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

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!

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 }

Lately…

December 9, 2014

{A shot of our famous glitter bottle. How rad is this thing?! AND each one provides 15 healthy meals to a child fighting hunger}

Hey there! No matter how prepared we feel for the holidays at work, it’s always insane in December and blogging just falls by the wayside. November and December are the two months when over 70% of our business for the YEAR occur and we trade our spaces behind the computer to high-tail it to the warehouse to help with fulfillment. I realized it had been a few days since I last posted so I wanted to drop by with a note to say hello. Check out a few of the things I’ve been working on and be sure to follow me on Instagram for more realtime updates 🙂

{Sneak peek at a fun new project I’ve been working on with my mom. Pillows galore! I’m dying over the colors!}

{The 31 Bits holiday party is always an absolute blast. How dreamy is their space with those lights and balloons?}

{Finally found a few hours to put up our tree 🙂 Half of the lights weren’t working, Target didn’t have any white lights in stock and the process took a million times longer than I expected, but her glow makes me SO happy. And kitty is clearly enjoying it too.}

{Behind the scenes at yesterday’s NYE shoot featuring our glitter bottle with Zoom Theory! By the end of it we were covered in confetti and champagne, but I’m stoked at how this turned out and can’t wait to share the final images.}

Cheers!

Apartment 34 – Office Inspiration

August 13, 2014

At work, we’re growing crazy fast right now, which is awesome, but it also means that we’re experiencing some growing pains – space being one of them. Our LA office is BEAUTIFUL architecturally with three floors, tons of natural light and an amazing screened in patio/conference room/studio, (all white!) kitchen and glass executive office. What I’m not thrilled with though, is our serious lack of storage. We have 1 (ONE!) 6×7′ “closet” space downstairs that also houses all of our utilities including our electrical box and we therefore can’t store ANYTHING within 36″ of it or it’s deemed a fire hazard. We’re also not allowed to build out a storage unit under our stairs unless we install a sprinkler system because storing anything “combustable” (did you know that IKEA furniture is a “combustable”?!) under stairs is prohibited. EFF!

That being said, we’re now cramming way too much stuff and way too many people on the third floor of our office which is where everyone seems to prefer sitting. It’s also where our marketing team needs to be and almost our entire LA office is comprised of marketing people so we have to figure out a way to make it work. Over the course of the next week, we’ll be re-arranging our current furniture and getting some new pieces to hopefully configure everyone comfortably and in a space they can love 🙂 Until now, I’ve been totally stumped, but the Apartment 34 office reveal came at just the right time and has me really excited. I mean, how beautiful is this space?! Super light and airy, but with just enough color and warmth without feeling busy or overwhelming to work from. I’m feeling totally inspired to hop on CAD and figure this whole thing out. Take a look at some of my favorites shots below.

All images by Aubrie Pick on VSCO film for Apartment 34.

Missing Michigan

August 7, 2014

For whatever reason, around this time of the year, I get really nostalgic for Michigan. I will stand firmly next to the claim that there is no place more beautiful in the summertime and will forever miss the Mitten during the warmest months of the year. Last week in LA we had rain (rain!) in the summer which is so rare. I honestly can not remember the last time we had rain in July or August and it’s been at least 5 months since I’ve seen a drop fall in our little beach town. Hearing thunder made me ache to the core for home in all of its summer lush with endless rolling hills of emerald green. If you follow Sarah Sherman Samuel of Smitten Studio, you already know of her cabin project on the shores of Lake Michigan. If you don’t, prepare to fall in love. Anytime she posts about Michigan, I get so homesick yet excited about the thought of Jake and I maybe having our own cabin one day in my home state. Regardless of whether that ever happens, I’ll still look to her little cabin renovation for inspiration for my own home in the future.

PS: These are just a few favorites from Smitten Studio. Sarah’s entire renovation process is INSANE and you have to check it out here. Her line of products is pretty amazing too and can be found here.

#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!

DIY Fringe Backdrop

June 18, 2014

I LOVE a solid DIY with pretty turn-key results and this one is just that! When our EVP of Sales, Tiffany, asked for my help throwing her adorable little girl’s 1st birthday party, I knew we were going to have some fun 🙂 This was the perfect opportunity for us to debut our Mimosa Bar set (Shhh! Details coming soon!) and I was dying to create a cool backdrop that we could shoot everything up against. This entire project took about 3 hours from Home Depot run to finish so I’m thrilled with what we were able to create in such a short amount of time.

Supplies

Tissue paper in assorted colors
Panel Board
2- 2×4’s (8ft.)
Drill
Screws + Bolts (I used 2″)
Staple Gun + Staples (light duty)
Measuring tape
Paper chopper

Instructions

Before you begin your backdrop, determine how large it needs to be. We wanted ours to be 8′ tall and to line up with the entire width of Tiffany’s buffet table (~60″). Knowing that, I purchased 2 pieces of panel board (as one wouldn’t be big enough to cover the entire surface area between the top of the 8′ 2×4’s and the top of her buffet (~5′-6″). I had the panel board cut to size at Home Depot and we were ready to go!

1. Once your supplies are home, lay out the panel board and the 2×4’s and make sure the panel board is square with the legs.

2. Drill large enough holes through the 2×4’s and into the panel board for your screws to slip into, but don’t attach the legs yet (that will be your last step).

3. Remove the legs from your workspace to get them out of the way and determine how thick you want each row of fringe to be. We decided that we wanted each layer of fringe to be about 8″ tall which perfectly worked out to be 1 piece of tissue paper folded long ways (hotdog style). We didn’t want to be able to see the wood panel board when the fringe blew, so we layered each row first. Starting at the BOTTOM of your board, fold 1 piece of tissue paper in half (so that you have two layers and staple it in place). It might take 2-3 pieces of tissue to make it all the way across your panel board. Don’t worry about the seams – no one will ever see them once you have covered up this layer with fringe 🙂

4. Create your fringe layer and apply. To create the fringe, we took 2 sheets of tissue paper, folded them hotdog style (so that we had 4 layers of tissue) and using the paper chopper, we sliced the paper in 1″ sections. Be sure to stop slicing about 1-2″ from the crease. This was the most time intensive part of the project. However, using a paper chopper will make the process so much faster and will make your fringe even and much more professional looking 😉 Apply your fringe with a staple gun (across the top along the crease) and repeat all the way across.

5. Once you have applied your first row of fringe, repeat steps 3 and 4. Just a little tip… we thought it looked best if we covered up the top inch or so of the previous layer of fringe with our next color of tissue (see picture for detail). That way, the transitions aren’t so harsh between colors and you cover up any inconsistencies along the top (below the crease) with the cuts you did to create the fringe.

6. When you’re ready, carefully stand your panel board up with another person. Be careful not to step on any fringe… it will tear off SO easily! It might be easiest to lift your board slightly and slide the legs underneath to attach them. Either way, just be careful not to tear or crease any of your pretty fringe.

Put your backdrop into place and….voila!!! I can’t wait to share the images from the full party! We were covered by Style Me Pretty Living and the feature is the absolute cutest!

PS: The Mimosa Bar in the pictures can be purchased here, but more on that later too 🙂 xo

I want to be here…

March 6, 2014

This week has been nuts. We’re gearing up for a huge work event on Sunday so I’ve been crafting, glittering everything, painting… all while keeping up with the normal flow of sourcing and basically accumulating everything from paper samples to wine bottle tops and electrical tape on my desk. My space is COVERED in stuff right now! Ugh!

This space, however, is the complete opposite and its simplistic palette yet elegant, warm and welcoming aura floored me when I came across it today. In the home of Sarah Gibson exists a hallway (beautifully wallpapered in Joy Cho’s line for Hygge & West) that leads to a sunny, clean and bright room, which in my mind I have presumed to be a guest room that I just want to dive into. Couldn’t you just spend the weekend there? It makes me want to leave my computer at home and head on over with a book and lay in bed until Sunday. Ohhh to have a guest room like this one day… 🙂 What I absolutely ADORE about this space, however, is that the wallpaper literally makes the hallway come to life. When you look at hallways from a conventional standpoint, they are just a means of getting you from one room to another, but they don’t have to be that way. A beautiful light fixture, a perfectly accessorized niche, statement flooring or a simple gallery wall can and will breath life into a hallway, transforming it from a means of getting from one space to another, to a spectacular space of its own that you don’t have to simply rush past when getting from point A to B. Bravo, Sarah!

I’m off to finish my crafting extravaganza in prep for this weekend! Be sure to stay tuned on Instagram (@onehopeweddings and @megrobins) for some exciting updates over the course of the next few days! Wishing you a wonderful remainder to your week 🙂

xoxo

Meg

Green Please

February 5, 2014

For as long as I can remember, my mom has preached the importance of plants in a space. From my childhood bedroom as a little girl to my first dorm room and even now… a plant periodically makes its way from the midwest to my California doorstep to spruce things up a bit. In her words, the simplest little green breaths life into a space and transforms it from a house to a home and from an office to a lively workspace. As a lover of bright white, airy, clean spaces I couldn’t help but notice recently that the images I find myself drooling over in Pinterest inspiration heaven all have one main thing in common: plants. The starkest white spaces are instantly taken from cold to warm, welcoming and energy-filled with the addition of even one tiny herb or succulent. True to many of her life lessons, on this one, I think she was right 🙂 Take a look at some of my favorites below:

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