lynn in love with wine and cheese

Now I don't know much about wine, all the different nuances and tones and tastes and such... I just know that I either like it or I don't!

So it was great when my good friend Mandy threw a holiday wine and cheese party! Mandy is our friendly expert in all things wine and usually makes our dinner wine choices. I have no idea what I'm going to do when she goes off to Colorado next year to start her pulmonary fellowship! I guess go back to drinking bad wine! ha!

She gave us little cards to take notes on her pairings, and since I remember things better when I write things down, I'll tell you my recs!

Mandy's spread was A-mazing!






Our lovely host.



And the guests enjoying their libations!








----ok, so here are my notes on the pairings!----
1. Domaine Sainte Claire - Saint-Bris Sauvignon Blanc - 2007 - France
paired with French Chevre (Goat Cheese)



-the wine was very good, had a nice crisp peppery taste
-Mandy says it goes well with lots of food including sushi and mexican.

2. Rustenberg Stellenbosch Chardonnay - 2007 - South Africa
paired with Camembert from Nomandy France



-wine was buttery, with an oaky taste
-much smoother than the Sauvignon Blanc
-everybody kept saying it was a "manly" wine

3. Duckhorn Vineyards Merlot - 2006 - Napa Valley
paired with Aged Cheddar



- I don't like many red wines, but this was so good!
- the cheese was quite mild, probably too mild for most people's taste, but I loved it, and it paired really well with the wine.

4. Syrah by Rudi Schultz - 2006 - South Africa
paired with 5 year old aged Gouda



-this was liked by many people, but I really didn't enjoy this wine.
-the Gouda however, was very good!

4. Warre's Optima 10 Port - Portugal
Imagery Petite Sirah Port - Paso Robles
paired with Roquefort blue cheese
and El Rey Milk Chocolate and Dagoba Milk Chocolate



-Optima 10 port - it was very sweet, very raison type taste
-I preferred the Imagery's port better
-The Roquefort was amazing! I could eat the cheese forever!
-The El Rey was quite mild, but I loved the Dagoba chocolate.
-Did you know that the fungus in the Roquefort is penicillium roqueforti? That is my little bit of nerd fact for you!

lynn in love with thaden's birthday

Did y'all miss me? Hope you all had wonderful wondeful holidays! I did, and now that I've partied, and celebrated, and familied, I can start posting again!! I am too excited to finally get to post this one today!

Two weeks ago, we threw a super fab birthday party for my darling little nephew. If you remember from the invites I posted a few weeks ago, Thaden has a little obsession with bones. He is also at times fascinated with my father's mustache and so the idea of "Bones & 'Stache" party was born!

The party was so much fun, with all the great "bone" games that my sister came up with for the kids. As you know, I am a big fan of the photobooth, so we set up one with bones and staches galore! I had so many pictures if was difficult to know what to post. Here are many of my favorites!

Thaden helping us decorate

My dad with the orginial "stache"

bone figure making = fail, but bone jewelry = success!!

Thaden loves bones and his mama!!

Bone Candy scavenger hunt

Time to blow out the candles

The End from Thaden "Bones"!

check back later for my tutorial on DIY mustaches!! :)

lynn in love with christmas

Signing in to tell you about our Christmas Miracle! After spending Christmas Eve Eve in t-shirt and 70 degree weather.... it snowed on Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

May the miracle and joy of His birth bless you today!

lynn in love with the holidays

I really do love everything about the holidays: the family, the celebrating, the music...
the magic of holiday making, parties, and celebration of Jesus's birth.
It's all aglow...

This year is a bit of bummer because the husband is scheduled to work every day of the holidays including Christmas Eve, Christmas, and the New Year's, but it's okay, we're going to make the most of it!

Dear readers, I wish all of you the best holidays ever, full of families and friends and christmas sweets and laughter and love. You guys have made this blogging experience worth it with your lovely comments and friendship.

In order to spend all the quality time I can get with the Huz and family, I'm going to have to bid this little blog adieu for just a bit, I hope you understand... but I'll see you next week on the other side! Can't wait to read about how your holidays have gone!

Much love, lynnlostinlove

lynn in love with hanging out with the fam

Ah... I was all snuggled in bed... but really couldn't sleep, so I decided to slip in my daily post before I went to sleep.

One of the fantastic perks of living in Dallas is being close to my family...and getting to stop on by when I'm tired of cooking and eat some delish grub. My tummy was a grumbling today, so I scooted on home to hang out with these usual suspects:

(Um, yeah Dad is obviously the only bonafide 'stache is this household!)

And got some yummy in my tummy from my brother whose a great cook! Seriously, girls, watch out, he's a real catch! :)

Then my brother and I sat in front of the computer sharing our favorite youtube videos from the week:

His offering:

My offering:

Afterwards, my mama and I laid in bed in my dad's blue snuggie watching Korean Soap Operas dubbed in Vietnamese. Korean soaps are my mom's favs. The story always revolves around a triple love triangle and an evil mother-in-law and they are oh so funny, and dramatic, and rather addicting.

It's was 12:30am before I left and drove the long drive home to my place... I told my mama I would call her as soon as I got home, but it was only after I got home, brushed my teeth, and dilly dallied in putting on my PJ's that I remembered to pick up my phone which was still on vibrate. Of course there were 8 frantic messages on my phone already.

Even though I'm almost 30, a mother always worries :) Oops! Sorry Mom! Love you!!

Have you hung out with your family lately? What do y'all do when you're at home?

lynn in love with julie/julia

Dear ones,

It's 2PM right about now, and all is good in the world. Nope I don't have my usual insomnia, but since I have a night job now, my sleep schedule is pretty much all turned upside down. On my nights off, I still go to bed really late and pretty much sleep til noon! This month kinda rocks though, because the huz is working nights too, which means our schedules are perfectly aligned! In years past, when he's had to work nights, I'd never see him, we'd just be passing each other in the dark as I drove to work and he would be driving back home. We just spent two days off together and it was really splendid :)

hmm.. my dad mentioned this weekend that I talk about my husband too much on my blog :) I probably do, but I'm very much okay with that, because this blog is about what I'm in love with. And the huz and I? We're very much in love!

We still had a couple more hours of awake time left, so we rented Julie & Julia from the Redbox (we love the Redbox) and popped it in at midnight. I absolutely loved it. Wonderful Meryl Streep was perfect as Julia, and the entire movie was funny, sweet, and perfectly darling. A very nice feel good movie that made me terribly hungry and inspired to pick up my own cute little turquoise Le Creuset pot and start cooking. In a blind moment, I even asked the husband to get me "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child for Christmas. Which I hope he does...

Lastly, it's not a post for me unless I have a picture included (unlike the original Julie/Julia Project blog) so here's one from today! So excited to have downloaded the MPhotobooth App on my iphone today.... so fun! Here's my test strip!

lynn in love with family love shoots

I've had sooo much fun photographing family love shoots! Each family has such different personalities and it's so great to capture their love. LOVE this job!

Here's are the love shoots I've done recently:

http://lynninlovephoto.blogspot.com/search/label/familyloveshoot