (which I usually don’t love on a burger). The shoestring fries take this dish over the top and are absolutely addicting.

Bleecker Street Pizza: The first time I had pizza in New York, it was at a shitty, 7-11 style joint at 4:00 in the morning and it was TERRIBLE. The crust was flimsy, the cheese resembled that of 90’s cafeteria pizza and it was honestly disgusting. To this day, it was the only bad meal I’ve ever had in New York. I swore that I was a Detroit style (square) or Chicago style (deep dish) girl at heart and that my life was totally fine without New York pizza. Since so many people rave about it including our foodie friends and since it was 4:00 in the morning on Saturday (and I was a bit tipsy and easy to convince), I decided to give it a try again at Bleecker Street Pizza and my pizza world was flipped upside down. The PERFECT size slices that can be folded in half (but not flimsy by any means!) with the best, unforgettable crunch. NOMS! Absolutely mouth-watering pizza. Order:

Whatever the hell kind of pizza you like because absolutely nothing is going to suck.

Burger Joint: Hidden behind a curtain in the back of Le Parker Meridien on 56th and 6th, this place rocked our world. We went after a 7:30 showing of Les Miserables and I’m so glad our friend made the suggestion. While they have the best diner style burgers and shakes imaginable, there’s nothing fancy about this place. I felt like I’d been transported to a funky old diner in Detroit with mismatched decor, autographs on the wall, wood paneling and all sorts of grease and smells. So delicious. Order:

A cheeseburger with everything on it.
Fries
Shake

D R I N K

Experimental Cocktail Club: Jake and I aren’t exactly big into clubs (although I did have a clubbing spree when I first moved to LA – hay Hollywood!), but we were spending time with our friends who know all of the best places in the city, so ECC in the lower east side it was! Slightly swanky with great decor and an incredible DJ, ECC brings in the best mixologists in the world to craft cocktails that are some of the best you’ll ever have…. so good that we were there until just before closing. Eeeek! Order:

Burning Passion Punch – But ONLY one! An awesome combination of rum and passion fruit. They slice open a passion fruit and set both halves on fire before delivering it to your table. Delicious.
Brazilian Magic Punch – Yaguara Cachaca, coconut milk, almond milk, pineapple, verjus, agave, black and white peppers, Chilean peppers, cocoa beans, vanilla, rose buds – WHAT?! Hands down the best cocktail I’ve had in years. Order it. You won’t regret it.

B R E A T H

The High Line: If you’re eating and drinking as much as we were, a trip to the High Line is a must. An elevated railroad turned beautiful park, the High Line runs from Gansevoort St. in Meatpacking to West 34th Street on the city’s west side. It can get a bit crowded so go early and enjoy some pretty stunning views of Manhattan.

Battery Park City: I’d never been to southern most point of Manhattan, but it’s where our friends were getting married and I couldn’t wait to explore a new part of the city. Watching the sun set over the Statue of Liberty was simply unforgettable and an experience I couldn’t recommend more.

S H O P

ABC Carpet & Home: There is so much shopping in New York that it’s hard to go wrong, but my favorite place there is still ABC Carpet & Home. I went exploring with Beth on Thursday afternoon and we spent a few hours wandering around each level getting design inspiration and doing some preliminary sourcing for the Napa project. We bought way too many cards and little gifts on the first level, but honestly could have walked away with anything in that store provided we had the $ and means to drag it back to LA.

And that’s a wrap! Where are your favorite places in NY?

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