Kitty Deschanel

I'll let you in on a little secret. I love wine festivals. What's that? You say you already know? But how? Mere grape juice! Photos prove nothing. Touché. Despite spending my free time traveling to wine festivals, I've been missing out. Can you believe I've never tried a ROAR Pinot Noir? I intend to remedy this soon. I've discovered an exclusive wine event near the gorgeous California coast. Although guests are not normally allowed in the barrel cellar of Mer Soleil Winery, an exception is being made next weekend. On Saturday, May 13th, a limited number of wine lovers and foodies are invited to celebrate the best of the Santa Lucia Highlands at the The Sun, Wind & Wine Festival.  Featuring more than 30 wineries, chefs sharing gourmet Monterey Peninsula flavor, and a bubbles bar (my favorite), this wine festival checks all the boxes for a can't miss event. We're so excited!  And if you're still trying to figure out what to get Mom this year, how perfe

Be sure to check out Part Two of this post,  Beer + Pizza = Heaven(ly Village) I'm always insisting to my readers that certain events are worth traveling across the country for, such as the Taos Summer Wine Festival . Well, I finally took my own advice. Three missed days of work, two delayed flights from Albuquerque, and a peppy VW rental car later, I was glad I did.  The Autumn Food and Wine Festival was on Saturday, September 21st. The Fall Ale Fest was also on Saturday, September 21st. Faced with a wine festival on one side of Lake Tahoe and a beer festival on the other, I did what any sensible person would do. I drank my wine, then raced an hour south to indulge in bottomless, tiny glasses of beer. When it's a beautiful Saturday at Lake Tahoe (and you have a designated driver), why not attend both? Now, for this post, you should really be in the beer-and-wine festival spirit. I highly recommend sipping a favorite wine or cold beer while you read. Ah, it's like

Sexy Nerd and I have been together since 2004, plenty of time to learn all the wacky traits that irk the other.  One of my pet peeves is that he is the kind of person who will go into the kitchen at lunchtime, make himself a sandwich, and eat it in front of you without the thought that you might also like a sandwich ever crossing his mind. I've nicely (and maybe occasionally ever-so-slightly less than nicely) tried to remind Sexy Nerd that this behavior borders on selfish cruel lazy being a huge, smelly jerk not very nice. He has slowly made improvements. At least, I thought he had been improving. Sexy Nerd announced that he would be smoking a chicken for dinner. He brined it and put it inside the smoker. For hours, our home was filled with the aroma of hickory. When it would be done smoking was a complete mystery (and the source of a funny  Sexy Nerd Quote Of The Day ).  I made us a pitcher of iced tea and imagined us enjoying our chicken out on the patio, listening to the

One of our 4 rescue dogs , Bernadette, likes to launch herself over the rose bushes and through the trees as fast as possible. The branches usually just break away.   Usually.  This time, a branch took a chunk out of her side. Posted before the drama: Hopefully your weekend is less expensive than mine. We just got home from the vet. All is well, but my wallet hurts. Here's Bernadette after having her temperature taken and being told she has buns of steel. After the thermometer thing, Bernadette didn't want to make eye contact. (Side note: If you're in NM, you can't beat Canyon Crossroads. Their veterinarian, Dr. Janeen Counts, is wonderful! You can tell she loves animals. I joke about the cost, but they're actually quite reasonably priced.) Posted after the drama: You know how we went to the vet? Well, we almost went again. We returned home and found a shirt to cover Bernadette's staples so she wouldn't mess with them. She actually seemed to enjoy wearing it