It’s coming to the end of another hot hot summer in Houston + the best way to end a hot one is a group road trip with your girls. We got a great deal through My Table Entree for an all day winery tour pass for $31 instead of $62!
Out of the entire year, there is a window of only 5 weeks available for harvest. This year we are involved in the Messina Hof Harvest 2010. Married owners Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo began this winery in 1977, only then being 1 of 3 wineries in Texas. They now own over 500 acres Texas wide.
90 percent of all grapes in the world are picked by machine, and Messina Hof is one of the few wineries that allow visitors to come pick grapes + be involved in the success of a harvest season. Just a few randoms I picked up about wines:
With approximately 200 wineries, Texas is the fifth largest wine producing state, behind California, New York, Washington and Oregon
80% of sense of taste is actually in your nose.
If you enjoy fruity wines, you should drink them early. Fruit loses its flavor over time.
Port wines can easily last 50 – 100 years due to their higher alcohol content.
Low alcohol fruity wines are paired best with spicy hot foods. Sweet masks heat.
Painting the town red the night before the big stomp. College Station wasn’t ready!
We had such a big group, the owner of the vineyard referred to us as the ‘Ya-ya’ sisters group, LOL.
Here’s a small ‘taste’ of our trip to the winery! Special thanks to Mai, Diane + Suzy for the extra photos!
**And please note – YES we stomped with bare feet on grapes, but NO these are not used in the production of their wine. It’s just a quaint show for the visitors :)
So next bottle of Messina Hof wine bottle you pick up, remember the Ya-yas ;)
If you gotta study, you gotta eat. I just want to know though – why didn’t anyone tell me about THIS ramen in college!? Maruchan ramen blows. Top Ramen is even worse. For a 3-min-ready meal, Nong Shim noodle soup is soooooooo good. Real veggie bits + if you like spicy, I definitely recommend the Hot+Spicy one. It’s kinda (well very) high in sodium, but if you don’t drink the broth at the end and not eat them for every meal, you should be alright.
And no. I didn’t really eat this with chopsticks. After I put down my camera, I promptly picked up my fork. I save my novice chopstick skills for looking cool in sushi restaurants :)
So. It all started when I caught an Independence day weekend sale at JoAnn’s fabrics – 99 cents for all McCall’s patterns. Actually, I ONLY buy patterns when they’re on sale. I was really eager to try McCall’s Pattern #6128 which includes a racerback tank, halter top, and three types of undies.
Yes – panties!
Anyway, the fabric for the racerback needed to be a stretchy cotton material. JoAnns is awesome for finding clearance patterns, but their fabric selection is kinda eh. I went to Target instead and perused the men’s clearance department for XL – XXL shirts. There were plenty. Found this XL for about 5 bucks.
Many patterns have what seems to feel like hundreds of pattern pieces. But this racerback pattern? Only TWO!! This makes for a relatively simple project indeed! Also, when you buy patterns, they always come printed on this really flimsy tissue paper, which for me proves hard to work with. And heaven forbid you cut out the wrong size! I ALWAYS transfer the original pattern outline + all notes onto big sheets of trace paper I get from any local art/craft store. That way, you can make any necessary alterations or design changes you want to try + you always have your original! That’s why you see the invisible tape in the photo below. If I need a bigger sheet, I just tape them together :)
I cut the XL shirt at its side seams, separating the front half of the shirt from the back half. I also cut the sleeves off.
Then, I folded each t-shirt side in half + pinned the appropriate pattern piece on. I wanted the racerback to look different, so I opted for the original front of the shirt (with the image) to be the back, and the original back of the shirt (without the image) to be the front.
I will definitely do this again! BUT I will probably pick a stiffer cotton tee. The one I picked was really soft + distressed, so when I hemmed around the neckline + sleeve openings, it proved a bit problematic to sew. It left the edges kinda distorted to me. But overall, I’m pretty pleased ^_^
Here’s me in my wannabe Converse sneaks, faux Grey Ant sunglasses + restyled tee. I sound so cheap, but I personally prefer the term ‘frugal’ haha.
Here’s Beyonce’s cute pair of the ‘real’ Grey Ant Status sunnies – retail $230
My comparable knockoffs? $6.99 off Ebay. Thanks to Ashley for the heads-up on this indeed!
Thank you so much Jemina for the ‘Versatile Blogger’ award! I’m supposed to say 7 things about myself + then tag 5 other bloggers that I think deserve the award as well. I was going to make a list, but since I was waiting around during my dad’s doc appointment, I figured I’d make a quick video instead.
Just a few warnings – apparently I mumble A LOT when I get all camera shy! *sigh* hopefully though you will be able to get the gist of what I’m saying (I prob should’ve added subtitles!)
Also, my last answer doesn’t sound like it makes much sense! Haha. I meant to basically say that I’m a horrible runner because my endurance sucks + that I believe you should only run after a ball (ex. when playing sports) or when chased (from stranger danger). Between my nerves, my battery getting low + it being hot as HELLo in the car….let me stop making excuses.
Ok. So here goes 3 minutes of your life that you’ll never get back ;)
Despite my inability to properly communicate, twas fun! My choices of folks that I believe deserve this award are:
Mina of ‘Sending Postcards‘ – Young married couple that exchanged their jobs + home in the states for the documenting their travels together around the world.
Jenny of ‘Jenny N. Design‘ – Engineer turned bag designer extraordinaire/Foodie from Austin, TX.
Victoire of ‘ElleVictoire‘ – 17 year old founder + creative director of her own magazine (KNEON) she’s got a great eye for photography + her personal fashions rock.
Mani + Val of ‘The Little Things‘ – Engaged ‘almost’ Lawyers + part-time magazine writers/contributers with true Chef hearts.
This is a quickie post. Firstly, I’m pretty excited about my new love. She’s about my size, but she has no head nor legs. Despite her shortcomings, I feel that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
AND I just got with the times! I broke down and got a Twitter account. I honestly don’t know what I can come up with on a nearly daily basis to keep someone’s interest, but I figure it’s a great way to stay involved with my blog + fellow bloggers in between posts. I didn’t initially see the point since I already have a Facebook, but since blogging more consistently lately, I’ve gotten to correspond with some really nice folks through commenting + page browsing. So if you have a twitter account, I’d like to follow you + keep those relations going ^_^
I just joined up last night + did my first tweet this morning, er yesterday now. At the moment I am just talking to myself (which is quite depressing) BUT to cope, I have added the feed to the sidebar on the right so anyone can feel free to eavesdrop on the convo between myself + I.
Here’s a screenshot so you can feel sorry for me + follow me. I currently have two followers, but I honestly don’t know how that happened.
So yeah I got a new pattern that I will be trying out tomorrow + updating about very soon!!! *excited*
I truly envy you ‘DSLR’ folks. I would love to dabble more into photography, but I just don’t have the necessary funds nor patience for it. ISO, F-stop, Wha??
I do adore flowers though and I think instinctively all girls do. I love, love, LOVE them + the arboretum by my place has plenty for lazy Sunday stroll. Despite my woes, I make do with my Fuji Fine-pix point + shoot mixed with natural sunlight and a splash of Adobe Photoshop aid when necessary….
Not bad eh? It almost looks like I knew what I was doing, haha. I’m sure this is common knowledge for most, but for you fellow point-and-shooters, the ‘macro’ feature + natural sunlight is plenty helpful!
