Big News for Austin's Airport

Things I love about Austin's Airport:

• Friendly Staff
• Compact size
• Reasonable security lines (although not so much on Monday mornings)
• The Salt Lick baked potato

Things I do not love:

• The questionable use of the name: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport

I don't know about you, but every international flight I've taken out of Austin has required stops in Houston, Dallas or New York. 

That will change in March when British Airways starts non-stop service between Austin & London. Yay! It kind of feels like the world just opened up a bit more.

http://www.statesman.com/news/travel/british-airways-to-fly-nonstop-austin-to-london/nZkTn/

This Lovely...Healdsburg Life

Greetings from the oh-so-lovely California Wine Country! This is absolutely one of my favorite places on earth for the natural beauty, the food & wine culture & most of all because it's home. It is a well documented fact that I love Austin, Texas & for this time in my life, it's a great place to be. But I will always feel a pull to the rolling golden hills of Northern California.

This time, we are in town to celebrate the milestone birthday of a dear friend. We are staying at the stylish (clean lines, gorgeous light, Public Bikes) Hotel Healdsburg. I can highly recommend both the hotel & the town of Healdsburg.

For eats, we hit Campo Fina, Oakville Grocery, Dry Creek Kitchen & Barndiva. The standout wineries were Jordan & Lambert Bridge. My favorite moments were riding bikes on the plaza, the picnic lunch at Lambert Bridge & the big tray of breakfast delivered to me in bed by sweet Scott each morning.

Thank you for breakfast in bed, honey!

Don't mind if I do ;)

Jordan Winery. I'm pretty sure I need to move in

Our wheels for the weekend

Juiceland Cleanse

I picked up a few key phrases in France. Je voudrais une baguette, Je voudrais un verre de vouvray, Je voudrais un petit dessert. Loosely translated: I want, I want, I want...delicious things.

It's one of the best parts of vacation, discovering that joie de vie, relaxing the standards we set for ourselves in real life. It's lovely. And when we come home, it feels good to get back to our healthy habits. This part,this readjusting to real life, has been a bit challenging for me this time around & it's time to clean things up a bit. So...

It's time for a Juiceland Cleanse. Austin has it's share of great places for juice. I love Juiceland (www.juicelandaustin.com) because of this amazing concoction called the Ninja Bachelor Party. I crave it. Seriously Amazing. Sadly, the Ninja Bachelor Party is not a part of the "Level Two" cleanse, but I am looking forward to trying some new juices. Since I'm doing 3 days this time, the cleanse will be all wrapped up in time for my birthday on Friday. Cheers!

Chenonceau

I'm three posts in to an Austin-centric blog & here I am posting about...France. I can't help myself. Our family is just back from two lovely weeks in France & the trip was just as lovely as can be.

On the design front, the big winner of the trip was the chateau  Chenonceau. There was such a beautiful simplicity to it's design, especially when compared to other more ornate, castle-like chateaus. Chenonceau is known for being one of the first chateaus designed with pleasing aesthetics in mind, instead of protection. It was built for  Diane de Poitiers the king's mistress, who was later booted out by the king's wife, Catherine de Medici. The feminine influence is apparent here, this is no hunting lodge. The gallery, pictured below was so lovely & has inspired some ideas for my someday dining room re-do (stay tuned.)