Wine Down Napa

Do not count the candles notice the light they give,

                             Do not count the years look at the life you live. 

 'Twas yet another February 9th and this year we took it to the wine capital, Napa Valley! As I planned this birthday I wanted it to be more about maximizing our experiences and having great conversations all while sipping on some really good wine. Let me just say that I am blessed to know some of the best people on earth. They always show up ready and at 100%.

It's no news that I love birthdays, it's no news that I love being in a good crowd and my birthday gives me an opportunity to make both and plan a helluva weekend. I mean if people are going to catch flights best believe I'll make it worth their while. On to the juice....

I had everyone coordinate their flights so we all landed an hour of each other on the 8th, on Friday, then we all drove down to Napa from SFO. Traffic ended up being longer than expected -_- so instead of going home to change we headed straight to Jacuzzi winery where we were happily greeted by Ron at the door. The Jaccuzzis are an Italian family that migrated to the US many years ago and yes they invented the jaccuzzis we now so thoroughly enjoy.

We tasted 5 different wines and got a chocolate wine shot in honor of my birthday! Ron's the sweetest. Jaccuzzi is a boutique winery and if you're just looking for a great host, wine history and some good wine. I recommend this spot to kickstart your stay. Also, if  Ron looks familiar shhhhhhhhhh he's in the witness protection program hahahahah!

Had to rep home (LA) too

Ron when he realized his cover may or may not be busted LOL

Broski!

   

Crew post wine tasting!

Chocolate wine shots. Soooo good!

From wine tasting we headed to the house to unpack and rest a little before dinner but before that Bobsy had us decked out with drinks. Y'all still drink jack and coke at weekend getaways? we had custom made drinks all weekend WITH garnishments ;)

Dinner was at Charter Oak and I'd say yes yes yes a must go! The food was certainly really good and their menu changes everyday so you're always up for a treat. Pro tip when you go to Charter Oak the cutlery is in little drawers that are underneath the table. So you can switch out cutlery as much as you want. We live and we learn I tell ya! I took the L, so now y'all can go act like you been in the know since the times of King James LOL.

Soul sister!

Ziewiiii 

Lesans do it best

Post dinner we went back home to bring the 9th in!! light refreshments at home, drinks by my brother extraordinaire and good company! If you haven't, check out my birthday memoir stories on IG to see more of bobo's bartending skills.

This is so opposite typically Goretti has the serious face and I'm goofing around.

Thee best!!! 

Fon and I all weekend. Dancing non stop.

Sure enough midnight rolled in we did a countdown and as always I danced my way into another blessed year. At this exact time the words of the song said "Ma vie est une benediction, un enfant de Dieu ne peut jamais echouer..." Ou bien???!

I know you see my gourmet drink

00:00 February 9th 2019

It be your own sisters LOL

Right after we got into a prayer circle and sang a song (again IG stories) and then Kelly prayed over me so if you and ya ancestors feel y'all finna try me, think again. I'm covered from hair to toenail. I gave out my souvenirs and thank you cards right after that and then we went on to have a pyjama photoshoot and then playing games.

Get in formation everyone

And GBAM! Those in jeans still owe me their fine. I said pyjamas -_-

MOH ;) for the people them ! WE getting married

Hey Kelly :)

Candids!

So this is an old school game we played in the early years of boarding school (Lesans oyay!) that I had completely forgotten about till I saw my friend Temi (hey girl hey! :)) playing it over Christmas and I said we totally have to play this and it was the funniest thing ever. All types of colors were created and at this very instant I was shutting Kabsy down when she said light blue is a color and if at this point you are even thinking of agreeing with her please the color is blue. Light and dark anything are not colors abeg. This probably ended at about 2 am where Goretti and I headed to bed because we had a rendezvous at 6:50am. Everyone else stayed up till later.

Saturday I ticked another item off my 50before50 list it was so surreal :) The weather over the weekend wasn't necessarily the best but I said God the rain will not mess up the ride. If there is anywhere you should do a hot air balloon ride. it's Napa. The greenery is refreshing and the contrast of the balloons bright colors against the sky coupled with the green is out of this world! We got into a balloon that sits 12 with 3 people in each compartment. As dramatic as I am when we took off from the ground I freaked out a little bit hahahah but then the views omg the views calmed me down.

Priceless

After the hot air balloon ride we attempted to make brunch lol but decided against it cause we wanted to be on time to our wine tour and tasting. However, I have heard nothing but great things about boon fly cafe I mean even the wait indicated they know a thing or two about brunch. It's totally on my list for my next visit to Napa (Yes I'll go back at least twice. There's a lot of wineries to cover and plenty more picturesque places to see LOL).

Blessed and favored

Wine tour was at V. Sattui and they have beautiful grounds but it was raining so we didn't get a chance to explore that much and the way my natural hair is set up... I may be a little biased but V. Sattui has some really good wine and I think I know a thing or two about wines. Now I don't do the dry wines but they have that too. Order their Madeira online and thank me later! I was first introduced to Madeira in Santorini (Visanto is still my favorite cause it's sweeter) but V. Sattuis takes a very close second. It's not as sweet but you still get the flavors just as much. If I offer you Madeira (which I probably wouldn't LOL) just know that you are loved but you can drink all my moscato. Okay I'm done talking about wine we'll be here all day. oh wait I lied, It's still my birthday month so do feel free to send me an Olivia Pope style wine glass. Thank You for your generosity!

A votre sante!

While at the tasting we played the telephone game and let's just say the message went left real quick LOL. We have a culprit but I ain't gonna name no names hahahaha

Safe to say after tasting 6 different wines we needed a power nap before dinner later that night plus I was still running on 3 hours of sleep. We got back home took a nap, woke up and got ready and headed to Charlie Palmer for dinner another great recommendation! so good we had brunch there the next day hahahaha. Saturday evening was our home turn up and when I tell you that the crew had self made Bartender, DJ, hype man, photographer, dancers, MCs hahahahaha. We truly only need good company to have a great time.

Red carpet ready!

Napa was everything and I had a superb time with these lovely people. They've each by their way of life have taught me something valuable at one point or another and I wouldn't trade them for nothing. Like you can rent us for your events but the circle is closed hahahahah! I love planning and getting people together so when it's done for me and everything turns out so well I'm truly grateful!

Grace brought me here and by grace I will continue to move forward. New age I have so much to achieve this year, favor me! I can't wait to witness the greatness in all of it.

Leah my hypewoman photographer this is your calling and I'm ever so grateful for you and my baby Lenora, Cameroon's finest make up artist  thank you for making me look flawless. Team of #bosswomen. Who run the world?!

Be sure to go to IG- @femmeetnoir ('memoir' highlights) for the nits and grits cause there's plenty more of our amazing weekend.


PS: If you need an event planned, hit a sister up let's talk. It's kind of like my thing!