The Happy Couple

After all the excitement of the big weekend subsided and all of our family and out of town friends returned home, Molly and I packed our bags and headed out for a few days of honeymoon in Santa Barbara wine country, a region made famous by the 2004 movie "Sideways". We arrived at the Hadsten House (highly recommended!) in Solvang and began to inquire about some of the local attractions. A drink and chat with bartender Thomas, a trained sommelier, gave us a place to start our adventure: Trattoria Grappolo (pictured above) and a couple of places to check out over the next few days: Mellville Winery and Figueroa Mountain Road, a notoriously challenging ride that many Pro Cycling Teams train on in the preseason. This first conversation with a friendly local, passionate about his town and industry, set the tone for our whole experience: the more we extended ourselves to the locals and expressed our genuine interest, the suggestions got better and better. Plus, everybody we spoke with was massively impressed with us being just married!

Now being the foodie that I am, I have to say a few words about Trattoria Grappolo. Molly and I enjoyed it so much that we actually went twice during our stay. Just four miles down the road from our hotel in Santa Ynez, the Trattoria offers authentic Italian foods and wines. During the week is definitely the time to go to really take in the environment of the place. The kitchen is open to the dining area which allows diners to see cooks tossing dough in the air and placing bread and pies into the woodfired oven. The food is rich but light and after sharing a pizza crusted brushetta, eating a risotto dish with scampi and snacking on a bunch on Molly's linguine with shrimp and mushroom dish, chocolate tartufa dessert and a doppio espresso, I did not feel the usual heaviness and inevitable food coma that is usually associated with carb loaded Italian food. And this is good because I would have to be alert and energetic for certain activities later that evening, you know, like driving back to the hotel, preparing a nightcap and getting to the spa for a nice relaxing evening soak:)

www.hadstenhouse.com/

www.trattoriagrappolo.com/

Da-Da-Da-Da...We are married!

Molly and Steve were married on April 25th at the French Estate in Orange, CA. Many thanks to family and friends in attendance. It was a ton of fun. Here are some of the pro photos that we have so far...enjoy! M+S. http://danieldunnphotography.com/MollySteve/photos/

Sping is here!

It is that glorious time of year where we spring forward and we get more daylight! Each year with this change, it is time to wake up the sleepy ones from their winter's nap in the garage..

Fookie and Boudi are awake and out for the summer. Here they are chowing on some iceberg and rose petals.

I probably messed up their spelling, but you get the idea.

The Bachelorette..

There were no eliminations with this bachelorette (bad joke for those that don't get it..)


Missy, Carol Ann, Erin and I headed up for a lovely weekend in Santa Barbara. CA, Missy, and I drove up Friday and got the weekend started with a lovely walk and a few happy hours. For those that may not know, Santa Barbara has some awesome happy hours. As we found out, buy one get one free had a whole new meaning :)

After some evening fun, we headed to he train station to scoop up Erin and head back to the hotel for the night.

The next morning Erin went for a bike ride and the 3 of us took off for a lovely walk along the coast. The weather was warm, sunny and beautiful. CA had a lovely strand of pearls for me to wear with everything everywhere we went. A Southern tradition.

After our lovely morning it was time to hit some of the local winery's for some wine tasting. Erin surprised me with a lovely head piece that I proudly wore all day.

We headed out to dinner and then headed back for a relaxing evening at our room. On our way home we were discussing this rumor we heard about Steve's night out. I think it ended up looking a little something like this...

Mike, Steve? does this look about right?

Our Last morning ,we cooked up a nice breakfast and then set off to explore the pier and art walk. It was a wonderful weekend with some great friends. It reminds me that we are all apart of some giant quilt, cut from the same cloth at the heart and blessed to find each other.

Prestocat!

I walked into the living room this afternoon and found Mr. Preston relaxing like this. What a character! Enjoy.

New decorations in the house

Today I framed one of our engagement photos and hung it up on the wall where previously there was a sculpture that belongs to the owners of the house. For those of you who have been over, the very manly ceramic bust (artwork?) is off the wall and packed away.

Molly had this particular shot of us enlarged. I like how the colors of the sunset are captured and the foreground is dominated by our rings (yes, I have an engagement as well, lucky guy I know!) as you can just make our silhouettes out in the background. The shot was also one of our photographers favorites because he made a flyer for his biz using the photo as a background. We've had the photo in an envelope for a month but I did not notice the flyer till today. Very crafty Mr. Kassel, you do indeed have mad skills with the photo camera!

Molly and I are very excited for the big date and celebration with friends and family. And we can't wait to see how the rest of the photos will turn out. Very pleased so far. Steve

No one has cold feet in this house

I woke up today thinking "wow, it's already mid March". Time does fly as you get older, it is really quite amazing. It is wonderful and crazy that our wedding is in 6 weeks! We are getting excited and looking forward to seeing everyone on our special day. This weekend Steve has is bachelor bash. I will be participating in a 50 mile mountain bike ride (eeek!), and going to a plant sale to get tomatoes and peppers for my garden!! Woo hoo... it's garden time. Stay tuned for pictures and stories about what is shaping up to be a fun filled weekend.