Lodi is dangerous

When we first moved to Cali we used to go up to Lodi, a wine appellation in central California known for their zinfandels, we love this area because it's so much smaller than Napa and Sonoma and really helps us to learn about the wine and tasting...for example today we met mr. berghold the owner of a gorgeous winery,

he actually did our tasting. On other occassions we've been taken back to the barrel room for impromptu barrel tastings and taken through vineyards for off the vine grape tastings! However, since we purchased our house we've taken very few trips (it's only a 45 min drive) because we tend to drastically increase our collection, case in point the picture below....

This is just todays purchases, some of these are meant to be aged for several months to several years so they're not all "available" at our whim.

You can see several bottles of Jewel wine. We're club members there and just love their wine. It's reasonably priced and tastes great, we always have a fun time at the tastings and even did a blending party last summer (this is much more difficult than we were intending but dominic and I would both encourage everyone to try it out) Guess not having much to do around the house and knowing we have a good sized refund check can be BAD influences!!!!

the floors, and countertops

I had a request for the surfaces all together...here they are mom! The tile is for the bathrooms, the wood is what we're getting in the house in the next 6m (thanks uncle sam) and the long piece running across is the countertops in the bathroomand in the spirit of easter...my new EARS! please ignore the tag, i've since taken care of that

Feeling accomplished

I have today off and Dominic had the afternoon off yesterday so we got the bathroom painted and the weekend hasn't even really started yet! we went with the lighter color which was a great choice since it feels darker with the whole bathroom painted. Now I just have to get that vanity stripped and painted white

Decisions, Decisions

We've been debating on a color for the main bath since we decided to redo it, that was when we purchased this place...and it's causing procrastination. Since no one has ever accused me of procrastination I've decided to take the bull by the horns...i've narrowed it down to 2...which do you like (the top darker color is A, and the bottom lighter is B)

mantle primed

We're going to be changing out the mantle on the fireplace for a REAL mantle and I'm getting it ready for when the folks come down for easter

Here is the close up

and the full view-6ft

Easter Decor and more updates

Let me start off with some pics of my favorite people...ok, the first one isn't a person but she gets treated just like one...ECLAIR!!!!

And my hunny cooking dinner, I just realized that most of the photos of him are cooking shots, he really does other stuff, but it's just that time of night that I'm blogging. Here he's making one of our favorite meals....chimichangas. We got the idea when we did Dinner my way and have done it ever since. We make 7 weeks worth of meals with one chuck roast! Easy to make and only 30min and dinner is ready (NO PREP on the day of the meal)

The Valentines Decor is down and Easter/Spring is up

My new welcome sign

Creative use of crystal vases

Rubber bunny

Mantle decor

Look what I found! We had registered for this wonderful AllClad square baker with made for it trivet...but sadly it wasn't bought and we couldn't justify the expense we had several alternatives already....I found it for 40% off at Marshalls today and just had to 'try it on'. I bargained several items from the pyrex and mixing bowl cabinet and I get to keep it!! Thanks hunny

A few finishing touches to the bathroom and new bedside tables....

Since Dominic has a bunch of stuff on his bedside table we needed to get something enclosed to hide the junk :) these baskets from Target fit perfectly and the tables were even more of a steal when I found them for 50% off...now the pair was only $110

We used to have a few single hooks behind Dominic's door in his bathroom but that just wasn't enough space to keep the clothes off the floor so I found this quad that works perfectly! Target again!

We've been busy!

It's been awhile! We've been keeping busy since the middle of Jan....first was our trip to WA...

This is us at my parents, we were helping them move back into their newly remodeled house!

Our beautiful niece, she's getting so big

A few shots of the GREAT new place

What a way to watch the tele

Looking across the great room out the windows at the sound

Then we were back home in Cali and needed to get some work done around our own place before my parents come up for easter to help us put the finishing touches on the bathrooms...can't wait for that to be done

Dominic loving his baby eclair. They do this regularly, and to think he wasn't really a dog person before he met our baby (can you see her little head poking out?)

Dominic went through his closet and got rid of some clothes he wasn't wearing many of which were too BIG!!!

Then when I was done helping he added a few more things to the pile...he's really catching the organizing bug...thank goodness

Then on my monday off I painted the hall, sorry no before's, the nice creamy beige thats in our bedroom. It really makes the molding stand out, don't you think? We will eventually paint the 2nd bedroom this color as well only in a flat paint with 12in vertical gloss stripes...neutral yet not too boring for a baby or office!!!

This last weekend we knocked out a few more projects starting with painting the last wall in the main room that the previous owners just didn't do...what were they thinking???

before...dingy white

and after painted to match the rest of the walls in a two-toned look

those two walls are the same color but the light gives them each a different look in the pic...now we just need a little piece of molding to finish it up

And as I said...we've been busy bee's. We still need to get my bathroom painted but first comes picking the color...any suggestions? Nothing too dark since it's the main bathroom and not too big...I am considering a grey blue color but everything I like is too dark...and so we postpone painting. This weekend I've been on call so just getting that one wall painted was a miracle!