friday

we are having a small wine tasting party this weekend - chardonnay and cabernet. each couple will bring one bottle of each and we do a blind tasting to see which one is the most popular. bottles must be under $25 so we can afford to buy the wine if we like it! come back next week to hear about the winning bottles.
we had a similar wine tasting party for our wedding. our friends invited the bridal party to a wine tasting dinner party. the favorites from the night became the wine we used for our wedding.
have a super duper weekend!
**friday favorites**
this week i am focusing on travel. just imagine that you have $10,000 which must be spent on a lavish vacation. which destination would you choose?
if you ever feel like you need to get away from it all, check out jewett street. this is a home exchange website and you can take a trip around the world by looking at all the home exchange options. the picture below is for a house in new zealand.
belize anyone? cayo espanto is a resort on a private island. i wouldn't mind staying in this room.
this place is as amazing as it looks. petit st. vincent was where we went for our honeymoon and it was out of this world. i highly recommend it for anyone looking for vacation that takes you away from it all - no tv, no internet, no phones. you communicate with a flag outside your bungalow - a red flag means that you would like to be left alone and a yellow flag means that you have a request. we were there for seven days and it was wonderful.
la cartuja guesthouse is an amazing place in spain where we stayed on our visit in 2003. the history is amazing and you feel as though you are stepping back in time as you walk around the grounds. originally built as a mosque in the 8th century, la cartuja has served as a hunting lodge and monastery. the property is currently a guesthouse as well as a home for artists.
if you are looking for a charming hotel, historic manor house or romantic country inn in spain, italy, france, morocco or portugal then you must visit secretplaces.com. or, just stop by the site to drool at all of the amazing places you could stay if you won the lottery. you can search by budget, environment and 'special ingredients' such as sporty and fun, secluded, trendy, romantic, historic, great for kids and fine cuisine. we used this site to pick a few unique places to stay when we went to spain. a night or two at a budget hotel would balance out a splurge at a really unique spot from secret places. this was before the american dollar went nuts so europe was actually affordable.
the hosteria ayala berganza is a historic 15th century building in segovia.
or, perhaps would you prefer to stay in an 18th century castle in val de la loire, france?