So much fun in Sonoma!

JJ and I just got back from an incredible trip to wine country! We had beautiful weather and such fun experiences all over the valley. Instead of a detailed itinerary, I will just give the highlights of the trip:

Hotel: We stayed at the MacArthur Place Inn and really enjoyed ourselves, especially because of the free upgrade to the Spa Suite complete with an outdoor tub and shower (this was our room)! We used the fireplace every night and loved the gardens all throughout the property. It was within walking distance of all the restaurants and wineries surrounding the downtown square.

Wineries: Of course this was the focus of the trip. We went to Napa two years ago and knew we would have to come back and see all the Sonoma wineries. I read a bunch of reviews before we went and had a pretty good idea of where we might want to go, but in all honesty, some of our favorites were places that were recommended to us along the way.

Kunde...We liked it so much we joined the wine club! The estate is beautiful and they offer a mountain top tasting where you are driven up into the mountains overlooking their property (and the entire valley). We had great weather and could see for miles. This is also the winery used in the movie "Bottle Shock" that our good friends had made us watch before our trip. Good movie and beautiful scenery.

Mountain Top Tasting

View from the top

Cuvaison...The tasting room in Carneros is my favorite (we went to the one in Calistoga two years ago). Incredible views and the S Block Chardonnay is the best I have ever tasted. I had to stock up while we were there!

Gorgeous day, gorgeous patio for tasting

Chimney Rock...This winery is actually in Napa (we drove over for an afternoon) and came very highly recommended by several different wineries and they did not disappoint! Their cabs were AMAZING and the manager was kind enough to give us a private tour of the facilities. Very cool.

Jacuzzi Family...Great Italian wines, free tasting, and a really fun atmosphere! It was fun to try wines we had never heard of and they also had olive oil tastings in the same building courtesy of The Olive Press.

Other wineries we enjoyed...Cline, Viansa, St. Francis, Silver Oak, Reynolds Family, Acacia, Gundlach Bundschu, Kenwood, and Valley of the Moon.

Restaurants: Our favorites included the Fremont Diner in Carneros (seemingly in the middle of nowhere, great upscale diner food with a twist...should be on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives someday!), Dl Dorado Kitchen (a farm to table theme), Hopmonk (brewery and pub food), Sunflower Caffe (gourmet soups, salads, and sandwiches) and Estate (fabulous farm to table Italian food in a gorgeous Victorian estate).

Other: On a particularly beautiful morning we hiked the Overlook Trail and enjoyed beautiful views of the valley and downtown Sonoma. We were able to walk to the trailhead from our hotel and enjoyed all 6.5 miles!

View from Overlook Trail

We also rented bikes from our hotel on our last day and enjoyed a scenic 10 mile ride. Wish we would have done this sooner in the week so we could have gone multiple times. The Sonoma Bike Path was a great place to start and the we continued on and biked to Bartholomew Park and winery (where they have additional walking paths) and Buena Vista Winery. We didn't do tastings at either, but they were gorgeous and worth the trip to enjoy the views.

We ended the week with a fun drive through Sausalito while killing time waiting for our delayed flight, but got to experience great views of the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown SF!

Overlooking the Bay

2 YEARS!?!

How has it possibly been two years since we got married? Sometimes it seems like it was a month ago, sometimes it seems like it was 10 years ago (in a good way :) ). JJ and I are so blessed with wonderful role models of what a godly marriage should be, and hopefully we can help set that example for others.

To celebrate our 2nd anniversary JJ's parents were generous enough to treat us to a staycation at the Royal Palms. I have always wanted to stay here and the resort did not disappoint. The room was beautiful with a great soaking tub, the property was lush and green (even in the summer, yay!) and the cocktails by the pool were just what we needed to feel like we were on another honeymoon (JJ gives me a hard time because I refer to every vacation that we take, just the two of us, as another honeymoon). Whatevs, just keeping the romance alive, haha!

The Royal Palms

We spent most of the time in the pool, but on Saturday night we had dinner at the Wrigley Mansion, another Phoenix classic. We had a table by the windows to watch the sunset, a great bottle of wine, gorgeous view and a champagne toast to end the evening. The food was so disappointing, but we were really there for the view!

View from Wrigley Mansion

A little dark, but I think you can tell that it's us!

If you ever get a chance the Royal Palms is a great destination for a romantic weekend or just a romantic dinner. The lounge and the restaurant, T. Cook's, are fabulous...try the sangria!

Charlotte -> Nashville -> Charlotte

After being gone for 6 months, we finally made it back to Charlotte in early June. JJ had some "unofficial, player-run, organized team activities" (thank you NFL lockout) and I jumped at the excuse to join him and go back. JJ was there for 3 weeks, and I was there for 2, with a long weekend trip to Nashville (Long story short, the Camry was being stored at a family member's house while we were in Phoenix, but when JJ went to pick it up and drive it back to Charlotte the transmission went out and he had to leave it there to get fixed. It just so happened that the weekend the car was going to be ready was the weekend of CMA Fest).

In addition to their practices, a few of the players were invited to take batting practice at the Charlotte Knights game (triple-A team for the White Sox). JJ is still a baseball player at heart, so he jumped at the chance. He struggled in the beginning, but the Knights' coaches had some good comments and he ended up hitting one over their monster wall in left center. I have never seen him smile that big! (Side note: if you are looking for a fun inexpensive activity, try a minor league game! We have so much fun, and it doesn't cost nearly what the big league games cost.)

He's still got it!

In the middle of of Charlotte trip we spent a long weekend in Nashville for the Country Music Festival. It was 4 days of incredible concerts, with all the big names in country music. They actually turned it into a television special that airs August 7 on ABC. I will be watching to relive all the fun. I love live music, but I have never experienced anything like this. We are going to try and make this a tradition to go every year, so mark your calendars for next year and join us!

All of the performances were amazing, but my favorites were: Zac Brown Band, Josh Turner featuring Scotty McCreery, Dierks Bently, Lady Antebellum, Sugarland, Keith Urban, Darius Rucker, Jason Aldean, The Band Perry, Mirando Lambert and Taylor Swift. LOVE.

At CMA Fest in Nashville

After we got back to Charlotte, we realized how much we missed it and really felt like God was telling us it was time to go back. We hadn't planned on looking for a house to rent, but we talked with our realtor and she warned us there wasn't much available so we got started right away. Luckily for us, a beautiful house in the neighborhood we wanted had just gone on the market. It is a perfect fit for us and the goldens (and any guests who might come for a visit!) We are within walking distance of our favorite restaurants, wine bars, boutiques, sports bars, coffee shops, fro-yo, running trails, park and the YMCA. And even better we are 1/4 mile from one of our favorite friends and her bulldog Annie. Yay for puppy playdates!

COME VISIT!

The trip to Charlotte was a success, and I can't wait to be back there full time.

Day of Fun

Date night/day this week was an interesting experience. Unlike the last two weeks, I hadn't planned everything out so we were just winging it.

The day started out with me taking two Valiums...no it was wasn't because I was stressed or worried about spending an entire day with JJ, it was because I was panicking about my scheduled MRI. Not so much a fan of loud enclosed spaces for prolonged periods of time, call me crazy! (Update: Everything came back clear, but I thought I re-injured my shoulder when Barney pulled me down a flight of stairs chasing after another dog). So after coming out of the Valium haze, JJ took me to brunch at Terrace Cafe (my new favorite brunch place). I love brunch, it has to be one of the best things ever invented.

Next, JJ and I decided to visit the mall and pull the trigger on a purchases we had been debating over for about a month. We succumbed to peer pressure (the good kind) and bought an iPad. It is pretty awesome. For the longest time, I thought it was silly to have if you had a laptop, but I think its fun and I'm glad we got it. Now JJ and I won't be fighting over the Mac laptop either. Also, in an effort to entice fall to come faster, I bought a pair of Uggs. I usually buy the knock-of Target brand, so I will be interested to see if I can even tell a difference. I justified it because they weren't the standard ones, they have a split down the side fastened by a big button. Super cute.

We spent the rest of the day playing with our new toy, enjoying Thai take-out and watching all the season premiers on TV. Not a bad date day for not having anything planned!

Mary Poppins

This week we took date night in the opposite direction of the last one. Last week we enjoyed hiking in the great outdoors, this week we enjoyed an NYC-style dinner and a show in uptown Charlotte.

The Broadway show, Mary Poppins, has been in town for a few weeks and I kept hearing great things about it so I talked JJ into going with me. I know musicals aren't his first (or second, or third, or...) choice for entertainment, but I guess he knows how much I love them and he decided to humor me for the night. (This is also a benefit of being the planner, getting to decide on the activity.)

Knowing that we would be downtown for the show, we decided to finally use the gift card to Fleming's we had sitting around. The difficulty is the gift card was for $50 and sadly that isn't even enough for one person to have a whole meal. Luckily, I found out about their happy hour specials (6 different appetizers for $6 each) and burger (around $12 each) specials at the bar. We had an appetizer, two burgers, dessert, and two drinks for right around $50. Probably going to do that for date night again soon.

Loved dinner. Loved the show. Date night #2 = a huge success :)

Lake Norman

In an attempt to get out of our regular "dinner at the same old restaurants and/or a movie" routine JJ and I are getting creative. Once a week we are going to have a fun date to look forward to and we are going to take turns planing the excursions. Although, let's be honest, I will probably end up planning most of them because I tend to like to control things. :)

Last week, we (read: I) did some research on hiking around Charlotte and discovered Lake Norman State Park just up I-77. I found a trail that went right along the lack shore, and as a bonus, it was dog friendly! We packed up the car and started out on our big adventure. Sadly, even with all the research I did, I failed to take note of exactly how far up on I-77 it was. About an hour later we finally reached the park and found the trail head.

Like I said, the trail was right along the lake shore, so we thought this would be the perfect way to reintroduce Barney to the water. He refused to swim in our pool in Phoenix and panicked every time we tried to teach him. I really thought he would do much better if he was able to walk in instead of having to be carried/figure out the pool steps. Well, that didn't work. He refused to go anywhere near the water and even managed to slip out of the leash and try to run away.

The hike was a little over an hour and Barney was exhausted so we hopped back in the car and hit up the Subway in downtown Troutman, NC for lunch. A true metropolitan area if I've ever seen one.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

On Saturday, JJ and I celebrated 1 year of wedded bliss (Get it? I love puns.). We decided to try out our version of a stay-cation. We got a puppy sitter for Barney and went to the Ballantyne Hotel, which is about 20 minutes away from our house.

Our room was on the 4th floor, overlooking the 18th hole

It was fabulous. We slept in late, ordered room service, and spent the majority of our time sitting by the pool drinking pina coladas. It was just like our honeymoon on the beaches of Jamaica...minus the beaches. But still enjoyable :)

Perfect way to spend the day when it is 97 degrees and HUMID!

JJ also had a little surprise for me and got us tickets to the Rascal Flatts concert at Verizon Amphitheatre. It was a bit warm out, but it cooled off as the sun went down. We had great seats and had so much fun. The first (and only) concert we went to together was Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift up in Green Bay with the Crosbys and the Nelsons, so it was fun to go to another one. They are so fun in concert and it is crazy how many amazing songs they have.

Chris Young

The newly engaged Kellie Pickler

Rascal Flatts

Neither of us can believe it had been a year since our wedding. I think the thing we miss the most is having everyone we love in the same place at the same time. We are truly blessed to have so many people loving and supporting us. Now we just need to come up with an excuse to plan another party weekend that gets everyone out to visit us...maybe a two year anniversary party???

Blonde Moment

I got my hair highlighted yesterday with a new guy that I really like. He went a little bit blonder than I would have wanted, but I still like it and afterall it is summer so I think I can get away with it.

Aparently, it is too much blonde for me to handle based on what I did this morning.

Tomorrow is our one year anniversary and I was trying to do something nice for my dear husband. I wanted to make him pancakes to surprise him when he got home from his workout. So I got the pancake mix (which is in a plastic bag) out and set in on the stove top. I grabbed the tea pot and filled it with water, set it on a burner, turned it up to high, and headed upstairs to grab some laundry. When I got back downstairs I saw smoke coming from the stove top.

It seems I had turned on the wrong burner and had heated up the bag of pancake mix instead of the tea pot. So I turn off the burner and try to grab the bag of pancake mix. Too bad all of the plastic on the bottom of the bag had already melted off and I was left with a mountain of dry pancake mix on a hot burner.

Keep in mind, the entire thing is still smoking and I am just waiting for the smoke alarms to go off. I had to find some kitchen tools to scrape the burning mound off of the hot stove and into the garbage without melting the garbage bag. So I dug through all of our cabinets and drawers to find something and finally managed to scrape most of it into a glass bowl. I had to let the burner cool down completely before I began the joyous process of scraping melted plastic off.

So much for a sweet surprise. At least everything was (for the most part) back to normal by the time JJ got home so I was able to save face a little.

I swear, I am usually pretty good in the kitchen. I blame it on the highligts.

Pawleys Island

Another event that I failed to blog about in a timely matter...our trip to Pawleys Island, SC.

JJ was invited to participate in a charity golf tournament (benefiting AMI Kids-Georgetown) near Myrtle Beach. For us it was a no brainer. Beautiful location, helping out a great cause, golf and an excuse to go away for the weekend! Sold.

We were very excited about our upcoming trip and mentioned it to JJ's parent when we were visiting in Phoenix. I was explaining that JJ was invited to play in a celebrity golf tournament that next weekend and his mom got really excited. We explained that one "celebrity" would join each four-some for the tournament. Here is how the rest of the conversation went:

Carla: "Oooh! How fun! Who will the celebrity be?"

Me: "Well...JJ is one of the celebrities."

Carla: "Oh...I thought it was going to be like...a Jonas brother."

I couldn't help but laugh, but I think the funniest part was that her "go-to" celebrity was a Jonas brother. Not sure which one, but you know, one of the three. We are definitely using the term "celebrity" pretty loosely, but that is the term used for most of the appearances JJ does.

Anyway, back to our weekend at the beach. We stayed in the condos at True Blue golf course and the tournament was at the sister course, Caledonia. Both course are listed as one of the Top 100 Public Courses in America. They were both beautiful courses, and JJ thought Caledonia was one of the best he has ever played on. My favorite part was the clubhouse, it is a beautiful old plantation that screams "Welcome to the South!"

JJ made some connections the night before the tournament and was placed on a team with some phenomenal golfers. Besides being great golfers, they were just really good guys and so fun to get to know! Another bonus, JJ's team finished tied for 1st.

Look at that swing!

Another bonus, getting to meet Hall of Famer, Tony Dorsett

We were lucky enough to get some recommendations from the locals for places to eat and ended up having dinner at Bistro 217 and then headed over to the famous Frank's Outback for dessert. We had great food at both places, but next time we go back I want to eat dinner at Frank's, their atmosphere is just so fun and they have a beautiful patio.

Sunday we headed to the store, bought a paddle ball set, two beach towels and some sunscreen and hit the beach. I loved how un-touristy it was. We would love to go back someday for a longer period of time. It would be a great place to rent a beach house for a week if you want to avoid the crowds of Myrtle Beach. And now we have friends there!

NASCAR

We live in Charlotte. Charlotte is the home of NASCAR. We live in the home of NASCAR.

In order to embrace our new city and experience something new, we went to the All-Star Race on Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Well, to be honest, this was not really my first NASCAR experience. I did visit Texas Motor Speedway once during college, courtesy of the Henry Family. But, regardless, this was JJ's first experience and being the avid sports fan that he is, he was pumped.

As usual, our wardrobe was a major concern in the preparation for this event. Having some knowledge of the typical attire for an event like this, I threw on jean shorts (jorts) and a t-shirt. Granted the shorts were j. crew and the shirt was Banana Republic, but whatever. JJ had gone golfing earlier in the day and decided to keep his frat boy/golf attire on. Sooo not NASCAR. Once we arrived, JJ quickly realized he was overdressed. Something that has never happened before.

Let me set the scene for those of your not fortunate enough to have experienced NASCAR for yourself. Tens of thousands of fans started tailgating at 9 am. The beer is still flowing when we got to the parking lot at 6 pm. People are starting to stumble towards the track. It seems no one has ever heard of sunscreen, the rednecks are even redder now. It was a warm day, and apparently no one had ever heard of deodorant either. I tried to keep track of the mullets, but lost count after 5 minutes. There is a smoky haze covering the entire area, as everyone is chain smoking cheap cigarettes. Very few sleeves on shirts and very few teeth in the mouths. The aggregate weight of the die hard fans in attendance is equal to the GDP of Canada (google it).

All in all it is a tapestry of unflattering stereotypes.

My favorite fan of the night was a man sitting two rows in front of us chain smoking his Doral cigarettes. After about 2 hours he started alternating drags on his cigarettes, with puffs from his inhaler. Hey buddy, I bet I can guess what caused your respiratory problems. (America, THIS is what is wrong with our health care system)

The race itself was actually really fun to watch. The All-Star race is only 100 laps as opposed to next week's Coke 600. I don't think there is any way I could stay interested for 600 laps (update- I was just informed that it is actually 600 miles, not laps, still probably not going to stay focused though). I told JJ mid-race that whoever won the race would become my favorite driver and I would follow him faithfully for the rest of his career (or until I forget to care). Lucky for me it was the Miller Lite car that won, my domestic beer of choice. So it's kind of like I am already part of the team, as I have invested in the sponsor for years.

All in all, our NASCAR date night was a success. I would totally go back next year. I will just have to remember to bring my own clean air to breathe.

Almost Famous

Tonight JJ and I took Barney for a walk. The weather has been beautiful and Barney needed to get rid of some energy. We walked out the front door and before we even got all the way down the driveway two little boys (around 10) rode their bikes up to us. I was really just an observer of this whole encounter because they weren't interested in anything I had to say.

The conversation goes as follows:

Little Boy #1: "We heard a football player lives here."

JJ: "Uh yea, that's me."

Little Boy #2: "Are you JJ Jansen?"

JJ: "Yes."

Little Boy #2: "You really play for the Panthers?"

JJ: "I do."

Little Boy #1: "Wow. You must be really rich."

JJ: "Uhhhhhhhh, no. Not really."

Little Boy #2: "Well at least you're famous."

JJ: "Haha, no."

Little Boy #2: "How old are you?"

JJ: "I'm 24."

Little Boy #1: You're really tall."

JJ: "Yea, I'm about 6'3"."

Little Boy #1: "No, I mean you're really tall for your age."

JJ: "Well, I think I'm done growing."

Little Boy #2: "How big is the ball you play with?"

JJ: [awkward hand gestures]

Little Boy #1: "What position do you play?"

JJ: "I'm the long snapper."

Little Boy #2: "What's that?!?" (Once again, no one has any idea what exactly it is that JJ does.)

JJ: "I snap the ball to the punter and the kicker."

Little Boy #1: "Don't you want to play another position?"

JJ: "They won't let me."

This continued for a few more minutes until the boys were called home for dinner. I was to the side giggling to myself during the entire exchange. I was pretty impressed with the rapid fire style of questioning these two kids had come up with. Most likely, one of the neighbors told them about JJ, because I'm guessing they didn't recognize him from his online roster picture.

Soooo Tricky

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed JJ's post. I was very impressed with his writing and he is still gloating about his super sneaky hacker skills. He actually wrote the entire thing while laying next to me in bed. I was still half asleep (recovering from the run, of course) and thus, oblivious to his super secret mission.

Based on the positive feedback he received (mostly from our moms), he has started talking about what his next post will be about and even whether or not to start his own blog...copycat. One of his teammates also wants in on the action, so maybe someday I will be able to pass along the link to JJ and Hunter's twisted world.

But until then, I guess I will allow him to continue hacking.