Wine Tasting Fun in Northern Michigan

Hi everyone, how is your summer going so far?

For many of us Michiganders (that's what we here in Michigan are referred to as!), summer just wouldn't be complete without a trip to beautiful Northern Michigan!

Last week hubby and I traveled there in our new (to us) motor home. A bit more about our motor home later, we are very excited about it!

I'm sure many of you would be surprised to know that Michigan produces wine.  Not just any wine, but award winning wine!  And we have some amazing wineries that would rival those of more popular wine producing regions, such as California or Washington State!

So nearly each summer we venture north of the Traverse City area, where there are two gorgeous peninsulas, both of which are home to dozens of these amazing wineries!

For this trip, we stayed on the Old Mission Peninsula, which has stunning views of Lake Michigan and the lush surrounding rolling hills.

This first winery, below, just opened up.  It was built to look as if it were in the middle of the Italian country side instead of here in the Midwest!  It was pretty impressive.

Another winery that we like to visit, Chateau Chantal, has this wonderful patio area where you can take your tastings.  

I think this is one of the most beautiful areas of our state!

And here is our home away from home! We'd looked far and wide for a motor home that had all of the features we were looking for.  In fact, we traveled all the way down to North Carolina to buy it!
Notice Miss Molly in the window?

All of these photos were taken with my cell phone and haven't been retouched.  I know the below picture is pretty blurry, but I just couldn't resist sharing it with you!

The motor home has a small window on the side, down at floor level.  It acts as a little peep hole of sorts for Molly!

Up next is Bonobo Winery, which I was very excited to visit for the first time. They opened up less than two years ago, and is owned by Carter Oosterhouse of HGTV, along with his brother.
Carter is a native of Traverse City, and designed the building himself.
While it may look a bit utilitarian on the outside, just wait til you see the inside!

That's me, below.  If you look closely, you'll see Molly on the dash in the front window!

That's super hunky rather handsome Carter on the right, and his brother on the left.

source

We visited on a Monday, when it wasn't crowded in the least.
I just loved these large fabric covered panels that were suspended from the ceiling.  I'm sure they act as great noise baffles.

The design of winery was so well thought out. There are several rooms here and there which are also used as tastings and private tastings. They have the look and feel of being at someones private home.

Ok, I am sure I was the only one to photograph the women's room!

Sorry for the poor picture quality (again, this was taken with my cell phone).  I 

just thought the wire shelf holding the rolls of tp was such an amazing idea, loved it, and the cool light over the sink too.

Mario Batali, a long time fan of  Northern Michigan (he has a summer home in the area) designed the tasting menu of Bonobo. Sadly, we didn't see Carter or Mario on this trip!  I sure would've loved to meet them though!
If you ever get the chance to visit this beautiful area of our state, I would highly recommend it!
Ok, now we are back home, below!
And no, you are not seeing things!  The front two tires really are off the ground!
Our driveway has a bit of a slope, and when the stabilizing jacks are down, the front end comes up!

 Our home, and our home away from home!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
I've gotten so behind in my blog visits, but I promise to stop in as soon as I can!
Have a great rest of the week!

S'Mores Bar, A Fun Party Idea!

Hi everyone, hope your June is off to a good start!

Today I thought I'd share with you a fun idea for your next backyard party or get together,

a S'mores Bar!

I had so much fun creating this project for DecoArt, and couldn't wait to show it to you!

The theme of the project had to be backyard entertaining.

So, after some brainstorming this is what I came up with!

A super fun s'mores bar, which I've set up in our back yard, on my picket fence plant stand.

First I stenciled a pre made burlap banner in a bright reddish orange.

 I made cute little mini chalkboards for signage.  You can't see it, but I hot glued clothespins to the back of the chalkboard, making it easy to clip wherever you want to display them.

 Going along with my yellow-ish orange theme, I painted this neat galvanized caddy, which holds all of the yummy s'more fixings.  I painted just the outside, since I wanted a bit of a rustic touch with the natural galvanized look.  I just love this caddy, it has a total of 10 divided compartments. When I first spotted it, I thought it would be perfect for storing the chocolates, marshmallows, and more.

 Taking a thrift store frame, I painted it this vibrant goldish orange.  I found a really neat "gourmet s'mores" menu on Pinterest which I printed out and just stuck in the frame.  My mouth is watering just thinking of all of the yummy possibilities!

I wanted to think of something that people could use to hold all of their s'mores fixing, so I spent quite a bit of time hunting around Hobby Lobby.  It's amazing what you will find at craft stores when you go down isles you don't usually shop!

As soon as I discovered these "fry boxes" as they are called, I just knew they would be perfect!

I covered them in fun patterned scrapbook paper, using a glue stick.

Here's a look at my caddy empty.

I had so much fun with this project, and creating this little vignette!

We're going to have a party here later this summer, and you can bet I will be setting up my bar for sure!

Who doesn't love s'mores???  Yum!

Want to come over and join me?

All we need now is a bonfire!!

Here's one more look.

Thanks so much for stopping by, hope you have a great weekend!