By the end of our adventure we took a moment to do the math {not our strong suit but luckily the numbers were far easier than the conversion rates we’d been calculating} and we realized of the 24 hours we’d had in Paris, we spent 13 walking/sightseeing, 4 sleeping, 3 arguing with an insolent French concierge, 3 eating/drinking/cabbing and one precious hour at the Louvre – at least 98% of this time was spent in a state of near-hypothermia, which actually makes it all the more memorable… the sights, sounds and smells of the City of Light are seared into our sense-memory like frost-bite.

Without further ado – notre voyage à Paris….

1. Night before: attempting French with helpful iPhone ap: s’il vous plaît, merci!
2. 7:30 train station breakfast: eggs + prosciutto, toast and fresh mint tea
3. My first ever train ride… sunrise over French countryside= beyond compare.
4. French graffiti-stained tunnel walls
5. Gare du Nord
6. cold. cold. cold. frickin’ cold
7. EPIC staircase over 300′ straight up
8. Sacré Coeur against a flawless French sky
9. First glimpse of the “Tour Eiffel” and all the rest of Paris sprawled below
10. Metallic mimes
11. Lost in Montmartre
12. Moulin de la Galette
13. Accidentally stumbling upon the Amélie grocery: Au Marche de la Butte… Collignon!
14. Moulin Rouge {very underwhelming}
15. Amy’s sporadic French Tourette’s: la boulangerie!
16. Vespas everywhere, but no riders
17. Dog poo everywhere, but no dogs
18. Open-air double-decker: sunshine and ice
19. Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde
20. George Washington near the Trocadero {represent!}
21. Finally, la Tour Eiffel! Second-level: Awe, Appreciation, Photos, Frost-bite
22. Sunset over the Siene
23. Parting is such sweet sorrow: Twilight view of the tower from below
24. //hats off// services at Notre Dame: Gorgeous, Gothic, Ghostly
25. Statues, candles, deep choral sounds of French devotion echo in ten-stories
26. Captivating chandeliers: unearthly light absorbed into ancient stone
27. Kneeling on the cold stone for the shot… and feeling compelled to stay on my knees
28. Find Peter, Find food
29. Parisians smoking outside= Good choice for dinner
30. Bistrot la Grange: A pint of Leffe, a dozen escargot, a bottle of 2003 Château Garreau Bordeaux, chilly crème brûlée and an English server who named our snails after the Beatles
31. Belly full of mushroom risotto { Supreme Poultry}, burger + frites {and the best mayo in history} and un-pasteurized cow cheese with French bread.
32. Friendly cabbie, nice surprise
33. Hotel La Bellechasse: Splendid.
34. Tiny but impeccable room, wall and ceiling murals by Christian Lacroix – like being in a diorama
35. Chilled vodka shots with lemon {followed by mint gum, a fine choice!}
36. Giant Chanel ad on the Musée d’Orsay. Only in Paris
37. Discovering the disco-ball Eiffel Tower – every hour on the hour?
38. Louvre at night. Silent. Cold. Breathtaking.
39. Long exposure moon= midnight sun.
40. Walk to the tower, no cab to the tower, no walk… man it’s cold out here… ok cab.
41. 12:00zm Eiffel Tower two-minute sparkle show, then lights-out
42. Champs-Élysées: Hole in the wall bar for drinking, hole in the floor bathroom for peeing
43. 2am: back to the hotel, 2 comfy twin beds for three, concierge drunk on power, gendarmes useless for non-French speakers
44. 4 precious hours of sleep, one extra because of the time difference
45. Sunrise over the Siene
46. One hour Louvre mission: Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo – go!
47. Postcards from the train station… back to London.

* * *

One of the many wonderful bits that came back with me from this trip was a habit of short-hand “happy thoughts” journaling. This cheerful listing evolved mostly from writing down fond memories in bullet-points instead of paragraphs in an effort to write as fast as possible, thus documenting the most important details before they slipped form our mind’s view. But also, Amy once kept a numbered “happy thoughts” journal and I found the idea both appealing conceptually and surprisingly easy in practice – so that is how I intend to convey our trip to you: with photos and happy thoughts.  If you’re interested in seeing Amy’s experiences, visit her London blog here. {Although be warned, there’s a lot of cross-over, we were pretty much together for every minute of every day, so you’ll see a lot in common in our recollections

And with that, I’ll start at the beginning…

1. Friendly-face: meeting long-time pen-pal in person, for the first time. Surreal.
2. City and Colour: “I’ve seen a palace in London, I’ve seen a castle in Wales”
3. Our first British meal: waffles
4. Discovering just how perfect our flat was, and how it smelled delightfully of fabric softener
5. Discovering that the aforementioned “perfect” flat did not, at the moment, have hot water
6. Aldgate East tube station only blocks away
7. Aldgate East tube station closed for “works”
8. Tube map *gorgeous*
9. Mind the Gap
10. Piccadilly – an old, pint-sized Times Square
11. Peroni: cold + delicious
12. Pizza with a hole in the middle + salad inside and one very ambitious little tomato
13. Strata: laughing, wine drinking, embarrassing story sharing, limoncello shot taking
14. At last, sleep.
15. 8am. Loud construction. “London is awake and so am I”
16. Rain. “London is wet and so am I”
17. First ever taste of bennie @ BAFTA - so good the calories don’t matter.
18. Covent Garden, Trafalgar square, National Portrait Gallery, Big Ben, London Eye
19. Lensbaby graffiti
20. Realizing when you don’t tip for service, you typically have to pay before you get any
21. Girl Guides
22. Attempts to figure out the all-in-one washer dryer next to the dishwasher, under the sink
23. Hairdryer + wet shoes = warm wet shoes
24. two little black dresses + one “pimp”
25. Comedy Store “Save the Rhino” – Spiffing good time!
26. Tequila + “Dark Knights” @ Planet Hollywood, our last resort
27. Red phone booth + Double-decker ride= shelter from downpour
28. Ridiculous self-portraits
29. Gigantic puddle splashing
30. 4am Beastie Boys
31. Still no hot water
32. Petrol
33. Sunset at the Brighton Pier
34. The Great Eastern – Hoegaarden with orange + jenga
35. Damien Rice: Volcano
36. Ketchup on Lasagna, Jackets, Welsh rarebit and more Peroni
37. Digestive biscuits
38. Trying to explain S’mores to Mark and Adam
39. Trying to make S’mores… digestives for grahams, in the back of Adam’s car while driving. Mmm butane
40. Poorly-lit videos of S’more attempts and bad accents
41. Foxes and roundabouts
42. Frantic dash for mystery-train
43. Sleep.  Sleep. Hot water repair man. Sleep.
44. Post-shower trifecta: heated towel racks, heated mirrors, radiant floors
45. Tower Bridge at night. Spectacular.
46. Frozen, frozen hands
47. { PARIS }
48. Stuffed chicken and Egyptian Ratscrew at Carnival
49. Mimosas + a fond farewell to our flat
50. Hotel Teddington = Jen + Mike
51. Ascending narrow, narrow, winding circular stairwell with big heavy bags = comedy
52. The Bell, Free House
53. Bambi Burgers + camera talk
54. Windsor Castle followed by Sunday Pub roast {and chilli puffs}
55. Banoffee Pie
56. Southland via itunes
57. the Tower tour a la Beefeater
58. Crown Jewels and Ravens in cages
59. More French Macaroons {thanks Paul}
60. Keep Calm, Carry On
61. Tube to Marylebone, Train to Gobowen
62. { WALES }
63. Authentic fish + chips
64. Rudest bus driver, perhaps rudest British man… ever, like in history
65. Terminal 1, Heathrow International Airport

Thank you to Mike + Jen our gracious hosts and Adam our patient tour-guide/photographer/chauffeur — London would not have been nearly as entertaining, comfortable, memorable or hilarious without you. xoxox

I should preface this post by saying that this is the back-story for the next few posts {London, Paris, Wales and Iceland} – it’s not really about New Years at all. This is partly because I am not really a fan of holidays that include fireworks… but mostly because it was my trip to Europe late in the month of January that was the most remarkable part of the new year.

In August of 2010, just after three weeks in New York {teaching a workshop and then working the gift show for Dog is Good } I thought to myself… “come January I am really going to need a vacation. I think, what I am going to do is just set the dates, walk into an airport, pick somewhere, get on a plane, and disappear for two weeks by myself.”

I thought about the places I might choose, perhaps somewhere warm and isolated, perhaps somewhere far and foreign, and then it hit me: London. I’ve never been, I’ve always wanted to go, and best of all, I have friends there I really should visit.

Fast forward one day, and I get a text from my friend/colleague/fellow dane + dane photographer Amy:

Amy: “Hey, is there any way you would consider going to London with me in January?”

Me: “Um, random… Yes!”

Amy: “Really???”

Me: “Yeah I had JUST decided I wanted to go there in January. I was thinking later in the month, like 1.20-1.30?”

Amy: “I’m SO in”

Me: “Me too! Let’s DO it”

And that was that. Two weeks later we had airline tickets {booked through REI adventures, who were awesome, by the way} and thanks to a stellar deal from IcelandAir, we had a 3 day layover in Reykjavik on our way back from the UK.

You’re thinking “Iceland, in January??” {which, by the way, is exactly what I said when Amy suggested we stay there for a few days} but after some google searches I saw breathtaking image after breathtaking image of the blue lagoon, the Northern Lights, puffins, glaciers and geysers and I was fully on board.

* * *

The following weeks and months ended up being rather surprising and life changing for me. Only a few short days later, on Labor Day, my wonderful boyfriend Colin asked permission from my dad the old-fashioned way and then proposed to me out at Seabrook. We immediately set a date {9.10.11} and began planning our wedding there by the ocean. Life was good, business was busy and the holidays rapidly approached.

Come November, two months, dozens of shoots, and a trip to Vegas, L.A. and Mexico later, my major deadlines had been met, Colin was off to India on business and I had a few days to myself with the dogs. I can’t explain exactly what happened, but basically I had an awakening of sorts. At the end of a week spent mostly editing images, starting work on a screenplay I’ve been dreaming up for a few years, spending many hours with friends I hadn’t seen much of in months and generally being still and quiet {those of you who know me know this isn’t a common occurrence} I came to the incredibly shocking and painful realization that I wasn’t on the right path. Once I was aware of this reality it was impossible and insane to ignore… and from there I embarked on the most difficult two weeks of my life to-date, over the course of which, everything changed.

By the time 2011 arrived I was no longer planning a wedding, I was no longer living at home and all I could think about was the trip I had so casually scheduled with Amy months ago… and all I wanted was for it to come sooner. After some arm-twisting {thank you for humoring me Amy} and flight finagling {thanks for your help Dan}, we upped our departure date from Jan. 20 to Jan. 13. Looking back, I am so very, very glad we did.

I spent my last stateside nights at Jamie’s doing a bit of workshop planning, had one last delicious American breakfast with friends {and a round of bloody marys} and then, as if in a dream, we were reclining with at 10,000 feet, destination: London/Heathrow.

Article + Photography by J.Nichole Smith

In Bend, Oregon you’ll find an exquisite high desert landscape complete with pine trees and fragrant sage, the lovely SunRiver resort and spectacular weather – but the real jewel of this former lumber town is 14 yr. old Mimi Ausland.

When Mimi was just 11, she created Freekibble.com – a trivia web site where visitors can answer a daily multiple-choice question, and correct or not, 10 pieces of kibble will be donated to a homeless dog. In only three short years freekibble.com and its sister-site freekibblekat.com have donated over 3.9 million meals to over 100 shelters, and are two of the top 5 most visited animal rescue sites in the world, boasting a whopping 100,000 combined daily visits from visitors in 137 countries. Needless to say, Mimi has been a very busy girl.

I recently had a chance to catch up with miss Mimi and her parents at the Central Oregon Humane Society. After a brief photo shoot we worked together to unload and put away two palettes worth of  Halo’s “Spot’s Stew”. This delivery, which was one of  Mimi’s regular end-of-the-month visits to her local shelter, was special… it marked the beginning of freekibble’s exclusive partnership with Halo pet food.

Perhaps most well known for their ultra-famous co-owner Ellen DeGeneres, and their recent support of the U.S. Postal Service’s 2010 “Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet” stamps, Halo seems to be making a name for itself in holistic and high quality pet food products. Halo has been honored with National Canine Cancer Foundation “Seal of Excellence” and now, Halo is honored to be collaborating with Mimi:

“We are thrilled to partner with such an amazing young woman and her organization,” said Steve Marton, CEO, Halo, Purely for Pets®.  “Her desire to keep shelter pets fed, not with just any food, but with natural, healthy food, is commendable.  We at Halo are honored to be able to help Freekibble fulfill their mission of feeding shelter pets in the best possible way.”

If you haven’t yet been to freekibble.com – now is the time!  Visit the site and be sure to subscribe to receive regular email reminders to visit and support the cause. The trivia questions range from super easy to super fascinating, but whether you guess right or wrong, you’ll be responsible for 10 more pieces of kibble finding their way into the belly of a hungry shelter pet, and there’s nothing trivial about that!

* * *

After our “hard work” was done I had a chance to join Mimi and her parents for dinner and then a family photo shoot at their home. I enjoyed meeing Mimi’s own dog, Aspen {a doll of a Golden} and having the chance to get to know this one-of-a-kind girl a little bit more. Watch out world – she’s got a lot yet to give and do!  It’s a joy knowing kids like her are out there, making a difference in a big way.

When I think Oregon, I think Portland… which is about 3 hours from my front door.  I’ve traveled to Astoria on the Oregon coast, as well as all the way straight through Oregon on down to California, and in all of those mental maps of the “Beaver” state {yes, seriously I didn’t make that up} I never think of it as very far away. And yet, on hour 5 of my drive…. I thought I’d never get there!

What I failed to fully comprehend, is that Bend is near smack-dab in the center of the state. Flanked by National Forest and to the north, by Mt. Hood – this place is wayyyy out there! Luckily, the drive is downright lovely and I had my favorite road-trip companion… Olivia the great.

We were headed to SunRiver Resort, a pet-friendly destination I was excited to visit, especially after learning that it is a sister property to one of my favorites here in Washington, Suncadia.

Just as the clock had ticked past hour 8 of our journey, we pulled into the thin desert-pine lined entrance to SunRiver – both of us excited to stretch and sniff the high-desert air.

* * *

SunRiver is a massive place – smash-full of activities, attractions and sheer natural beauty. Golf, horse-back riding, kayaking, pool lounging, bike riding, hiking and trailblazing are only a few of the long list of outdoor activities SunRiver affords its guests. We had the opportunity to hit the spa for a massage and a soak in the super-cool “sunset ceiling” hot tub {yeah, the walls change color like the sun is setting – Sooooo cool} and the options for dining are plenty.

The dogs enjoyed the communal green space out in front of our second-story room – during Olivia’s morning walk we met an airedale, a dachshund, a basset – our boxer-friend Scout and schnoodle-friend Ziggy and several eager kids. During the day, Olivia enjoyed sprawling in the sun on our private balcony to watch the busy yard below.

Even MORE exciting that SunRiver itself, was the other reason I was in Bend, OR – and that was to meet and photograph miss Mimi Ausland – the young {like 13 yrs. young} founder of FreeKibble.com

But you’ll get to read about that in the next post… For now, enjoy some SunRiver moments!!

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of venturing out to Seabrook (my #1 favorite WA ocean-side getaway). My purpose was to #1 attend the “Doggie Days” event held there (making an appearance for both dane + dane pet photography & Dog is Good). The #2 reason for the trip was to photograph the three canine kids of my new friend Ann, the proprietor of “Salty Dog”,  the new pet boutique coming to Seabrook this summer.

The event on Saturday was a ton of fun – there was a great turn-out of fun-lovin’ Fidos, all helping to raise money for the North Beach PAWS Animal Shelter in Ocean Shores. We all thought Olivia was a contender for the “lick peanut butter off a spoon” contest – but alas she was bested by a ravenous Golden Retriever. I guess all those “dainty eater” manners don’t always come in so handy

The next day we had a lazy one – made yummy breakfast, walked the beach, rode the beach cruiser bikes around town, relaxed in the hot tub.  When the tide was out and the sun was low, we met up with Ann, Max, Gus and Henry to wander down to the ocean for some fetch, frisbee and photos.

I love, LOVE shooting on the beach – what scenery eh? Makes my job soooo easy

One of the most spectacular sights Washington has to offer is the view of our majestic Mt. Rainier – but can you believe I have lived here all my life and never been anywhere near this Northwest icon? Shame on me, I know.

On April 16th I traveled about 90 miles to Crystal Mountain. Ladies and gentlemen – it was worth the wait.  I tell ya what, there’s no better view of Mt.Rainier than from that summit. It literally left me breathless – and speechless ( and if you know me, then you know just how rare it is for me to be sans commentary!}

More importantly, I was invited to mountain by Andrew and the Avalanche Rescue Dogs of Crystal.  Way back in November, Andrew saw me featured on the  “Tales for the Pet Lover’s Heart” TV special and he tells me he thought to himself… “Now that’s the kind of person we need up here at to photograph what our dogs do” – I couldn’t agree more!

When I arrived in the Ski Patrol room – I was greeted with half a dozen sniffers and wags… I have had so much anticipation building to meet these dogs I was just as excited as they were!

I had to quickly surmount my epic fear of heights and hop onto two consecutive chair lifts to get to the top – here’s the view from behind me… happy dogs!

***I have to admit – many of these shots didn’t turn out because I was shaking so terribly. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a lift with no board/skis, a pack full of gear and have turned around to photograph behind you (downhill) but for me it was terrifying. Luckily – I was surrounded by the mountains finest rescue crew, that made me feel a little better

* * *

{Cirrus + Andrew}

{ Dee + Jen }

{ Skye }

{ Ari }

{ Kala }

{Newman}

{ Sierra + Ben}

** You can see how the clouds started rolling in – look at the difference between Dee + Jen and Sierra and Ben – bye bye mountain!***

There are a ton more of these photos I want to share with you – but I absolutely cannot wait any longer to post this blog!!

P.S. I should mention that we accomplished this entire shoot without treats, toys or other methods of bribery. These dogs are conditioned to respond to praise as their reward for the work they do – a new and challenging experience for sure (for me). But all these dogs are so obedient and fantastic and their handlers were so helpful, that it truly was a pleasure to photograph them all!

Still, two weeks after photographing this little puglit, I cannot get her out of my mind. I have spent COUNTLESS hours in front of my computer selecting and deselecting photos, trying to narrow down 671 images to 50. Yeah, right. This is what I cannot stand about decidedly photogenic dogs and their equally lovely people… it’s pure agony to pick which images make the “cut”. Oh what a delightful problem to have.

I met Momo and her family on an incredibly blustery day in San Francisco (February 4th to be exact). This also happened to be the same day I arrived in SF – so I landed, jumped on the BART, found my hotel, checked in, and had just enough time to change clothes, gather my camera gear and grab an umbrella before bolting out the door. I was thankful for the town car that the Hotel recommended because although I typically walk EVERYWHERE in San Fran – this weather was pure misery.

When I arrived my destination in SoMa, I was relieved to find a gloriously chic lobby waiting for me. As I walked in I thanked my lucky stars for the large windows, high ceilings and perfectly appointed decor, because there was no way we were going to be able to shoot outdoors as we’d hoped.

Deborah met me in the lobby, a squirming Momo in her arms, wriggling against her mom to greet me. Deborah set Momo down, she bounced over to me and I got my first fill of pugalove in ages. I got pug sniffs and snarfs and kisses and wiggles (and of course hair). It was the perfect way to start our time together.

We plodded into the elevator and headed upstairs to Momo’s apartment where apparently it became immediately necessary for Momo to run crazed circles around the floor, pausing at a few of her favorite toys before racing off again, tail tucked, screaming a battle cry that I took to mean:  “oh-my-gosh-mom-there’s-someone-here-and-she-has-treats-and-toys-and-she-smells-really-awesome-and-I-think-she’s-here-for-me!” She was right.

We spent the next two hours tugging, chasing, tossing, cuddling, and of course, shooting. Momo has the BEST little personality, and she was at the perfect age where she was still too small to jump off the couch on her own, so once I plopped her up there she hung out… being devastatingly photogenic until I let her down.

She also very clearly loves her humans and some of the images we captured are PURE GOLD!  I am so excited about this shoot I was actually a few days behind getting it out because I can’t stop obsessing over it.  I think you’ll have to agree with me that this is the real San Francisco treat!

P.S. After this shoot I had a meeting to attend – I ended up at a nearby “Philz Coffee” and had an AMAZING taste experience: If you want the details read my Yelp review. Otherwise – make sure you seek out a a Philz in Nor Cal and try the “Tesora Mocha”. Yum!

]]> http://dane-dane.com/blog/mighty-momo-the-mini/feed/ 3 http://dane-dane.com/blog/back-to-the-land-of-the-living-finally/ http://dane-dane.com/blog/back-to-the-land-of-the-living-finally/#comments Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:05:20 +0000 admin http://dane-dane.com/blog/?p=663 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

Well I did it again – I totally neglected my blog for nearly three WHOLE months. Wow. I always think I am prepared for the sheer volume of shutter-clicks, late nights, design deadlines, plane rides, print orders, post office runs and various social, family and business events that come with the months of November + December, but yet again I was totally bowled over by the holiday season.I needed nearly the entire month of January to recover!

But here we are, February!  I love this month… I just celebrated my birthday this week. It’s amazing how every year they seem less and less important. I was in San Francisco this time with two of my dearest friends, working the Dog is Good booth at the San Francisco Gift Show. If it weren’t for the celebratory cupcakes and super sweet gifts from my compadres (I totally scored – Nordies gift certificate, awesome photo frame and LUSH bath products *yay*) I might have forgotten it altogether.

Well, I take that back… with facebook, no one can forget it’s their birthday! Although, it is nice to see dozens of special greetings pop up all day online, some from people you haven’t even talked to in years. I should also note – Olivia and I share a birthday – pretty cool eh?  We’re both Aquarius’  – I was sad to have been out of town for her sixth birthday (yes, she’s now 42 – nearly middle-aged! )  She’s gotten a bit lazier in her years, but is still regularly mistaken for a puppy. Love ya’ girl.

Ok so on to the FUN stuff!

Since I last wrote so much has happened that I am not even going to TRY to re-cap. Lots of trips to California, lots of photography, a move, lots of design – several exciting press debuts etc. etc. I am, however, going to post a few of my most recent puppy shoots this weekend. I have another puppy shoot scheduled on Monday (t’s definitely puppy season) and let’s face it – who isn’t excited about the prospect of squishy adorable puppy faces!?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.

We also have a flurry of exciting announcements to share in the next month or so – so definitely get back in the habit of checking this blog again!

So… to quell your fears – no, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth and yes, I am still shooting like crazy.

In conclusion: photos… because every blog post should have them.  These are some fun, random cell-phone moments from the past few months – please forgive the quality, my iphone is in failing health.

{ P.S. the photo at the top represents two of my favorite things in the whole world: sushi + Olivia – I indulged in a lot of both over the holidays

Cheers!

*  *  *

This is Njala { Njala means “hunger” in Chichewa – this little guy was a gift from my dear Amy – he accompanied us to Malawai, Africa last fall }

This is SeaTac airport – feels like my second home. I often sit here and eat a bagel sandwich, sip a yerba mate latte, and make use of the free wifi!

My mac baby got sick during my busiest season ever – ahh!  Now she’s all fixed up with a new logic board, new operating system +  a CS4 upgrage – whew!

These are the  inks we were testing as we screen-checked a new Dog is Good design.  After hours of work we decided we didn’t like it + scrapped the whole project.

One of my favorite part of regular visits to LA — In N’ Out with my little Abby.  It’s actually pretty amazing how fresh their fries are… and sooooo tasty!

The view from the ferry window on my way home to Whidbey Island for Christmas – glorious isn’t it?  And this is a crappy camera phone photo. *swoon*

I am positive this is how I managed to avoid getting the great sickness of 2009  { swine flu, the plague, whatever – everyone was sick } Not me, thanks to Pho!

And finally – Palm Springs. Ahhhh. Every sunrise + sunset was more glorious than the last. Can you guess which is which?

* * *

More soon my patient and loyal friends… xoxo

]]> http://dane-dane.com/blog/back-to-the-land-of-the-living-finally/feed/ 0 http://dane-dane.com/blog/hop-kiln-winery-gets-a-makeover/ http://dane-dane.com/blog/hop-kiln-winery-gets-a-makeover/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:38:36 +0000 admin http://dane-dane.com/blog/?p=638 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

Hop Kiln Winery {who you’ve definitely seen mentioned in this blog before} is one of my favorite clients – partially because they are a winery {i love wine} and partially because they are a sister property to Kenwood Inn and Spa {which has become one of my favorite places in the entire world} but mostly, because the people there are really fantastic and a joy to work with. Did I mention they make really great wine? Yeah, they do. Located in the heart of the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County – Hop Kiln produces some delicious estate Pinot Noir as well as a charming Chardonnay and several other delicious proprietary blends.

* * *

We are about to embark on another exciting design project which is still top secret – but you can bet I will share it with you when it’s finished! In the meantime, check out their new web site, join one of their three wine clubs and generally investigate this jewel of Westside Road: Hop Kiln Winery.