The Girls Become Aunties!

Last week my partner Chavi & I became aunties - again! Chavi's sister Karil gave birth on December 28th at 11:03 am to a beautiful baby girl! Little Quinlyn Marie Herrick was born 7 lbs and 20.5 inches long with a ton of brown hair and bright rosy cheeks. She is already showing her fiesty personality - just like the rest of the Hohm girls. Baby and family spent a short time in the hospital but were home before New Year's Eve! Just in time for a lovely dinner with the family and a post dinner game of dice - which is a Hohm family tradition.

Chavi and I left shortly after Christmas to be there for the big event. Although we missed the actual birth we were there within hours after Quinlyn's arrival into the world. The whole family is very excited as that this is the first grandchild for Chavi's parents and of course we are also excited to be aunties one more time.

Hope everyone had as equally as joyful a New Year's Eve and have a rockin' 2007!

Ex-Zillah-rating Fun in Eastern WA

The day after Thanksgiving, the crew and I hit the hills outside Zillah in an attempt to visit as many wineries as possible and taste the numerous offering of Washingtons newest AVA (American Viticultural Area), Rattlesnake Hills. The results were mixed but overall it was a "fruitfull" experience.

I think I can safely say that the group's first impressions of the bigger more well known wineries were less than positive. No offense to Hyatt & Silver Lake, they have some lovely wines, but their public relations - not quite as lovely. Hyatt in particular was under staffed and what staff there was seemed to be burdened by having to pour the rabble some wine in the hopes they would drink more than they dumped. Granted, they were overflowing with people but they should be used to this. Silver Lake, although less busy, was not much better. Little did they know they had the Diva and her wino pals poised with visas ready to purchase had they just "worked it."

By far we had the most fun at the smaller wineries. Although I had a few favorite stops, I give the most kudos to Paradisos del Sol. Here the winemaker was pouring the wine, serving a bite of something to pair with each varietal and spending the time describing the flavors of the wine and the food with the passion you expect from someone who wants you to enjoy their creations and hopefully purchase. And purchase I did - a lovely 2002 Lemberger-Cab blend called Paradisos Red for a whopping $18.

We also had a treat at Steppe Cellars, which just opened in April and is only on their 2nd crush. Maybe this was because we were the very last people in the tasting room at 5:15pm but they invited us to check out their digs and gave us a quick educational tour, complete with a tasting of their newly fermented not yet filtered white wines straight from the tanks. A perfect way to end a fabulous day of wine tasting in the Yakima Valley.

Like to learn more about touring Rattlesnake Hills and other Washington wineries? Check out my links section to the left and see all that Washington Wine Country has to offer.

Jet Setting- From AC to NYC!

In September, my gal & I and our traveling bud, Tracy, hit the friendly skies and landed in good ol' NJ - or the Motherland - as we like to call her. In spite of Ernesto's last ditch effort to blow our rented Big Blue Minivan off the road, we made it safely to Atlantic City. (And yes - I did say Minivan - that was the only car left to rent at 12:30am in the Newark airport on Labor Day weekend!)

Our first few days in AC were spent drinking and dining (what we do best at the Colaprete-Hohm household) and hitting the casinos, where Ms. Chavi won us a little moolah at the Black Jack table. We also found time to lounge on the beach with Mamma Colaprete and our friends, Amy & Chris, who also hucked themselves through the storm from DC to party down with us. After AC, we made our way west to Philly to hang with our East Coast Saturday Night Boyfriends, Rob & Kevin. While there we feasted on great Italian food with the Carrozza family and had a close encounter with Ms. Martha Graham Cracker, a six foot tall drag torch singer, at L'etage. And of course, no trip to Philly would be complete without some tax free shopping!

By the time Thursday rolled around, the girls were in much need of some downtown time and a home cooked meal. So we headed to Stamford, Conn. to chill with our pals, Steve and his lovely wife Mark. And a lovely respite it was - complete with great wine, amazing food and Steve's famous homemade chocolate ice cream, which is To-Die-For!

By Friday we were ready for the Big Apple! Tracy & I checked into the hotel in record time and headed for H&M while Ms Chavi nearly missed running over Geraldo Rivera as she was returning our "soccer mom" vehicle. We spent the next three days hearing some great jazz, blues and Brazilian music all over the city, shopped our way up and down Canal street for fabulous "Fauxce & Gabbana" bags and ended the vaca with a top shelf star sighting at one of our fav Village restaurants. Yes - the girls and I had our butts sat next to Ms. Heidi Klum and her hubby Seal, babes, nannies, and all, while dining at Sushi Samba on our last night in town.

So ended our tour of the east. One week, fours states and many new shoes later we were on our way home! Happy jet setting to ya'll!

This is a new adventure for Leigh and me! We will try to keep you updated on all the Diva doings and fun things we can share around the city!