When I first moved to Minnesota, I thought it was strange that my boss always took the local newspaper on Wednesdays and was always the first person in the office on Thursday morning.

Something did not make sense.

One day, I finally asked her about it.

“Thursday is garage sale day in Minneapolis,” she said. “All good garage sales start on Thursdays and I like to go before work to ensure I get the best merchandise.”

Indeed.

Turns out garage sales are popular here as well and the many service workers: maids, drivers, cabbies, etc. like to go early and go often. Garage sales offer an opportunity to purchase anything at a reasonable cost–especially because goods here are not at all sold at a reasonable cost.

Manuela, who never asks for or takes time off, has only asked for permission to leave the house twice: and both times were to go to a garage sale across the street.

I was confused.

Our neighborhood is like Manhattan. And, the only garage sale I have ever seen in Manhattan was at the MOMA (though I am sure they have them).

Apparently people make arrangements with their landlords and security people and host garage sales in the community garage spaces of some buildings. I’m glad our building doesn’t allow that. I would protest if they did. These city garages are too small and that doesn’t seem safe: strangers shopping in your building….

Recognizing the popularity of garage sales, the Newcomer’s Club of Mexico City, a social organization that connects English speaking expats, hosts a garage sale each year. Maids and drivers love it. It’s an opportunity to purchase high quality items at a low price. And because the club has a robust membership, there are a lot of items!

This year, the donations have been incredible and for the second time the club has been able to establish a special section for luxury goods. The photos you see of the clothing reflects the luxury pricing: somewhere between $5-$15 USD. As I helped sort donations, I saw Armani neckties, a Coach wallet, Joe’s Jeans, to name a few items.

In addition to living in Mexico, the club is committed to embracing the community and does much to give back. The proceeds from the garage sale are used to feed Senior Citizens, provide baby blankets for newborns who would otherwise not have them, and fund clean sheets for parents who have to spend the night at the hospital because their kids are hospitalized (think Ronald McDonald House). It’s a worthwhile cause (I was reminding myself of this when I was folding clothes and organizing tables around midnight), and one I love supporting.

Do something you love today!

Happy Friday!!
<3 KBS

One of the best tasting rooms in Napa is Domaine Chandon. Their hostesses are the most beautiful, and I have found them to generally be friendly, knowledgable and enthusiastic. They willingly educate you on their sparkling and still wines and are proud of the brand and their personal association with it.

Their hospitality is infectious.

Although we did not have an enjoyable experience at the Etoile restaurant, we absolutely loved the tasting room and shopping experience at Chandon.

The tasting room allows you to order food. We ordered a yummy cheese plate. My friend joined Club Chandon and we tried several different sparkling wines. We met a local resident and chatted with him regarding his favorite bottles from the cellars, and sampled many winery exclusives.

There were many great sparkling wines at the winery. I ended up purchasing the Sparkling Red and the Pinot Noir Rose.

The Sparkling Red is a special wine, one almost never seen in the United States. Its very rare. A combination of Pinot Noir and Zinfandel, that have been fermented with the skins on, the wine is more flavorful because of it.  The Sparkling Red then undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle, giving it the characteristics of a sparkling wine. All of the hostesses told me that they serve the Sparkling Red year-round with dark chocolate or other rich foods (I was thinking mac and cheese) and annually at Thanksgiving dinner!

I decided that I needed another few bottles of it, and checked the Chandon website this morning, but very sadly learned that the vineyard is sold out of the Sparkling Red–I’m glad I purchased my bottle when I did!

Are you a fan of the Chandon Sparkling wines? I’ve got some great news for you, whether you’re a lifelong fan, or someone interested in sampling it for the first time!! Chandon has a very generous email acquisition program.

If you sign up for their newsletter, they’ll give you a 20% discount on your next purchase. Sparkling wine does not go on sale–so this deal can’t be beat!!! I enrolled, and I’m going to redeem my code the moment the winery gets more Sparkling Red in stock!!

If you’re not an email person, you can text, “Bubbles” to 811 811 and enroll in their text messaging notification program. You will receive the discount that way as well!! 

A little discount for my favorite readers!! 

Filed under: fashion, food, travel Tagged: cooking, dining, Fashion, food, Friends, lucky, restaurants, shopping, style, travel, wine ]]> http://amovingstory.com/2013/05/11/chandon-salud-to-the-best-sparkling-wine-sign-up-for-their-newsletter-get-a-discount/feed/ 2 amovingstory IMG_1471 IMG_1472 IMG_1456 IMG_1477 IMG_1469 http://amovingstory.com/2013/05/11/crusin-and-getting-chauffeured-around-napa-in-the-c-max/ http://amovingstory.com/2013/05/11/crusin-and-getting-chauffeured-around-napa-in-the-c-max/#comments Sat, 11 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000 amovingstory http://amovingstory.com/?p=8407 Continue reading →]]>

One of the cool things about Napa: the strides that the community is making to encourage green living. We happened to rent a hybrid vehicle for our road trip, and were pleasantly surprised to enjoy preferential parking at many of the venues around the Valley!

I should own up though: I honestly did not know what to think when I saw the Ford C-MAX in the driveway. JBS was in charge of car rental, and she had secured a bright blue “multi-activity vehicle“. I wasn’t even familiar with the term “multi-activity vehicle” until I saw the C-MAX. Then I realized that it was a hybrid as well.

From the outside, the car looked small, and I was a bit worried. We had planned to hire a driver and have him haul us around in our rental car. An option that is a cost-effective way to see Napa with an expert, and also leverage the investment we made in the rental car. We also reasoned it would be environmentally responsible! Bill had driven us around the year before and we found him to be polite, responsible, and very knowledgable about the vineyards and responsive to our preferences. Still, I was very unsure about sitting in the backseat!

I didn’t need to worry. The car had capacity for five, though I think four was a better number for shopping and touring with adults in the front and back seat. Still, the seats were comfortable, and there was plenty of leg and head room.

Plenty of room for car-dancing!

The car was a gamer’s dream. I really enjoyed driving it–and can see how someone might get addicted to driving a hybrid. The car gives you plenty of feedback and tells you, each time you break, how much energy you’re “returning to the car”. After driving the car for a few days, it began to become a game with me: how much energy could I return each time I hit the brakes? When I was able to get it right, essentially estimating the distance to between our car and the car in front of us, I would receive a higher score. Getting lost and dealing with drivers suddenly hitting the brakes “cost me points” or lowered my score, and I didn’t like that very much!

I also liked the car’s automatic trunk. As we were frequently opening and closing the trunk filing it with wine, suitcases and helping our friend clean up, it was immensely handy!

Image From C-Max’s Facebook Page

For her part, JBS really was dazzled by the gas mileage. Having just purchased a SUV, she couldn’t believe how far we were able to travel on one tank of gas. According to the car’s website, it gets about 47 miles to the gallon. We felt like it might have been a little less than that, but still, it wasn’t too shabby.

Overall, we were both surprised by how much we liked the car. There were only two complaints: first, the car had a beautiful moon roof–but that was the extent of it. It didn’t open. What a shame too, because the design would have made for a lovely sun roof.  And the second thing: the quiet engine. I know it’s strange to complain that the engine was quiet–but it was so quiet, that we actually, accidentally left the car running–and discovered upon our return that the car was idling!!! It was also a little tricky when turning the car on and off to tell if it was really on, or really off?

All told, we loved the C-MAX so much, we had to tell you, because we’re SUV drivers.  And, before I wrapped my series of Napa posts, I wanted to remember to tell you about Bill. It was great having a local expert schedule tastings for us, meet us at our hotel and drive us around. He was friendly and safe, and substantially less expensive than a limo or car service! Highly recommend if you’re visiting the Valley.

Cool invitations by PaperlessPost.com

Hardest job in the world? Hands down, being a mom.

Sure it’s rewarding and amazing, but raising someone is a lot of work, and it requires thoughtfulness, diligence and patience. Moms do so much for others (including other moms!), that I decided I wanted to do something for my mom friends. I decided that I wanted to have a party on Thursday night since Friday was a national holiday (Mother’s Day), and people had the day off from work.

Wine and cheese after tuck in seemed to work great.

The fancy party planning ladies from the event planning company Ritzy Bee inspired me with a cheese board I saw on Pinterest. I liked the boards, but I don’t have a saw. Luckily, I know someone who does: my dad. I called him and we had a pre-pro meeting. I showed him the image of the cheese board and asked him if he could make some. He thought that he could.

The experts at Ritzy Bee presented the cool idea in a Martha Stewart article. They reasoned that buffet cheese plates look sort of gross after people pick at them for awhile, and it would be a little more handsome for guests to have personal cheese boards, with clever thumb holes!

Photo credits by: Kate Headley

My dad made 20 cheeseboards–and the boy who is amazingly handy and crafty, took one look at the velum template and created a custom velum sheet for my party.

He printed them and used his fancy purple glue stick to affix them to the cheese boards. He used a little transparent tape to hold the paper down while the glue dried, but later peeled it off to reveal a perfect personal cheese plate. I was quite impressed with his genius.

As if that weren’t amazing enough, he then created signs for all of the wines (who is this kid?). I wasn’t sure if he was being helpful, or was just interested in using the computer–but I wasn’t complaining!

I had a dozen or so Govino champagne glasses that my mom had given me for Christmas (after my trusty friend Sarah introduced me to the awesome wine glasses) so I pulled those out along with some Rouge from Frank Family vineyards and we started the party off with delicious Champagne from Napa and two bottles I had purchased at Freixenet.

I tossed a tablecloth over the side of the patio (versus hauling another table out onto the patio) and was pleased to see that we had plenty of red, white and sparkling wine.

Because some of my friends aren’t wine drinkers, I had a ‘make-your-own-beer-flight’ section too. Guests could pour from light to dark and sample different beers. I neglected to photograph the beers– but each flight sat on a plate where guests could arrange the beers easily and taste them in order.

Wal-Mart had a dozen roses for $4.00, so I purchased two dozen and arranged the buffet and patio table with beautiful pink flowers.

And, luckily, I had snatched plenty of Dickinson’s honey from room service earlier in the week–so each guest had her own honey pot to place on the cheese tray.

I also introduced my friends to my favorite app: Clapmera. I love the concept of clapping and saying cheese. The timer is a little tricky, but it creates some hysterical photos. DH was horrified to learn that I introduced our award-winning photojournalist friend to Clapmera, but I promise, she loved it!

All told, we had a wonderful time. It was fun to introduce my new friends to each other and take a little time to celebrate mother’s day with other awesome moms! A huge “thank you” to my son and dad for putting together a great party!