Blame a crazy week, but dammit, this Birdy needs a mini-Spring Break!  I am overly excited to cast off my Workaholic/troll-like existence and get out to have a little fun. Well, between other work stuff. You know... moderation. Looking forward to catching up with some friends and literally sipping the season at this year's Woodinville Reserve: A White and Rosé Affair. Ooh, sounds scandalous, no? ;) Don't worry, it's probably one of the most pleasant springtime events you could treat yourself with.

It's no surprise that shoes can tell a lot about a person. They can be formal, practical, flamboyant, well-worn -- all descriptors that could go with the person wearing them. They're the way we navigate the world and I started thinking about shoes and blogs. I was at the food/blogger/networking event, Foodportunity, put on by Keren Brown, a well-connected Seattleite food celeb who holds these events regularly to help connect the very nebulous food-wine-social media-freelance everything community. I like attending, I can catch up with people I haven't seen in a while and I meet new folks. It always feels like a high school reunion, or rather, what I would think a high school reunion would be like, if I'd ever bothered to attend any of mine.

One of the folks I caught up with was wine expert and blogger, Jameson Fink, who is always fun to talk to and if you're lucky to meet him, he'll give you a great tip about a wine you gotta try. He's got a beautiful blog, Wine Without Worry, and he incorporates food and travel to learn all there is to know about whatever grape has captured his interest -- most of all, he make wine approachable. His blog joins the esteemed ranks of many gorgeous blogs out there offering all this marvelous information that's driven by pure passion, the center of J'adore. At Foodportunity, Jameson was wearing these fantastic bright green and yellow-striped sneakers that were getting compliments. They were some wicked kicks, yo! That's what started me thinking about walking in one's shoes, and how they are like following and reading a blog. You're not reading the Wall Street Journal, where writers have to pull the shades down over their personal voice to get the facts on the page -- which has its place, absolutely. But if you're reading this right now, you're probably like me, wanting to explore another heart's delight and in many cases, you'll learn something new. 

Blogs remain as another method of exploring the world through genuine experience, and I was reminded of this after seeing so many familiar and new faces at Foodportunity and hearing so many stories. So thank Jameson and his Jaunty shoes for inspiring this post, plus it helps that he kept joking that they should be on the blog. So there, Jameson -- you're Jaunty, deal with it! ;)

Jaunty Fine Print: illustration by Denise Sakaki

Mr. Magpie, aka, Brock got it so right with this beautifully designed wine decanter. After being backordered with a capital "B," it finally arrived. Meant to be a birthday gift (yeah, I know, it was back in April) on would think it was hand-delivered from Stockholm, but perhaps that's to the credit of Design House Stockholm's popularity and eye for excellent design. Very much in the vein of Scandinavian aesthetic, the decanter is minimalist, modern and extremely well thought out in terms of use. No frilly extras, this is the ultimate marriage of form and function. Maybe the one nod to pure aesthetic would be the curve of the decanter's shape, but wine enthusiasts would argue that the curved bottom helps to swirl the wine as it pours, so there you go -- function wins again. The large upwards dimple is there to not only help aerate the wine and create a space for the sediment to settle, but it's large enough to perfectly enclose the glass orb stopper. No wondering where the cap is, or if for some reason you're on a boat, the stopper is heavy enough to probably anchor the decanter over uneven seas. Can you not tell how totally in love I am with this? So. Freakin'. Smart. I can't help but gush over its thoughtfulness, both in form and in appreciation for Mr. Magpie's loving gesture. This Bird can't say enough how lucky she is to have her fella. Totally worth raising a glass to that, no? Cheers, indeed.


Jaunty Fine Print: photos by Denise Sakaki