The Knepp's Summer Wine Tasting

My cocktail of choice 99% of the time is wine.

The only exception is when tailgating or on the lake, then I drink beer or some sort of 'wine cooler'.

So, when we received an invite from The Knepp's for a Summer Wine Tasting at their house, I immediately, replied YES!

Sarah, a local event planner and blogger, (and jr. league of charlotte friend),had her sommelier pick 'patio' wines, just knowing the weather would be nice.

Well, the weather did not turn out the way they had hoped.

Even so, we indulged inside!

The sommelier was her Uncle Sam who is wine expert at Charlotte's oldest wine shop, Arthur's, in the basement of Belk SouthPark.

It was very cool and fun because he was super knowledgeable.

Very fun night for couples or even girls.

Sarah put together an excellent tapas menu.

Perfect for pairing with different wines.

Again, she had the patio decorated and set for all of us to be out there, but had to improvise inside.

I think it was perfect!

Lots of new friends made and the chance to catch up with older ones.

Thanks to Sarah's Uncle Sam for being so kind to volunteer his time!

I have to admit, I did overindulge and was paying for it the next day.

Note to self.

Don't drink at the party you're at, before, a wine tasting party!

Thanks for the invite Sarah and Adam!

Happy Sipping!!

Orlando Trip Part One

We just got home last night from one of the BEST trips ever!

Everything was wonderful about it but mostly hanging out with close friends and getting to meet their 2 daughters for the first time and vice-versa.

We traveled to Orlando, Florida on Friday evening to visit one of Brad's best friends from high school and his family.

It's been quite a while since we've seen them mainly because we've been having babies.

They have two daughters.

Grace is about to turn 4, and Laura just turned 1 in April.

Now that Shelby is almost 18-months old we thought it would be the perfect time to go and visit before they move back north in August.

It was a short trip but jam packed!!

We did Disney's Magic Kingdom one day, but I'll save that for tomorrow.

Today's post is about fun in the sun and with friends.

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It was so cute, the entire weekend the girls got along really well.

They were nice enough to share all their toys with Shelbs and let me tell you, she took FULL ADVANTAGE!

 Saturday was a relax day and it was awesome.

We went for a walk, blew bubbles and played outside.

 Oh, did I mention they have a pool?

Paradise.

Cocktails, water, sun and relaxation.

 Emily and Andrew were such great hosts.

Mimosas, lunch, everything was perfectly planned out.

It was TRULY a vacation for me and Brad!

And, for Shelby.

She has never played with so many toys in one weekend!

 Or made such great new friends in Laura and Grace!

These two are definitely getting use to the water.

Check it out!

We literally hung by the pool the entire day.

Emily even mentioned they've never spent so much time at their pool in one day.

It was a ton of fun.

It happened that Sunday was Andrew's 36th birthday too so we were all able to celebrate.

First by baking a cake.

Second, by hitting the town.

They had their nanny come over and watch the kids while we enjoyed a delicious dinner out in Winterpark, Florida.

After dinner we went to one of THE COOLEST wine bars I have ever been to!

It's called the Wine Room and they literally have over a hundred wines there for tasting.

You buy a card with a set amount of money on it and you walk around and taste different wines.

You have the choice of a pour, taste or a glass.

Slide your card and put your glass underneath.

All different price points and regions.

OMG!

I was in heaven!

Emily called it Chuckee Cheese for wine lovers!

I would agree!!

Charlotte NEEDS ONE!

Of course, knowing we had a BIG day at Disney planned for Sunday we didn't go too overboard.

Good thing, because it was a long one.

More on that tomorrow!!!

Charlotte Blogger Wine Tasting

It's no secret that I love me some wine.

Any type of wine, except muscadine.

Remember the post I did about the wine tasting I did with Junior League friends recently?

Click here for a refresher.

Well, after that post, Rachel from No Simple Language ,suggested that we do a similar event with a small group of Charlotte bloggers.

She offered up her home and I helped organize.

Golly Geezers, it was such a fun evening!!!

What a lovely home Rachel and her family have.

Like before, everyone brought 2 bottles of vino.

One for competition and one for the prize pool.

We had 4 whites, 6 reds.

Paper bags to hide labels with numbers.

All my favorites showed up including Sara.

Everyone brought a munchie.

We had all kinds of cheeses and crackers, I made cupcakes, we had cookies and more.

There were 10 of us.

The perfect size for this type of event.

 The prize pool.

We decided to do a white winner and a red winner.

Worked out perfect.

So fun to catch up with everyone, including Anni, who came just a few weeks post partum!

And new Mommy Mindy.

The entire group with Maggie after her trip to Krispy Kreme with Daddy!

The winning wines were a bit of a shocker to me.

The red was a red from Aldi, of all places for $5.99.

It's called Intermingle.

The white, a Chateau St. Michelle Riesling, which I really usually don't even like.

Thanks again to Rachel for opening her home to all of us!

I say we do it again around the holidays!

Let me know if you want to participate or even host!

TGIF!

Time to drink more!