Maybe it’s the Type A person in me but one of the things I find most satisfying in both a professional and personal context is putting something on a list and crossing it off when it is completed. Sometimes it’s the only way I can get something done, but other times it’s the joy of feeling that I’m bringing something to life that was long awaited and planned for. Sage Cottage fell into that category as it was sitting on my wishlist and I finally found the perfect time and availability to book it.

This Keys, Please feature involves a fun bit of backstory. Before I was the owner and host of Harold House I was just a single girl who had recently moved to San Francisco and was becoming familiar with different parts of wine country. To be honest I don’t even know how I first heard of Healdsburg, but it was on my list of towns to visit.

Second to the backyard and garden the thing I love most and I think is unique about Harold House is the kitchen. It has the details (from the custom copper hood to the open shelving and subtle textured counters and backsplash) that bring warmth and feeling to a space where we personally spend a lot of time, and hope our guests do too.

We settled on Stanly Ranch, an Auberge Resorts property for my birthday. During the summer all I crave are pool days, so that was my main criteria for where we ended up. Put me in front of a body of water with a cocktail in my hand.

We only spent approximately two full days and nights in the tiny town of Saint-Jean Cap-Ferrat, but the stay was so spectacular it is still worth a recap.

We dusted off our passports and spent 10 days in Paris, France. It was quite an indulgent endeavor, with no food or drink choice spared.

One of the perks of moving from New York to California is my activity and hobby count has definitely increased. The past couple years I’ve learned to ski and I am totally bought in - steadily working on my Blues game right now. Fortunately we’re all really just in it for the Aprés right?

Santa Ynez Valley is a hidden gem of a region about two hours northwest of Los Angeles. We stopped there for a weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday, and while the area may not stand out to most on the map all of the places we went left us with excitement for what’s to come for the valley.

Laguna Beach is a place that has been on my list for quite awhile and yes I will admit I first heard of it because of the early 2000’s MTV reality show with the same name (which also weirdly seems to be coming back around in popularity now that it’s on Netflix). The town’s charm and sparkling oceans were just as accurate years later.