Mendocino

Life has been a whirlwind lately. Work started back a month ago, and with several packed weekends, we've been burning the candles at both ends lately.

However, we were lucky enough to have Rob's cousin Nicole come to visit, she came all the way from Chile to see the family.

We took her to the Mendocino Botanical Gardens, which was heaven on Earth!

There were all kinds of gardens there, and each was exquisite in its own way.

We took a few walks on the beach too, and got caught by a rogue wave!

We took a path along the bluffs, and Rob got so close to the edge that he gave me a panic attack!

We saw seals playing in the waves and had some yummy meals.

We even got to meet up with my mom and some old friends for a barbeque in Albion, where we ate, drank, laughed (a lot), and played ukulele.

All in all, it was a sweet, relaxing weekend.

A few tips for anyone headed to Mendo:

The gardens were incredible. If interested you're in going there, more info is here:

http://www.gardenbythesea.org/

We stayed at the Atrium Bed & Breakfast in Fort Bragg. It was charming, clean, affordable, and included a nice breakfast.

http://www.atriumbnb.com/

Pinot Noir grapes are grown in the region, and you can find some great Pinor Noirs there. I recommend the Pinot Noir by Carneros, 2009. It was incredibly good.

Baby Birdie Onesies

For some strange reason, I have wanted to make baby birdie onesies for a very long time. I love fabric and have daydreamed about how pretty all of the different fabric patterns would be as birds on baby onesies.

My friend Meghan was awesome enough to join me and we had a great night "getting crafty," drinking wine, (and later gin limeades), and talking and laughing into the early morning hours.

It was a pretty simple process:

We bought the onesies.

We cut out the fabric using a bird shaped silhouette.

We stitched the birdie appliques onto the onesies using embroidery thread.

(We did use hoops to keep the onesies in place as we stitched.)

In order for these onesies to endure washing, they may need another set of stitching outside of the embroidery thread in order to avoid letting the applique fabric fray around the edges.

Other than that, it's a pretty easy (and fun) project, with a nice reward for very little work.

It's kind of addicting, I may just do a whole series of them.

Xo, Jeneka