Hi guys! It’s been one busy busy weekend. I bet you’re noticing a bunch of changes here on my blog. So writing .css code and .php code is how you do all this fun stuff that makes your blog look unique from all the others out there. I can write code and I’m completely self taught. But what happens when you’re self taught is you write code that works in a specific instance based on all the other code you have. This is BAD code because once you get rid of a line of code everything can change and suddenly your really cool footer background isn’t showing up anymore.
Long story short… I had a lot of bad code I’d patched together over the years and this weekend I stripped everything away and wrote all new-GOOD code.
I also wanted to put up all the stops on my blog since I’m (now) a pretty popular graphic designer. I direct most of my clients to this blog to see my Design Services page along with my Portfolio. I didn’t feel that my blog design accurately depicted what I was capable of and since I do say I’m a graphic designer, I figured it needed to look a little extra fancy. If I were going to spend money on hiring someone to design stuff for my blog I’d definitely be influenced by how their own blog looked.
Everything on my page I’ve done and I can do for you! 
Since I was slaving away in front of a computer most of the weekend I’m only sharing 1 piece of my weekend with y’all… to keep it fun and un-snooze worthy.
Wine of the Week!
This week I tried a really cool zinfandel… more on that in a min.
2 people I know from working at the children’s theater were in the Forest Theater’s summer production of Beauty and the Beast! So going was a MUST on the summer’s to-do list.
Last weekend was the closing weekend and boy could we have picked a better night to go?? NO!
The Forest Theater is in Carmel, CA. It’s an outdoor theater with wooden benches for seats and it’s become a tradition for the audience to arrive at the show an hour early to eat a picnic dinner and enjoy wine.
We had to participate in the whole experience. I drank a mug of coffee on the way over.
We had a suspicion that it would get pretty chilly so we layered on the long underwear, thermals, and opened up the box of scarfs & earmuffs.
We were some of the first people in so we chose a spot that wasn’t too high, wasn’t too low and as close to the middle as possible.
I was LOVING the family in front of us for the choice of hats!!!
Our group included Max, Me, my Mom and Jaemen (the brother).
We were really excited to see Beauty and the Beast, especially since I know Bell and the Best (and they just so happen to be married in real life). AWWWWWW too cute.
After we got settled we cracked open our dinner. We stopped at Chipotle and loaded up on burritos and bowls.
I had a bowl with lettuce, guac, brown rice, black beans, fajita veggies and spicy salsa.
We took the easy route for dinner but we packed all our own snacks like carrots, pretzels, grapes and apple flavored rice crisps.
This was the best way to wait for the show. I can’t believe I’ve never been to the Forest Theater before.
Okay… now for the wine.
Max was in charge of picking the wine. After Christmas last year we tried wine at La Rocca Vineyards. It’s an all organic winery near Chico, CA. There’s no sulfides in their wine.
This was an intense red wine. But I really liked it as a stand alone drink after dinner. It was a spicy pop of flavor.
This is what La Rocca says about their 2007 Zin.
APPELLATION: Sierra Foothills
VARIETAL: Zinfandel
ALCOHOL: 12% by vol.
WINEMAKER: Philip LaRocca
ORGANIC CERTIFICATE: Grapes and wine certified organic by USDA accredited, California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF)
VITICULTURE: : Estate grown, on the west side of the Sutter Buttes, the smallest mountain range in the world. This vineyard thrives with sandy loam soil, in the deep pocket of the Buttes where it experience cool breezes and morning fog. Dry farmed
WINEMAKING: This elegant late harvest dessert wine, is harvested at the peak of ripeness, just before Thanksgiving (a good 2 months after our Zinfandel table wine) at 34.5 brix. Winemaker, Philip LaRocca waits for the rain that sets the Botrytis Cinerea, the noble rot, which creates the most well balanced late harvest. This wine is ferments for up to 60 days. Estate bottled with no synthetic chemicals, no sulfites.
NOTES: This dessert-style red wine is seductive from start to finish. Capturing the desirable effects of the Botrytis Cinerea, this wine is rich, ripe and elegant. Layers of ripe-red fruit, dark raisins mixed with caramel and maple syrup on the finish.
ACCOLADES: Indy International Wine Comp., Concordance Gold; CA State Fair, Silver; Jerry D. Mead;s New World International Wine Comp., Bronze
FOOD IDEAS: It is beyond belief with chocolate, cheese cake, and other rich desserts.
My review of this wine is ‘GOOD’. Not my favorite but I’d definitely drink it again. It’s got a pretty punchy flavor so I really liked having it as an after dinner drink. I don’t think I’d pare it with main dishes.
Tasty tasty.
The costumes were the best! And it was exactly like the Disney movie. I knew all the songs and had to be told to stop singing along!
I laughed really hard when I first saw the whisk…
Intermission.
At the break I convinced Max to go get me some skittles…
He came back with a cookie too so I don’t feel too bad.
We were super cold and glad we brought all our gear. I wore gloves, a scarf, and earmuffs.
The play was great and I wish I could see it again!
Tell me about you!!! I want to know…
What is the best play you’ve ever seen?
Wicked in San Francisco. I’ve seen it twice.
What is your favorite intermission treat?
Skittles or starbursts. Sometimes cookies.
did you work out this weekend?
Yes. I did a 6 mile run on Sunday. It went all right. the 1/2 marathon on the 7th is still on the agenda… barely.
