Cinq Cepages Weekend

School is underway, which means back to school nights and struggles with homework have commenced all over again. Think: overwhelmed AND stressed out! I am continuing on as the director of the art and music appreciation program at the elementary school, adding even more fun and delight to my already over-packed schedule. Classes start a week from Monday, but preparation on my end has been going on for a month now and I have been busily recruiting docent volunteers and writing up the first lesson plans. I also sat through the most excrutiatingly boring THREE hour Parent Teacher Organization budget meeting in order to get my funding for the year approved. Boy, am I glad I work for myself and don't have to sit through mind numbing meetings on a daily basis. If I did, I would surely have to wear a sign around my neck to warn people...CAUTION! head about to explode!

At the end of the week, just when my eyes were starting to cross, and I felt my tentative grasp on reality slipping away, my husband suggested that we park the kids at a friends house and hightail it out of here for a weekend in Sonoma. The crush has started in the Sonoma Valley and at Chateau St. Jean, on Saturday, they unveiled their new 2002 Cinq Cepage Release. We spent an idyllic, "kid-less and loving it" afternoon at our favorite vineyard with friends. We sampled wines, while watching as the grapes were harvested in the fields before our eyes. We spent the night at our friends home in Santa Rosa in their amazing house with its incredible view of Sonoma valley. We were away for just 24 hours, and yet it felt like we had gone away for a week. Back at home, reality sets in once again. Soccer games have been attended, homework has been reviewed, groceries have been bought AND a much needed work out at the gym was squeezed in. Back to real life...and on we go....