Things That Are Rad, Chapter 2

'Stache contests (for maximum 'stacheness, click here and here)
Puffy down vests
Christmas
New Year's
Vacation
Comfortable heels
Tons of blankets on a cold night
DVR
Parties
Tahoe
Giving presents
Paying for a stranger's toll
Sunshine
Irons that shut themselves off
Hotels

To go out, or not to go out. That is the question.

Monday Night Football.
Skankhouse.
Good company.
Cobb salad.
Mozzarella sticks.
Lemon drops.
Beer battered onion rings.
Patriots fans galore.
All in all, an awesome Monday.

It is interesting though that when you go out on a Friday, the weekend seems to be extra long. When you go out on a Monday, it's the same effect, but the problem is that it's a MONDAY. No sleeping in on Tuesday. No big plans for a Tuesday night. Tuesday does not equal Saturday. Ever. Well, unless you're unemployed I guess.

Cheers to MNF and laughter at the Skankhouse!

New Starts

Tomorrow, my partner in crime, Cornbread, makes her debut into the WoW (that means World of Wine for those who haven't read my very first blog posting).

I just want to say that I am so proud of her - I know how much time, dedication, frustration, disappointment, excitement and craziness surrounds the job hunt. She powered through, with encouragement from all sides, and tomorrow is the start of her new life in Wine Country.

According to my first few posts, I was starry-eyed for soooo long, and I miss that feeling. I still love my job, though with days like today, I long for my eyes to go starry. Maybe I was so starry-eyed because I drank a lot of wine.........ok, no. I know it was because I had worked my bum off for a chance to work in wine, and I had finally accomplished that. I hope that Cornbread remembers her first month; the way it feels when you walk through the doors on that first day, not sure if you're going to get along with coworkers, or that you're wearing the wrong thing, but then realizing that everything worked out - your coworkers are awesome and your clothes didn't matter. I hope she remembers for a long time the way it sounds when you tell people you work for a winery - their reaction and your passion when you explain what you do. I know she'll remember it - I do, constantly.

Cheers to getting this far - you've earned it! An extra CHEERS for doing what we love, day in, day out, and sharing those experiences everyday.

Things That Are NOT Rad, Chapter 1

False advertising
Being a sucker for false advertising
Beans
A rock in my shoe
Mashed potatoes
When a pen runs out of ink
Doing dishes
Gardening
Car problems
Doing dishes
Wet socks
Bad music
Doing dishes

Soccer Mom? I Think Not.

Ok, maybe a little. Unfortunately, I have turned into what some may call a soccer mom. I know it's a little premature, considering that I'm neither a mom, nor do I have anything to do with soccer these days. I do, however, drive the right car for a cool and sporty mom of 2007:


...and on Sunday, I bought one of these:



What's so funny about both of these is that 1) my first crock pot meal sucked and 2) I'm not all that into my car.

Details on 1:
My dinner really, really did suck. Now when I say I can't cook, I mean I can't cook....not even in something as simple as a crock pot. The chicken was dry, the rice was mush as were the beans. How can you screw up a crock pot meal? I'm not really sure, but given the lack of my cooking skills, I did it. I am such a bad cook that even my crock pot won't work with me. I will not surrender to the power of the crock just yet, but I vow to understand it's power and use it to my advantage.

Details on 2:
I thought I was being so practical when I bought my Murano (see post about my new fridge), and I was. The thing rocks in a lot of ways. On the other hand, it is anything but sexy. At my age, the ripe old age of 29, I need sexy. I need a head-turner. I need a wind-through-the-hair, five-speed, turbo-charged wonder car that makes my heart race and head spin, like one of these:


I also need a bit more spice in my life...and by spice I don't mean basil and oregano (reminder: I can't cook.) I need to be eating gourmet meals:


...with a lovely dinner companion, like:


or:


or:


or:



It's not quite New Year's, but I am making a resolution that I will spice up my life...I'll throw caution into the wind and get a sports car, be excited and thrilled to meet new people, go on more dates, eat gourmet food, put on some heels and strut the new me. I swear on my life that I will not be her:


Not yet, anyway.

Cheers to being thrilled!

Things That Are Rad, Chapter 1

Fuzzy socks
Red wine on a cold day
Fireworks
Dancing
Ironing a shirt into utter crispness (ok, I'm only domestical right here, right now)
Finishing a project
The ribs at The Grill
Red wine on a warm day
Meeting new people
Karaoke at Rita's
Throwing parties
5-minute speed networking
Photography
Toasts (and toast of course)
Road trips
The beach
Dessert

Cheers to things that are rad!

Me, Myself, and My Dad

My dad can fix anything. Anything. My dad likes wine. I don't think he cares so much what it is, just that it's red and comes in a wine bottle. Now that I am basically a wine pimp, I give my dad wine for helping me with house stuff. Like putting a fridge in the back of my car.


If anyone has wondered what my dad looks like, here are he and my mom last June when we went to Costa Rica:




If you wanted to know what my dad looked like maybe 15 years ago, it may have been something like this:


Ok, fine. That's me having fun at the Halloween store. It was just too funny to keep under wraps, and though I know that most of the peeps who read my blog have seen these pics, they're still funny. Really funny. And a little scary.


Cheers to my dad!

Props to the Murano

As much as I want a new car, I do have to give mad props to the one I have. I bought a 2004 Nissan Murano last December in an effort to be practical. Working on the condo and then the house allowed me to justify the extra space in a crossover SUV. At the time, I had wanted to get a tiny sports car, manual, convertible, basically as impractical as possible, then also get a $3k used SUV for working on the house. I regret not making that decision because one year later, I am now looking to get that impractical little fun on wheels with a back up work horse.

That said, my car is pretty cool. It has a bumpin sound system, is pretty zippy, has tons and tons of leg room, fits backerboard perfectly in the back, and, I found out yesterday, can hold a refrigerator. Yep, a refrigerator. I went to Best Buy, saw an open item fridge, decided to get it (it was a steal), and then in the rain, we loaded into the back of my car. A Mini just can't brag about something like that.




Cheers to my Murano (for now)!

Hilarious.

When I was messin' with my profile (he started it), I decided to update my profile. I didn't write much, but blogger has this cool feature that asks you random questions and you answer them. I know what you're thinking on that one, when a question is asked, usually someone answers it. Thanks, Ms. Obvious. Anyway, this is the random question I received, and the answer I gave. I just think I'm so flippin' funny, that I had to post it on my main blog and not leave it buried in my profile for no one to see.

You can punch a hole in an apple using a straw. How do you think that makes your milkshake feel?

I think my milkshake is ok with it because it brings all the boys to the yard.

Cheers to my milkshake and whatever that means!

Reason #73525183.7 That I Need a Guy

I just spent the last FIFTEEN MINUTES trying to open a teeny jar of Classico pesto sauce & spread for the pasta salad I volunteered to make for the baby shower at work tomorrow. I tried the bang on the lid to break the seal trick. I slammed the bottom of the jar with the heel of my hand trick. I busted out the blue rubber glove I use for washing dishes* trick. Nothing. Nada. Not even a budge! I tried them all once more. After the last rubber glove try, I went back at it bare-handed. With red, raw fingers and sore hands, it popped open and I was able to retrieve the delicious pesto sauce that my pasta was craving. I loosened it for me.

Cheers to FINALLY opening the pesto! Uncheers to not having a guy to do that crap for me.

*I HATE washing dishes. Hate it. Hate it more than ironing all of my clothes and textiles, including socks, undies, towels and sheets. Hate it. That's all.

Really? A Post-It?

I thought I'd continue with the Wine & Food Adventure, but I had to blog about something I saw today that leaves me with a true shocked face. Someone TYPED a Post-It. I saw it with my own eyes.

1. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a Post-It's true function? Correct me if I'm wrong, but a Post-It was designed for scribbling - with your hand - a quick note with a pen. This is a way to remind yourself to take care of something, or to let someone else know where you are, when you'll be back, or what have you. It's short, sweet, and informal. Ok, sometimes it's not sweet - like when Carrie was broken up with by Post-It on Sex & the City.

2. Who uses a typewriter?!? With the invention of the personal computer, aka PC, typing a quick note via email not only saves yellow Post-It paper, but can also be received on Crackberries and other smartphones immediately. Of course, this option isn't nearly as funny.

I could take a photo, by camera phone, of the typed Post-It and send it to the intended recipients so that they receive it instantly on their Crackberries and know that they need to reply, but that's a waste of camera phone text money and time. Granted, I already did waste my money sending myself two photos using my camera phone just for this blog entry. It was worth every penny.

Cheers to the joy that a typed Post-It has brought into my life!

The Affair That Wine & Food Had This Weekend - Part I

The Wine & Food Affair. This event is my favorite of the Wine Road events - wine, food, wine, food. My mouth loves it, my waistline hates it, but that's a separate blog entry. My girls and I headed to Healdsburg for a weekend of amazing wines paired with delicious food. We paid a whopping $60 for this event this year, and expected great things...

This isn't a pic from the weekend, but man, looks good eh? Maria Manso restaurant in San Rafael. If you're curious.

Winery 1: J
We usually end at J, but decided to change it up a little this time. Guess what? Not impressed. Not even a little. Normally my friend A loves J, but nothing jumped out at even her! The Pinot was boring, the sparkling was dry (how I like it if I'll ever drink sparkling again) but unappealing, and my girls said that the Chard was just bad. The food portions were small and unappetizing.

Winery 2: Rodney Strong
Walking over to Rodney from J, up the stairs, we followed the signs and I get carded. Carded. On the Wine Road. Should I be flattered since I'm almost 30? Maybe. Was I? No. The pretentiousness that we never find in the Russian River/Alexander Valley/Healdsburg area wineries was too apparent for the first hour. It was discouraging. Extremely. The first wine we had was great - an '05 Reserve Cab. Yum. Paired with the smallest piece of steak on the ittiest piece of bread with the tiniest dollop of cheesy goodness, the wines were good. Good, but not great. They moved you too quickly from wine station to wine station, so fast that you didn't even have time to down the first taste before being moved along to the next one.

Our thinking at this point: J & Rodney Strong need event planners and FRIENDLY customer service training for their staff. Like all great events, when they get too big, they lose the fun! Think Halloween in the Castro. Think New Years in Tahoe. We hoped for the best on the way to the next round.

Cheers to the first hour of Saturday! Cheers to more wine reviews (finally)...coming soon!

Ahhhh The End of an Era. Ok, Weekend.

It's Sunday night, yet again, entering into my life with all those "shoulda's" that I was supposed to get to today. Should have mowed the lawn. Should have done more laundry* (funny story here, see below). Should have put away clothes. Should have cleaned the house. Big time. But no, Sunday night arrived, I needed to eat, and there it stands. I also needed to watch Thursday's Office because I can't live without some little Michaelisms.


*Funny story (funny possibly just to me, but so typical of my brain lately, I had to share): So I have one scoop of Gain left. As everyone knows, Gain is possibly one the best smells on the planet. I turn on the washing machine. I put in my last scoop of Gain. I shut the lid to adjust the temperature. I start making nachos. I'm multitasking and not doing it well. After some email checking, nacho checking, more internet surfing, nacho checking, I realize that I just did a load of laundry with no actual laundry in it. Yep, a full washing machine cycle of imaginary laundry. Eco-police? Arrest me now.


Friday night I headed into SF to meet up with J-Rock and her sidekick Blog Master G, Rockstars of the East, at Thirsty Bear, my long lost friend with the vanilla beer. It's always so much fun to see them and their CA posse - That's Hot Enoch and Funk Master P, brother of Blog Master G and new blogger-extraordinaire.


Sacto was in the cards for Saturday and Sunday - wedding dress shopping with Kellogg and her mom. I think K decided on a dress which was a feat in and of itself - choices, choices choices. I think this pictures tells all:

Did she buy that beautiful headress, you may be wondering? You'll have to wait until May to find out. I don't want to spoil the surprise for her fiance.

Cheers to wedding dresses I mean bridal gowns and the Rockstars of the East!!

The Mobile Tasting Room

Last Friday was my good friend's 50th birthday. We enjoyed an awesome dinner at Arrivederci in San Rafael, one of my favorite places to eat. The atmosphere buzzes, the food is delicious, the service impeccable. Being that I work in the industry, I arrive with a case of wine, sort of a given these days. Sidenote - who would have ever thought that *that* would be me...?

Anyway, I brought a plethora of vino to choose from, from Pinot Grigio to Cab and everything inbetween. I knew there'd be an eclectic group of folks there, so I wanted to be sure everyone was happy - and they were. In addition to my box o' wine, and not the 3 liter kind, others had graciously brought some as well. In the spotlight was a 1999 Trefethen Cabernet Sauvignon that melted in my mouth, as smooth and silky as a dark chocolate truffle but with enough kick at the end to keep life interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed the dance off on my palate. PS - when you work "in the industry" you use words like "palate" a little too often. It's in the vocabulary toolbox to help make you sound WineSmart.

With a surprise visit from her sister and 20 of her closest friends enjoying her big day with her, she beamed like she was turning 21 all over again. Ok, maybe 22.

Cheers to C's 50th!

The Crazy Thursday

I haven't yet written about the party-hopping Thursday night a couple of weeks ago. We started that week insanely busy with work because our team had flown in for a 3 day meeting. As much as I hate sitting in a grey conference room that lacks windows or normal temperatures, I learned so much! But I digress...this post is about parties not work.


We headed from work to a pouring at the Culinary Institute, then from there, to the Chandon Pink Party. I hadn't had the pleasure of attending a Chandon Pink Party to date, so this was big for me. Decked in boas and pink eyelashes, we danced our way to the bar for some pink champagne and then danced our way to the dance floor. This place was CRAZY! I absolutely loved it. They need to do that every week. Ok, they used to but had to shut it down because of fights. What is WITH people?? Anyway, after we danced the night almost away until 11pm, we headed to Ana's to top off the debauchery. Yeah, I'm lying, there really wasn't any debauchery. Imagine a pink punk wig, those eyelashes that made me feel invisible (see previous post about Snuffleupagus), and a couple of pink boas. And lots of champagne. No need to imagine...












Wenis and I at Ana's


There's a reason I don't drink champagne...I remembered that reason early Friday morning when I had to head into work.

Last Saturday, to keep the pink going, we did the Walk of Hope. It was a great day in the city, warm and clear, and we walked our tails off on the walk, then the trek down Market for some shopping. Still wearing our Walk of Hope shirts, we went into stores, and people actually congratulated us for doing the walk! First of all, I didn't think SF people were THAT nice, and second, in the grand scheme of things, all we did was walk. I guess every little bit counts, and I am happy to have participated in Walking for Hope.

Cheers to pink everything!

Interesting Driving Thought

As I was driving to a work dinner this evening, I was thinking, wow, I need to get my eyebrows did. Badly. Then I thought, I have whacked eyebrows - I think I'll blog about that. Then I realized that I have blogged about my eyebrows before and that's just weird, creepy OCD. Then my crazy train of thought went to this.........

I have Big Bird's height and curiosity.
I have Cookie Monster's love of all that is sugar. C is for cookie that's good enough for me....
I have Oscar the Grouch's realism.
I have Snuffleupagus' invisible qualities, like when I wear costume items.
I have Ernie's sense of humor.
I have Miss Piggy's love of shoes and things that sparkle.
I have Animal's passion.
I have Kermit's sarcasm and the ability to burst into song.
And of course, I have Bert's eyebrows.

Cheers to the Muppets - whether they are on Sesame Street or The Muppets - and all that they encompass!

Surprise!

Big shocker of the day - my arm hurts. Monday, I saw an orthopedic surgeon whose main job in life is to torture poor souls like myself. In April of 2002, I was snowboarding with Kellogg. We were getting off the lift at Death Drop 2000 (for those who don't know this run at Heavenly, it's also known as Patsy's Run on the California side). It was warm - tshirt weather - and we were already sunburned and scraped up from the ice. Now, being the hardcore snowboarder that I am (read as: I suck), we decided to do one more run and then head down for some sunscreen. As all skiers and snowboarders know, "one more run" is a cursed statement. I got off the lift on a board without a stomp pad, my foot slipped, and I slammed onto the ground. There is a long story after that that includes a trip to the clinic in NV, followed by many years of pain, with some stuff inbetween. In any event, yes, my arm hurts. This doctor guy, aka torture man, gave me two shots in my shoulder. TWO SHOTS. Yes, I almost pssed out. Yes, I almost passed out again. He sent me home with an MRI referral (another thing I hate), physical therapy and a date to talk about surgery. Fun fun fun till daddy takes the t-bird awaaaaaay.

This morning, just like I always do, I got up and headed into the shower so as not to offend my coworkers with Dirty Megan. I proceeded to almost pass out. Whatever if going on with me is sorta scaring me. According to WebMD, I have MS, diabetes, heat exhaustion and a mild stroke. I should get those checked out.

Cheers to...um, well, nothing, because I hate doctor stuff.

Hm.

It has been a chaotic week in the lives of people I'm close to...bad car accidents, a family feud and not the fun-TV-game-show kind, deaths of close friends...It's been a week to reflect. I am grateful for what I have, who I have, where I am.

On this gloomy day in October, I cried at work. Linked to from one of my new favorite blogs , I read an article about Officer Mark Daily written by Christopher Hitchens, in Vanity Fair. I haven't been that moved by an article in quite some time. I don't have many words to express how I feel about this. With emotions ranging from deep sadness and an overwhelming sense of loss for someone I didn't know, to anger over the reasons we have taken it upon ourselves to "fix" other countries, to confusion about my actual stance on this war, I sit here and think. I think about how my brother, Brandolian, was gung ho about joining the Army after high school, right before we declared war. I had very selfish reasons for his not going, then with the timing of when we went into Iraq, Brandolian decided to move to San Luis Obispo instead. I was overly thankful for his decision - I can't imagine losing him in the way that Officer Mark Daily's family lost their son, husband, and brother. I want to thank Officer Daily for serving our country, for giving his life for what he believed in.

Cheers to everyone in my life!

Lame!

Two days ago, after I got my manbrows fixed, I went over to Redwood Middle School to stalk the Raiders. They've been here for weeks and weeks and weeks and I decided to go check it out on the last practice. Big mistake. There was no way to watch them that I could see! I wandered around like the true stalker that I am, listened to them practice and get fired up, and couldn't see a thing. Lame. This turned out to be just like my decision to go to The Price is Right.

When I was 12, I was watching TPIR. I loved it. Still do. I swore that when I turned 18, I would drive down to LA and get on that show. My grandma had been on TPIR before Bob Barker even was, so it's in my blood. Well, I turned 18. 19. 20. 21. Took a trip to Anaheim. Then another to San Diego. 22. 23. 24. 25. Can't even tell you how many times I'd been to LA over the years. 26. 27. 28. Find out that Bob Barker is retiring. 29. He retired. I never went. I'll regret that for the rest of my life. I was destined to be crazy and spazzy enough to wear the silly t-shirt and jump up and down and kiss Bob Barker's cheek and play the dicegame and spin the big wheel and win the Showcase Showdown. I just never made the 7-hour drive south. Next year, when the Raiders are here again for training camp, I vow on this day, August 18, 2007, that I will watch training camp. And take photos. And try to get an autograph or two. Yay Daunte Culpepper.

Cheers to following through!

Ode to Camping

I had forgotten how much I love to camp! Kellogg and I took Wenis and Cornbread camping this weekend as a joint surprise birthday present. Now some people, like Wenis and Cornbread for example, may not think that camping is that great of a present. At least not at first. After a couple of hours, a Mike's Hard Lemonade, and a passionate game of Cranium, they were hooked. Ok, maybe not hooked, but at least enjoying themselves.

On Saturday we woke up frozen solid, defrosted for a bit and made breakfast (yes, the kind with bacon) and then headed out to Pt. Reyes cliffs to check out the ocean. It was extremely foggy so we didn't waste time walking to the lighthouse, instead we headed straight for Pt. Reyes Vineyards for a little wine tasting. We saw on the list a bunch of wines with "Quail Hill" in the name. I thought to myself, that's odd, I know there's a street in Terra Linda called Quail Hill...sure enough, those Cabs were from a vineyard behind Kaiser in Terra Linda, about a half mile from my high school. Cornbread and I just about flipped, and we spent $31 on a 1996 (yep - the year we graduated) Quail Hill Cab*. It was the first wine that I had ever purchased in a tasting room that I hadn't yet tried. We took the risk because of its sentimental value to us!

The vino consumption continued back at the campsite, as did another hilarious game of Cranium, as well as hamburgers and corn on the cob on the grill. After dinner, we headed for the bar in Olema just to checki t out. It was really fun - good music on the juke box (sidenote - I am a Juke Box Hero), a hardcore game of Liar's Dice, and then back to the campsite we walked. We decided it was time to meet some neighbors...we met a huge group of partiers who took picture after picture with Kellogg in the hot dog costume as if it were something they'd never seen before, then Kellogg gave the costume to Wenis and we crashed a bachelor party. I scored a bottle of Joel Gott wine which I have yet to crack open, got some perfectly roasted marshmallows in, and cracked jokes all night with strangers and my girls.

Sunday, Wenis and I played the Bubblicious game (more later on this one...) and then I went to Silverado Country Club for the Napa Valley Wine Library event. I was pouring at a table, but did get to check out some of the other wines there. They were top Cabs mostly, pretty much all delicious. My two favorites were Groth and Buehler**.

Cheers to camping and free vino!


*Pt. Reyes Vineyard 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon - deep red with touches of chestnut (it IS 11 years old...), heavy and rich in flavor, tannic but not overwhelmingly so. All in all, a good bottle of wine, with an even better story.
**Groth Cab - round, full, luscious. YUM. Didn't even ask how much the bottle was.
**Buehler Cab (Estate? '04?) - gorgeous label, spicy, big, seems like it'll just get better with time; Page Buehler was extremely friendly and great to talk to! Definitely a winery I'd like to visit soon.

Small, Small World

...but I'm starting to like it...?? I went to a wine event this evening at Benziger and it was really cool! The tour was short but good, ran into a current coworker, an ex-coworker, and my old Sonoma neighbor (if it's random and you love it clap your hands! clap! clap!) and met some really great people. Can't wait for more of these!

This coming weekend is a surprise for Cornbread and Wenis - Kellogg and I are taking them somewhere to do something. I can't say because they may read this and then it wouldn't be a suprise now, would it?

Last night, El Jefe and I went to a vendor fair for one of our customers. I do have to say that I miss events and being a booth babe, for lack of a better term. I love talking to people and repeating myself.

I didn't really have anything to say this evening, I just felt like blogging. Sorry if you fell asleep.

Cheers to wine events and surprise b-day weekends!!

Why Are Weekends So Short?

It's a great mystery of life...

This weekend was my first in a little over 3 weeks that I spent at home. It was SO NICE. I miss my home. I had a random day yesterday - a brunch date (how WASPy of us...) at Boon Fly Cafe which was great, followed by some bocce, yes bocce, which everyone knows I love, and then some good conversation on some beautiful chairs. Playing bocce just makes me inspired to create mine in the backyard! Bocce and wine parties..........just imagine the fun.

Last night, the crew came over to BBQ which was so great. I love entertaining, and wish everyone lived closer so we could do it all the time. I'd love for friends to stop by, even unannounced! I'll work on that. We then hit up the oh-so-classy bowling alley for some blacklight bowling. I believe I was a superstar...oh wait, that wasn't me, that was Cornbread. I suck. I almost broke 100 the first game - I think it was a 92 - and the second game...well I sort of lost my touch. A whoppin' 66. Yay me.

Today was nice - hung out, spent time in my own house doing nothing. That's all.

I know this was a posting of substance...ok, not so much. But that's ok! It's my blog and I'll blog what I want to...blog what I want to...blog what I want to. You would blog too if it happened to you.

Cheers to dorkiness!

A Thought or Two on Life

Work has been crazy busy for me lately, partially because I was out of the office a lot over the past few weeks and partially because, well, clients want things. A specific account has taken over my week, but I'm happy that it's the client that it is. They do really fun projects and I love that copy that I write may actually be on a wine bottle or a sign! I think this little fact will always thrill me.

I have been online dating for almost six months now, using it as just one more place to meet people in this world, but it just isn't going as planned. Not that anything really goes as planned - my thought on life numero uno. At 16, I remember telling my posse, in the quad at lunch, that I was going to be married at 26 and have my first kid at 28. I didn't want to be "old" like my mom was when she had me - 30. For some reason, 16-year-olds think that the difference between 28 and 30 is ginormous. Now that I'm 29, right smack dab in the middle, it's not different at all. Anyway, my plan obviously didn't happen or this blog would be not about how I work in the wine industry and moved to Wine Country in a cool house, but it would be "New Mommy's Online Baby Album for All to Read and Love!" Yeah, not me. Not yet, anyway. Back to the online dating world, I think it's time that I unsubscribe, focus on my life in the Wine Country, and see what comes my way.

I don't really have a second thought on life at the moment - I just woke up and not all the pistons are firing.

Cheers to Saturdays!

I'll Stay in NorCal, Thanks.

Cornbread and I went to lovely LA this past weekend for a much needed and much deserved mini-vacation. Flying from Sacto to Mr. Bob Hope's aeropuerto is just about the smoothest flying experience I've ever had. There are no lines, everyone's nice, it's trashy and small and there's something to said for trashy and small. It's cool.

Harad Hishimi picked us up on Thursday night and we headed back to his house. On the way through Santa Monica, we drove down Main Street (which is so cute, by the way, lined with white bistro lights), and there were people on the streets, my window is down, I'm lovin' the warm weather and different scene. I look over onto the street (remember my window is down) and I see Vince Vaughn. Yeah, that's right Mr. Money Baby Money Vaughn. For those who are not aware, my heart is divided into approximately 5 sections - one for Office Space, one for Little Miss Sunshine, one for Napoleon Dynamite and 40-Year-Old Virgin (they share a space), one for all the other movies I like, and one for Swingers. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen that movie. So in my excitement, I yell to Cornbread who is in the backseat - "IS THAT VINCE VAUGHN???" Like I don't know that it is. I'm sure he heard me, though we sped through Santa Monica quickly enough that I was spared any embarrassment. I texted Wenis about this and she wrote back - "Your fates are intertwined." Yes, yes they are. He was my blackjack partner in Vegas once, but that's a completely different story and this is not the time nor the place.

Harad lives with JStag and Alice (yes, it's her real name, but it was my Oma's name, so I'm using it) in Venice Beach. Their pad is pimpin' and the roof deck is just sweet (except that it caused me to have 20 moquito bites on my legs. Gross.) We pretty much did this: walked, watched the weirdos, walked, went to the beach, walked, ate, walked, ate, went out, walked, and ate. It rocked.

Tonight at the gym, I went to my first ever Kung Fu class. I am Jackie Chan. HiiiiiYAH.

Cheers to new martial arts classes and mini-vacations!

Contemplative and Antsy

First of all, I won't even dwell on the fact that I haven't written in ages.

In the wee hours of Monday morning, I returned from a whirlwind weekend of travel, emotions, and visiting with relatives back in Chicago/Minnesota. My Opa passed away last Monday and his funeral was on Thursday in Chicago and the burial was on Saturday in Holland, Minnesota. The weekend was a rollercoaster of sadness about Opa yet happiness to see my relatives, visit the tiny towns of Holland (pop. 215) and Pipestone (pop. 4300) where my mom grew up. With mixed emotions, I returned to my reality, back to work, back to ironing, back to the drive up the Trail.

The 21-gun salute was powerful, stories of the war were fascinating, my brother receiving our Opa's ring was incredible, and a 9-hour ride in a piece of junk Jeep Commander with my very, very long-limbed family from Chicago to Pipestone was pretty much terrible. In a way, we probably bonded over that trip, but it's hard to tell when you can never get comfortable.

Overwhelmed...

...yet excited. That explains me this week. I have 1287644620 things to do before my shindig on Saturday, and what am I doing? Blogging. Exactly the thing that will put away my mail, fold my clothes, paint my bathroom, and mow the lawn. I only decided to blog since I haven't in 100 years...I thought it was time.

Since I wrote last, nothing too big has happened. I still love my job, I still love this house (mess and all), and I am still generally pretty stoked in my new adventure. I picked up C-Money from the aeropuerto yesterday was so warmly welcomed by the one returning home, I almost wanted to do it all over again. I see this huge, beaming smile coming from curbside, and as she opens my back door to throw in her luggage, she says, "I have never been happier to see you!" Unfortunately, this really just meant that Omaha was pretty lame, but it was still nice to hear :-) I also wore my dope shirt that Wenis has too - "I have a black belt in CRAZY" - I even got a compliment from a limo driver on that one. Phew, thought I was losing my touch.

C-Money and I are going to go night shooting tonight...I am so excited! I haven't taken photos in much too long! Of course, shooting another thing that will obviously clean this house.

Until next time...

Cheers to aeropuerto pick-ups and shindigs!

My Brothers Rock

In the past 3 months, my brothers, mom, and dad have truly shown their love for me in numerous hard labor projects. Tonight was no different. As my birthday present, my brothers said they'd come to the house to help with stuff. They did. Brandolian fixed the leaky valve under the sink, Joely Roley Poley fixed the crooked moulding my dad and I completely missed yesterday, we all grouted and changed light fixtures and hung the TV. A suberbly productive evening, but it ain't over yet. I need to get an OUNCE of organization in this pad or I will lose it tomorrow. Tomorrow. Really. My sanity is carefully teetering on the fence of messy house clean house. I know I'm close, and the light is finally at the end of the stupid tunnel, but I have a lot of stuff to do before I get there. I am so thankful for my family, and that they're very, very handy.

Today was a good day at work - I was comfortable, felt productive, and got to work on a lot of creative stuff that I totally dig. "Totally dig..." I can be such, like, a valley girl.

I have gross fingernails because the grout is black. Ew.

Cheers to half-finished bathrooms, black grout, hanging TVs, and my family!

Today Was a good day.

Given the circumstances...a Monday and all...today was a pretty good day. Started off uneventful, caught up on work, had coffee, the usual, then went to Safeway with KK Digital and C-Dawg to pick up food. I love eating on the cheap! A hoagie, a banana, a peach yogurt and chocolate milk for about $5. It's no very adult mac & cheese, but it's yummy.

Right before I left work, I checked the website that tells me messages about my blacked out stock - usually it says, "We're working with the SEC to blah blah stock-speak stock-speak blah blah. Our apologies for the delay." Ok, I lied. They never apologize anymore...they just say DEAL...it's gonna be a while till you can sell. Well, today, I logged in, and lo and behold, WE CAN SELL OUR STOCK. I am beaming inside and out! I have waited patiently for this day (ok, I wasn't all that patient)...and now I'll have some unexpected cashola in my pocket.

After work, my dad came over and we put up the moulding in the living room...looks RAD. Just need to paint some more (it's neverending) and then voila...I'll have a living room!

Now I'm pooped and am off to bed.

Cheers to stocks and moulding!

Oh the Napa Bowl

Last night, KK Digital invited me to the Napa Bowl to watch her friend play with his team. We ended up playing some pool while they bowled. The highlight of the evening was when KK Digital went to pay up at the bar, and discovered they took checks. Funny item # 1. The Napa Bowl takes checks. Who pays for drinks with a check?? Well, KK Digital does. And that's just rad. Funny item #2...she takes out her checkbook and writes the check, all the while thinking, "This pen sucks."

She then proceeds to tear off the check (just writing "the check" makes me giggle because, I mean, COME ON, who writes checks anywhere these days!?) and finds that she has written on the plastic that is supposed to go between checks. That's right, KK Digital will now always have a completed check made out to Napa Bowl. For fifteen dollars.

Absolutely one of the funniest things I've seen since at least Saturday, and definitely regarding a check and the Napa Bowl.

I promise to blog about last weekend - it's a good one.

Cheers to checks at the Napa Bowl and MORE POOL!

Contrary to Popular Belief...

According to some co-workers, hitting a bird is 7 days bad luck. Man, if someone had told me this on Friday I would have been BUMMED. As it turned out, it wasn't bad luck for me. Just the bird.

Seven pm on Friday marked the beginning of a whirlwind weekend that was full of 21-year-old activities that probably shouldn't have been tried again as a 29-year-old. That said, it was so. much. fun. I will have to write more about the weekend when I have recovered...I think I'm actually still asleep.

Now for today's top story...

C-Money, El Jefe, and I had lunch at Tra Vigne's little cafe...we were craving paninis and they hit the spot. The day is amazing - probably about 87 or so - so we sat outside at a little bistro table. Talk about having a hard time coming back. Conversation bounced from "what are military boys like?" to El Jefe giving his opinion on a precarious situation C-Money has found herself in. The food was delicious, the conversation not so much. Back at the office, C-Money and I were reflecting on this precarious situation, giving credit to El Jefe for being right, and then we decided we needed chocolate.

I scrounged up my change and headed to the vending machine with a fistful of dimes, nickels, and quarters. I first got C-Money's super-sized Hershey's bar with Almonds, then fed the machine the last of my change for my super-sized Reese's. Bet you can guess what happened next - my best-friend-turned-enemy vending machine DIDN'T DROP MY CANDY. When I need chocolate, I need chocolate. I shook the machine, banged on it, making quite a racket in the lunch room. Head hanging low, I walked back to the cave to tell C-Money what happened. She was suddenly fired up, said "I have some aggression I need to get out" and we stormed back to the lunch room to attack the vending machine. Little did I know, C-Money had grabbed a letter opener, all set to knock the little piece of heaven from its ring of death, but that didn't work. Not one to let a little obstacle defeat her, she rocked the sucker side to side and, lo and behold, I am equipped with 340 calories and 19g grams of fat, all bundled up into chocolate and peanut butter goodness. I owe her my soul.

Cheers to Reese's and recovery weeks!

What a Way to Start My Friday.

I went to the gym again last night which in turn caused me to miss both The Office season finale and the Ugly Betty season finale but did cause me to sleep like a ROCK. I woke up only at my alarm which never happens!

So all's good in the hood - makin' good time to work. I turn onto Zinfandel Lane to cut back over to 29 and I see something flash and then a thud on my car. There was no time to stop or even realize what had happened. After a couple screams and a racing heart, I pulled over at the Ranch and checked my front end. Sure enough, I had hit a bird. Two lone feathers were sticking out of my hood. I'm sad. Poor little guy.

Well, not much to say about that...hope the day gets better.

Cheers to the gym and The Office!

Ahhh Thursday - "The Almost Friday"

It's almost Friday. Thursday is The Almost Friday. Only 29 more hours until my friends and I jet off to some random tiny town and be silly.

Today was the second and last installment of training. What a great program! Unfortunately I sucked big time at the tasting (compared to my stellar performance yesterday at the aromas). It could have been that I am sick of drinking wine, or maybe it was just too early. Or maybe I need A LOT of practice. In any event, the program is awesome, and the Boston group was so much fun. Time to book my JetBlue flight to Boston.

I just heard C-Money talking about something called "What Crazy Looks Like on an Ordinary Day." This piqued my interest, though not enough to research what it is...yet...so instead I'll just show you my interpretation of that phrase:

Props to Refresher for catching this loverly photo of moi, along with her smirking boyfriend The Bobster (and that's Thenry in the background) He was the one who played pool with Cornbread and me, so we must not have freaked him out too much.

Cheers to The Almost Friday!

Did I Ever Mention How Much I Love This Job?

Alright, since C-Money blogged about working out, so will I. I'm a copy-cat like that. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery or something like that...unless of course it's your little brother playing the copy game where you say "Stop copying me" and he says "Stop copying me" and you say "Stop it!" and he says "Stop it" and then you think you're oh-so-clever and say "I'm a stupidhead" and he says "You're a stupidhead." At what point did they get clever too?

Anyway, I digress. Back to the gym. Wenis and I decided that in order to actually GO to the gym we joined, we'd need to go together. Power in numbers. I went last night (without her actually, so forget my previous line), and man I had a great time! What is wrong with me?? I hate working out! Well, I have figured out that I don't mind it at all if there's a TV on my machine. Now I'm sure you've gathered from my blogs that I enjoy being a couch potato. I'm sorry - I'm not the type to say that I work out 3 times a week. For me, that really means that I walk from the kitchen to the couch more than 5 times per evening. So knowing this, you'll never believe it...I drove to the gym on my way home from work, changed my clothes, got on an elliptical for 40 minutes (10 min of Sex & the City and 30 min of Friends, with 50 First Dates and the Giants game during the commercials), then even did weights and some sit ups after! I'm so proud of myself!! I actually enjoyed it. Ok, enough about the gym. In the grand scheme of things, what I did was basically like walking from the kitchen to the couch more than 5 times per evening, but with weights on my ankles. 2 pound weights at that. Just humor me.

Today I got to experience a training session - today was identifying certain scented oils....super fun. The group that's in town is from a restaurant in Boston. Super cool and fun group of people! They even invited me to dinner...still on the fence though since I told Wenis I'd go to the gym again. Which I actually want to do. Again, what is wrong with me? I'm considering giving up a fun dinner with super cool peeps for workout time? Um yeah. Examine my brain please.

Cheers to meeting new people with awesome accents, BACON for breakfast, and drinking a lunch!! Oh, and the gym.

Good Weekend All Around

What a good, productive weekend! I'm old now so I like the productive weekends with fun sprinkled in. It's amaaaaaazing how quickly you go from thinking that a good weekend is all about going out, staying up late, and sleeping, to thinking that a good weekend is one filled with getting up before 9, completing projects around the house, then having a nice dinner with friends.

Friday The C-Man from work had a BBQ at his place which was awesome - got to see everyone outside of the office which is always great. I tasted most of the wines* on the table - love that. After The C-Man's, Cornbread and I headed out to a local pool hall with some of my co-workers. After one game of doubles, Refresher wasn't feelin' so hot, so Viscious V took her home. Refresher's boyfriend ended up staying out with us, and we played a few games of cutthroat and then headed home to bed.

Cornbread and I forced ourselves to get up around 10 and we headed into the yard that was attacked by super weeds. After pulling weeds for a couple of hours and then putting together a patio set, we got ready, went to Chevy's and IKEA (why do all of my weekends seem to include Chevy's and/or IKEA...hmmm...there ARE other places to eat and shop....), then headed to Bailey's on the Rocks for her b-day dinner. I miss them - it was so nice and comfy to catch up! JAR and Patricio are gettin' hitched in September, so it was cool to hear about that and their honeymoon plans. It was so nice to see BOTR's parents and brother too - felt like the good ol' high school days!

Mother's Day/My Birthday Celebration was pretty cool - the fam came up and we mowed the lawn (my John Deere gets a lot of play) and BBQd and saw Spiderman 3. It's pretty funny - my brothers and I are in sort of an awkward phase...we're adults but none of us are married, and we're not kids (except Graham Cracker of course) so our interaction is a little off sometimes. We'll grow up soon. Maybe. But even if we do, I'm sure we won't lose the silliness.

Cheers to Birthday Months and my John Deere!

*Bitch - smooth and different, granache-y
Jekel Pinot Noir - super delicious, light but delightful
Cline Syrah - thick and rich as usual
Sexto from Spain - spicy and out of the norm

Aches and Pains

Ok just kidding - I have no aches and pains. I haven't started the gym yet...

Random comment of the day - people don't use the word "blouse" enough, as in "Hey Bertha, that's a nice blouse! Do you want to borrow my brooch?" I'll try to use "blouse" more often.

This week has been nutso. Work is so crazy busy that all I want to do when I get home is change into shorts and a T because it's really hot, and veg out. Unfortunately more vegging equals less house finishing which in turn means that I will live in this mess forever. I'll try harder. I really need to get the place going to have a party in June....tick tock, Megan. Tick tock. As for work, I am having a blast writing copy for two new labels for a fun chain store. Someday I'll post samples of that stuff here - or the stuff from the editing room floor - just because some is pretty funny. The cheesier the better - at least to joke about!

I went out on a limb and emailed new boy back - and even asked if he wanted to have dinner next week. No word back so far...trying not to think about it. Ok, that whole trying not to think about it thing isn't really working...but again, I'll try harder. As for the other new boys, I haven't called any of them back only because I haven't felt like being on the phone...I promise I'll call them back though.

Cheers to blouses!

Almost over...

In the last half hour of my birthday, I just wanted to state how lucky I am to have the friends I have. On top of the carbalicious goodness that was had all day today, I enjoyed breakfast and lunch with new friends and dinner with old friends. I got emails, texts, IMs, voicemails, and myspizzle comments all day! Not to be super cheesy with extra cheese for only fitty cent more, but I'm happy to be surrounded by all these amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing people. This is why I love birthdays. And it's just beginning...I am a firm believer in the birthday month.

Cheers to the start of my twenty-ninth year!

They Say It's Your Birthday...

Happy happy birthday to me. I'm old.

Can't be too depressed though because I love b-days! I've also already had a happy birthday cinnamon roll and a happy birthday latte. Looking forward to a happy birthday mac & cheese at Market for lunch and then a happy birthday dinner at Cuvee!

CHEERS TO CARBALICIOUS BIRTHDAYS!!!!

Weekends are So Much Better than Weekdays

It's Sunday. Again. It always seems like this part of the weekend comes much too quickly. Wouldn't it be awesome to work Monday through Thursday, 10 hour days, instead of 5 days a week? I'd vote that in.

Friday night I went to my mom's concert in San Rafael, hung out with the boys and dad for a bit, held a rifle for the first time (thoughts on that...scary, heavy, greasy, scary, and scary), and had root beer floats. Yum.

Happy Seis de Mayo - my girlsies came over yesterday afternoon to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and the most Cinco-de-Mayo-type thing we did was eat Taco Bell for dinner. Oh and I had Tecates. Are we old, lazy, or just lame? I'm going to venture that we're just content hangin' at my house, talking and watching trashy TV. We haven't seen each other for a while now...Bean has been working on 8 Mile for like a month, Cornbread and I keep missing each other, and Wenis - well I see her a lot, she's on my way home. Cornbread started with some SH Pinot Noir then I opened her a Moonshadow Cab - delicioso. Sidenote - we're finally joining the gym this week - YAY. Watch those pounds melt away....ok I'd settle for watching them stop growing.

The new boy did email me back - that's pretty rad. Not sure if I scared him off a little anyway, but I'll think positively and just hope I was endearing. There are other boys in the mix too...no good stories yet on that front.

The house is coming along sloooooooooooooooowly but surely. I wanted to paint the moulding for the living room or mark out where it should go so I could paint the living room, or clean or do something, but now I'm just tired and need a nap. I also have about 1700 loads of laundry to do, so my Sunday evening will be capped off with a thrilling trip to my local laundromat.

Cheers to cervezas and my girlsies!

What a Crazy Week.

Let me start by saying that this week wasn't crazy as my headline suggests. That's a major understatement. If there's another word that means crazy, but gives the impression that is was more like a fleet of Mack trucks (sort of like that distribution center on I80 where they're all lined up) coming into my life, unloading everything weird in my life into my brain, my desk, my phones, my emails, my house, and my car, then drove off and said - Hey! Have fun with that! - THAT'S what this week has been like.

It started off well with only a tad bit of weirdness - Sunday, C Money and I had an extremely productive IKEA trip and an overall good day that included flautas (yes, the ones from Chevy's) and even a call from ex#3. The call weirded me out enough to comment on the fact that we hadn't talked in a while and that I'd bet the farm (remember, I have one now) that I'll get contact from another ex this week. Not like ET-Phone-Home contact but contact in some other more earthly way. On Monday, my boss was back in town to give me some direction so I stop making mistakes, I talked to a new boy on the phone on my way home from work and we planned to meet on Wednesday night. I got to see Wenis and the VL crew Monday night and Bookcase fed me yet another meal of red meat and vino*, I got to take home my new wine cabinet thingy that is gorgeous. Tuesday fared ok as well, work was busy and I did pretty much nothing I was supposed to that night. Wednesday is when it all went down. It all went down so nuttily that I'll even start a new paragraph for it.

I wake up, all is routine (well, as routine as it can be when you live in a disaster area and have no clean clothes), I go into the office, again, as usual, and start working. Now mind you, I have a date with new boy that night. Then, drama for yo mama ensued. I got an email from ex#4 asking me to call him. Note that we have not spoken for a solid 2 months. The drama that spun out of that email was enough for me to start my own TNT show. In addition to that mess, I was starting to get nervous about my hot date. Fast forward to the date...

I met him in Slownoma and we had a drink, then ended up staying at this place for dinner as well. It was pretty awesome - he was much cuter in person and super laid back and cool. Now I have been on a couple of dates recently, and I think I have handled myself pretty well all things considered. I wasn't too nervous on those others ones, I did asking as well as answering, I was normal. I don't know if it was the glass of wine or the nerves or both, but I was a rambling idiot. And when I say rambling I MEAN RAMBLING. In my head, I told myself 3 times to shut up. You know it's bad when you're annoying yourself. A lot. I am seriously hoping that he was not freaked out, scared off, irritated, annoyed, happy to be in a silent car to get away from me, or all of the above. Well, if he thinks that was bad, then maybe it's better this way. If he thinks I'm still cool after that escapade, then that bodes well, yes? I'm not going to worry about it too much, but I hope he calls.

Cheers to new boys and whacked out weeks!

(Starting today, I will be adding the info, with commentary, on the wines I consume)

*Kelly Magee, 2002 Meritage, Napa: Very smooth and easy on the tastebuds, but had enough kick to compete with the prime rib and sweet potato fries.

I won I won I won I won...

It's been many, many moons since I've seen my poker girls, but we finally managed to get together last night! We headed to Wheel's house and she BBQ'd us up an amazing dinner - the beginning of summer in my book. Ribs, potato salad, corn on the cob (yes, my favorite thing EVER), salad, and angel food cake. Heavenly. Absolutely heavenly. We caught up with each other - so much going on - and then broke out the table and played some hold 'em.

I had nothin'. The entire time. 2, 10, diamond, heart. 3, 8, club, heart. Jack, queen, heart, heart, (really thought I had something there). 15 hands later, I get pocket aces. It was a good day. I bet 4 black chips (black chips are the highest in our game). The flop gave me one more ace. Uh yes, 3 of a kind, aces. At this point it's late, and it's a betting war. 6 black chips...2 black chips...5 black chips...The turn gives me nada, but the river, the glorious river...another ace. That's right - FOUR ACES. I bet the farm and won outta nowhere! And what's really funny, is that I could have actually bet the farm because I am the proud new owner of a John Deere riding lawnmower - definitely farm material.

It was a great evening - I was so happy to see those girlsies. To top it all off, I picked up a SWEET score from craigslist - a wine cabinet thing that's beeeee-u-teeful for only 100 bucks. Wenis and I chatted till about 2am and then I finally headed home to my lovely pillow.

Cheers to winning poker and riding lawnmowers!

I Swear I'll Join the Gym.

Yesterday, the meeting presenters were treated to a lunch at Cindy's. For some reason, I was lumped in with the presenters group, even though the extent of my presentation participation was quite simple. Regardless, I was treated to mahi mahi on a bed of spinach and yukon gold potatoes, two glasses of wine, a few bites of an amazing Campfire Pie, and a delicious latte. I would like to state for the record that I am happy my part did not include speaking in front of all those people. Espcially since I don't really know what I'm talking about yet! El Jefe was nice enough to let me slide this time, but I know I'll be up there sometime soon.

Cheers to kudos lunches!

Blogging Slacker.

Again, I have waited 13 days to post. Sorry. I'd say "my bad" but Wenis hates that saying, so I won't.

I just got back from our big meeting. I LOVE San Diego. I really really do. Granted, for about 90% of the trip I was working, but on Saturday we got to let loose and take a town car, yes town car, to Gaslamp. KK Digital, Jersey J, and I went to see the Annie Lebowitz exhibit at the Museum of Art (AWESOME), then found some bar downtown and played pool. If you know me, you know I love pool. Love it so much that there may be one in my living room instead of a couch. I wish I could play all the time. As I told Jersey J, I'm practicing for the circuit.

Anyway, as much as I love pool, I don't think I've ever played so much in my life. My company is amazing (yes, I said it, Wenis, amaaaaaaaazing). Not only is it amazing, but unheard of, and I appreciate the generosity SO MUCH!! Jersey J paid for more than he should have all day (THANK YOU if you happen to read this).

The following is an outline of the 'extras' I did in SD, work-talk excluded for entertainment purposes. Again, this blog is about food, wine, and fun, and since I never talk about the actual work I do (like running numbers, project management, presentations, etc), such talk is not in this post either. Just know that I worked a lot while there, but that's a given since it was a business trip...

Monday: checked out the hotel, ate, checked email, watched TV in my nice room, worked (details excluded for entertainment purposes), walked around, went to a restaurant in SD to eat, had an awesome meal with killer wines with the cool kids, crashed out.

Tuesday: Slept in a little, checked email, ate, worked (details excluded for entertainment purposes), walked around, checked out the spa, ate, met new peeps, hung out, ate, crashed out.

Wednesday: ate, attended meetings, got organized for our presentations, ate, worked (details excluded for entertainment purposes), got on a bus that took us to an aircraft carrier (flippin awesome), ate, worked on the presentation until 1am, crashed out.

Thursday: had two presentations, ate inbetween them, had a meeting with the whole team (very cool since I hadn't met them all before this week), ate, worked (details excluded for entertainment purposes), hung out with some folks which was way fun, chatted with Macktastic A till late, then crashed out.

Friday: ate, worked (details excluded for entertainment purposes), went to the closing presentation, ate at the indoor crab feed because the weather didn't cooperate, got bummed I didn't have a plus-one, crashed out.

Saturday: Free day. See detailed account above.

Sunday: ate, came home, wasn't into it, almost flew back to SD.

The common theme? I ate a lot. Oink.

The end.

Cheers to eating tons of red meat and bacon!!

I Miss the InTERnet.

Comcast sucks. Everyone knows this, but we have few options. My inTERnet at home doesn't work and I'm the type to be driven completely batty by technical difficulties. Why won't the stupid web page come up? What's wrong with it?? They don't know. I don't know. I hate them.

Ah, that's better. Got a little venting out of my system.

Since I don't have inTERnet at home (yet), I've been out of touch on pretty much everything. Going from my last job where 70% of my day was spent wasting time online, this is a very different world for me! I miss it, actually. Now that I'm almost in the last year of my twenties {gasp} maybe it's good for me...

This weekend was good, though not quite what I had planned, which is ok of course. Got my eyebrows did & ate a ton of food (thanks to KK Digital for an awesome Friday morning), saw my friend Miz Wheeler on Friday night where we headed to the Grill for cornbread, wild rice salad, Ahi, halibut, and a bottle of Napa Cellars Zin. Saturday got some stuff done on the house (special thanks to my folks for helping, as usual), and Sunday was spent at home for Easter.

I'm pretty tired this morning, so my post is lame. My apologies to anyone who reads it.

Cheers to sleeping!

Weekends Are Fun

What do Men In Tights, Monsters Inc, a pry bar, a channel lock, scratches and cuts, sore muscles, a little I {heart} Huckabees, some world wide web withdrawl, quesadillas, wine, truffles, chicken skewers, and an awesome mojito have in common? My weekend. That's what.

I spent Friday with my good buddies in Petaluma seeing what Wenis calls Men in Tights and most know as Blades of Glory. Hilarious fun - perfect way to start off the weekend. Afterwards we went to Graffiti for a drink where I had a glass of Seghesio Zin - yum. Sonoma County wines hold a special place in my heart.

Saturday consisted of pulling up carpet strips - very pokey yes - and staples. It got old very quickly, but I plodded along. Around 5, I headed to C-Money's house then to Wenis' to take a little trip Up Valley (first time I have ever used that term - I am a true Napkin now) for the wine club's open house. After some chicken skewers with peanut sauce and truffles to die for, we headed to Angele for dinner. The place was PACKED - which means perfect people watching for us. One table captured my attention the most - and one term describes them perfectly - hoity toity. The older couple looked like they just stepped off a yacht and the younger couple looked like they stepped out of Country Club Weekly's latest issue. Oh buffy.

After much people watching and a juicy burger with a side of extra cheesy mac & cheese (again, very adult), we headed to C-Money's place to hang out before a night on the town. Or what we thought would be a night on the town. Napster is not exactly a hot spot for going out. If you're in a funny mood, Trancas Skankhouse fits the bill. If you're looking for a live band, Downtown Joe's is the place. If you're down for some swank and chill music, n.v. is cool. If you're expecting a crazy night with lots of people and ensuing crazy stories - Napster may not be the place for you. All in all, it was an awesome night filled with funny stories, a country song about Santa Rosa, and a perfectly balanced mojito.

Cheers to finding fun places to go!

Thursdays - the New Friday.

Last night we went out for dinner for a coworker's birthday at Uva in downtown Napster. I had a spinach salad (yummy) and the asparagus gnocchi. It was delicious but the pancetta was too salty and there was too much cheese. That's right, you heard *me* say too much cheese. I really didn't think that was possible! Maybe I was still full from the two MASSIVE slices of Filippi's pizza I had for lunch at the warehouse. In any event, yes, there was too much cheese.

A bottle of Etude Pinot, Elyse Zin and an Italian Barbera were ordered - they were all divine. The Pinot was smooth and delightful, the Zin was a kick in the shorts, but the Barbera was by far the best. At only $36 a bottle - it was a steal and more than worth the price. I'll have to see if anyone remembers the producer and find it somewhere.

We capped off the night at n.v. - which I think stands for Napa Valley. In SF, there's a club called Club NV so I always think of that when I hear people talk about n.v. in Napster. It was swank and mod - I dug it. And guess what - there's a Mervyn's in Napa! Why did I not realize this? It just seems random to me...and why can't it be a Macy's? Ok, or an Old Navy.

Cheers to finally writing about wine again!

I Love it Here.

I like coming to work. I never thought those words would escape my mouth. Ever. Not since my Video Droid days when life consisted of getting up at 10am, making a bagel and smoothie, watching Jerry Springer at 11 (keep in mind I was 21), heading to the pool at noon, laying out until 3 when it was time to get ready for work, starting work at 4, watching Office Space or Disney movies (they make the time pass extremely fast) or Swingers over and over and over, getting off around 10:30, heading to Friar Tucks or the 8 Ball in Cotati, staying up till 3am, go to bed, and doing it all over again the next day. Man, that was the life. I mean really, who wouldn't love that?!

But alas, I have grown up, and Jerry Springer doesn't really do it for me anymore. Now laying out by a pool, that's different. With this growing up thing, I have finally found a place that I like going to day in and day out, and I can't wait to get really settled.

As for the home life - nothing new to report. The frogs are still loud, even through the double-paned windows, though I haven't heard the rooster through the closed windows. Good thing, I might have shot him by now. The place is still a construction zone with some hazardous materials and conditions thrown in, but it has such potential! Of course, saying a house has potential can sometimes mean the same thing as saying that someone has a nice personality. You know what I mean.

Cheers to pool days and fun jobs!

What Is the Deal?

My life has been a whirlwind! Moving out of the condo completely, learning this job, moving, cleaning, moving, cleaning, setting up, taking down, eating at Chevy's two nights in a row...what a weekend.

I wanted yesterday to be the last day I was in the condo except to clean and then get my stuff out when I sell (please be soon...). Wenis came over and helped all day - moving and packing and moving and emptying. My realtor came over in the morning and we all went to look at the 2bdr/2ba that just sold. It wasn't as awesome as it looked online which is good for me! Around 1, Wenis and I went to the open house next door to mine (hope to crush the competition) and I proceeded to completely lie to the realtor. I told her I knew nothing of the complex, that I was just looking at open houses, the lies go on and on. It wouldn't be so bad except that she kept drilling me, and then I ended up giving her my full real name! What was I thinking! At that point, Wenis and I couldn't move more out of my condo because she'd see us, so we took what we had to the new Napa house. I'm a dork. Where's my t-shirt that proclaims that?

I decided to sleep in the Napa house last night for the first time. It was pretty cool, but the frogs are SO loud and a lovely rooster starts its open mic night at 6am. That was not a pleasant sound.

This morning, I started up the shower and tried to find clothes in the disaster zone that is my house. The water was cold. It wasn't getting warmer. At all. I realized then that no one ever changed the hot water heater back to normal - the previous owners had it set to "Vacation." "Vacation" does not give me a warm shower. My only option at this point is to throw on some clothes and head to the office, where there are showers in the bathroom. The only clothes I could find were the jeans I wore yesterday, complete with paint and dirt, and a zip up sweater with nothing underneath. Let me tell you - I was HOT. I got my hair done on Saturday afternoon, and she styled it like they do with lots of product, which by this morning looked greasy and dirty and mullet-y. I burst into the office, plowing past the receptionist and hopped in the shower.

Once again, I had to get ready for work somewhere other than my own bathroom. And the stories, they just keep a'comin'.

Cheers to showers at work, frogs and roosters!

Blogging. The Super Fun Pasttime. For me anyway...

My co-worker, C-Money, and I were just talking about blogging. I made a mental vow to blog more often. Since I'm passing out my blog URL more often, I want to be sure there's actually something for people to read. Though I'm sure that most people aren't as interested in what I have to say as I am, I know that I get addicted to other people's blogs a lot (like BlogMasterG's, my good buddy in NY). It's a glimpse into other people's lives, and even if you don't stay long or visit often, you know just a little more about that person, and you have an instant bond.

I dig it.

Cheers to blogging and more of it!

What a Week!

Highlights from the week:
~Had a meeting with some people from my favorite store
~Hung out with those folks and my team
~Stayed in a sweet hotel
~Sat in on a meeting with some folks from the a commission that is all about my favorite vegetable (fruit? vegetable?) that makes guacamole
~Moved my life from a condo to a house

Now for some details on the funniest happening of the week...
Tuesday we had a meeting with the buyers from a certain store that I love. If you know me, you know what this is! After the meeting, my boss and our sales guy who calls on this certain super store went to a dive bar to play some pool before we met up with those buyers and my boss' boss for dinner. Napa Valley Grille was not what I expected - very fancy pants given the name. The food was declicious and the conversation was hilarious and random. After dinner, we headed back to that dive bar for some more pool and bonding time. My boss and I played pool once the pool leaguers had headed out. It was the worst showing of pool I have ever had ever. I was crushed 5 times by my boss - unfortunately my review rides on my winning. I used to be a hustler - what happened to me? Time to buy a pool table.

While we were chatting, my boss' boss got me a room at the hotel nearby so I didn't have to drive all the way back to Sonoma. For the 6 hours or so that I spent there, it was amazing! If I had had time, I would have built myself a Duraflame fire, sat on the balcony, and taken a bath in the Jacuzzi tub. As it turned out, getting in at 1:30am, I went straight to sleep and woke up around 8am to shower and bolt outta there. I had to get to my favorite store to buy clothes and toiletries for work that day.

After checking out around 8:30am, I headed to said favorite store to get clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, and makeup. Everyone knows how high class I am, and this just proves it. Since I had already checked out of that wonderful room, and I was at the super store in my gross, smoky clothes from the day before, I pulled a perfect Walk of Shame moment.

I purchased the clothes and toiletries and headed for the super store bathroom. I changed into my cute new outfit, brushed my teeth, combed my wet hair, and put on the brand new makeup I had gotten. That's right - all in the store bathroom. Only three people came in and out while I was getting ready for my day, and only one gave me a weird look. I hope the people watching the security cameras got a kick out of my transformation.

I think I looked better than day than any other day at this job so far. Go figure.

Cheers to the Walk of Shame and sweet hotel rooms!

One Company Owns the World

Smoking Loon & Pepperwood Grove are owned by Sebastiani. Barefoot & Dancing Bull are owned by Gallo. Stag's Leap & Chateau St. Jean are owned by Foster's (Australian for beeeah). I find this extremely interesting...but I know it means that very few companies actually exist. It makes the world a very small, and somewhat scary, place. I used to love researching who owns who, and now it's not so glamorous. The wine industry is just like every other business - choices are made in the name of the almighty dollar. That's fine - I'm all for makin' a buck - but in an industry where obscure names take on a certain mystery and intrigue, knowing that a big guy owns what you thought was a small, fun label, sort of ruins it.

That said, I am learning that even though that may be the case, the big guys owning the majority of labels, the integrity of some acquisitions is maintained. Single vineyard still means single vineyard. The winemaker may have stayed on board and is still producing amazing wines, s/he just has a different ultimate boss. The label may stay the same, and though seemingly deceptive, it just good marketing.

Cheers to wine integrity!

PS - Can wine have integrity? Seems like a stupid thing to cheers to... How about this instead - Cheers to the bigger wineries who value the environment of a small winery - they're the reason I have a job!

My Blog, How Do I Miss Thee

It's been too long since my last post - a lot has happened and I'm trying to get my bearings! We closed on the house, signed the papers, and on Thursday the keys will be mine all mine. At the same time I'll be doing a little work on that place, I need to get my condo in tip top shape for a sale! Do I sound like an HGTV show? I should, it's all I watch lately!

We went to Mustards last week - it was very enjoyable. The food, the weather, the company - all perfect for a Friday. I certainly lived it up that day, going to Market with friends for dinner. Talk about delicious carbs. Of course I got the mac & cheese (very adult, remember?) and a side of cornbread. I like my food all the same color. We topped off that carbalicious dinner with some amazing s'mores (that's right, s'mores) and some brownie-ice cream heavenly thing. Did I mention I've gained a pant size since I started this job? It's a bittersweet fact.

Today was amazing weather-wise - it's definitely a beautiful thing to live in California. Days like today, with the sun up till 6:30 and the temps in the 80s, put a smile on my face and a spring in my step. I needed both of those!

Over the weekend I had some of The Show - it's quite yummy. The label is awesome, the wine is good, I'm a happy camper.

A Month in...

It has been almost one month since I started here, and though I am probably still starry-eyed with all that happens here, I am still extremely happy! Even the work I have to do is fun (I know, I know, I'm blinded by the stars in my eyes.)

Writing copy is so much fun! Here's my gig: Write wine tasting notes without tasting the wines. Is there soemthing wrong with this picture? On top of not actually tasting these specific wines, it has been challenging since there are only so many words for "delightful" and "refreshing" and "palate" and "aroma." Thesaurus.com is my new best friend. I hope that this copy makes it onto the final label so that when I go to the store I actually see it!

So the house. The details didn't seem to scare off my parents, so the house is ours! We'll sign the title papers within the next week or so, and then it's go time. Move half of my furniture into the new place to stage the condo. Paint the red wall to appeal to more buyers. Start painting the new place, rip up the disgusting carpet, tear out the vanity and mirror in the bathroom, and start updating fixtures & lighting. Pray my place sells QUICKLY.

Cheers to wine tasting notes & new-to-me houses!

Not Quite in the Groove

This week has been the first week of actual work. My official orientation ended last week, though today was field trip #3. I got to meet one of the sales reps in my group along with some reps from a distributor. As everyone said, they really are a great group of people. We headed to two of the tasting rooms today, with a lunch at Silverado Brewing Co. in between. I tried so hard to get a salad, and ended up with a French dip instead. So much for eating healthy. I need to join a gym just to work off the past three weeks.

The reps are long-timers, some have been in the industry since before I was born. I won't be telling them that tidbit though. No need to make anyone feel bad - just yet anyway. I did score a vest with one of the logos on it - nice way to end the meeting!

I'm still getting the hang of my responsibilities, and cannot wait until the day that most of this is second nature. It's a good thing I was blessed with a great memory, especially one for names, because that's everything in this industry. So far, so good.

Cheers to more tours, more tastings, and free logowear!

Swig, Swirl, Suck in air, Spit

The 4 S's of industry tasting. That seems to be how it goes.

Field Trip #2: Far Away Winery Tour & Tasting
Today we headed up to the Far Away Winery to do some tasting and get a tour from the winemakers. The facility is incredible - state of the art - and a perfect subject for some amazing photographs. I'll be heading up very soon to shoot like crazy. We tasted about 19 wines, and I did my first swig, swirl, spit. You see that technique #3 is missing for me...I can't figure out how to suck in air. The wine just dribbles out of my mouth. I must master these techniques because I can't actually drink 19 wines while working. Wine tasting for me has always been "swallow" and not "spit" as the 4th S, so this will be an adjustment. "Swallow" can also be replaced with "drink & enjoy" though that's not an S. Homework item #572.

Today was amazing - it was such a pleasure to meet the winemakers. The tour was casual, friendly, and extremely informative - another great bunch of people.

Cheers to the 4 S's of tasting and again to field trips!

Enjoy it While it Lasts

I am floored (in a good way) by how this company treats their employees, how active they are in the community, and how generous they are...every employee I have met so far reiterates this fact. The people are awesome - everyone has been extremely helpful and patient with the newbie.

Field trip #1: St. Helena/Napa Tasting Room Tour
Today I got to see each of the properties and taste many of the wines we produce. Yep, you read that correctly, I got to taste wine and go on a tour for almost three hours today. I'm starry-eyed. I'm in heaven. I know that the real work will start, and soon, but I will remember the past few weeks and revel in my experiences. Good thing this is all extremely fascinating to me - it'll be a while before it feels like work.

There's a house. It's in southeast Napa. It's cool. It's big. It could be all mine - stinky, dirty, blue carpet and all. The inspections were done today - it's an old house so the electrical is original, the hot tub is making the deck rot quickly, there's some funky plumbing going on under the house...all in all an interesting report. Doesn't scare me. Ok a little. Unfortunately, all I see is a house, spacious and in need of some TLC, and a shorter commute. The rest are just details. Potentially expensive details, but details nonetheless. And I want all those details to be mine. See a dangerous pattern with my starry-eyed attitude?

Cheers to field trips and old houses!

Aren't We Lucky

To the poor folks of Minnesota, and I'm sure many other places in this country: I'm sorry you can't buy wine at Target. Granted, I have yet to buy a bottle of wine at Target, though if I were running errands and already there, it sure is nice to know that I CAN buy wine at Target.

This little tidbit is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Do's and Don't's of wine sales and distribution. I have been surprised by the laws of many states - laws that seemed to have been passed right after prohibition and never reviewed again. They all seem like such a hassle! Another reason it's great to live in California.

There is a freebie table in the coffee room here, and since I'm new to the industry, green so to speak, I still think that free wine and swag is cool. So far I snagged a license plate frame that reads "Forgive me for I have zinned..." (awesome) and a 1.5L of wine. Yay for me. Hopefully when I get a permanent desk I'll be given a lot more stuff to fill up the shelves.

Cheers to buying wine at Target and the free table!

Wine. Chocolate. Enough Said.

Wenis and I made it over to Rodney Strong's Wine & Chocolate Fantasy event today. The wine was flowing around the entire barrel room, and the chocolate was plentiful, but what made the day (and it worth the $30 each) was the moneymaker-shaking, smile-inducing, soul-warming tunes of Earl Thomas and his 7-piece band.

The wines were hit or miss today, which surprised me because usually I love most Rodney Strong wines. The reserves definitely trumped the rest in every varietal, prompting us to go back for seconds on the cab and zin. It also helps when you get an "I Got Knotty" sticker with the zin. Stickers will do a lot for sales, or tastes in our case, and Wenis and I may be showing up with our own someday.

And the chocolate...yum. Can't really go wrong here.

Later, my gals and I hung out at my place, chatting it up for a few hours. We then randomly went to Napa for some delicious Chinese food and ridiculous conversation. At the wine bar, I sat in my reserved saddle seat (no one else but me knows it's actually reserved for me of course), while I had the pinot noir flight. The Taz "Fiddlestix" was my least favorite, but I ended up trading for Bean's $16/glass Rudd cab which was yummy. We headed back home to watch tasteless television - American Idol from Tues & Wed. I love my DVR.

Cheers to bad singing and saddle seats!

The Second Friday

I have now completed my second week here. I am pretty burned out, but in a good way. Is that possible? For the first time in my life I think it may be.

Superbowl Sunday, Cornbread and I tasted at Sebastiani. Neither of us had been there before, so it was a perfect day to do a couple tastings after a late breakfast (I guess when we're older, we'll call this brunch). The tasting room gal was extremely friendly, chatting with us about the wines, the grounds, the history, the old labels, you name it. It was such a pleasure having her as our pourer...many times the staff won't even look at you, let alone talk to you about the winery & wines.

Cheers to friendly tasting room staff!

Wined & Dined

Since I started this new job only a week ago, I have been wined & dined to death. Well, not sure that that's actually possible considering how much I love food & wine. So I may die of a heart attack...the food is plentiful & rich, and the wine is everywhere. Takes some getting used to. AutoCAD boxes in offices didn't exactly thrill me - wine bottles, now that's office decor.

Today will be my fourth "work lunch" - basically someone in the office taking me out for lunch for orientation. My favorite orientation in existence. Not only is today's lunch paid for by someone else, but it's Rutherford Grill, home of my favorite side dish in the world - wild rice salad.

So far I have enjoyed lunches at:
~Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen: papaya & avacado salad - absolutely delicious but quite small and a little pricey
~Market: Top two of the best mac & cheese I've ever had (Underwood in Graton is the other)
~Pizzeria Tra Vigne: My first experience with a piadine - basically a small pizza crust with a caprese salad on top, folded in half like a taco and sooooo good. I ate the whole thing, which is an accomplishment given its size, but not a surprise coming from me.

Cheers to wine industry new-hire "orientations"!

You learn something new everyday...

On January 19, I learned that you can move on.

Last Tuesday, I learned that moving on is actually quite scary...yet thrilling.

Yesterday I learned that there was finally a name for my age group (those of us between Gen X and Gen Y): The Millenials. Sounds like a trippy 60s soul rock band.

Today I learned that there are no wine writers in the industry between the ages of 21 - 30.

Today I decided to change that. No, I won't be writing for Wine Spectator or Wine Enthusiast, or even the Napa Valley freebie papers, but I will write here as often as I can. I'll tell you about my adventures in the world of wine (probably referred to later in this blog as WoW, because I know how many people dig acronyms), tastings, reviews, people I meet, and more.

Cheers to starting a new life!