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!

#ONEHOPEHoliday / Snippets from last week…

July 28, 2014

Happy, happy Monday! I hope your week is off to a wonderful start! Last Wednesday we had our “Christmas in July” / ONEHOPE Holiday shoot for ONEHOPE and the days leading up to it were an absolute blur. From planning to flower arranging and driving all over LA to pick up rentals, it was a chaotic week! While I’m glad to have the stress of it behind me, seeing everything come together for just the few hours of shooting sometimes doesn’t feel like enough. Our table scape ended up being so beautiful that I couldn’t bear the thought of tearing it apart for a few days… even if it meant we had some wilted dahlias and crispy ferns as eye sores for Thursday and Friday. If you follow me on Instagram, I’m sure you’ve already seen a few of these, but I just wanted to pass along some snippets of last week. Can’t wait to share the professional images (hopefully this week) as well as some of the inspiration behind the day 🙂

Cheers!

Holiday Table Inspiration

December 29, 2013

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Happy, Happy Holidays!!! I hope everyone is having some much deserved down time and rest while gearing up for 2014! I think it’s going to be a big one and I’m actually super excited to see what the new year holds 🙂 So, without getting too distracted, I REALLY wanted to get this published before Christmas, but if you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen what a ridiculously chaotic yet successful December we had over at ONEHOPE Wine. We more than quadrupled our sales over last year and we had an all-hands-on-deck situation for most of December. Instead of dabbling in anything creative, I was with the majority of our team in our warehouse packing boxes, sourcing product that we’d run out of (eeeek!) and helping to load hundreds upon hundreds of boxes onto multiple UPS trucks daily. The experience of seeing our company grow like that and watching all of our hard work finally pay off was nothing short of incredible and I wouldn’t change being there, smack dab in the center of it for anything in the world 🙂

In early December, I posted a few sneak peeks from our ONEHOPE Holiday party (#ONEHOPEHoliday) at work. Since the wine industry is absolute madness in December every year, in 2012 we didn’t plan anything fun during the holidays. It was the first year that I really felt that the holidays just slipped through my fingertips and it bummed me out beyond belief. I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again this year and planned an afternoon for the girls on our team to spend some time together outside of the work madness to decompress and do something fun. We played Christmas music, did a little wine tasting and gold leafed glasses to give away as gifts… It was just what we needed. Since we were going to have a photographer there to capture it as a DIY, I wanted to make sure that we gave our conference room a little TLC and turned it into a winter wonderland. I am SO HAPPY with how it turned out and can not wait to share the images our amazing photographer captured. In the meantime, take a look at my inspiration board for the project 🙂

PS: I know Christmas is over, but I truly believe that so many Christmasy pieces can be carried into New Years Eve/Day parties. So, recycle that garland, grab some gold confetti and wintery fur and enjoy your seasonal decor for a few more days! If you’re not diggin’ it, keep this in your back pocket for next year 😉

xoxo

Meg

Pear Salad

December 2, 2013

Following a weekend traditionally made up of non-stop eating, I figured we could all use a salad 😉 Exhibit A:

Believe it or not, until a few months ago I “hated” pears. I’d tried them as a little girl, decided they were “gross” and then never tried them again for probably 15+ years. I can not believe what I’ve been missing!!! When searching around for cocktail ideas for work, I kept coming across pear recipes and decided to overcome my ridiculous fear of pears and surprise, surprise… I completely fell in love with them! You guys, I’m SO happy about this… I think they might be my new favorite fruit and I crave them constantly. When I had a few left over from shooting this, I decided to put them to work in a new salad and figured it would be a nice change of pace from my go-to greens. I found this recipe for a Honey Dijon Balsamic Vinaigrette (yes, it’s even better than it sounds) and knew that the flavors would pair insanely well with pear.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients

5 oz. Mixed Greens (I used spring mix + arugula)
3 oz. Goat Cheese
1 Pear
1/2 cup Glazed Walnut Pieces (I used Fresh Gourmet brand – available in the salad or crouton aisle)

Ingredients for Dressing

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic (minced)
1/2 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
3/4 cup olive oil
Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients for dressing until thoroughly mixed. I like to put everything in a mason jar and shake it up to get an even consistency. This also makes it easy to save leftovers 🙂

2. Combine spring mix, walnuts and goat cheese. Drizzle with dressing and mix. Top with sliced pear and serve with a crisp chardonnay. This and this are both great options for Chard 🙂

Cheers!

Mercury Glass

December 1, 2011

Last holiday season I went on mercury glass overload in our home and I can’t wait to do it again this year… It’s back with a vengeance and I simply can’t get enough! Table lamps and candle holders and ornaments, oh my! I love that the shimmery silver seamlessly integrates into whatever color palate you already have in your home. Whether you decorate with traditional Christmas reds and greens, cool oceanic hues, warm jewel tones, rustic browns or chic blacks and whites, even the tiniest bit of mercury glass accessorizing will add the perfect touch of holiday glimmer to your space. Check out a few of my favorites for this holiday season below.

1. Mercury Votive Holder – $5 – West Elm
2. Tall Candle Holder – $12.80 – Target
3. Etched Mercury Glass Ornament (Set of three) – $15 – Ballard Designs
4. Tall Mercury Glass Vase – $19 – West Elm
5. Industrial Pendant – $99 – West Elm
6. Pinecone Ornament – $6 – Target
7. Silver Pineapple Bowl – $32 – Jayson Home
8. Silver Ribbed Votive Holders – $18 – Jayson Home
9. Mercury Owl – $14 – West Elm
10. Antique Glass Silver Origami Ball Ornament – $3.50 – Crate & Barrel
11. Serena Antique Mercury Glass Hurricane Lamps – $89 – Pottery Barn

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