Viva la vino!

So last Wednesday I had the pleasure of visiting the stunning Napa Valley and touring a few of the wineries that are affiliated with the winery that I work for. It was amazing and informative, and just the break that I needed!












This is the beautiful Sutter Home Inn, where we had lunch and played the Aroma Wheel of Fortune! (It's harder than you think.)





















Here is the amazing lunch I had, prepared by Jeffrey Starr! I can't even describe how good everything was.













Do not leave your wine unattended!













Okay, so I don't get how to post pictures and put them where I want them to go. What of it?

Oh, and I do get to see Woven Hand in Berkeley next month! I am giddy as a little girl.

Bless the Woven Hand

Back in the day, I got to go to quite a few shows. It was good, I saw lots of cool bands. I'm not entirely sure, but I believe the last show I saw was Bardo Pond, probably about 5 years ago. But one of my favorite bands (16 Horsepower) somehow slipped through, and I never got to see them, and now they're gone. *sniff* They have, however, gone on to form other bands. One of which is Woven Hand, and I found out today that they are coming to the Bay Area in April. It's a good 2-3 hours away, but I must go.

I must go!

Ah Spring...

...is there anything better? Today I noticed the first wildflowers along the road, and the very first blossoms on our plum tree made their appearance. Everything is radiant green, and the sun feels so good I can barely contain myself! Autumn has always been my favorite season, but as I get older, I can't deny what Spring does to me. I never feel better than getting my hands in the dirt, breathing the fresh air (if I can with all the pollen!), and warming my chilly bones. It's truly the season of possibilities, when I feel like there's nothing I can't do. Now if I could just bottle that bliss...

Spot of tea?

Bringing joy and inspiration to tea-lovers everywhere, I finally posted my gorgeous new tea infusers! They are stainless steel, with a beautiful hand-blown Murano glass bead and handmade flower chain. More styles are available at my site, only $24 each.

March sale!

This is a good place to mention that I'm running a 20% off sale through March! This includes everything but shipping costs, and is good at both my website and my Etsy shop. I'm requesting that orders are emailed to me, rather than using the shopping cart, as I'm still working on a new cart, and don't have time to change all the prices manually! I'll send you a new invoice.

Be sure to sign up for the newsletter (on the main page) to stay up-to-date with new products and special sales!

Happy shopping!

Take two.

I'm going to try this again. I feebly and fumblingly tried to start a blog last summer, and quickly pushed it out of my routine, because I had no idea what I was doing. Well, I still have no idea what I'm doing, but hoping this time around it will develop on its own. I hope for it to be inspiring and entertaining, but sometimes it might just be a bad day, and I'll need to vent! I'm open to showing amazing handmade items, or sharing inspiring stories, or any other suggestions.

I've had on my mind lately thoughts of giving up my business. For lots of reasons--feeling like my work is inadequate, spending more on it than I make, not wanting it to take too much time away from my family--but the concrete truth of it is that it is not only what I want to do, but it is just what I do. I don't know what I would do if I didn't. I've learned way too much to just give it up, and when I look back at it, I'm in a better place with it than I was at the beginning, so logic dictates that another year or two should work wonders. Hopefully. Right now, it's barely a shadow of what I dream it to be, and that motivates me to move forward with it every day, even if it's just a little bit. I have a couple of years before both kids will be in school all day, so this is my chance to make a go of it. And I think I can.