Michael and Kate's Wedding

It's really difficult to take pictures when you're the best man and bridesmaid in a wedding. Forturnately Eric's mom took some good ones. Although it was August in Sacramento, the weather was perfect. It was a lovely setting in a vineyard along the Delta and good time was had by all.

Eric made a fantastic best man speech and my hair looked pretty good (as you'll see in the pics).

Here are the few pics I took.

Big Wedding Weekend in Napa

This past weekend we were fortunate enough to attend the wedding of our friends Michael and Holly. After a long 5-year courtship, this wedding was certainly worth the wait and they pulled out all the stops for this 3-day extravaganza in the Napa Valley.

Prior to the wedding our friends Tracy and Carl gave birth to beautiful baby Lily on July 4th. Sadly, Lily arrived a bit too close to the wedding date, but I'm sure spending time with her was just as fun and exciting as our weekend in Napa. On our way to the wedding we stopped off to visit Eric's aunt Nancy in her new home in St. Helena and looked in on Eric's mom's dog who she's watching while Eric's parents are gallivanting through Europe. Bailey looks happy and healthy and Nancy and Ken seem well settled in their new home now that they have AC. Here are pics of Lily and Bailey (Note: click on the slide show if you want to order photos or take a closer look).

After visiting Bailey we checked into our hotel at the Silverado Resort. We were greeted with an amazing gift bag (including a SmartsCo product, of course) and then we headed to the first reception at Rubicon Estates (Francis Ford Coppola's place). The setting was gorgeous, the Italian spread delicious, and the wine was top notch. It was great seeing lots of friends we hadn't seen in a while.

On Saturday morning Eric went golfing, while I enjoyed the spa and worked off some of the calories I consumed the night before. After that it was time to get dolled up for the big festivities and meet the shuttle buses which were taking us to an undisclosed location. We ambled through the windy hills of Napa and ended up at the most picturesque chapel at the top of the hill surrounded by a small lake and vineyards. The ceremony was beautiful and included a boys choir. Bride and groom looked amazing. After the ceremony they shuttles took us down to Oakville to Villa Mille Rose (1000 roses) which was true to it's name. The estate was an amazing homage to a Tuscan Villa. During cocktail hour we caught up with old friends, enjoyed amazing wines and cocktails, delighted in the raw bar with four types of oysters, and noshed on finger foods including caviar, beets, figs and more.

After a while we were ushered into the large tent which was decked to the nines. The tables were amazing with crystal stemware, sterling silver place settings and letter press menus on each table. We enjoyed three amazing courses with perfectly paired wines and listed to the big band play their music. After dinner, when we weren't dancing, we adjourned to the cocktail lounge tent that included an amazing spread of desserts including cheese cake lolly pops, petite fours, and a strawberry tree. The night zoomed by and before we knew it, it was time to go home. But our hosts were kind and generous enough to see that the weekend didn't end too early and hosted a final brunch for us at Brix restaurant in Yountville. So much fun!!! It was like one of these fancy weddings you see in People Magazine, except all the people were super nice and down to earth.

Here's a link to Dane's awesome photos.

Our heartiest congrats to the bride and groom - we're looking forward to the house warming!!!

(Note: click on the slide show if you want to order photos or take a closer look)

Portland / Hood River Wedding

We just got back from a great weekend in Hood River for our friends Shannon and Andrew. Neither Eric or I have really spent much time in Oregon, so it was really fun exploring Portland (we even enjoyed part of their Rose Parade) and the surrounding area. A highlight of the weekend was the Rose Garden (as we are now really interested in roses). It was great to have a romantic get away and get time to spend some friends, especially TJ and Darcy and getting to see their amazing new houseboat.

Kate's Shower

Kate's Shower
I was able to fly down to OC to help Diana with Kate's shower. It was fun baking for 2-days straight. Diana, Marsha and Andrea did a fantastic job with the tea and dressing up the house. It was fun to catch up with everyone.

Spring 2008 Happenings

Now that we're an old married couple, life has been a little bit less eventful and not too many exciting news to share. We're now happily settled into our new home and have started to do some entertaining. The back yard is amazing and we're really enjoying gardening. Previous tenants did not understand the concept of pruning, so we've been busy. We're especially into our rose bushes and are learning more how to care for them (ours need lots of help).

Anniversary in Carmel
One of the highlights of our spring was our anniversary weekend in Carmel. We checked out the Mission San Juan Batistia as we had just watched Vertigo. Surprisingly, there's no bell tower at this mission (sort of ruins the plot of the movie). Our favorite part of the weekend was hiking in Point Lobos - a georgeous nature preserve just south of Carmel. Saw lots of critters and a fantastic shoreline.

Also this April, we visited with Eric's parents and had a great relaxing weekend in LA (at the Getty) and even took Uncle John's Overland for a spin

Colorado Trip - 2008

So we just got back from a great trip in Colorado. To celebrate Eric's first day as a permanent Wells Fargo employee, we hightailed it out of town. Too bad his 25 days of PTO doesn't kick in until April. It was a great trip, beginning with a quick visit with the Wittenbergs (Augie, Krissy, Addie-age 3, and Hans-4 mo) in Eagle. Got to see the new Say No More! Promotions HQ and visit with the kids for a bit. They were kind enough to loan us a Land Rover and a great pair of skis for me, and we headed to stay with Eric's cousins Josh and Beth Roach (with Michael - 8 and Brett - 4 1/2) who we doing a home exchange at a great place in Frisco.

The next day we went skiing with the Roaches (sans Brett - who stayed with the nanny) at Vail - great day, and then came home. We went to a great restaurant in Frisco called Samplings - yummy small plates, only problem was they were a bit too small. The next day we skiied Breckenridge - one of Eric's favorite places to ski when he competed in freestyle during jr. high. I really enjoyed the runs there - and it was fun to ski with Michael and Brett in the morning and then hit the tougher runs in the afternoon. Eric is getting much more patient in teaching me and I'm getting much better and more confident on the slopes.

The next day we took off skiing and the Roaches headed home. We went to check out Robbie's ice sculpting operations in Avon, and then "treated" ourselves to a $70 lunch at the Wolfgang Puck's Buffalo Bar at the Ritz in Bachelor Gulch. It was a bit disappointing, but we're glad we didn't go to Spago which is at least twice as expensive. Then we headed back to Eagle to play with the Wittenbergs. Had dinner at an Italian Restaurant in Eagle and got caught up with Augie and Krissy. The next day Augie, Eric and I took Addie skiing at Beaver Creek (my new favorite - not just for the cookies) - which was fun. After Addie was done, the au pair Tina picked her up and the 3 of us skiied. Augie hadn't been on skis (boarder only) in years, but he still was much better than me. I did manage the make it down the Bird of Prey race which was exciting.

On Sunday we had breakfast with Robbie and his new girlfriend, Shelby and her son. Augie made his famous banana pancakes. Very nice. Then we got stuck in the snowstorm, so spent the afternoon playing with Hans and Addie. It actually was pretty relaxing as we had been quite busy most of the week and certainly fun to play with the kids. We were able to get out on Monday, along with James Carville and his wife.

The great part of this trip was we were able to cut back on expenses greatly by 1) using miles, 2) borrowing a vehicle, 3) staying with family, 4) borrowing a pair of skis (versus my plan to demo) and 5) getting discount lift passes. All that money saved allowed Eric to get the new pair of skiis he'd been eying all-year - which made the credit card bill really painful this month. Oh well, Eric's now making the big bucks!

Our new home!!

So we finally got out of the downtown luxury highrise and back into a neighborhood. It was very convenient for the whole wedding thing, but good to have a home with some charm. I have always felt anxious not being able to walk just a few blocks to find a good coffeeshop and yummy food on on weekends, and downtown was sort of a downer for the past 15 months. We're now in the Inner Richmond / Lake District area which is AWESOME. Last night Eric and I walked around through Lone Mountain park (so cool, there's a great pond with ducks swimming around), great running trail, and easy access to the Presidio (and the Presidio golf club - a few blocks from the driving range which Eric's thrilled about). We're also close to Laurel Village and more importantly 1 1/2 blocks from central Clement Street district which has some of the best Asian food in town.

We have easy access to some of our favorites: Burma Superstar and Singapore Malaysian Restaurant, plus there's tons of Indonesian food, Sushi, Korean, and dim sum galore! Plus there are lots of Asian grocery stores where Eric can get all the dried squid and dried shrimps he can handle. There are also several of Irish pubs and other Western food in case we want a break. We'll never want to cook!

Our new apartment is awesome. It's a nicely done Edwardian flat where we have a bedroom, small office, formal dining room, living room, large kitchen, laundry room and a fabulous back yard. It's not huge but should be great for entertaining! We're looking forward to our first party. For now enjoy the pics. It's not all done yet, but we should be pretty settled within the next 2 weeks.

(Note: the slide show runs pretty quickly. If you want to read the captions easier, click on the image below and it will take you to Picasa website.)

NYE 2008

So once again we rang in the New Year at our downtown "luxury" apartment. This year there were more than 20 people who joined us for some fireworks and yummy food. Unlike last year, when we prepared a 5-course sit down meal, we thought we'd be a bit more casual and had a Mexican buffet. After a few days of recovery from the whirlwind Christmas, we were ready to cook again.

We- tamarind pork carnitas - cooked in the crock pot for 2 days (a huge hit!)
- home made chile rejellenos - we even baked the chiles
- black bean chile
- home made tomatillo salsa
- cole slaw
- Mexican wedding cookies
- flan brulee (okay creme brulee)

Plus most everyone brought yummy side dishes, appetisers and desserts.

We had a great time rushing in the new year with lots of friends, including Wendy & Shawn, Joy, Pat, Bill, Michael and Holly, Paul and Lynda, Rob and Andrea, Bud and Shannon, Friend and Jenny, and a few more guests. This will be our last year in the high rise living, which is a good thing because the new Infinity Tower is starting to block our view of the fireworks. We did get to see some of the tall ones from our balcony, but they weren't nearly as good as last year.

We're looking forward to moving to a new flat on 5th Ave. and Lake Street. It's a really cute neighborhood that's close to Laurel Village and all the Clement Street restaurants. While somewhat cozy, we'll definitely had much more room to move around. While they call it a 2 bedroom, we'll keep the 2nd as a formal dining room, plus there's a small office / nursery (we hope), and a large kitchen and laundry room. We'll be on the ground floor that opens up to a beautiful garden with a huge lemon tree (more lemon merengue pie!) - I'm told the current tenants live out there. We'll move on Feb 2nd. Hopefully this time the movers will actually show up! It should be a much more convenient place for people to visit (plus we can close off the living room with comfy pull out for overnight guests' privacy).

Christmas 2007

So we had a lovely Christmas this year down in Southern California with Eric's family. While at times it was quite difficult with Adrienne gone and there was a huge void in our celebrations. However, we did a good job celebrating with the family. As with my first meeting of the Legrand family in Christmas '05, there were many celebrations. The first night (Saturday) was dinner with Ron and Diana, brother Michael and his fiancee Kate, Eric's Godfamily the Bafferts as well as Eric's Aunt Nancy and Ken. We had pork, lamb, Adrienne's risotto, veggies, and creme brulee for dessert.

On Sunday we were joined by Patrice, the Jenkins, Eric's Aunt Judy and Uncle Jack, Ken and Nancy, and now 93-year-old great Uncle John. Before dinner we all went to Adrienne's grave and left flowers on her new headstone, which is quite lovely. Tina gave a very touching prayer and we all had a good cry. After that we drove over to the Snoopy House in Costa Mesa (Snoopy and friends have taken over this house for over 20 years I think - so cute - next year I'll take pictures). Then we went home and enjoyed a lovely Prime rib, potatoes, jellow salad, and several pies (including my first stab at a lemon merengue - which was a hit).

On Monday morning we had the Legrand traditional Christmas quiche and opened gifts. As always there were lots of them. Michael and Kate had to leave for Modesto for Christmas with her family mid-day. Then we went to church and had Eric's friend's Mike and Nari with 2 1/2 year-old Max over for some leftovers. The next day we went over to Ron and Diana's friends the Olsens to watch their two children open gifts. Kids these days are so reserved with the whole gift opening process - I would have been done in 10 minutes, but these kids open the gifts, and start playing with them and you have to encourage them to open more. How times have changed.

After that, I made another dessert (a flourless chocolate cake) and then we left for San Diego for Christmas with Eric's cousins Josh and Beth and several of their family. We were able to snag a quick visit visit with my friends Michael and Kristen from DC, who were visiting Michael's parents who live just 5 blocks away from Josh and Beth's house. Small world! Josh and Beth fixed a lovely traditional SD Christmas - Mexican food - that included the most delicious tamales made made by their house keeper Maria. YUM!

On Wednesday, saw "Enchanted" (cute flick) at Downtown Disney, visited with Uncle John, looked at Ron and Diana's construction site in Garden Grove and flew home that evening. After all those celebrations we were exhausted and all we wanted to do for 2 days was sleep!

E&J Holiday Update

I guess I can also let you all know how things are going at the Legrand household. I'm happy to say that after 6+ months of marriage, the honeymoon is still not over. So that's great. The fall has been basically getting our professional lives in good shape. Eric is doing great consulting at Wells Fargo in their Internet Services Division. It appears that banking is the place for him. And he's quite happy.

As for me, I've been crazed with the whole SmartsCo thing. With our new distribution, you should see our products all over the place this season: Borders, Barnes & Nobel, Sur la Table, Z Gallerie and lots of independents. We also had some fun promotional events, such as a trip to NYC where we did a book signing at Lord and Taylor and then filmed a piece for Better Homes ad Garden.tv (it aired on www.better.tv on Nov 28th on the "Better Today. It was pretty fun. Also, look for our product in December issue of Everyday with Rachel Ray. Photos from my trip to NYC are below. We were also featured in the Wall Street Journal on December 11th and they even got my new married name right!

Also, this fall the boys all went to Puerto Vallerta for the annual fishing trip. They didn't catch any tuna, but Michael reeled in a 300 lb marlin. If anyone wants some, our freezer is filled with the stuff. I had a much more pleasant weekend with Diana, Eric's mom, but much more work. We spent the entire weekend (18 hours each = 36 hours total) putting together my wedding album. Given the fact that our original photos were so bad, we had to be very creative and took a scrapbooking strategy. It's so cute.

I guess that's all the excitment in the Legrand household this fall. Wishing you all a very Happy Holidays!