Pearls and Wine

Pearls
I wanted to check out these new textured glass pearls as possible beads for my eyeglass chains and lanyards. So I bought the large ones for myself.

My concern was would they be rough and catch on soft materials. That is a no. However they annoy my skin a little since the necklace is heavy but I am like the Princess and the Pea! If they were a smaller size they would be ok.

I will still wear them though since I love them!

I don't like taking selfies. It feels too unnatural!

source

I love Wilma Flintstone style necklaces!

Wine

Valentine's Day weekend was a treat for Jim and I. The Wine Connextion had a Michael David Winery tasting. 

One of the co-owners of the winery was actually there all the way from Lodi, CA! I would have liked to have bowed down before him but there were a lot of people present. The company is run by 2 brothers, Michael and David. 

Well they were running special sale prices off the store's already low prices. So a stock up happened! 

I've mentioned the ultra delicious Freakshow in the past but we had not yet tried Petite Petit until the tasting. 

It was amazing as expected! This has an adorable label. See the mice carrying playing cards and juggling the grapes at the bottom? This is the green room at the circus. Yes those are glasses of wine the elephants are holding! Let me just follow this with stating that I do not agree with the use of animals in the circus. It makes me sad to see. Anyway this is 85% petite sirah and 15% petit verdot, hence the name! Very full bodied.

The quotes crack me up. Robert Parker (the man behind The Wine Advocate) wrote that this one has "lots of blueberry fruit intermixed with graphite, licorice and a hint of tar." Graphite and tar? Well that's appetizing!

The Ink Blot wines are a little higher in price and were a first for us too. This is the petit verdot. It's just delicious. I'm not sure what I see in this inkblot except a turkey in the center ready to be cooked with it's wings out to its sides.

I see a butterfly in this one. Jim sees 2 seahorses. This is the tannat. This grape is from the southwest region of France that is now growing in Lodi, CA. More deliciousness! 

They also had sexy wine available, but not part of the tasting including lust, gluttony, sloth and rage. They are red zinfandels like 7 Deadly Zins. We can't justify spending $40+ on a bottle of wine (although I'm sure they are worth every penny) so we stuck with the others! 

The Earthquakes are our special occasion wines so we picked up both the cabernet and zinfandel. 

Besides being so tasty, I love that this winery has fun with its labels and names! Not pretentious in any way.

Thank you for stopping by! Enjoy your week ahead! ~Val

This Week's Blog Post

I am a little late on my post this week! Technical Blogger issues but I was given advice of trying a different browser which worked!!!!

Girly Pearl Lanyard

I had these larger pastel glass pearls lying around and thought super girly lanyard! So here it is!

Available at Miss Val’s Creations.

Custom Wine Glasses

I received these custom wine glasses from blogging friend Edi of Memories for Life on Etsy!

Jim and I do not exchange gifts but this idea popped into my head to have custom wine glasses made since enjoying wine while cooking is our favorite thing to do together!

I love the sweet heart detail. Thank you Edi! We have already enjoyed these multiple times!!!

Memories for Life has many amazing, unique wedding items like this wooden guest sign in book.

I love these wooden wedding invitations. The guests will always remember receiving one of these!

Of course, this is one of my favorite items…the wine stopper!  What a great gift idea to give with a bottle of wine.

I love the handcut wood earrings. Very different!

Edi also creates the coolest photo albums or scrapbooks! They could be a name for a personal scrapbook

Or an album to keep your treasured vacation photos. The custom ideas are endless!

Visit Memories for Life for your next personalized gift!

Wishing you all a marvelous week ahead! ~Val

This Week's Blog Post

New Earrings

It has been another hectic week so I have been busy making all sorts of new items including these earrings.  I love these magenta colored pearls! Available at Miss Val’s Creations.

New Handbags

It was time to update my spring/summer handbag collection. I found 2 great pre-owned, but in perfect condition Kathy Van Zeeland handbags on eBay!

This one is great in that it can be worn cross body or as a clutch. Both straps are removeable!

Then this little bag is so me! I love buying used since it is a green thing to do! Of course it is much less expensive too...bonus.

Southern Magnolia Minerals

Years ago I discovered SouthernMagnolia Minerals on eBay. This was at a time after intently watching mineral makeup infomercials with utter fascination and finally deciding to give it a try!

I use a primer, then a foundation and finish with the primer as the veil. I love that primers and veils can be used interchangeably since it is one less product needed.

Some of the reasons I am in love with this makeup are that:

• It looks great on the skin
• It is totally lightweight on the skin
• is natural
• cruelty free
• acts as a sunscreen protecting the skin
• made in the USA
• the product lasts a super long time
• it is much less costly than the national brands

Refills can be purchased instead of purchasing another filled plastic container. I simply purchase the refill and add them to containers I own! A little green thing I feel good about.

It is also wonderful to be able to contact the owner, Barb, directly! This cannot be done with Bare Minerals or Revlon or any other large manufacturer. It feels great to support a family owned business in the States.

I love this blush aptly named “magnolia”. It is perfect for my light Irish/Scottish skin!

If you use mineral makeup or have been thinking about it, check out SMM Cosmetics for your next purchase! Other product items include eye shadow, correctors, tools and more.

More Tasty Wines

Jim and I tasted these 2 wines at our favorite wine store, the Wine Connextion and decided to pick up a bottle of each. I should have taken the photo before opening the bottles. The purple wine stain is not part of the label!

The Uppercut Cabernet (2009 from Napa Valley) is absolutely delicious, however at $18.99 we have other wines we like just as much that cost significantly less so we likely will not purchase this one again. However we love a change from time to time.

The Zenato Valpolicella (2009) is fabulous at $11.99. This Italian wine is aged in a stainless steel tank for 6 months, then moved to an oak barrel for 6 to 8 months…interesting. This makes for a mouth watering wine full of wild berries, black cherry, spice and chocolate! I would buy this one again. It is a terrific bottle to bring to a host/hostess.

Pretty Spring Tree

This tree is on my neighbors property but hovers over mine, covering my driveway with its fuchsia pink flowers in the spring!

Have a wonderful week everyone! Enjoy Easter Sunday if you are celebrating. :)

This Week's Blog Post

New Lanyard and Eyeglass Chain
This stone is called chrysanthemum stone (I guess because some mums can have similar colors?). Its earthy coloring includes grey, brown and rust.

The gold complements it beautifully but I will also make these in silver which will give the stone a different look! These are available at Miss Val’s Creations.

Bucket List Additions
I added 2 destinations to my bucket list this week. This is Maho Beach in St. Maarten in the Caribbean.

The jumbo jets fly right overhead. How amazing and scary would it be to be lying on this beach with the planes flying over? What a rush! Apparently you feel the heat of the plane and winds of 100 miles per hour!!! This probably includes a slight sandstorm as well.

Jurassic Coast is in Dorset and East Devon, England. Here there are well preserved dinosaur fossil and footprints.

How insanely cool!!! This coast also boasts fantastic rock formations! I think I will be able to talk Jim into both these trips some day. The photos are from Thinkstock.

Organic Wines
There is a wonderful local wine store called the Wine Connextion which Jim and I typically visit on Saturday afternoons when they have complementary wine tasting. Usually we do not discover anything that we love more than our regular red wine favorites.

However this past weekend we both enjoyed 2 imported organic red wines!
We left with a bottle of each and polished them off that night! Good times!
The Conno Sur Cabernet/Carmenere is a 2009 from Chile. The Juan Gill Honoro Vera Monastrell is a 2010 from Spain. They are both bold and full flavored and best of all, under $9!!!!

Pizza
I am pizza obsessed….always have been. This photo was taken after eating a piece! I had not intentions of blogging about it but it was so mouth watering that I had to share it with others who may like pizza topping ideas!

The crust is whole wheat. Then I added a little red sauce and some shredded mozzarella. Then I added baby spinach, chopped jarred marinated artichokes, chopped jarred roasted red pepper followed with more shredded mozzarella and topped with feta cheese. Delicious and much healthier and a restaurant pizza!!!

Glee
Is it me or does Ricky Martin get better with age?

It does not matter that he bats for the other team. He and Naya Rivera did a fabulous duet of Madonna's La Isla Bonita this week on Glee. The writers left things open enough that he should be back! I am so happy to have become a Gleek. The show makes me laugh, it inspires me and makes me want to dance and sing. You never know what song they will sing next!!!

The Safari Chair
This is my safari chair which I had custom made 10 years ago. The fabric was supposed to be for toss pillows only but I insisted on having the fabric put onto this big cushy chair frame.

Of course, Emmett and Alice own it now. An African safari is my dream trip so hopefully someday this will happen (I may need to hit the lottery first).

Thank you for stopping by! I wish you all a week of smiles!

A Good Week!!!

It has been a while since I made any whimsical lanyards so I made this adorable toad lanyard.

Then this cute cat one.

The foliage is not that great this year however my next door neighbor has this beautiful maple.

Looking forward to the leaf clean up (sarcasm). My driveway is covered in leaves!

This PJM in my yard has some great burgundy coloring!

I attempted to catch Miss Alice in the act of eating my flowers. She is too quick for me and did not want evidence on film. She definitely looks guilty in the photo though!

Jim made a beautiful Margherita pizza last weekend.

We learned of a local wine store, The Wine Connextion, that has complementary wine tastings on Saturday afternoons! I recommend this to any local reader. It is a great way to try new wines instead of blindly picking up bottles and offending our palettes (this has happened multiple times to Jim and I). They provide visitors with a book and pencil so we can mark down what we would like. The book has the bottle prices listed which is great.

We both liked this on: The Flying Wine Maker Zinfandel which is only $8.99 a bottle!

This is what I woke up to on Friday 10/28/11.

Seriously Mother Nature?!?!?! It is not even Halloween yet!

I thought this white stuff was going to simply wipe off the windows....NO! It required muscle to scrape off!!!! There is talk about inches of snow falling tonight. Winter sucks! I apologize for the venting, but I had to let it out!

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful week! ~Val

My New Car!!!!

This was an exciting week! New car!!! After driving my beloved 1999 Honda Civic for almost 14 years (I bought her in November 1998) it felt like time to trade her in...before the winter months! She was a fabulous dark green.

My intention was to purchase a new Civic to drive just as long since these cars are built to do so! However after going to a couple of dealerships, I learned that it is quite difficult to get your hands on a 2 door since the factories in Japan are still struggling due to the tragic tsunami.

Jim and I were driving by a Jeep dealership by my house and he spotted this gorgeous dark blue 2008 Civic out front! Thanks Jim! While I had not intentions of purchasing a used vehicle we stopped over to check it out since it was exactly what I wanted....fully loaded too!

Needless to say she is mine now! Love the Civics! I learned that someone already wanted my old car before the dealership even had ownership of the vehicle. It feels like I drive a space ship now where I was so used to driving such an old car! My favorite feature is the cup holders which actually hold cups in place! No more holding onto my cup when making a turn!!!!

A sad thing for me though was saying goodbye to my license plate. This has been my plate for 20 years and has been on 3 cars! It is a mess with tons of cracks and a million stickers on it. The state now allows old plates/registrations on be cancelled online so I do get to keep it!

Jim and I discovered a new wine we both like! There is a great Italian restaurant nearby named Tuscan Kitchen. We are sort of regulars there on Saturday afternoons. It is one of those restaurants where you need to make reservations as least 2 weeks in advance for Saturday nights. But in the afternoon we can sit at a quiet bar and order whatever we want. Their bartenders are wonderful! When we were there last weekend our bartender gave us a couple of samples, one of which was this one!

We typically drink California or Washington state wines but we love this imported Montepulciano.

When we food shopped that night, we came across it in the grocery store. How convenient!

New in my shop this week is this pretty pearl set. The pendant disc was handcrafted by the Karen Hill Tribe with 3 loops for dangles. I thought, why not elegant pearls!!!!

Thank you for reading! ~Val

Homemade Pizza

My boyfriend and I have a little obsession with making pizza! Here is one of our amazingly delicious creations.

We love eating healthy so we use whole wheat dough and load it up with veggies including spinach, zucchini, mushrooms, orange pepper, tomatoes and broccoli. For the cheese we use mozzarella and goat! The goat cheese is what makes our creations perfect (according to our taste buds). Who knew healthy eating can taste so good? Earthquake red zinfandel and Earthquake cabernet sauvignon are perfect pairings to this delectable dinner! We seem to have concluded with love the cab more!!!!