The Wedding Week!

This past weekend wrapped up a marathon of a wedding week.  Similar to so many experiences, it is too overwhelming to tell the whole story coherently.  So here are my highlights:

• Enjoying a final weekend up at the Lake with the family, Martin’s sister Meike and her boyfriend Christof before the Big Show craziness began
• BBQ-ing at the Mark’s house in the East Bay on Thursday night with the Zurich crowd like old times… four years had passed since the last time we were all together, and yet it felt like only a few weeks  
• Watching Martin’s mom’ s fork taken away during the Rehearsal Dinner at Empress of China and subsequently being fed her dinner by the waiter using chopsticks. 
• The countless dinners, drinks, lunches, brunches and events leading up to the Big Show
• Waking up the morning of the wedding to see the entire city cloaked in fog after an entire week of sun and blue skies…such a San Francisco affair.  And even better, the fun photos Martin and I were able to take later that day around the city with our umbrella 
• Brunch with the college girls at Brenda’s French Soul Food in the Loin on the morning of the wedding, complete with Philz coffee while we waited just shy of an hour for our table… highlighting the two things I have to rely on my girls for since Martin refuses… going to the trendy new hot spots and waiting more than 20 minutes for a table
• Getting ready with my sister in the hotel room, the most relaxing Sunday I have had in months
• The lovely personal thoughts by Kim and Meike, our officiants of the evening, and the toasts given by my sister, dad and Martin’s father
• Seeing all of our favorite people in the entire world, friends and family alike, all together and in one place for one evening
• Watching my niece Cassidy dancing until 11pm in her leopard pajamas and pearl necklace …occasionally finding someone to pick her up to dance with and of course seeing my nephew Blake asleep under the sparkling lights outside in the courtyard, too tired to partake in the late night festivities
• And having Martin by my side throughout the entire day and week, knowing he will always be there to support me, laugh with me and keep me sane and stable

Such an amazing experience and one I can’t believe is already over…well almost.  Just a few more months until Germany!

Who Needs a Honeymoon?

With a few weeks to go before the big show in San Francisco, Martin and I realized we needed a little vacation…to be fair we weren’t going on a honeymoon (we are saving that until 2014) and we needed a little time to ourselves.   We opted for a quiet weekend in St. Helena to relax and enjoy time with just the two of us before the craziness began. 

We arrived late Friday afternoon to our quaint hotel – Vineyard Country Inn and were embraced by the quiet country vibe and warm evening sun.  Perfectly located between downtown St. Helena and approximately 20 wineries on the south side of town (both a 15 minute walk) our hotel allowed us to get everywhere on foot…a good thing since our plans included nice dinners and wine tasting.  

After a quick dinner at La Condesa in town on Friday, we headed back to the hotel for a solid night’s sleep in anticipation for a day of wine tasting the following day.

We woke up early and headed into town for a little shopping before hitting the wineries that afternoon... apparently 10 am is a little too early to drink wine.  Go figure.

Upon the recommendation of a co-worker, we went straight to Dean and Deluca after shopping for picnic staples (bread, prosciutto, olives, grapes and cheese) and then made our way to Louis Martini for our picnic lunch and first taste of wine.  While the wine might not have been our favorite, the location definitely was. It was serene, calm and lacked all crazy wine-tasters and tourists. 

From there we made our way down the road (walking alongside the highway) to Heitz Winery where we had the tasting room to ourselves and subsequently learned that it was Wine Auction weekend explaining why the valley was so quiet.  And then we moved on to V. Sattui where we were greeted by an onslaught of wine tasters and tourists.  Packed 4 deep at the tasting bar and deli, with kids running everywhere and large drunk groups of bachelorette parties, this winery was exactly what I was expecting for the afternoon, what I had prepared Martin for and what I knew he would hate about the whole experience…we didn’t even bother staying for a glass.  Instead we headed back across the road to Dean and Deluca again (for more snacks) and wrapped up the tour at Hall with great full bodied reds. 

Exhausted from the heat…or maybe slightly intoxicated from the wine…we took an afternoon nap before heading back to town for dinner at Cindy’s Back Street Kitchen, a personal favorite of mine which serves the most amazing baked oysters. 

Overall the weekend was exactly what we needed: relaxing, romantic and somewhat removed.  And I now know to only go to Napa on wine auction weekends to avoid the crowds.