The Carneros Inn

I wanted to share this amazing hotel with you all. David and I went to San Francisco and Napa when Stella was two. We brought her along with us on the trip, but we would love to visit the lovely Carneros Inn again, this time with out the little ones.

About the rooms

I love the little cottages. I am such a sucker for a nice hotel room

Upon entering your cottage you’ll notice the vast amount of natural light. All rooms have Brazilian cherry wood floors and a series of large windows and French doors leading to a private patio and garden. Teak patio furniture and gas-fired heaters make these outdoor private spaces are perfect even on cool fall nights. The spacious bathroom is a lavish retreat itself, with limestone countertops and heated slate floors. I a soaking tub is nestled under a garden-side casement window. You also can choose between showering inside or stepping outside for a romantic alfresco shower.

Dining

 FARM at the Carneros Inn offers a relaxing, authentic, elegant, and exciting wine country experience. An outdoor living room styled alfresco lounge, Cathedral ceilings, two fireplaces, patio dining, and wines from our neighborhood and around the world welcome you.Chef de Cuisine Ryan Jette has creates a menu of both simple elegant food highlighting the wines of the region, and organic and sustainable local agriculture.

The spa

The Spa at The Carneros Inn, for guests only, was recently voted “One of the Top 55 Spas in North America, in the Caribbean and at Sea” by Conde Nast Traveler’s 2007 Readers Poll. The Spa features 9 indoor and 5 outdoor treatment rooms as well as customized hydro therapy baths. The facilities include separate men’s and women’s changing rooms, lockers, showers, dry saunas and herb infused steam rooms.

Resort Amenities
• The signature Hilltop Pool and hot tub is an adults only infinity edged pool adjacent to The Spa and Hilltop Dining Rooms. The pool offers unrivaled view of the Carneros countryside and neighboring vineyards, horses and cows. The Hilltop Pool does offer complete food and beverage services
• Our second pool area, designed for families and fitness, is comprised of an infinity edged lap pool, hot tub, cabanas and children’s pool.

 The Carneros Inn Is calling my Name

Xoxo CC!


TheCarnerosInn.com

Homemade Bread and Jam Gift

 I saw this adorable homemade bread and Jam DIY by Jordan Ferney on project wedding. This would be such a sweet little gift, party favor, or housewarming.

What you will need

Red and White food trays (We got these from our local snack food vendor)

Mini Jam Jars ($1/each from Cost Plus)Bread Pans ($1/for 5 from your local grocery store)

Wax or Parchment Paper 

Red and White Bakers Twine ($7/for 60 feet)

Red and White Patterned Tissue Paper

Red Ribbon ($1.40/ for 25 yards)

Labels ($10/from an Office Supply Store)

Step 1

Using the instructions on the package, download label templates and in a program like Adobe Illustrator or Microsoft Paint design some labels. Look for fun and free downloadable fonts at Dafont.com.

Fill in names to customize and print them onto your label paper. (2).

Step 2

Lay out the food trays (1) and line them with tissue paper (7). Cut the patterned tissue paper into a rectangle shape just larger than the size of the tray. It looks cute hanging off the edge a bit.

Step 3

After loaves have been baked and cooled, wrap each mini loaf of bread with wax or parchment paper (5). Tie it up with a bit of Baker's Twine (9) and apply bread label.

Step 4

After jam has been spooned into the mini jars (3). Tie a sweet ribbon around the neck of the bottle and apply the jam label. 

Enjoy!

Xoxo CC

Katie Holmes as Jackie O

Some of you may already know this, I always seem to be out of the loop when it comes to TV shows. The History Channel is doing a miniseries about the Kennedys and Katie Holmes will be playing the ever classic Jackie O. This show will be an eight-hour miniseries which will examine the Kennedy family political dynasty and the early years of JFK’s presidency. Looks like we will have to wait till next year to see The Kennedys in action, its set to air on the History Channel in 2011

Images via instyle and she finds.com

Xoxo CC

Beautiful Braids

I just love all the fun braids I am seeing. I especially love the fish tail. I can do all the braids on my girls I just need to learn to do them on myself.

Fish Tail

Angled French Braid

Side French Braid

Up Do Braid

Images via instyle

Xoxo CC

Running

Well, I am getting ready for my next half marathon in September. I got up this morning at the crack so I could get my run in, but man do I feel great when I am finished!  Normaly during the school year I load up Lucie and Liam in the jogger and we are off, but now that Stella is home I have to get more creative about how I sqeeze in my runs. I put in 9 mi on Saturday and hopefully get up to 10 in the next week or so.

This is me finishing my last half. Ahh... so happy to be done.

1:54 min

When you envision running, you probably will fall into one of two categories. Either you love it or you hate it; sometimes it is even a love/hate relationship. It’s painful, tedious, and exhausting. So what makes people love it? What makes people who hate it keep doing it? It is likely that the benefits of running outweigh the hatred (if there is any).

 
1. Stay fit, approximately 60 percent of runners start running to manage their weight. Running is one of the top activities for burning fat. In fact, with the exception of cross country skiing, running burns more calories per minute than any other form of cardiovascular exercise.

2. Prevent muscle and bone loss.Our bones are made to accommodate the demands placed upon them. By sitting in front of the monitor all day many of us allow our bones to grow weaker, but by running regularly our skeleton gets the demand it needs to stay healthy. In addition to keeping our insides from aging quickly, regular, high-intensity exercise, like running, has also been proven to promote the human growth hormone, which celebrities have taken injections of for years to keep them looking young.

3. Fight disease.Running reduces the risk of stroke and breast cancer. Regular running has become a treatment option for doctors to prescribe to patients who are at a high risk, or early stages, of osteoporosis, diabetes, and hypertension. It reduces the risk of heart attacks, by strengthening the heart and lowering blood pressure. Running maintains the elasticity of arteries incredibly well because as you run your arteries expand and contract nearly three times as much as usual.

4. Maintain and improve general health.Running is one of the best activities most people can do to improve their health. It raises HDL (or “good”) cholesterol, reduces the risk of blood clots, and encourages use of the 50 percent of your lungs that usually go unused. Running also boost the immune system by creating a higher concentration of lymphocytes (white blood cells that attack disease).

5. Get confident.Jogging builds confidence and self-esteem like few other individual sports can. It allows the runner to defeat trial after trial, growing stronger and more sure of themselves with each footstrike. It allows you to truly climb hills and clear obstacles. It provides a feeling of empowerment and freedom that comes with knowing that your legs and body are strong and capable. Confidence is even more a product of running for those who lose weight and gain a better self-image through running.


6. Stress relief. This is another huge benefit of jogging. Running gives you time to escape things for awhile, tension easily flies by the wayside as you fly over the miles.  What could be better than a three hour run all by yourself to clear your mind. I even like to pray while I am on a long slow run.  Speed runs are great for tearing through aggression and anger. Focus all that emotion into a few sprints and you’ll feel better in no time.

Xoxo CC

Product Junkie

I am such a girlie girl, I always love to try new products and test out the new beauty tools.

Here are some of my products that I completely love and use on a daily basis.

My favorite flat iron ! Works wonders and has curved edges for multiple styling options

The best dry shampoo ! This is a must for me. It takes forever to do my hair, so washing it all the time is not an option for me. 

My clarisonic. I love this thing ! I use it twice a day.  You will feel and notice a difference in your skin the first time you use it.  Your products will work much more efficient because it removes all the dead skin cells and build up off the surface of your skin.

This all natural mineral powder by philosophy gives my skin a nice even finish! Plus has spf 15

My shu uemura eyelash Curler

Do tell

What are your must have products?

Xoxo CC

A few things I am loving

These hair ties

I am obsessed with these little guys.

They come in every color imaginable

Stella loves them as well

I get mine at Derek Andrew

or you can get them on Shopbop

Glass cloches from Sur la Table

I would love to get a set of these!

DFV's New pre fall line

I know I am getting ahead of myself

I LOVE fall clothes!! Boots, chunky sweaters, fun jackets.

 It also reminds me of School Shopping.

The Brazilian blowout

I am scheduling my app next week

 I think this might change my life.

My hair takes forever to straighten.

First blow dry aprox 15 min

Then flat iron aprox 20 min 

This treatment will eliminate my 35 - 40 min hair process.

 

I will definitely post a before and after

Happy Friday !

Xoxo CC

Chic Mommy Victoria Beckham

I just love the first and last pics of her.

Xoxo CC

Landscape and Garden Inspiration

Now that summer is here, the weather is nice and Stella is home from school we are spending so much time outside in the yard. We have entertained out there quite a bit as well. We have French doors in our dining room that open up to the outside patio, and on a warm summer evening it’s so fun to open up all the doors and have the breeze come in. I can’t wait to finish landscaping our yard! We haven't planted very many plants at this point and we have allot of work to do. Things are slowly coming together and we are enjoying the process. Below are a few photos I saved a while back for landscape inspiration?

I always wanted to have that Martha'sVinyard /English Garden feel to our yard.

These photo's sum it up for me

Planting a garden is definitely on my summer to do list! How wonderful to walk outside on pick my own fresh herbs and produce. Check out Brooke Giannetti gorgeous garden! I would love to copy her design. Her blog Velvet and Linen Is one of my all time favorite interior design blogs. I catch my self drooling over her work every time. What I would give to have her come decorate my house!

Have a Beautiful Day!

Xoxo CC