Desert Rose Winery

On a beautiful spring day, my little family drove out to Hume, Virginia for a friend’s birthday party at Desert Rose Winery.

The tasting room is a beautiful log cabin with wide-plank wooden floors and bright sky lights. When we walked up to the bar, we were warmly greeted by the staff, and even the owners Bob and Linda stopped to say “Hi” to us and our son Jax. (Everyone really just wants to say hi to Jax. Haha)

Desert Rose has a mix of red, white, and rose wines in their tasting. Among our favorites were the Fiery Run Cab Franc and Ole Moo Moo (a crisp white wine named after one of the owners’ cows who lived on the property for 26 years).

Jax trying out the beautiful wooden rocking horse in the kids corner
After our tasting, we bought a few bottles and moved outside to have a picnic and share cupcakes that I made for my friend. As the birthday girl is a big horse fan, Bob brought down a few of his beautiful horses for us to see and pet. When Jax saw the first horse (a big, black Arabian), his little mouth fell open and he whispered “dog”. Haha!

Jax meets horse
There is one other thing you should know about Desert Rose Winery, and that is that it is the newest winery to join the VA Wine Trail of geocaches! You can find the new cache listing here. We hope you are able to stop by, find the new cache, and enjoy this beautiful Virginia winery.

Jax enjoying his visit to Desert Rose

Bunnies, Tea, and Board Games

I love to travel and visit new places! So, because my soon-to-arrive son will be keeping me close to home later this year, I decided to take a couple small trips to places I have never been before.

First on my list was Pittsburgh, PA.

My decision to visit Pittsburgh was easy because I want to visit my wonderful cousin Hannah and see her favorite haunts around the city. Hannah and I have always shared a great love for books, and in the same way that many relatives share clothes, we share books. :) The best ones are always passed back and forth until the true owner is pretty much forgotten.

Dan and I met up with Hannah in the Squirrel Hill area of Pittsburgh on a very sunny Saturday. We began our adventures by visiting a delicious pizza place that had a little ice cream parlor right next door. (You can definitely tell that Hannah and I are related when you see how much we love ice cream. Haha)

To give our stomachs time to digest, our next stop was an overflowing game shop that had just about every kind of game or puzzle you could want. Dan discovered a 32,000 piece puzzle, and I found some cool new expansions for Munchkin.

Mid-afternoon found the three of us entering one of the most unique tea shops that I have seen, called Dobra Tea. While most of the tea shops in Northern Virginia have a great variety of loose-leaf teas, they are more stores than restaurants. Dobra Tea, however, was a quaint restaurant with a scattering of little cubby holes filled with low tables and cushioned benches. One of the cubby holes even had a raised floor so you could sit on floor cushions around a table that only came off the ground a foot or two.

It was at this tea shop that we settled in to play board games with some of Hannah’s friends and two more of my cousins. Everyone ordered tea and snacks. Dan and I got Vanilla tea and Indian Chai tea with a platter of hummus, pita slices, and veggies. The snacks were wonderful, and the company even better. The games we played were: Guillotine, Tsuro, and Masquerade. None of which Dan or I had ever played. I think our favorite one for the day was Guillotine.

For dinner, we went to a little Chinese bistro that sold Hannah’s favorite bubble tea. If you have never tried bubble tea, you must! It is an unusual first time experience, and everyone has a similar first reaction to it. (A mix of confusion and surprise, and then you either love it or hate it.) Here are a couple shots of Dan’s first time trying it. :)

Our trip to Pittsburgh included to other memorable stops. First was a trip up the Duquesne Incline in one of their 100-year-old cable cars, which gave us a beautiful view of the city.

The second was a visit to the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus. The building architecture was something straight out of Harry Potter!

After meandering around the building, we relaxed out in a common area and played with Hannah’s adorable bunny, Mr. Mustache.

I loved our little trip to Pittsburgh. The shops in Squirrel Hill were enchanting, and the food delectable. The best part, though, was the company, and I am very glad I got the chance to visit my cousins and meet some new friends.

If you ever stop by Pittsburgh, be sure to visit Dobra Tea!

(Here’s me and my baby bump with the Pittsburgh University mascot.)

Cardamon Family Vineyards

As much as I love some of the larger Virginia vineyards, small, family-owned vineyards will always have a special place in my heart. They are usually younger vineyards, but many still have delightful wines. They tend to have friendly, intimate settings, and there is something extra special about talking to the person who actually makes the wine.

I recently visited one such family-owned vineyard called Cardamon Family Vineyards. Located off of Harper’s Ferry Rd in Purcellville, VA, Cardamon has all the factors that make small wineries such charming places to stop. Chuck and Ana Cardamon opened their doors only a few weeks ago and are in the process of building a tasting room off of their house. Until the construction is finished, they are offering tastings in their wine barn.


Winemaker Chuck Cardamon has had a life-long love of wine. During his Navy career, he was stationed near Napa Valley, and after retiring, he got to experience wineries in Livermore Valley while attending culinary school. The Cardamons moved to Virginia in 2008 and planted vines of their own.


Cardamon is currently serving three different white wines: Vino di Mele, Cuvee Blanc, and RKATZ. The Vino di Mele is created from 100% apple juice, and unlike most apple wines, it is dry, not sweet. Their Cuvee Blanc is fermented in Minnesota Oak barrels and is a mix of Chardonnay, Semillon, Pinot Gris, and Sauvignon Blanc. It has an appealing wood scent and a soft citrus flavor. Last but not least, the RKATZ is made from 100% Rkatzitelli grapes grown in Horton Vineyards. It is stainless steel fermented, giving it a nice, clean citrus flavor.


As many smaller vineyards do, Chuck Cardamon has found a way to offer something unique at his vineyard. Instead of the usual cheese or oyster crackers to accompany a wine tasting, he enjoys pairing his wines with homemade salsas that he has created himself – and boy are they good! He has even compiled his recipes into a small book that visitors can purchase during their visit. :)

After our tasting, Dan and I sat on a picnic table with some family friends and shared a delicious picnic, enjoying a bottle of Vino di Mele with our meal.

A picture Chuck took for us :)
We really enjoyed our visit to Cardamon Family Vineyards. The friendly atmosphere, the chance to talk with Chuck and Ana about their love of wine, and the delicious wines paired with creative salsas made for a wonderful visit. Dan and I left with three extra bottles to hold us over until we can visit again.

When you stop at Cardamon for a visit, be sure to tell them that Erin and Dan from At The Lamppost say “Hi!”!

Memorial Day Weekend 2013

Long weekends are wonderful. They always pass a little too quickly, but they are a great way to get a break from work without using up lots of vacation days. The best long weekends are the ones that also have a federal holiday at the beginning or end. :)

For Memorial Day weekend, Dan and I started off with a date night at the new Alamo Drafthouse theater in One Loudoun. If you’ve never been to an Alamo theater, I highly recommend you check it out. They are a combination of a movie theater and a restaurant. You purchase tickets for specific seats (so you don’t have to show up really early for the good ones), and you can order all your food and drinks (including alcohol) directly from your seats, even during the movie!

Dan and I have been to the theater three times since it opened at the beginning of May. We love the food, the funny previews before the movie, and the friendly staff. This past Friday, we saw the newest Star Trek movie, and we had yet another great visit at the Alamo. Here’s a picture we got at the theater before the show:


On Saturday, we stopped at two different parties. The first was a very yummy crab feast at a friends’ house. The crabs were delicious, and Dan had fun scaring people with the crabs before throwing them into the cooking pot.

After the crab feast, we headed west to have dinner with my family in Martinsburg. It’s always fun getting together with my cousins. Only your cousins truly understand the kind of crazy family that you come from. LOL We seem to be getting crazier as we get older too. Heehee…

Sunday brought a beautiful sunny day, and Dan and I got to clean house and watch some episodes of Castle before heading out to a VA Wine Mafia meet up. The “godfather” of our group, Kurt, had most generously opened up his pantry and basement to share some wines before they got too old to drink. The other mafia members also brought wines and snacks to share with everyone. Dan and I brought a bottle of Fox Meadow Freezeland White to share. Mmm…




There were many favorites being passed around. Some of my favorites were a Breaux rose, Crushed Cellars Merlot and Meritage, and Berry Hill’s 2010 Petit Verdot. Kurt even broke out a few special bottles – Keswick’s 2009 Cab Sav, Clarksburg’s 2010 dessert red (from Cali), and Corcoran’s special white port.



VA Mafia meet ups are always a blast, and we enjoyed every minute spent with this fantastic group!


No weekend would be complete without spending time gardening, so Monday was spent working on our veggie garden at my dad’s house and the potted garden at our house. We started with a trip to Home Depot for mulch, insect repellant, and a couple flowers.

Our veggie garden was growing, but slowly, and the zuccinni, squash, and cucumbers were getting seriously attached by some nasty yellow striped bugs. At Bluemont nursery, a worker said he had seen the same kind of bugs that we had and gave us some repellant called Eight. It is a product that has been used for years, and part of the mix comes from the extract of crushed mums.

After weeding, applying the insect repellant, and putting down some garden mulch, our garden looked much better.



The last hours of sunlight were spent cleaning up our own backyard. We moved my little maple tree into a big half-barrel pot, put down a bunch of mulch, and did a general clean up. We even gave the puppies a bath, much to their disappointment.





Dan and I thoroughly enjoyed our Memorial Day weekend. It was a great mix of relaxing, fun, and outdoor activity. Cheers to wonderful long weekends!

Bookworm At The Winery

Last Saturday was not a good day for me. I was really out of it and could not seem to get anything I wanted done. Rather than try to stick to all my original plans, I decided to go out The Winery at La Grange to re-hide the geocache that I had hidden there.

Before my original cache hiding place was torn down, the manager at La Grange rescued the container and contacted the geocache approver. At first, I did not think I would make it out there for a while, but when I needed the change of pace on Saturday, I jumped at the chance to visit this beautiful winery again.


Because of the beautiful weather, the winery was packed! But with a little patience, I was able to get one of the servers to retrieve my cache from the office. I meandered around for a while scouting out new potential locations. Many of the likely spots were close to muggles, and I had to keep looking. Finally, I found a cozy spot that looked promising, repackaged the cache, and tucked it into the new hiding spot. For my fellow geocachers, you can find the new coordinates here.


With the cache hidden, I decided to spend some extra time relaxing. I picked up a bottle of refreshing Cuvee Blanc, a container of artichoke and crab dip, and a bag of pita chips from the tasting room before traipsing down to a comfy wooden beach chair near the grape vines.

The view was stunning; the sunshine warming; and I lost myself in the pages of The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett. Oh, if only every Saturday could be so delightfully spent!

Casanel Vineyards

Situated just outside Leesburg, Virginia, Casanel Vineyards is easy to reach, yet far enough from the highways to be quiet and peaceful. Dan and I learned about this winery from our friends and fellow wine bloggers, Fred and Allison, who invited us out to visit one weekend. (You can view Fred's wine reviews at This Is Wine.)

Walking up to the tasting room, I instantly fell in love with the beautiful, stone building. Originally used as a barn, the owners transformed the rustic 1800s structure into a very cozy tasting room, complete with scattered high-top metal tables and chairs.

At one such table, Dan, myself, and my dad (who’d been able to join us) sat down and Fred gave us a tasting of the Casanel wines. They had a nice mix of reds, whites, and a rose. Some of our favorites were the Viognier, the Batucada Merlot, and Dulce. Fred did a fantastic job with the tasting, and we had a lot of fun asking questions and bantering. Fred also introduced us to the owner, Nelson, who was very sweet and told us lots of great stories about Brazil and Portugal.

With glasses of wine in hand, we made our way outside to the covered patio and ordered some gourmet pizzas from a chef who was working at the vineyard for the day. The winery has lots of great outdoor seating if the tasting room starts to get crowded. The owners are also working on an additional tasting room that will provide even more room for guests.

As the winery received more and more customers, Fred went back to help with wine tastings, and we wandered the grounds with Allison.

Pictures from the grounds:

Cute Statues

Gazebo by the Lake

Dan and I Enjoying the Day
Our visit to Casanel was fun and relaxing. We took an extra bottle of Merlot home to share on another night, and we are looking forward to hiding a geocache on our next visit. :)

Passion Blue by Victoria Strauss

Something I love about writing a blog and being involved in social media is that you are able to communicate with people who would be otherwise unreachable. This capability has made itself most evident by my opportunities to connect with some of my favorite authors, as well as discovering some new authors.

One author whom I have met through social media is Victoria Strauss, an accomplished writer of both adult and young adult books. I came across her twitter feed when another author re-tweeted one of Victoria’s posts. As fate would have it, we messaged back and forth a little, and she accepted my offer to review her book Passion Blue.

Summary:
Passion Blue is set in Renaissance Italy and tells the story of Guilia, a precocious young woman who sketches constantly and dreams of having a family. Growing up as the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy nobleman, Guilia received the distant care of her father and the scorn of the rest of the household. When her father dies unexpectedly, the lingering security he provided quickly falls apart, and his widow forces her to join a convent. Desperate to escape, Guilia seeks out a sorcerer with the power to create a talisman that fulfills desires. The talisman seems to work as she begins life at the convent, but Guilia must discover if it is directing her toward marriage or something completely different.

Thoughts on Passion Blue:
I was in the perfect mood when I picked up Passion Blue from the top of my to-read stack. I had just finished a very lengthy book and was ready for a story that did not have to force an extreme level of epic to be an accomplished, complete book. Passion Blue was a wonderful, relaxing read that ended with a flourish and left me with a positive thought.

Within the first paragraph, Victoria Strauss’s depiction of Italy, painting, and color drew me into the story. I love how she described the sensation of Guilia becoming thoroughly absorbed in her drawings. It was so accurate that I started having flashbacks to times when I have become enthralled with my own projects.

My favorite character was Maestra Humilita, who oversaw the painting workshop. While Guilia is an accurate character for a teenage heroine, I found that I was able to relate more to the Maestra, who had already discovered herself but still struggled against the limitations of a biased world.

The overall message of the book, that no one should settle for a life that does not match their true passion and talent, was fantastic. In my opinion, this is an idea that can never be over taught, especially when there are still so many women (even in modern places of the world) who have been raised to believe that a successful life is only accomplished when you meet someone else’s ideal.

To summarize my thoughts, I found Passion Blue to be a delightful, fun read. It is the perfect book to bring on vacation or to curl up with on a rainy weekend. I would recommend this book for pre-teen or young adult readers, as well as for those who enjoy historical fiction or works involving drawing and painting.

A special thanks to Victoria Strauss for responding to my message and giving me the chance to read and review her book!!

The Yotel in New York City

Dan and I had a great time staying at the Yotel while we were in New York City. The Yotel is a small chain of hotels with locations in London, Amsterdam, and New York City. At this hotel, rooms are called cabins and everything is highlighted with purple neon lights, giving it a very modern, almost Star Trek-like, atmosphere.

One thing that you should know if you stay here is that the cabins are small. You will not be knocking your knees into corners or anything (the rooms are laid out too perfectly for that), but it would not work well for a family trying to share a room. For a couple, however, it is quite perfect.

Dan relaxing in the room
There really are too many nice features about this hotel to describe them all at length, so here is a quick list of all the things Dan and I enjoyed about the room:

• Location and price were excellent
• iPod connections to the TV
• Lots of convenient outlets
• Good use of storage areas
• Comfortable bed and pillows that double as a couch
• Complimentary coffee, tea, and muffins for breakfast
• Organic soaps that work as shampoo and body wash and smell fantastic!

Dan with the funny-looking mascot
There were only two things about the room that were not ideal. The first was that there was really no bathroom door, just glass walls. This can be a little off-putting if you are not used to sharing close quarters with someone, or (it must be said) if you have to make a #2 visit to the bathroom. I understand that they chose to use the glass to make the room feel bigger and brighter, but it is a little bit of a surprise if you are not expecting it. :)

The second thing that was not ideal was how well the light switches were hidden. This is probably just a user error on Dan and I’s part, but I swear, we didn’t find half of the light switches until a few hours before we checked out. LOL

Overall, Dan and I thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Yotel, and we are definitely planning on staying there again on our next visit!

Cool robot arm that stores luggage

New York City Weekend – A Cache, a Show, and a Proposal

Forgive me for being remiss about posting this past week and weekend! It has been one of the busiest, most exciting weekends of my life, and I promise to give you all the best details. Our visit to New York City was supposed to be my birthday present from Dan (tickets to see Newsies on Broadway!), but by the end of the trip, it had turned into something else as well…

Around the City:
Dan and I arrived at our hotel, the Yotel, just before 11am on Saturday. Our room was a very cute, tiny cabin, with a bed that turned into a couch and glass bathroom walls. (You can read a full review soon) It took only minutes to organize our things and head back out to the elevators.

Our first destination of the day was Time Square. Within ten seconds of us reaching the main area, we ran into Spike Lee, who was walking to the theater where he is directing a play. I would not have known who he was, but Dan pointed him right out. :)

As we wandered around, we stopped at a cool music store, the M&M store, a couple New York gift shops, and the Element store. I have always been a huge fan of Element clothing, so I was really excited to find a whole store dedicated to them! Lunch was a tiny little pizzeria with mouth-wateringly good pizza. I’m drooling just thinking about it again.

After lunch, we decided to find a nearby geocache. It was a cool hide near a small memorial to fallen firefighters. It took us a bit to find the cache, but we both felt quite proud of ourselves when we figured it out. (Info on geocaching is in my previous post) Happy with our shopping purchases and geocache, we headed back to the hotel to clean up for the evenings events.

Dinner and Drinks with Family:
One thing that happens when you have a large family is that you usually have family members scattered throughout many major cities. For me, NYC was not an exception. On this visit, I got to meet up with my cousin Anne and her boyfriend Lee.

Since they live in the city, they had some great suggestions on restaurants, and we met at a little Thai restaurant called Wondee Siam. The food was fantastic. We listened to the Four Square suggestions and ordered food from the main menu and the “Secret” menu, sharing them among us. (If anyone is interested in finding this restaurant, there are many locations. We were specifically at Wondee Siam I.)

Dinner took less time than we planned, so after eating, we went a few blocks over to the Pony Bar. They had a great selection of beers from local(ish) breweries, and Lee mentioned that it is a favorite bar of the Daily Show cast. Unfortunately, it was too early for cast members to be there, but we still had a great time and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere.

Newsies:
Dan and I’s next stop for the evening was an 8pm showing of Newsies. I’m not going to lie, I was giddy with excitement when we got to the theater. I have loved the movie version of Newsies since it came out in the early 90s. My best friend and I had childhood crushes on the two main actors. She loved Jack Kelly (played by Christian Bale), and I loved Spot Collins (who had an awesome slingshot!).

Ready to watch Newsies!
You can read my full review of the show, but for now, I will simply say that the show was FANTASTIC! They picked a great cast, and the theater itself was beautiful. Dan enjoyed it as much as I did – except he did not know all the words to the song, so he could not sing along with me. :)

The Empire State Building:
Our final destination for the day was the Empire State Building. Dan had asked to see this spot in particular and wanted to go up at night to see the city lights. I thought his interest (he bought tickets in advance) was a little unusual and wondered if he might have something important planned. However, I had never visited the Empire State Building before and decided to wait and see what happened. Besides, I love the movie Sleepless in Seattle; so really, how could I not want to visit?

After checking into the building on Four Square, my first thought as we walked through the building was, “Wow, these lines could be HUGE! I’m glad Dan thought to come late at night when there are less people.” LOL

When we reached the terrace level, the view was really spectacular! The night was mostly clear, but even the clouds were neat to watch as they whipped past. Since there was a virtual geocache for the Empire State Building, we wandered over to the location where the secret “tool” was supposed to be. The information needed to claim the cache was easy to find, and I got some great shots looking out at the city.

Dan and I wandered around for a while longer, locating our hotel and Time Square in the distance. I was starting to wonder why Dan was being so unusually quiet when he said he had a fun question for me. I responded with a casual “OK”, and as I leaned over to look at something below, I heard him ask, “Will you marry me?”! When I turned around, he was kneeling one knee with a ring in his hand!!

I am sure I stood there with my mouth hanging open for a few seconds before I ever so gracefully responded, “Oh my god, are you really proposing to me?!” SMH (smack my head) I was so surprised/excited that he was proposing that I completely forgot to answer him. Haha! When I remembered the normal protocol of proposals, I quickly blurted out an excited squeal of a “Yes”!

The rest of the night was a wonderful blur of calling parents, texting friends, posting pictures to Facebook, and so forth. We were so blissfully happy that a bike cabby was able to con us into taking a $70 ride back to our hotel. LOL

I never knew you could do so many exciting things in one day! It was definitely an unforgettable weekend, and I have lots of fun things to remind me of it all, maybe you will spot a few of our keepsakes on our Christmas tree or at our wedding. Of course, the best one is now on my hand, and I have not been able to stop staring at it!

My New Shiny