Wine Tasting

One of my favorite activities is to go wine tasting. I challenge you to meet anyone crabby at a winery ... it's just not possible ... at least not in our many experiences. On Saturday, we finally had the opportunity to check out Maryhill Winery. The grounds are as beautiful as the views of the Columbia River Gorge.





Wine tasting at a new winery always provides us the opportunity to bust out our favorite comment, "Does anyone else taste fried chicken?" The reactions are so worth it.

Addicted to Boots

Even though I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to summer, Fall is my favorite time of year. Pulling on my boots with dresses, skirts and leggings is the perfect combination of effortless and comfortable dressing. My newest pair has me eagerly awaiting the crisp weather ...



Next month, we'll be going on a mini getaway and these will be perfect boot for walking around wineries and keeping me warm on chilly evenings.

College Football

I've come to love college football due in part to my husband closely watching the race to the Bowls. I consider it an even trade ... I watch college ball and he can tell you what is happening on Project Runway (I'm sure this has nothing to do with Heidi Klum) ...

We invited friends over on Saturday to watch our team's season opener. Since the game didn't start until noon, it was a little early for most of our favorite cocktails ... Bloody Mary's made with this awesome mixer fit the bill. Along with jalapeno stuffed olives, it's my secret weapon to the perfect Bloody Mary.

Split Dish

I really have no idea why we call this a "split dish" ... I think there must have been a Mexican restaurant that had something similar on the menu. We both love this meal and it's one of our ultimate comfort foods. I make my beans in the crock-pot and it's a snap. For this bean recipe I used fresh (jalapenos) and dried chilies (Anaheim), salt, pepper, garlic & onion. Served with rice and plenty of garnishes. So easy.

Aloha!

Summer is not officially over and yet I can't stop dreaming of our next Maui trip ... the warm trade winds blowing, sleeping in late, eating fresh fish and drinking plenty of mai tais.

We just celebrated our birthday's so it only seems right to congratulate ourselves by booking our next get-away ... in my opinion, life is great ... and life is SO much better when you have a vacation to look forward to.

Exactly!

I just celebrated my birthday (August 27) and can't quite believe I am 44. I received this card and it does a nice job of summing it up!



Thanks for the card Ms. Con Carne!

Cookies

I managed to whip up a batch of these cookies to thank our friends for a great day on the river. My good friend Isha (who doesn't even like cookies) could not keep herself from nibbling on them throughout the day. I've had this recipe for quite some time and tend to use it frequently. A nice way to use up those aging bananas we always seem to have.