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!

What kind of wine do you drink?

June 8, 2016

I’m always curious to know what type of wine people are drinking. What’s your go-to wine and why? And does it ever change? I did a quick google search to see what Americans are drinking the most of and it was a little shocking…

Chardonnay
Merlot
White Zin (!?!)
Pinot Grigio
Cabernet
Pinot Noir
Riesling
Zinfandel
Sauvignon Blanc
Muscat
Malbec
Syrah

I was really shocked to see Merlot at #2 ahead of Pinot Noir and Cabernet for reds. And White Zin – whattttt?! I knew there were certain regions in the U.S. that love their White Zin, but I had no idea it was so popular that it would come in at #3 overall. We’re in a unique situation because we always have wine samples floating around the house, but my favorites are Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc (although Rosé is quickly climbing the list and is so good during balmy summer months). I’d love to hear your favorites – give me the deets!

* Top wine study results from winebusiness.com.

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

June 7, 2016

Last year in March, a friend decided to do Whole30 and it sounded completely nuts to me. The more research I did, however, the more I realized that it actually made total sense to rid your body of processed junk – duh. So I figured, “what’s the worst that could happen?” and took the plunge, joining her on her journey. At the time, the thought of cutting dairy out of my diet sounded impossible. True to my midwest roots, I LOVE milk and I ate cheese on everything – my eggs in the morning, every salad I’d ever made, pasta, even “healthy” veggie dips were dairy based and shelf stable. I was completely against almond milk as a substitute; there was something about the texture I just was not into and having tried it once, I couldn’t imagine it ever replacing milk in my diet.

To try to convince me otherwise, on one of our Whole Foods runs at lunch, she introduced me to her favorite smoothie at the juice bar that was made of blueberries, banana and almond milk. I was reluctant, but ordered one anyway and was instantly hooked. After cutting out sugar (except fruit) and milk entirely, I was longing for something creamy and sweet. This was it and it tasted like pure heaven. For the most part, I much prefer savory foods over sweet, but lately, I’ve been craving a little something sugary when it’s sunny and scorching in Napa around 3pm – this is the perfect treat. Since the fruit is all frozen, make sure you use a high power blender (we LOVE this one!) and add a little more almond milk if needed.

It’s been over a year since my last run with Whole30, and while I definitely don’t abide by the diet daily, I’ve still kept a few favorite recipes in our rotation and I’m so thankful I committed and decided to do it. By the time it was over, I had never felt better in my life. If you’re considering it – do it! You won’t regret.

Ingredients

1 cup frozen banana
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup almond milk
crushed ice (optional)

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on your smoothie setting.
Add more almond milk if necessary and continue blending until mixture is smooth, but not too thick to drink.
Garnish with a few blueberries and serve immediately.

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)

Mango & Avocado Quinoa Salad

June 2, 2016

Jake’s sister Michelle is one of the best cooks I know. Having traveled to more countries than I can ever remember, she’s developed a pretty impressive, worldly palate and isn’t afraid to try anything. She always knows exactly what to order at a restaurant and always knows exactly what a dish needs if it’s off. When she gave Jake a grill for his birthday, we invited the family over for our first barbecue in Napa for Mother’s Day. She offered to make a quinoa salad for a side and I LOVE quinoa so of course I was totally stoked! The end result was even better than I could have imagined – so deliciously light and fresh yet filling enough to make it a main course any day of the week. It was perfectly sweet, yet herbaceous and had just the right amount of acidity. I practically begged her for the recipe and to come back over so we could shoot it together and thankfully she said yes 🙂 The best part? Nothing about this dish is unhealthy or processed in any way. It’s also totally vegan so almost anyone can enjoy. It just goes to show that some of the best dishes are the ones created with the simplest ingredients.

Ingredients

1 cup red quinoa
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 fresh mangos, cubed
1 avocado, cubed
1 cucumber, seeded and diced
½ cup mint, chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro
⅓ cup olive oil
2 tbsp lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa with 2 cups salted water. Cover and bring to a boil and the reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes stirring occasionally and being careful not to burn. While quinoa is cooking, prep your other ingredients.
When your quinoa has fully absorbed the water and is light and fluffy, spread it on a cookie sheet and cool in the fridge or freezer for 10-15 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, and garlic.
In a large bowl, combine black beans, mangos, avocado, cucumber, mint and cilantro. Once the quinoa has cooled, add it to the large bowl and top with olive oil, lime and garlic dressing. Gently toss to combine.

Suggested wine pairing: Our new Pinot Grigio has flavors of mango and would really bring out the mango in the salad. It’s a light, summery wine that would compliment the quinoa, avocado and cucumbers well.

Recipe adapted from Vegangela.

Poppies & Pinot (Grigio)

June 1, 2016

Happy #WineWednesday and hooray for a short week! For the past two years, our company has participated in Bottle Rock, a music festival in downtown Napa. This year it happened to fall on Memorial Day Weekend so the past week has been filled to the brim with prep, load-in, working the festival, entertaining guests at home and load-out on Monday. I took the day (mostly) off yesterday to recover and our rentals were just picked up from my house so it finally feels like the festival has come to a close for this year.

Through all the Bottle Rock madness, we launched a new wine, a Pinot Grigio that customers have been requesting for years. Our #PinotForPaws (Pinot Noir) funds one pet adoption for every one case sold (over 13,600 shelter animals saved to date!), and it’s been hugely popular so we were excited to add a Pinot Grigio to the mix that gives back to the same cause. Good California Pinot Grigio can be tough to find and it can sometimes be seen as a negative in the wine-world if it isn’t coming directly from Italy. That being said, there were a lot of factors to weigh and launching a CA Pinot Grigio was a bigger decision for us to make than many of the other varietals of wine we produce. However, when we found a really good source, we had to jump on it and bottled our first vintage earlier this year. I finally got my hands on some yesterday and was able to taste it for the first time since barrel samples in February. I was so impressed with the finished product – deliciously refreshing and acidic with hints of yellow mango and passion fruit – the perfect pairing to some light fish or shrimp tacos, a seafood pasta or grilled veggies.

Since our yard is in poppy heaven right now, I picked a few to take some shots with our wine and wanted to share. Cheers!

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!

Raspberry Serrano Sparkling Margarita

May 5, 2016

Happy Cinco de Mayo! When we moved to Napa, I was 100% sure about our new adventure until the last week or so before our move. Swept up in the excitement of buying a house, it hit me like a ton of bricks as we were packing that we were actually, really leaving LA. I was nervous about leaving the beach and trail I was accustomed to (where would we go for a run?) and everyday conveniences like our grocery store down the street where I knew everyone by name. I worried about no longer working out of our office every day and already missed our teammates (and their dogs!). Additionally, there is such an amazing creative community in LA that I felt we were just starting to tap into – as a creative at ONEHOPE, what was I thinking leaving that town? But aside from all of that, the major thing that made my heart sink, was leaving behind all of our favorite restaurants.

LA is in a bit of a food Renaissance and it’s tough to find a bad meal there. Jake is gone so much for work and we both travel a ton on weekends for weddings and events, so on the off-chance that we’re both home for a weekend, brunch is our jam. One of our favorite places in Hermosa Beach for brunch (and dinner) is Palmilla – a Mexican restaurant on the pier that we would walk to from our place. I’m sure it sounds crazy that I would have a margarita for basically breakfast, but anything goes when you’re eating eggs at noon – am I right? 😉 Palmillia is famous for its Raspberry Serrano Margarita – so perfectly tangy, spicy, sweet and salty all at once – and since we won’t be in LA for one of our favorite holidays today, I knew I needed to find a way to replicate it for Cinco de Mayo in the Bay Area. I created a Sparkling Margarita for ONEHOPE last year and it’s one of my favorite cocktails ever, so adding a dash of Sparkling on top of this guy just takes it to the next level. Enjoy!

PS: On a personal level, while we miss our LA restaurants, we’re having a ton of fun exploring the food scene of Napa Valley – it definitely wasn’t a bad place to move to on that front 😉

Raspberry Serrano Sparkling Margarita

Ingredients

ONEHOPE Sparkling Brut
1 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 oz. tequila
3 slices serrano (more for garnish)
3 tbs. raspberry (muddled)
a dash of agave
lime wedge
salt

Directions

Combine lime juice, tequila, serrano, raspberry and agave into a shaker filled with ice. Shake to combine and pour into a salt rimmed glass. Garnish with extra serrano and lime wedge and top with Sparkling Brut. CHEERS!

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