2018 Harvest Party

September 6, 2019

I can’t believe it’s already been almost a year since our first harvest party at the vineyard, but October will mark twelve months since we hosted our inaugural fall celebration. Since we’re getting ready to host our second harvest party in just over a month, I’ve been looking back and reflecting a bit on what we did right, places to improve, and brainstorming new ideas with the team to make an even bigger impact this year. I can’t wait to spill the beans with you soon! First, a little context on 2018.

The weekend before our harvest party, my mom had a major surgery (hysterectomy, appendectomy, and multiple lymph node biopsy) to remove a massive ovarian cyst that had grown rapidly and turned into cancer over the course of the previous month. When she went into surgery, we weren’t sure what we were dealing with, but her incredible surgeon confirmed that it was cancer as my dad and I completely crumbled in the hospital waiting room. He was optimistic that they’d gotten it all and that she might not need further treatment based on what he was able to tell so we clung on to those words for the next few days. Thankfully, later that week, we received the news that she was stage 1A (!!!!) and no further treatment was necessary, but recovering from such a major surgery was going to be difficult. We were absolutely ecstatic at the news, but knew we needed to focus on her getting better. Her post-operative delirium was terrifying to say the least and she needed 24-7 monitoring by my dad and I following the surgery. We took turns sleeping, him usually at night, while I took the night shift to make sure she didn’t try to walk around by herself or put strain on her healing incision getting in and out of bed.

The week leading up to our harvest party was more physically and mentally trying than ever before in my life. My mom has always been my rock, but has been an even bigger sense of help and stability in the years since acquiring the vineyard. Being a caretaker for her that week filled me with gratitude for how lucky we’ve been as a family in terms of health, but was also crushing knowing that so many families don’t get that same prognosis. Every single day and moment is a gift. What kept me going that week was knowing that every chance we have to connect people with our mission to help make the world a better place, by funding clinical trials for other women fighting diseases, funding meals for children fighting hunger, funding fire re-build efforts and more, should not be taken for granted. This is what we were going to be doing at our harvest party – highlighting worthy causes that needed our help.

Our first Harvest Party was absolutely stunning, totally moving, and went off without a hitch! I’m SO excited for round two this year and I’m thankful that my mom is here with us, healthy, and will be bringing her talent to the table once again 🙂 We have so much to celebrate in 2019!

I’ll be sharing more details soon, but in the meantime, take a look at last year’s event! Since it was our first harvest party, we kept things simple with heavy apps and fairly simple and economical decor (lots of greens and fall foliage, simple bud vases with seasonal florals, bowls of seasonal fruit to be snacked on or repurposed after the event – one of my favorite event decor hacks). Let me know what you think! Cheers!

{we kept details simple with bud vases and bowls of seasonal fruit}

{guests were greeted with a delicious apple cider mimosa}

{one of my favorite bars I’ve ever styled! those colors! bar & back-bar by found rentals}

{our beautiful and incredibly talented winemaker, Mari Coyle}

{our architect, David Rulon, with his daughter, Gabby}

{Rob Mondavi Jr., Mari Coyle, and my husband, Jake}

{Jake and I with two of our largest partners and close friends, Erik & Deborah Anderson}

{Our friends and longtime supporters, Deb & Brian}

{Incredible presentation by our friend and immensely talented photographer, Laura Schneider}

{tour of the winery (under construction)}

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!

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

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 }

We’re Engaged!

August 18, 2015

On March 21st, Jake asked me to spend forever with him and I’ve been in pure engagement bliss ever since. I wanted to document absolutely everything so that I never forget, so here we go 🙂

On Christmas morning, Jake and I exchanged gifts at my parent’s house as we were visiting for Christmas. A few weeks before, he had asked what I wanted for Christmas and I stated that I really wanted to go to Italy so if he decided not to get me anything for Christmas so that we could put that money toward taking a trip to Europe, I would be thrilled. I vowed to spend lightly on his Christmas gifts so that I too could save for the trip of a lifetime. On Christmas Eve Jake confessed ~~tricked me~~ that he simply could’t figure out an affordable option for us in Italy and that he’d decided we’d go back to Hawaii later in 2015 (which was my second choice of travel). I was a little disappointed that we wouldn’t be going to Europe, but was at the same time thrilled that we’d be heading back to Hawaii (we had such an amazing time there in 2014) and I figured we’d save Italy for a later date when the timing and financials made more sense. On Christmas morning as we were exchanging gifts, Jake pulled out his computer and presented me with a powerpoint that detailed our trip to…….ITALY! I was in such shock that I embarrassingly sobbed for a few minutes an in disbelief that he had taken the time to figure out our work schedules, research accommodations and book flights to all of the places I’ve dreamed of visiting for as long as I can remember.

Fast forward to January…

January-March were crazy chaotic putting together our Summer catalog which was the first ever that we were to introduce. In between sourcing, a team retreat, making over a house, product testing and more sourcing, we were also planning a recruiting event for our viaONEHOPE community in Napa. ONEHOPE purchased a property in Napa in September 2014 (more on that later) and we knew we wanted to host an event at the vineyard before construction on what will be our biggest project to date. I was part of the team putting on the event and headed up to Napa on the 19th to get ready for the weekend. My mom (also a part of our viaONEHOPE community) had asked if I needed her there for help. When she mentioned that my dad was taking a business trip to Mexico and that she needed a trip outside of crummy, cold, wintery, Michigan, I agreed that it would be great for her to come. I picked her up in March 19th from the airport and headed to Napa to get ready for the event.

Honestly, the events of the 21st were kind of a blur, but this is what I do recall… We shopped in the morning for meats/cheeses and last minute necessities for the event and headed to the property. A few of the girls from our team as well as Jake’s mom and older sister joined us later in the morning and helped prep some of the food while others dusted, swept and got the house ready. I’d asked my best friend Carla to come to the event since she’s in the Bay Area and I was hoping to see her and was thrilled when she made the trek to Napa. A few of Jake’s girlfriends were there visiting as well and joined us before the event. I remember my mom telling me several times that I needed to get ready and that she could handle the rest of the food prep. I’ve done countless shoots and events for ONEHOPE and know how stressful that last hour can be so I was reluctant to take her advice, but finally took a few moments to myself to curl my hair, fix my makeup and put on a dress. I knew the dress I was putting on was Jake’s favorite, but didn’t know about his plans for that day.

I was standing in the bathroom curling my hair when Tiffany, from our team came in to check on me and we chatted about her adorable baby belly, anticipating being a mommy of two, the flow of events for that day, and that she wanted to film a quick video with Jake. She wanted the video to be out in the vines to welcome our new viaONEHOPE recruits to the team which seemed totally normal to me and I loved the idea. I agreed to help her with the video, finished up and went outside to meet guests. Jake flew in from a business trip during the event and I remember giving him a hug and a kiss as he walked in the door and he said “you look so pretty – that’s my favorite dress.” ((Insert heart explosion)). We dove into the day – meeting and mingling with as many people as possible and I took a minute to chat with my best friend before the formal presentation and wine tasting were to begin. After a minute or two of talking, she said “I think I’m going to cry” and started to walk away. When I followed her and asked what was wrong, she said “I’m so sad that you guys are tearing this place down,” and continued to walk away. At the time, Carla and her husband Clay were starting to house hunt and I assumed she was just emotional about the process. The house on our vineyard is going to be taken down in preparation for another big project and while the current home is charming, it has a TON of issues so I thought it was a little odd of Carla to get emotional about something that seemed so silly, but assumed it might have to do something with their house hunting and wondered if maybe she was just having an off day. I had no idea that one of Jake’s friends had just told her he was planning on proposing that afternoon.

About halfway through the event, Tiffany grabbed me to gather a few items to take out to the vines to film our video. We found a bottle of Sparkling, an ice bucket and some flutes to “toast to the viaONEHOPE community.” The three of us (plus our photographer) walked out to the vineyard together, stopped in the clearing that will eventually be home to our winery and Tiffany started filming on her phone. I was standing next to her when she mentioned that Jake still had his name tag on and that I should run over and grab it from his lapel. I walked over to Jake, took his name tag and as I turned around to walk away he grabbed my hand. I just remember him saying, “no, actually, I’m proposing right now” before he got down on one knee. As everyone who has ever been surprised with an engagement knows, the next few moments were completely a blur. He was so nervous and he’s never nervous. I just remember him mentioning that he wanted to spend forever with me, that he couldn’t wait to build a family and a life together and that he wanted my “big brown eyes” to be the last thing he saw as he took his last breath. I was in complete shock, yet so touched and so ecstatic that the best man I’ve ever met was asking me (ME!!!!) to be his bride. He pulled out the ring of my dreams and I said “YES!” in between sobs. I also remember saying, “are you serious? Is this really happening?!” at least a half dozen times before our families ran out to the clearing to give us hugs and congratulations.

I always thought that a low-key engagement while on a vacation or even while at home with just the two of us would be the way I’d want to get engaged. But there is something so special about having your closest friends and family there to celebrate immediately after that is irreplaceable. Having Jake’s sister, his parents, my mom and best friend there along with many of our friends from over the years was so incredible. I’ll never forget watching my mom and his sister Michelle run through the vines to congratulate us, a warm embrace from Jake’s parents, hugging Carla on our walk back to the house and my mom handing me the phone to talk to my dad for the first time. Complete and utter joy….

The following week, we jetted off to Italy for the trip of a lifetime. Our little engagement-moon was absolutely perfect in every way.

As blurry as it is, I will never, ever forget that day. I am so thankful that he chose me and that we get to build this crazy, wild life together. <3

HUGE thanks to everyone who made our day so special… all of the friends, family and colleagues. Lastly, thank you so much to Megan Clouse who captured every single moment. We’ll treasure these images forever.

Dreamer

March 19, 2014

I randomly woke up at 4:30 this morning and hopped on Instagram which is a recipe for disaster if I’m trying to fall back asleep. While I was scrolling through, I came across this and fell in love with it. I am not a morning person by nature and while I love the morning once I’m up, getting out of bed is a major struggle. I blame it on being involved in way too many activities in high school – dance team after school, studio dance until 10 or 11pm and then home to do homework until 1 or 2:00am with classes starting again at 7:20am. Seriously, how did we do that while we were growing up?! Needless to say, I remained a night owl through college and to this day, for me, mornings are the pits. Couple a bad habit with the fact that my bed is a freaking cloud (seriously, SO comfortable) and I’m never getting up. This, however, put things in perspective for me this morning and I found myself getting out of bed and into the kitchen to make coffee at 5:30am. My morning was so productive, I felt surprisingly refreshed and was more than ready to tackle the day. I think I need to plaster this to my ceiling or on my nightstand so it’s the first thing I see when my alarm goes off 😉 Just thought I’d pass it along in case any of you need a little extra motivation too! Hope you’re having a great week chasing your dreams and changing the world!

xoxo

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

Hawaii Blues

March 4, 2014

{View of the Hanalei Bay from our hotel room in Princeville, Kauai}

Aloha 🙂 I’ve been the absolutely worst about posting! Jake and I unplugged a few weeks ago as we left for Hawaii and our return was full of major catchup at work, prep for some exciting events and gearing up for a few product launches in March/April. There wasn’t even time to think about the fact that I was so sad to be home and that my much anticipated time on the beach sipping on Mai Tais while listening to ukeleles had passed. Looking back at these pictures of some of my favorite moments was really was bittersweet…. (read more below)…

{Searching for coral and playing on the rocks on the beach. Hanalei Bay – Princeville, Kauai}

{Palms soaking in the sun on the walk to our favorite little spot on Oahu}

{The quiet street to our favorite little beach}

{Into the blue! Whale watching near China Walls, Oahu}

{This one makes my heart burst 🙂 Happiest and most relaxed I’ve seen Jake in a long time}

{A glimpse of sun rays over Hanalei Bay from the 7th hole at Makai. Princeville, Kauai}

{Teeny tiny specks (surfers) riding some HUGE waves. It’s hard to tell the scale, but with the storm rolling in, they were pretty big!}

{Storm clouds rolling in over the Hanalei Bay}

{Straight out of my camera, completely unedited. Kauai truly is the Garden Island. How lush, vibrant and amazing… Nature is *effing* awesome}

{This might need to become a Sunday staple in our household… Belgian waffles + mango + banana + whipped cream + coconut shavings + coconut syrup. Holy moly. Best waffles at Hanalei Coffee Roasters}

{On our last day in Hawaii, we rented a car and drove around Oahu to the North Shore. We discovered Shrimp Shack along the way… and thank god we did 😉 Details below…}

{Half coconut shrimp, half garlic shrimp. I can still taste this and my mouth is watering just looking at it. Absolutely incredible.}

{Finally made it to the North Shore}

{These kids (probably ages 6-10) were THROWING themselves into these waves – getting completely blasted over and over again and having the time of their lives. Just thinking about their little laughs (I would have been terrified) still makes me chuckle 🙂 }

{Being swallowed up…}

{And running back in for more…}

Jake surprised me with my first trip to Hawaii for Christmas. In fact, Hawaii was our first real vacation alone together in almost five years since we started dating. We traveled to Costa Rica with his family three years ago (which was amazing) and we’ve taken long weekend trips and traveled back to my hometown in Michigan, but we’d never been somewhere new, just the two of us, for more than 2-3 days. And we are by no means starving, but our five years together haven’t been a walk in the park either. With him running a startup turned mid-sized company in one of the hardest, capital sucking industries to make it in (alcohol) and with me now working there, our lives consist of work and very little else most days. From a financial and emotional perspective, starting and running a business is so ridiculously draining. I have no idea how he does it, but his drive, tenacity and seemingly endless motivation inspires me every single morning. However…. we really needed a vacation 🙂

Having never been to Hawaii, we decided to spend our first few days on Oahu where we hiked, played in the ocean, went whale watching and laid for hours on the beach. We went to bed at literally 10pm every night (a rarity in our lives) and got up early every morning to walk along the beach and grab coffee. We got up to watch the sunrise on our last day there on our favorite little spot on the island before hopping over to Kauai for our remaining three nights and four days. Ohhh Kauai… Kauai was a little bit of a splurge for us to say the least. We stayed in Princeville, which we’ve been told is the most beautiful spot on the island overlooking the Hanalei Bay. The water there is one of the most beautiful shades of blue juxtaposed against a wall of lush green mountains with countless waterfalls cascading down the hills and cliffs. Kauai was truly the most beautiful place I’ve been in my life. Unfortunately, we were cursed with rain for almost our entire time there which meant no sun (obviously), no “real” beach time, no hikes that we were looking forward to (they were all too dangerous with rain and flash flood warnings), no helicopter tours… We attempted kayaking on Valentine’s Day in the Hanalei Bay and made it just in time for a storm to roll in. We inevitably flipped, I thought I was dying, Jake thought ~~knew~~ I was ridiculous and we eventually made it back to the hotel in one piece. One really positive part of the rain scenario is that it forced us to relax. We slept SO much during those few days with the sound of the waves crashing outside our window and we enjoyed every second together talking about so much more than work (who knew?!), drinking wine, reading and making each other laugh… which really is the important part of vacationing with your love… am I right?!

By our third day of rainy laziness, we decided to brave the weather and walked along the cliffs in Princeville to the Makai Golf Club and out to the 7th hole (the most photographed place in Hawaii, apparently). We were determined to hike to Queen’s Bath, but were warned that it was WAY too dangerous with the rain and high surf so we wanted at least an aerial view from the golf course. That walk was one of the most crazy, out of body experiences I’ve ever had. With the storm clouds rolling in over the bay and the warm rain shower that we just finally had to embrace together, while standing on the edge of the earth… I’ll never forget it. We were soaked to the bone by the time we got back to our room, but it was worth every second and every drop to get out of the hotel and experience the unexplainable beauty that is Kauai. Pictures really can not do it justice and it makes me sad, but I’ll carry those views and those moments with me forever.

With an even worse storm threatening to possibly delay or cancel our flight out of Lihue the following day, we decided to jump on an earlier flight back to Oahu to hopefully somewhere dry. Unfortunately, the rain came with us, albeit much lighter rain, so after a little bit of cranky back and forth, we rented a car where at least we could stay dry and headed to the North Shore. We had until 9:00pm to explore before we needed to be at the airport so we set out for some fish tacos and to see the record breaking waves making local news on the other side of the island. I’m SO happy we decided to get out of Honolulu that day. We had such wonderful memories there from the first three days of our trip, but by the time we were on our last day with perpetually wet clothes and tired from our early morning flight with no room to change in, it was time to bid farewell to the Moana Surfrider and explore Oahu beyond the big city. On our drive, there was a sign for “Shrimp Shack” inscribed on a surfboard and I knew I’d found what we were looking for. We pulled off the road for the best shrimp I’ve ever had in my life… fried in a food truck across from the ocean, eaten off floral print paper plates while sitting on plastic lawn chairs outside of a funky grocery story in Punaluu. This was the real Hawaii I’d dreamed of. An hour later, we were on the North Shore watching scads of what seemed like tiny kids launch themselves into a churning Pacific that pummeled them to the sand over and over again. We watched partially in awe that people ever become comfortable watching their children get swallowed up by waves 2-3 times their height and partially with sheer joy and entertainment as the kids screeched and squealed with complete hilarity every time the ocean spit them back out.

We drove around for the next few hours, stopping occasionally to get out of the car and breath it all in. We stopped for dinner at an awesome little Mexican restaurant (I wanted more fish tacos – don’t judge!) on our way to the airport and said goodbye to paradise. I kept reminding myself while we were there throughout our trip to enjoy every single second because it would all be just a memory in the blink of an eye. I can’t believe that it’s already just a memory. But… if there’s anything major we learned while we were there, it’s to not wait another three years before taking a vacation. I have a feeling we’ll be planning something again soon 🙂

Until next time, Hawaii… Mahalo!

Aloha!

February 11, 2014

Hey there! Jake and I are taking our very first vacation in three long years in Hawaii! Yippee! Last week I was so stressed about leaving work behind with so many pending projects, but my mentality completely changed once we set foot on the plane. Many Mai Tais, a very long hike and plenty of sunshine later, I’m feeling refreshed and so rejuvenated already. Tomorrow is our last day on Oahu before we take off to Kauai for a few days so if you have any must-sees or suggestions, please comment and let me know! Mahalo!

Lately / Seeing Pink

January 27, 2014

In case you don’t follow my work Instagram, here’s a little peek into my life lately… Valentines Day Insta 7

{Product samples and shoot inspiration on my desk}

Valentines Day Insta 3

{A little nail art and summery sangria during last week’s heatwave in LA}

{Ban.do Mini Hearts arrive at the office – OBSESSED!}

{Valentine’s shoot day! All set up and ready to go!}

{ONEHOPE ladies decorating heart sugar cookies and enjoying some Friday afternoon vino}

{Arrangements that I put together – pink and red ranunculus with red anemones in white vessels. PS: How rad is that chevron runner from La Tavola?}

{Bird’s eye view}

{It’s all in the details}

{View of our pallet wall, chocolate fountain and lots of pink/red goodies!}

I’ve always been such a neutrals girl… until this year. I’m currently so in love with Valentine’s Day and all things pink, red and sparkles and my desk at work is like an explosion of all things girly. Thankfully, I got to take out some of my fem aggression on our VDay shoot for work (introducing our ruby red wine bottle) and couldn’t have had more fun. We’re awaiting the professional photography, but had to share a few of my favorite iPhone pics in the meantime 🙂

Happy Monday! xoxo

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