7th Anniversary in Rearview

I won't lie and say that seven years of marriage isn't hard. It is. It's like entering your 40s. You know each other well, but you also realize that certain things are the way they are and that's just it. They aren't going to change. You both have feelings like this about the other person. But, you are also solid on what brought you together and why you stay. Best of all, if you stick around, your joint adventures continue. Life is the silent companion in marriage. Maybe some of you think of it as that third wheel. However you describe its uncertainties, life ensures that you never know when the unexpected will strike!

We had a joint "unexpected" recently at a live auction fundraiser for our daughter's school. I wanted to share the adventure because we were in it together and it shows how much we believe in our daughter's school.



For more than 10 years we have been volunteer prep cooks and servers of gourmet Tuscan dinners two of our friends (the head chefs) offer as charity fundraisers. This year, we offered to underwrite a Tuscan dinner of our own to the community at the school. No one had any frame of reference for the dinners so I carefully crafted introductory marketing through visuals and sound (the chefs and cooks sing to entertain) of what the dinners were like.

We worked hard to make sure the event was included as a live auction item and I hoped secretly for a winning buyer--any buyer at any price. Tuscan dinners are10-course meals for 8 or 10 specially invited guests. They last for hours and involve a deep Foodie experience. We leave no sense untouched--part of the experience includes singing at the meal's end and all the food is made from organic, local ingredients and hand-crafted with care.  A lot of kitchen volunteer help is involved, along with a huge organization chart on the wall of tasks and times when certain things must happen to keep the guests happy and filled with food, wine, ambiance, company and merrymaking.

As the underwriters of the dinner for everything except the lovely home where the dinner takes place, I expected to sell the dinner at a loss. Instead, two people stood up during the bidding and offered their houses for the dinner for $3K. So not only did we sell 1 dinner for $1300, we sold a second one for $3K. Wow! Just...wow.

What has happened in your life that puts the "fun" in "fundraising?"

Happy First Wedding Anniversary to Us!

We decided the best tradition for this blog was to given it annual updates on our wedding anniversary. We took a long, glorious weekend in Mendocino where we journeyed last January to write our vows (scour the internet) by the fire at the Mendocino Hotel while it drizzled rain outside.

This weekend, we were welcomed on Friday evening with a glorious sunset, we woke to a rainbow the following morning! If you love the sea, the trees and plants exploding with life under the kiss of spring- come to Mendocino in March. Not only is it whale migration time (with their calves they birthed in Mexico), it's a great time for scouring tidepools for life, visiting art galleries, hot tubbing, and more.

Here's the short list of to dos for anyone headed to Mendocino:

• Eat at Cafe Beaujolais. The menu is incredible. The trick to getting a table is to eat early (or late). That's 6pm or 9, respectively, defined by American standards.
• Rent a hot tub for two at Sweetwater Spa.
• Visit the tidepools and follow the marsh, cliffs or beach walk at MacKerricher State Park.
• Wander in the redwoods by the Navarro River.
• Explore the art galleries in both Mendocino and Fort Bragg- you won't be dissapointed!
• Wine taste in the Anderson Valley along Route 128. Special love for Handley Cellars and Greenwood Ridge winery. Greenwood has recently delved into OEMd dark and milk chocolate bars courtesy of Mendo Chocolate company. With no cacao percentage listed on there, I recommend chocolate snobs pass on the dark bar- too sugary and no flavor body to speak of...
• If traveling in March, enjoy the pinks and greens of the oaks with pink/chestnut colored buds at the ends of branches with moss growing closer in toward the trunk. Plus the white, pink and fuscia flowers on the fruit trees are incredible!
• Definitely visit the Mendocino Art Center. Nice folks with a bit of history on board- Ansel Adams had his darkroom on their site back in the 1950s. They sent us off with a congratulatory copy of Mendocino County Wines & Cooking cookbook. A homegrown, somewhat carefreely edited cookbook of delectable recipes compiled from local wineries and inns throughout the county. Can't wait to dig into those!
• Don't be afraid to go slim on the accommodations budget. A bit rustic but with plenty of simple charm and convenience to compensate, we stayed at the Seafoam Lodge. Not a bad view in any room plus the fun of watching people who've brought their dogs to this pet friendly place play on the lawn. Of course, if you really want to splurge on yourself, don't take anything but the Elk Cove Inn...and you'll need a heck of a lot more advance planning to get in there. I've been going there on and off for 10 years- the place is fantastic and with the addition of its restaurant- getting better. The massage...well, my thought is try first at Sweetwater.
• See all the baby lambs jumping in the fields. According to my new copy of Images of America about the Anderson Valley, sheep farming goes way back in this valley. What's most amazing to me is that the wineries weren't even part of the picture here until the early 1980s! More local history at the Anderson Valley Historical Society.
• Further into the year- don't forget you can horse backride on the beach and sea kayak!

More pictures on our Flickr site and some tide pool video at my other blog. Thanks for reading!

With This (Domain) Name, I Have Thee Wed

It was a standup shocker that I chose to be low key about. The Comcast guy called me "Mrs. Watt" today and I answered "hmmm" with the "yes I'm listening pitch." I think it bums David out a little but I won't be taking his name. Because his family was thinking ahead a long time ago though, they registered the watt.com domain name. So, at minimum, I've taken David's (family's) domain name (in an email address).

But since we are the generations now that are thriving and living in very different ways than the people even just 100 years ago lived, new trends are developing. When I was kicking in the womb, my Mom actually called me David- as a sort of placeholder. She thought I was a boy. She finally has her David now. For many years I was eager to dump my last name and dreamed of more "normal" names. But now that I'm beating my own drum so much these days, I like the uniqueness of my own last name. We're just a few in hundreds of thousands...I've guestimated. I've also heard the theory that my last name is like Johnson over in parts of Russia and Central Europe. We may actually get a little slice of that on our honeymoon...details to follow.

Here's a nice post of the facts and finances about name change options and some of the stereotypes around brides who do traditionally change their names and grooms who choose to be the leading edge of change.