wine cellar chronicles

http://pinterest.com/vintagebruja/wine-cellar-chronicles/

i am in love with the idea of what imagery pinterest has allowed my mind! i had to dedicate one of my boards to a lost but never forgotten memory in my life, our beautiful wine bar that allowed us so many amazing memories of people, places, and most important our love of wine!!!!
ever since we had our wine shop, i have always wanted to go mobile. being that every one lives busy lives...i wanted to do wine tasting inside our customers homes. as a pharmaceutical rep, it wasn't always easy to get some of my clients to our wine bar. every time they would ask about "wine picks" i always had a great choice, but no matter what, they needed to taste it! so, to go from the oc (aka orange county, ca), to the ie (aka inland empire, ca), was for the most part, out of the question.

it was because of this business venture my husband and i did, that we decided that we wouldn't let the failure of our business and everything we lost, to leave us with the fear of never starting a business again. although, we decided that wine, and everything that comes along with the business wasn't what we wanted to do again! but....because of the love of people we encountered while running our business, is what we were craving yet again. combining the people idea, going mobile, and love for out latin culture, we have decided to try our chances at another business!!!!
after we closed our beautiful wine store, we're still huge wine buffs with a dream of continuing our knowledge of wine and owning a wine cellar again one day. however, instead of selling the wine, we want to collect and store it, to eventually entertain with it! we'd like to keep it as a hobby that we can share.

we, were always excited about latinos in the wine business, and we loved following their success. we had the privileged of staying at the ceja winery while we took our napa tour of vitners. this was probably our fondest memories of our napa trip. the ceja family was so hospitable in allowing us to stay on the property in their guest bedroom!!!
they cooked us dinner and paired every plate with their wine, the stories of the plantation, and the amazing harvesting.
now, we make sure, ceja sits at our dinner table, every chance we get!

salut!

http://pinterest.com/vintagebruja/wine-cellar-chronicles/

once upon a dream...

12 more days and i will be in north carolina with all of my kindred spirited crafting women!

yahooo! i can't wait to enjoy jennifer hayslip's event:

i'm so excited because not only am i going to attend this event...i am also going to be a vendor! yahoooo! i can't wait to share my pictures with u all! so stay tuned because, i can't wait to share all my fav pix. it's going to be fun! fun! fun!
for those of u who are going to be missing this event, shhhh, i have a secret. there is going to be another event coming up that u just can't miss! kim caldwell is going to be putting on another star studded event in may next year.

affaire at tiffany's

omg! i'm smitten by the theme. keep checking her website and her blog for the updates!  i can't wait for the teaching line~up and projects! i think it's going to be ridiculous!

save up! because this is going to be amazing.

mary engelbreit

memories of the mary engelbreit home companion workshops! one year l8r.

i'm loving the collaging technique i figured out. i can add so many fun photos to one event and share!!! so cool! needless to say, at this event  i met so many awesome men and women. well, hehe there was only one man, mathew mead! but bottom line, i met some fun women.

  

i thought it would add a nice touch to my collage if i named all the people i met while crafting in the stl! although it was a mary engelbreit event, there was still a sense of intimacy with the women who where there!

i had a great time....except for the tornado that touch down not to far from my hotel room.

there's alot of weather that goes on in the mid west, & the south! i know i'm a california spoiled brat. so when they say take cover and hide in your tub...i'm thinking, there is no way i'm going to spend the rest of my time sleeping in no tub!

although i don't have a picture of her, another girlfriend i met at the event is the lovely dee foust. i had to take this picture from mr. mead's website. hehe

 she's going to be teaching ay jennifer hayslip's event in north carolina, in october.i'm excited for her, and to take part in this event! let's see what adventures north carolina will bring?

although, i'm not a huge baseball freak, this venue was pretty cool! 

the cardinals busch stadium in st louis missouri.

i made this collage for my son. he's not a big baseball fan but he does love that i'm traveled.

besos!

still enjoying the pasteures...

of the devine paso robles, ca

even though we don't have the wine bar anymore, wine still stays very close to our hearts. i mean, don't get me wrong, do i miss the wine bar. no! do i miss all the amazing people we met, and there incredible stories, absolutely!
one other thing that i didn't think i'd miss, that i think about all the time is, all the events with the wine makers, and entertainers. bringing joy to the people of the community, bringing different wine regions to people that had never been out of the inland empire. educating them on wine etiquette, vintage, varietals, and pairings. those are the things that i think about....especially after seeing victor talk to some of our old winemaker friends.

{yup! in that picture at the top right is good old justin, the original
owner of justin winery. he has since sold the winery to the owners of fiji water.
since in the next 3 years he'll be obsolete,
i asked him to sign my poster}

the experience alone, in hind side, was worth everything we lost! why do i say that? because when victor and i married, it was to be together,sharing quality time and raising a family. those 2 years of the business, we were married to the business. our family suffered, mainly the children, because, it took every ounce in our body to keep that baby alive and thriving!!! we couldn't afford a full~time helper, so we had to visit dad at the bar. he was there 6 days a week. with the way the economy was suffering, especially in our area, i didn't see no light at the end of that tunnel. if the borders bookstore next to us was suffering, a brick and mortar shop was definitely going down! we hadn't been open long enough to get a huge clientele base to withstand what the economy was doing.

{morro bay, ca ~ shark bait, bruuuhhh haha!

after our beautiful stay at the summerwood inn, we decided to check out the rest of the ca coast, especially, morro bay! we love watching animal planet's shark week. and every year, morro bay is mentioned because of the blue whale migration, and the great white sharks!!! so, victor and i decided... let's go see what this area is all about! although, we didn't take the tour out into the ocean to see the whales because victor wanted the kids with us. we ask some of the people that came of the tour boat if they had seen anything? and yes, they had some great picture of the blue whales.so, next time we head up with the kids, that will be on the top of our list of things to do!
i fell in love with everything about this beautiful quaint town! my goal....is for us to retire here some day!

besos y amor!

laguna beach

here are a few of our favorite shots from our family vacation.

Happppppy Anniversary!

we made it! 13 years!

so to celebrate, we went to the coast of southern california~ laguna beach!!!

the montage resort.

everything about our stay was awesome for us and the kids. they accommodated it all! 

 this was breakfast at the loft

 

then of course it was off for the spa treatment

 steam room! i'm melting, i'm melting....what a world! what world!!!

 sauna....eeeh! i felt like i was in arizona by the river!

 

for 13 years....it was just the rejuvenation we needed!!! 

aaaaah!

PUBLISHED!!!

...i can not believe that almost 17 years later, i am seeing myself outside of myself again!!!

 

i remember when i was invited to the premiere of dangerous minds starring michelle pfifer. i was in the other actors class not the main class but...when i was sitting in the audience watching the movie, i almost crawled underneath my seat when my scene came on! i just couldn't believe that there i was...watching myself. it was the weirdest feeling! i remember my mom being so proud of this moment! when she saw that i had sank into my seat...all i remember her doing was moving her lips....whah!whah!...!!!

when i finally came back to reality, i could hear her say, why are you doing that? get up! and i jumped back up in my seat to watch the movie again. LOL! then i came on again....whooop! right back down i went.

this was that moment...only 15 years later. 

however...to see that my son is so proud of this moment...and that he's the one who took on our family's creative side, makes me blush.

anyway...this is the article that "creat with me" published. and it's such an honor.

if this art piece could talk!!! boy o'boy....

{To be continued}

create with me...

ian and i are officially going to be published artist! a dream come true for this boy and i. as u can see, he is always in the studio either watching, learning, or just giving his input. well...it has all paid off because....

we are going to be published in a new stampington magazine called "create with Me" that will be hitting newsstands SSSOOO SOOOON!

we made "The Emerald City" out of everything recycled. it was a joy to make. hopefully u enjoy the publication just as much we enjoyed, creating, and painting!!!

bye.

the weighted issue....

it's so the story of my life! aaarrrrgh! it's so the story of my life the battle with...

...weight!

really, my relationship with food, is just so different than my lil’ itty bitty friends that surround my being. I say yes to dessert…they pass. I say yes to rice…they pass. I say yes to bread…..now how the hell they pass on that is just beyond my freak’en imagination. because let me tell you. I can name my favorite restaurants…not by the food on the menu, but the bread that they serve prior to the entrée, or even the drinks! Seriously, i am a total bread freak!!!

My top choices for feeding my fat @$$:

~ red lobster cheese bread….wow!

~ geezers. Not a chain…it’s located in santa fe springs, ca. they sourdough basket with the bomb bruchetta. It’ll reck any one’s diet.

shrimp cocktail @ mastro's

~ mastro’s steakhouse. That basket is the best with any wine on the menu

~ cat n the custard cup. Another non-chain located in la habra, ca. wow! The hot basket of bread melts in your mouth with the room temperature butter that comes out ready to spread. And with their wine list….i can go there to that restaurant just for that. Really? Oh yeah!

last but not least,

~ the hobbit. Non-chain located in orange, ca gets you with a double whammie! darn it! In the basement they have this homemade croissant bread with cheese and ham…ridiculous. Every appetizer in that basement has nothing on this flat sandwich that sits at the back of the basement on top of the good ol’ barrel. Mmmmm! Delicious!



infamous rosette butter @ the hobbit! wow!

 Then, you go to sit down, and here come the bread biscuits….and the frick’en flowered butter. I know you can see me lickn’ my lips waiting for that hot biscuit to just sit on my bread plate ready to be sliced and bbbuuutered!

Yup…I have bread issues.

travelin' in style...

this is how i like to walk down the airport.....luvn' the louis!

this isn't me...but i know with alot of hard work and dedication.....i'm going to be flaunting the LV on my next travels. but until then...this is the mental notes as i'm walking , or running, down the airport terminals.

tata!

cookin'? it is just not my style...

Most of my friends know, I am just not a cook.

 But, I do try recipes, every now and again. and this receipt for rice krispy treats was no exception to my successful repertoire. Not!.

sooo sad....we're already off to a bad start.

Hence, it is for this reason my @$$ doesn’t cook often. The say people have a gift for cooking. Those people would be my mother and my husband. They are the 2 aries in my kitchen world. And when it comes to the kitchen, they both rule the roost.

awwwww! not the look i was going for

Let’s just be honest, when it come to chicken noodle soup…there’s nothing like mom’s chicken noodle soup for the sick soul.

 And when the grandkids are calling grandma, for her chicken noodle soup, whether I am sick or not….i am there at the table with bells on. Even my husbands smiles while he’s stuffing his face at the dinner table.

Aaaahhh, there’s nothing like chicken noodle soup, chicken noodle soup, chicken noodle soup with 7up on the side!



happy valentine's day

In the blink of an eye…

that is when….
I'll be closer to You than I've ever been
Time will fly, but until then
I'll embrace every moment I'm given
There's a reason I'm alive for a blink of an eye~ Mercy Me

on december 19, 2010, the girls, my niece and daughter, were in the carpool lane of the 405N, coming home. it had been raining a lot all day, but it was just an ordinary night! As my niece and daughter jump on the fwy, they had no idea that in 5 minutes they would be in a life altering accident that COULD HAVE taken their lives forever! up ahead one car hydroplaned out of control into the center divider, the car behind him, w/ 2 teenagers hit him...all this happening while my niece & daughter, just chilln' on the FWY, coming home from eating dinner. they both then look ahead....and see the accident approach, but at 50mph, pouring rain, dark....my niece panicked, "oh! Shit!... Savannah were going to hit the car!", slammed the breaks, and just hydroplaned into the two boys car! Savannah's put her legs to her chest in protection, held on, shut her eyes and prepared herself as quick as possible for impact! the impact was so brutal, she smacked her face into her legs.

my girl is ok! thx GOD! just really shaken up. i'm taking her today for full check~up and having an x-ray of her nose ordered.

All this, and my niece's airbags never deployed! luckily, the boys in the other car, were already out of the car, dazed from their hit! the other idiot that spun out of control, jumped the center divider onto the south side of the 405, into oncoming traffic, dodging cars, as he ran to the other side of the fwy! after making sure my daughter was ok, my niece threw her hazards on, got out of the car, to see how the others were doing. she said that the two boys were unresponsive, just standing there in the rain, & dazed when she kept asking them if they were ok! because emergency was called from the 1st accident, my niece said that moments L8R, tow trucks and CHP, were already breaking traffic to get to the scene. CHP asked my niece "hey! where's that guy going?" as that LOCO was running across the FWY!

when my niece called, my heart dropped! i could tell in her voice something was wrong! when i saw the accident from the opposite side of the fwy...my nerves kicked in & i felt trapped in my car that i couldn't get to them fast enough!

I jumped out of my car and just ran to the girls... for it seemed like an eternity.
when i saw the accident up close....i just....needed to see my daughter!
i wanted to hug her, hold her, kiss her… but emergency crew wouldn't let me get to her. they just let me see her in the ambulance, see she was ok! then i had to go back to the car & wait until they could release them to us!! CRAZY, CRAZY NIGHT!

Hand delivered with a delicious touch!

I had an idea that I had to share with you. I am always in and out of restaurants, and am always seeing different types of plastic containers that store food, just being tossed away. Every time I see someone tossing the container, I always think, "How can I reuse this?" Or when I'm in a candy store, and I watch the sales rep package an ordinary chocolate covered strawberry in that rectangular clear box with cute shred, I think, "yay! That's so cute!" Then you give that strawberry gift to that special someone, & they just toss that clear, rectangular box into the trash, and you're just watching it fall right into the trash can in slow motion, thinking, Nooo! Do you know what I can do with that? But you don't say anything out loud because ordinary people don't think like creative minds do!

What a Creative Living Idea! Don't u think? What I did was simply combined a candy shop package with twine & colored tissue. I needed to wrap a custom made ornament for a client that I was going to hand deliver. After wrapping the ornament, I thought, Aaargh! This is such a cute gift but it just looks so, blah! Then I remembered, I had some left over dessert in the refrigerator from the night before. So I took out the dessert, wiped the container clean, and thought… AHA! I Finally! found a reason to use these containers and not have to feel guilty by throwing them away anymore! Can I just share, that just by wrapping that cute handmade ornament, in that cute little container, filled with colored tissue paper, tied with the twine & finished off with a crown brooch, I actually made my handmade beauty look boutique, and not swap meet!

You can turn your handmade gift from boring & unthoughtful to delicious and unexpected. It's definitely an inexpensive way to regift with an unexpected solution!

Hand delivered with a delicious touch!

Gasping for air…

…wanting to breathe.

something just told me...just go to sleep. U are getting so sleepy…u are so tired!

but i just kept fighting it! "no i'm not tired i have to finish my crafting!"
zzzzzzzzz....
no! wake up! read the manual!

So, the other day I decided to become creative woman! Mariasela signed us up for a craft fair! Well there I go to Wal-Mart with my son, in tow..off to the camping section we go!
oh! Look, there are the heaters, a catalytic heater, that hubby was talking about. I'm not too sure about this, but, being that he doesn't want me to overspend, I'll just buy it! I'd rather just buy an electric fan heater, but nooo! Hubby always says that I am alpha female and I never just trust his lead.
So there I go! I buy the catalytic Coleman heater and 2 propane tanks. Luckily, I had passed the electric heaters, noticed the small one for $10, and thought, "let me get this just in case i'm not feelin' the Coleman…I'll have my mini back up."
2.5 hrs into my creative time, with my daughter to my right, working on her cervical cancer research paper & talking my ear off about high school… I get this funky lil' cough. I'm crafting in our garage, with my catalytic heater and electrical heater just going while my creative juices are flowing and my son comes around the corner and says, "Dad! What's that smell?" hubby says, "it's the metal on moms new heater. Once the heater burns through, it should go away!" Right after that, hubby kisses my daughter and I, says, "goodnight". My son says," I'm going to bed with u dad. Mom, can you wake me up when u come to bed, and then I'll go into my room."
"Ok buddy." Off they go!
My daughter and I, we are just chit chatting away, for about another hour when all of a sudden, I am hit with this ferocious need to close my eyes and go to sleep. Now, it's close to midnight, and we're all on vacation, except for hubby. Since I had been crafting all day I thought, man! I'm exhausted. I nod off, and wake up again, and this thought in my head said, read the manual on this propane heater, and see just what it says about home use of a propane heater, in an enclosed garage.
And then again, as I'm crafting, my head keeps nodding off. in my unconsciousness I keep telling myself finish! Finish ur craft, then go to bed!
i wake up and feel this weird gurgling in my chest…and this annoying feeling to cough. As I am flipping through the 1^st 2 pages of the catalytic heaters manual, I read that, "propane gas is heavier than oxygen and that it can cause suffocation if used in an enclosed room without enough circulation". I look around, I'm in the garage with no windows and the doors shut! I look at savannah, and ask savannah, "do u smell something that I don't."
"no mom stop being so paranoid!" Typical teenager, oblivious to her surroundings, and I'm a paranoid parent. So, I read on, other symptoms are nausea, light headedness, anorexia…wait! that one is ok…dizziness, etc. etc. etc. I knew it! I knew I shouldn't have bought this crap for the garage, but noooo! Hubby thinks I just want to spend money, blah! Blah! BLAH! so I turn off the catalytic Coleman heater, and try to keep crafting when all of a sudden savannah goes from 100 miles an hour , talking my ear off to…" mom I just can't keep my eyes open anymore."
I said, "me too let's turn in."
We wake up the next morning, I feel so exhausted …we can't eat, light headed, and keep getting this mini migraine headache off and on.

"Yup! U guessit? I had carbon monoxide poisoning!"

she can't, can't....

...dance on to the moulin rouge!

isn't that just some b*({$#!+ right there!

i mean, seriously...i'm kind of bumbed out by this! however, so much has transpired in 2010, that, if u were here, in my world...there would be no s#!+$, and giggles!

life happens, and no matter how prepared u think u are....curve ball! swing!

u strike out!

and being that i am not invincible... i was hit on my head.

mom, swears that she is going to hit the lotto one of these days. i have been waiting since 1983 for her to hit! she strikes out too.

why does she bounce back? i think it's because she a dreamer... and she keeps her dream alive!

well, mom...i am going to follow in these footsteps. i am going to click my heels twice... and as soon as the moulin rouge approaches, i am going to say," there's no place like kim's home! there's no place like kim's home!"

and by some miracle...i think... i might just be there come march!

wish me luck...witch!

belt yourself in tight...

...because we are in for a ride! yyyahoooo!

charlie chaplin

these vintage inspired belt buckles were just a joy to create! i could just embellish and decorate until my heart desired! then i thought...ooops! some of these are for men! and sure enough...my husband ran off with one in this collection.

sophia loren

laurel and hardy!

atleast i know...if my husband can sport one of these beauties...i know other metro males can sport them well, assssss' well! {it was a james dean!}

james dean

jean harlowthe fabulous mae west....

aaaargh!

inspiration delivered!

i have been movin' and grovin' but haven't been able to blog a post to save my life...until now! it's amazing how an artist mind works. very fragile i tell u. u come to the computer, u sit and look at the key pad, and....nada! not'a damn thing comes to mind. u leave u go out with the fam, u come back, u upload the pictures, and....ur not motivated to write about that because, aaaah! it's to soon to talk about.

anyway, my girlfriend mariasella signed us up to do a local craft fair, and that's when my creative angel came and sat on my shoulder to chit chat! and whooolah!

inspiration was delivered!

the golden era of hollywood inspired my creative juices and i was soaring with memories of watching all these classic movies with my mom as a kid. my mom wanted to be an actress, dancer, singer...u name it, she was trying it. my mom can watch old movies on a rainy day, all day long and crochet. and there i was, right there next to her, thinking i was going to be shirley temple one day, " on the good ship....lollipop!"

well, hollywood never did call, but it did inspire me to create an solder my heart out! as i soldered each one of these ornaments....i was listening to old christmas carols streaming on kbig 103.5, i was just going down memory lane...with fred astaire. 2 of my favorite characters from wizard of oz are the cowardly lion, and the wicked witch! and as i was decorating them, i could laugh like the witch, scare myself, and then say..."put'em up, put'em up! fight you with my eyes closed, ay!"

oooh! and then jean harlow hit the table and "aaah!' i could here madonna's "vogue" playing in the background of the christmas carols, "just here those sleigh bells ringling'...vogue, vogue, vogue"! that's just how my mind work. it's just going places. then charlie chaplin jumped on the brain and man! i thought laurel and hardy....and boooom! i was back on stage again, in front of a packed audience, laughing...at me! yeah! i was funny! ameteur of course, but....i was funny!

record scratches in the background....my conscience tells me

"priscilla come back girl...ur dreaming again witch!"

and then, i'm back!

and....scene! LOL!