Sleeping in Heaven

Flannel sheets are probably one of the greatest things ever…in the winter.  If you’ve ever accidently kept your sheets on when it starts getting warm out you know what I am talking about.  When all you want to do is cuddle up in your flannel sheets and pillow pets they are great.  But as soon as you leave the heater on too high or the weather changes (which this year it has been pretty bi-polar) you are in a hot sweaty situation.  I have fallen victim to this many of times.

I’ve had flannel sheets growing up as a kid, but my favorite sheets are ones that I got for Christmas a couple of years ago when I transitioned from my dorm room XL twin bed to my very own full bed.  They are red L.L. Bean sheets and you feel like you are in heaven when you sleep on them.  Combine that with a down comforter and you are solid.

As flannel sheets are used mainly in the wintertime most people are either buying their sheets or getting them as gifts for Christmas.  Take for example this little boy…

He obviously is too young to appreciate the awesomeness of flannel sheets and in a few years he is going to regret that he did not put them on his racecar bed.

Love Him or Hate Him, It's Still an Obsession

When it comes to Justin Bieber most people have an opinion about him one way or another.  You are categorized as either a ‘Bielber’, or a hater.  Usually people write him off right away.  I say that it is his fans to blame.  Much like the Twilight Saga series, whose fans have diminished all the good qualities that the series has had, Justin Bieber’s fans have done just the same to his music.  They have been obnoxious, loud and proud teenage girls.  While they have been the sole reason of the success for Justin, many opinions have been altered because of how crazy they are.

For anyone that knows me I love the Biebs, and this entry should not shock anyone.  In fact people are probably more surprised that I have taken this long to write something about him.  A year ago I would say that I was not your typical fan, and while I am still not the screaming and crying tween that idolizes over Justin, I do tend to scream or at least get overly enthusiastic and embarrassingly enough I have cried before.  I’d like to believe that I am not his stereotypical fan, but who am I kidding? I blast his music frequently, have a poster of him on my door, and hope that one day I can go to one of his concerts.  My friends, family, co-workers, randoms, and even my bosses (who just judge me because their 9 year old isn’t yet obsessed with Justin.  Sorry Dan O’Brien it’s going to happen one day) have ridiculed me on various accounts. 

Casual Redecorating of Cabin 4

Lovin' the Biebs everywhere

I blame my campers from this past summer for my obsession.  I have always loved JB but my campers heightened it to a whole new level.  Not only was Justin Bieber continuously playing throughout our cabin, but the girls had also taken upon themselves to do some interior decorating and wallpapered the walls with posters upon posters of him.  Thus, this was deemed the summer of the Biebs for cabin 4.

Personally I am completely biased when it comes to Justin Bieber as it is clearly shown in all the above examples.  However I truly believe that he is a great artist.  I challenge every person who disagrees with me to watch his movie “Never Say Never” which follows Justin throughout his Never Say Never tour, ending with a sold out concert in Madison Square Gardens in New York.  For an artist of his age and for how long he had been in the industry, selling out Madison Square Garden was a big deal. 

The movie also shows how Justin got to where he is now.  There are clips of when he was three playing the drums...with rhythm.  How many three year olds can do that?  There are also clips of him singing covers and playing the guitar up on YouTube, which is where it all began.

All I can say is to check out “Never Say Never” and look beyond the hype and the name of “Justin Bieber”.  Actually check out him for who he is.  Obviously I do not expect everyone to like him but at least give him a chance.  Who knows maybe you will catch the “Bieber Fever”.

Barrel Tasting: Are we classy enough?

The past two weekends have been some of the busiest weekends for winemakers, wine connoisseurs, and college students here in Sonoma County.  Thousands of people attended Wine Road’s 34^th annual barrel tasting which had over 100 participating wineries throughout the Northern Sonoma County, specifically in the Alexander, Dry Creek, and Russian River Valleys. 

What is barrel tasting you might ask?  Well the answer differs for many. For college students it’s a chance to indulge ourselves in the Sonoma culture…which means, to consume large amounts of wine and pretend that we are being classy.  For the winemaker it is the opportunity to not only gain exposure to their wines, but to sell futures. To buy futures means to invest in a particular wine before it is bottled.  The advantage of this is that the price of the wine once bottled could be a considerable difference than what you paid for earlier on, although that is not always the case.  And for the wine connoisseurs, barrel tasting gives them the chance to taste different wines, talk to the winemakers, and make bottle or future purchases.

Saturday at A. Rafanelli

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to not only participate in barrel tasting one weekend, but work a weekend of it as well.  They were two very enjoyable, but different experiences.

My friends and I decided to go barrel tasting the first weekend, which personally I think was the better choice.  Everywhere we went was packed!  There were all sorts of people there, old/young, drunk/sober, obnoxious/fun to talk to and so on.  We started off on Saturday with a big group of friends, and went to around 8 wineries throughout the day.  The following day, Sunday, we decreased our numbers and had a girls day which allowed us to explore more wineries, and for some reason this day had more food pairings which satisfied our drunchies and allowed us to nom all day long.

Working barrel tasting with Super Sonoman! 

Originally we had mapped out where we wanted to go for both days, but as our thirst for wine increased, we found ourselves pulling over at any winery we saw was participating in barrel tasting....we obviously use our time efficiently.

The next weekend I worked at my internship with Vinify Wine Services.  Many people did not know about this gem, but they should have stopped by because they had 7 different wine makers on site.  That means there were at least 7 different barrels as well as their wine bottles.  I sadly did not see anyone that was too intoxicated that I could laugh at, being on the other side and all, but I did learn a lot more about wines this weekend.

I have no idea where I will be next year, but if I am still in California you can bet I will be making my way up to Sonoma the first two weekends of March for barrel tasting.


Here are some things I learned:

-I’m pretty skilled and only spilled on myself once all of barrel tasting (while wearing white both days)

-If you tweet about spilling wine on yourself your parents will call you instantly and tell you how to get it out (I got it out for anyone who was interested)

-Do not wear 4-5 inch high wedges…at all.

-If you also decide to tweet dramatically about how you ‘broke’ your toe with said wedges, your parents will also call you...but this time frantically and pissed

-I’m starting to like red wine more (yay for growing up!)
-It is better to rinse your glass with white wine instead of the usual water (this is probably the only useful tip)

Girls day at Truett-Hurst with cool polarized glasses

It’s February…Shouldn’t it be raining?

It’s the end of February and with the exception of right now the weather has been phenomenal.  It’s weird to think that we are able to go outside and sit, lay, or swim laps by the pool and actually get a tan.

Sorry for all my friends on the East Coast who (SHOULD) be reading my blog.  I know the weather has been unusually great over there for this time of year, however it is pale…literally haha…in comparison to the weather going on in California right now…SO you all should be jealous. I know my friend Hillary is from the picture that I sent to her of the tan lines I got from swimming laps at the pool earlier today. 

Personally, I believe that the sun makes everyone look better...unless of course you get lobster red.  While I don’t think you should be attempting to rock your summer glow to it's full extent during the winter (ahem to all you fake and bakers), I think that people just look gross when they are all pasty white.  I am including myself in this.  I get extremely tan in the summer and the difference between the color of my skin then to how it gets in the winter is just ridiculous.  So, you could say that I am taking advantage of this sunny weather, as shown in this picture from the other day at the pool when my afternoon class got canceled.  Obviously it was just a sign that I was supposed to lounge at the pool and relax with a beer all afternoon.

We can all give a big thank you to global warming for this lovely summer like weather, which is causing our seasons to get confused.  I am all for having summer year round, but I will be EXTREMELY annoyed if it starts to rain during the actual season of summer, as we don’t have any school and have all the time in the world to just enjoy the sun.

So appreciate this nice weather while you can and go outside and enjoy it.  If you are on the East Coast, have fun enjoying your 40-degree weather with your “light winter jacket” instead of your normal huge down jacket. J

Hot Sauce

I felt that I should start my first real entry what had inspired me the most in writing this blog…hot sauce.  This topic should not come to any surprise for anyone who knows me.  You don’t even need to know me very well to know that I LOVE hot sauce.  Just one meal with me and you’ll notice. Trust me.

The origin of this crazy obsession comes from my Auntie Da who is a spicy food fanatic.  She works as a chef for a catering company in Massachusetts, and whenever she would come visit us, or we would visit her she would always prepare some spicy dish for us.  Thus introducing me into the world of spicy food.

It spiked my freshmen year of college, when I was forced to eat bland cafeteria food every single day.  I quickly noticed that hot sauce was an easy fix to make sure that I had a good, flavorful, and of course spicy meal.  I am no Martha Stewart, so this continued on when I moved off campus and started to cook for myself.  It escaladed when I started working at a summer camp two years ago and had camp food three meals a day for two months.  Camp food can be more or less worse than cafeteria food, depending on the night.  So obviously Frank’s Hot Sauce, camp’s hot sauce of choice, was on everything.  And I repeat everything that was on my tray.  My campers were both disgusted and in awe of this, some even felt inclined to try it out for themselves.

I have tried many hot sauces throughout the years. Tapatio and Cholula were my go to hot sauces for a while, as they were always conveniently in restaurants and cheap to buy.  However lately I can confidently say that Trader Joe’s Jalapeño Pepper Hot Sauce is my staple item.  It has enough flavor and spice, but not too much that you can’t taste the real flavor of the meal.  It also is under $2, which is awesome for a college student on a budget!  At home Trader Joe’s is literally a minute drive away, so I can run and get this hot sauce any time I want.  However the closest TJ’s at school is a fifteen-minute drive away and not always as convenient, which forces me to stock up.  Sadly I am running out of my current bottle and am forced to either suck it up and drive to the store or use my cheap random brand of hot sauce that I keep for emergencies solely like this.

Many people think that hot sauce is gross, but the phrase, “don’t hate it until you’ve tried it” comes to mind.  If you’re a baby you can get a tamer hot sauce, and if you like a lot of heat then there are plenty of options to choose from, either way it is a great way to add flavor to any meal. 

Finally..A Blog

So…it has finally come down to this…having a blog.  I had one failed attempt this past summer where, I wanted to have a blog about all of the ice cream that I (and my stomach) encountered spending this summer on Cape Cod.  For those who do not know, Cape Cod has some of the best homemade ice cream around, and I love ice cream so it seemed only natural that I write about it.  The blog only lasted for two entries, even though I continued to eat ice cream for the rest of the summer.

Now I have the wonderful opportunity of writing a blog for class, where I have to write at least one entry a week, forcing myself to keep up with it.  This I would have to say is a blessing in disguise because I have wanted to have a blog for a while.

The hardest part of putting together this blog was trying to come up with something to write about.  I wanted my “theme” to be something that I am passionate about, so that way I can, literally, write passionately about it.  I had originally had an idea for a blog about comparing the differences between West and East coast, because I have spent a lot of time on the East coast and thought that the comparison would be interesting.  But then after I spent practically an hour coming up with a cool name and web domain, I realized that I might not want to continue a blog like that for a while.  So then I sat down to start thinking of other ideas…nothing came to me. 

It was not until I started talking to Angela (shout out to you!) about other potential topics, such as hot sauce, which I absolutely love, and which you will most definitely hear about later, that I was able to come up with my final idea for my blog.

It is…a blog about my favorite things.  I couldn’t pick one topic in general so I thought why not write about all of the things that I love and that make me who I am?  So this is what this blog will be about.  

Enjoy!