Travels with Toaster

Our first afternoon in Lake Tahoe started as many of our road trips do: with Cass trying to take pictures out the passenger seat window as we whiz past pretty scenery, and few of the pictures turning out. Having said that, there’s one in particul...

Hello from unbelievably beautiful Lake Tahoe! It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve written a post that wasn’t from home! It’s good to be traveling again. This trip has been in the making for months – back in May, fav...

While I haven’t spent my entire life in Napa, I am a native of this fine region. Five years ago this month, I was unpacking boxes, having just returned home from San Diego to go back to school. It was about a month after I got here that celebrity...

“Sunday Funday” has been something of a tradition in my family for as many years as I can remember. To be clear, in this particular case, when I say “family,” I mean the family of friends I’ve built for myself over the yea...

Last week, my mom and I took Jeff, a friend from Minnesota in town on business, out for a Napa Valley night. I was conscious to make sure I wasn’t going to take him anywhere that he might feel uncomfortable or out of place, but I also wanted to b...

Although I know this year’s Napa Chef’s Market is the 17th anniversary of the original summer market festival, I don’t really remember when I first started going. As a teenager, I don’t think I remember it being really exciting,...

A day off around here almost always gets me thinking about opportunities to enjoy the sun, the Valley, and all that it has to offer. A holiday off, even more so. So as 4th of July began to creep up on me, I started thinking about what might be fun. In ...

I can’t help it. Since the very first time I laid eyes on New York City (on TV, in movies, and especially in person many years ago), it was love at first sight. The only other city that’s ever come close to it for me is Paris, and I thought...

Sunday morning, sleeping in was absolutely imperative. We woke up around 11 and decided to get our butts in gear and see as much of the city as was possible, since it was my second (and already last) day with Dafna. I had the better part of Monday to f...