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We caught up with Kristin of Junipero & Co. at a recent farmer’s market where she was hosting a beautiful Cookbook Club dinner prepared by the attendees.  Sarah couldn’t help snapping off a few shots of the gorgeous event—what a Sonoma way to spend the evening!

Kristin recently opened her epicurean delight of a shop Junipero & Co. on the Sonoma Plaza.  Since that time, she’s played host to several in-store and “field trip” culinary events, including her regular Cookbook Club.  This is proving to be an excellent addition to the Sonoma Valley culture!  Keep it up Kristin!

We were delighted to see that Pitchfork—one of our favorite sources for music news and reviews—picked up on Gundlach Bundschu‘s first annual Huichica Music Festival we’re helping to promote:

The Huichica Music Festival comes to Sonoma Valley, California’s Gundlach Bundschu Winery on June 5. Vetiver, Citay, Fruit Bats, and Tussle will all play, and there will be a complimentary wine tasting. Someone needs to make a Sideways sequel about this show, if only so we can watch Thomas Haden Church attempt to hit on freak-folk girls.

We’d explain to them that Sideways didn’t actually take place in Sonoma, except we’re too busy feeling starry-eyed about Pitchfork just talking about Sonoma and Gundlach Bundschu . . . !

Why do we love living and working in Sonoma? Let us count the reasons . . . or, we can just show you several of them! We loved gathering with our friends and colleagues at Face2Face last night. Sebastiani Winery was as gorgeous as ever!
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music // Sean Carscadden + Marty O’Reilly
myspace.com/theshmartypants

Sebastiani Winery // sebastiani.com
Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau // sonomavalley.com
The Heart of Sonoma Valley Winery Association // heartofsonomavalley.com
Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce // sonomachamber.org

A fun video we produced to promote another aspect of Sonoma’s young, creative culture: fashion!  Rising Sonoma photographer, Douglas Thompson, was on hand at Infineon Raceway and Jacuzzi Winery recently to photograph some hot couture in advance of Sonoma’s own upcoming Bryant Park West Fashion Show.  Dubbed “Heels & Wheels” the second annual runway show—which is produced by Sonoma’s own Sarah Haggberg—will take place June 5 at Jacuzzi Winery and feature cutting edge designs from up-and-coming fashion icons.  Ms. Haggberg, a young native of Sonoma, has selected Sonoma Valley Teen Services as the recipient of all proceeds, so it’s a great cause, too!

You say “Community Center” and one perhaps thinks of a lackluster public building used as a makeshift teen hangout.  In a lot of communities, this may be the case.  But Sonoma Valley has a jewel in its cultural crown—a focal point for art, performance, culture, education and, of course, community—The Sonoma Community Center.

The Sonoma Community Center not only provides art studios, performance spaces, art education, event spaces, community happenings and even a couple of schools, it also produces the popular Fourth of July parade and festivities, the annual City Party and many other events that are at the heart of Sonoma’s lively spirit.

The building it is housed in has such a storied history that we can’t even get into it here (most people may recognize it as the exterior for the high school in the Scream franchise.)  It serves as one of the shining connections to Sonoma’s rich and colorful past as well as a beacon looking forward, celebrating Sonoma’s progressive character.  Though, as all old buildings do, it has accrued quite a bit of maintenance needs—in order to meet these needs, the Sonoma Community Center is holding a raffle (see the poster we made for them, above) for an incredible, exclusive dinner at a beautiful estate with some of the Valley’s top chefs.  Tickets are limited, so be sure to get yours today!

There’s rarely a moment around the Home Offices when music is not playing.  Sure, it may range from our youngest team member banging out a primary-colored glock riff to the Jackson Five to a full on dance party to the latest jam—but it all boils down to one fact: music is a huge inspiration around here.

For this reason, we’ve been beyond excited to work with Gundlach Bundschu on creating a public relations campaign, including this poster, for their first annual Huichica (wee-CHEE-kuh) Music Festival—especially as the event will feature some real favorites around here.

For instance, Citay’s album has maintained regular rotation for quite some time now (see song above.) We were able to see the Fruit Bats play at Gundlach Bundschu last summer (see video below) and they blew us away with their billowy ‘bootgaze’ sound, and Vetiver—whose musical cadre often includes Devendra Banhart—conjures the voice of Donovan on a languid afternoon in Golden Gate Park.

This is sure to be a fantastic music fest, growing right here in the soils of Sonoma Valley.  Tickets are already for sale here.

Pop culture stereotypes dictate certain prerequisites for being girly, and by all accounts, I’ve failed most of them. I’ve only ever watched two episodes of Sex and the City. I don’t go gaga over Jimmy Choos or Manilo Blahniks. I’ve polished my fingernails perhaps once in the last three years, and I don’t sit around in spa robes eating Yoplait with my girlfriends and complaining about my thighs.

But Sonoma Valley’s definition of girly is something entirely refreshing. Do you like sunshine and budding vineyards? Do you like cocktails and yummy things to eat? Do you like to lounge in the lap of luxury? Or when you’re not lounging, do you like go on hikes, ride bikes, or shop, or eat more yummy things? And do lots of wine tasting?

Basically, Sonoma Valley asks you a lot of things that are impossible to say no to.

So you say yes. And you bring a friend or two. And it’s called a Girlfriends Getaway . . .

I was fortunate enough to take part in the recent March kickoff weekend, and it was a luxurious two-day affair involving daffodils and massages, great conversation, a French man crooning throaty tunes whilst grinding a romantic barrel organ, celestial wines, fragrant meanderings through terraced gardens, heavy consumption of raspberry cosmos and French fries with truffle oil, polka-dot peanut butter and banana chocolate truffles named after Elvis and preserved lemon mashed potatoes whipped up by a Cordon Bleu trained chef.

I came to the conclusion that angels in heaven subsist on a diet of preserved lemon mashed potatoes. And that Girlfriends Getaways rock.

Friday’s kick-off cocktail party was a breezy, relaxed evening at El Dorado Kitchen with an effusive crowd of both local and visitors. My friend Lauren and I disposed ourselves quickly to wild mushroom pizza, great wine—and of course, EDK’s venerable truffle fries—and hobnobbed with some of the best girls Sonoma has to offer.

Saturday heralded even more hedonism, first with a vineyard luncheon at lovely Landmark Vineyards hosted by proprietor Mary Calhoun, and a divine meal by Calhoun’s talented friend Chef Carol Mason. The whole experience was springtime personified. Landmark’s manicured gardens frothed with cherry blossoms and wisteria. There were flowers bright and sweet as assorted jellybeans and flickering fountains and people sauntering about with glasses of wine, clearly in a Saturday frame of mind.

Mary Calhoun was an enchanting host and the meal was intimate and spirited, our group including KGO radio anchor Chris Brecher and beloved culinary columnist Kathleen Hill. Carol’s fresh, unfussy courses struck a perfect balance between elegance and simplicity: broccoli and basil soup with smoked cheddar garnish, then wild salmon fillet framed by sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes and the aforementioned preserved lemon mashed potatoes—billowy, gorgeous, fragrant.

All of these paired with two equally remarkable wines: the exquisite 2006 Damaris Reserve Chardonnay followed by Landmark’s stunning 2008 Grand Detour Pinot.

After devouring Carol’s strawberry crumb cake with almond scented creme chantilly for dessert, I skirted dangerously close to falling into postprandial food coma, which actually prepped me for my next appointment: a therapeutic mini-massage at the new Camille Skin Care & Day Spa.

In honor of the Girlfriends Getaway, Camille Lucia and staff were offering promotional mini-facials and mini-massages at their chic and airy locale on East Napa Street.  Masseuse Lana Porteous had me in seventh heaven as she worked out all the knots in my neck and back. I felt lighter than air as I thanked them profusely before gliding out into the Plaza bustle.

Of course I had to stop in at Wine Country Chocolates for the free truffle they were offering girlfriends that weekend. Mother and daughter team Betty and Caroline Kelly are constantly concocting new and sundry ways to blow your taste buds away with their artisan chocolates and avant-garde flavors, including cinnamon and clover honey, French mocha and pomegranate with orange blossom. But the real kicker for me was the decadent Elvis—peanut butter topped with banana ganache, surrounded by, of course, chocolate.

By Sunday, I really should have been ready to repent for my thousand-calorie sybaritic sins, but not when you’ve got a “Bubbles & Brunch” menu awaiting you at Sondra Bernstein’s dreamy restaurant Estate. My friend Kendra, Chris Brecher and I indulged in an outstanding brunch on Estate’s sunlit terrace that morning.

The menu included prosecco cocktails, starters such as mouthwatering melon and prosciutto, Greek yogurt with fig compote and entrees including crab benedict and artichoke and garden vegetable frittatas.

There was no turning back. This weekend, I was a bona fide queen of the epicures. If this is what it means to be girly, I’m ready to rent a whole season of Sex & the City.

Sonoma Valley Girlfriends Getaway

video music by Michel Saga

We’ve been working with our friends Zach and Kendra in Santa Cruz who are starting a sustainable, artisinal, community-oriented ice creamery.  The Penny Ice Creamery—as it is named, after the mid-19th-century “penny ice” phenomenon of affordable, frozen treats—will be doing some pretty exciting things with gourmet frozen confections.  Creating all their offerings from scratch right in the shop and serving them fresh daily, Chef Kendra will be using locally-sourced organic ingredients in unusual and delightful ways.

Zach, Kendra and their team of hammer-wielding friends and colleagues have begun work on shaping up their brick and mortar space.  A web site is forthcoming, but in the meantime you can become a fan of this exciting, new ice creamery on facebook to keep up-to-date on progress (and also watch them smashing a few walls . . . )

We worked with Zach and Kendra to create a logo that would work to marry the best elements of old-world and nostalgic concepts of ice cream with the forward-thinking, grassroots approaches The Penny Ice Creamery will be using.  We settled on this logo design as it is immediately recognizable as an ice cream cone, but the distressed, stamped, graphic look conveys a contemporary, handmade feel while using bright colors and vintage fonts provides a connection with the timeless aspects of ice cream culture.

We can’t wait to taste it!

Being 66% girls, Belle Creative can’t wait for the inaugural Girlfriends Weekend happening this weekend in Sonoma Valley.  We’ll be out and about, bubbly in one hand, camera and truffles in the other (hopefully our lens won’t get too smudgy,) taking full advantage of the specials being offered at the Valley’s spas, boutiques, restaurants and other venerable establishments. It all starts with the kickoff cocktail party at the ever de rigeur EDK tomorrow (Friday the 26th) from 4:30-6:30.

We hope to see all your beautiful faces out there as the legions of ladies take over!

Sonoma Valley Girlfriends Weekend offers up the perfect chance for you and your favorite females to reconnect, relax and revel in the postcard spoils of Sonoma Valley.  Just 45 miles north of San Francisco, Sonoma Valley is California’s oldest Wine Country and a historic resort destination. For over a hundred years, we’ve played host to ladies who lunch, cowgirls on horseback, women wine-lovers and sophisticated spa-goers. Now it’s your turn! Join KGO’s Chris Brecher this March 26th through the 28th for a fabulous weekend of femme festivities—from luxury pampering to noshing on great wine and food. So come hike, bike, sip and swirl—just leave the man out of your plan.

The good people at KGO NewsTalk AM 810 are also helping to spread the word about this weekend—here’s a message we helped them craft:

You can stay up-to-date by visiting the web site, becoming a fan on facebook and following the twitter updates.

We were delighted to once again assist the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau on an exciting project.  We worked with them to develop a “microbrand” for the Girlfriends Weekend—complementing the umbrella brand of Sonoma Valley—along with a microsite and some collateral and helped them to tie it all together with their social networking strategies.

For an insider’s scoop on all the special offers and events for the Girlfriends Weekend, download the Girlfriends Guide: