I squeezed the Charmin.

Obligatory cuteness. She just gets more beautiful every day.

I'm so sorry for absence y'all. I don't know what came over me. It'll never happen again. Ok, let's be real. It will happen and happen frequently. It's a busy life I lead, and alas, blogging isn't even near the top of the list. True fact. I first typed "It's a busy lie I lead." And while I feel like that may be true some days, (Hah! They're gonna give me a shiny fancy degree and declare to the world that I am a trained scientist. I sure have them fooled.) I thought y'all might get the wrong idea here and I fixed it. You're welcome.

Back to the title of this post though... It's true. I squeezed it, I tugged it, I ripped it. I did other unspeakable things to it, but I'm sure you'd rather not hear about that. Jeremiah is good at being a man. He is expert at man-looking (the croutons were RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM), man-colds (him: I'm dying. I love you. Send word to my parents. Me: It's a cold. You'll live. Him: Would you make me some chocolate milk before I die?) and now, man-shopping. We were almost out of TP. Aside: Any house I live in needs to never ACTUALLY run out of TP. There are few things more nightmare inducing for a woman in her prime than running out of TP without warning. It ranks as a necessity right up there with coffee, chocolate, diapers, and baby formula. End aside. However, instead of our regular stuff, he brought home a large package of Charmin. I had a minor moment at the idea of something DIFFERENT. To his credit, it works. It is soft, and it does its job. After careful consideration of the merits of Charmin, I concede that while it may be a bit cushier and more comfortable for blowing my nose in, I prefer my Angel .... um... Angel Soft? What is the name of that stuff? Apparently I'm not as attached to it as I thought I was. Moving on.

Beautiful place.

Thank goodness there was a cheery fire.

In other, less bathroom-related news, I made my very first visit to a winery this past weekend to Chateau Morrisette in beautiful Floyd VA. It was cold but very dry in Blacksburg before we left, but was briskly snowing by the time we got up there. They had a fire going right behind the tasting bench, and it was really quite warming. The wine was quite tasty and we merrily worked our way through the list. From whites to reds to semi-sweets to very sweet. I'm a light and sweet type, myself. They did have a couple of reds that weren't bad, but there were a couple I took one swig from and poured out the rest of my tasting to Jeremiah.

Our partners in chocolate! They are brave to bring us along.

In the end though, it was all delicious. We were there specifically for the chocolate-and-wine pairing that they were doing for Valentines day. I sat down to an array of wine glasses and 5 delectable-looking fine chocolates. One was black walnut and orange-peel in white chocolate, one was jalapeno and chili in mexican semi-sweet, one was raspberry jam in dark chocolate, one was espresso, and the last was chocolate-covered coconut. We went through and made notes about how the wines and the chocolate paired together. And then, since we're rebels. (And they suggested it.) We started mixing up the chocolates and the wines. The hands-down best combination was the chocolate-covered coconut with the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a pair made in heaven, and not one that they had suggested.
We went with our great friends Will and Amanda. They are so much fun to be around and come up with these awesome ideas for fun things to do. Plus Lois loves her Aunty Amanda.

Chocolate Rose!

Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie!

Gifts for attending the event included these amazing chocolate roses. There were 3 on the tables, one for each couple. We got the pink one,  but there was also one in orange and one in white. I haven't eaten it yet, but I expect it to be delicious.



After the tasting and the pairing, we went for a tour of the winery. It was blustery cold outside, so we ducked inside really fast. Look at all that happy aging wine! The wine barrels all have this adorable dog paw print on them. Turns out, once they are done aging wine in them, you can buy them for about $75. I see where some of our tables once we settle and get a real home will come from! Can't you just see one of these, with a big glass tabletop on it? Perfect place to sip wine and eat cheese or chocolate, no?

 Once you get inside the doors, you look up and this is what you see While the cast-iron chandelier is very beautiful, I was astonished by the wood. It's reclaimed wood from the west coast and is absolutely amazing. The grain and color are rich and they add a lot of character to the building. It was constructed using dowel fasteners instead of nails, and the work really is quite amazing. I should be so lucky to have wood like that in our future house.

Rebel!

In the tour of the winery, we found this very helpful sign by the bottling room. Jeremiah, being the rebel that he is, had to hop on the other side of it and show off. I made all sorts of frowny faces of disapproval, but only because he thought of it first.

Lush!

I peeped through a window and found these really neat corks in a box. They made a great picture, and I really wish I'd gone through and picked one up. I love that pattern.

This wasn't what I had in mind.

Final rating on the winery? 8/10, would visit again.
Final rating on the wine? 10/10 would drink again.


Then we went home and passed out. The next day, we went and obtained a new couch. Our couch was well past it's prime and had long since passed from "comfortable" to "butt-sucking" in terms of sitability. We again recruited our friends for some help.  The first half of the couch (A sleeper! We can have people VISIT now!) made it into the apartment without any real trouble. When the reclining half was due to come in, there was apparently a slight detour.

I AM THIS BIG!

It did finally make it into the house and is just as comfortable as promised. Jeremiah and I have agreed that we are a comfortable couple since we have now progressed to buying furniture together.

And finally: More baby. She says HI MOMMY! PICK ME UP!