Wine Tasting 2023 has begun

Several years ago, circa 2018 I think, Janet and I bought the Woodinville Winery Passport. The passport has about 50 wineries who are participating in the "tasting" passport. It's a great idea to get people into your tasting room. 2018 happened to be the year I had a goal of tasting 50 different wineries for my 50th birthday year. And I did it! 

Ahem. 

Then 2019 we did some tastings, but nothing as serious as 2018. 

This year I decided I was buying Janet and I this passport again. It really helps to get us out and do something, and wine. I mean, come on. 

There are several on the list that we've tasted before and remember. And several we weren't sure if we've tasted (not promising at all), and some we've never tasted. The thing about hitting any tasting room multiple times, is every year is different. Their wines change. The grapes change. One wine you may hate one year, then the next you taste it and buy several bottles. 

We started our 2023 adventure yesterday. We know by experience we should only do 3 wineries in one outting. After three your taste buds are really wined out. AND you probably shouldn't drink any more so you can drive. 

The wineries on the list, though, all have different hours, different locations, and some require reservations. The Woodineville Winery group have created an app for this Passport thing. And while that's great, they don't allow you to sort the wineries by location or available times. So...me being me, I put it all in a spreadsheet. You're shocked aren't you?

Janet and I have our next tasting dates already on the calendar and now simply have to choose where to go. But before I get ahead of myself, let's talk about yesterday's tastings. 

We started at Zerba Cellars. I didn't recall it, but we had tasted at Zerba before in 2014. I didn't have a very good experience there at that time. And, to be fair, my wine knowledge was lacking at that time. Still, this visit was fantastic. The two ladies working the tasting room were warm and welcoming. They knew a lot about the wines and spent enough time explaining to us. What makes Zerba special is it's called "rock" wine. The vines grow in a very rocky area, and prefer that. The rocks make the vines really work at it and the result is a bolder taste. I bought three bottles there and would certainly go back and taste them again. 

The next one was 425 Cellars. This was a new one for us. The woman working it was also fantastic. We were the only ones in the room at the time so she spent time chatting us up. She didn't have a lot of knowledge about the red wines because she was a white wine drinker. That was ok with me she knew enough. Their wines were so fantastic. Every one we tasted I fell in love with. Even the white wine we tasted (it was a Pinot Grigio). Their wines were so good that I joined their wine club and bought 3 bottles. Janet bought a rose from them too. I'd highly recommend this winery tasting room. In fact, I'll meet you there. 

After 425, we took a break and had lunch at Vivi Pizzeria. Their pizza is thin crust and so amazingly delicious. Janet and I split a wedge salad and a pizza. It was just what we needed to finish out tasting day. 

The last winery we tasted at was Patterson. We know Patterson very well. We've tasted there several times. This time, though, we just didn't think their wines were that great. It could be that the first two wineries were so great that Patterson was just lackluster.

I managed to come home with 7 bottles of wine. 6 I bought and 1 Janet bought. She likes to buy wine and send it home with me because here is where we'll usually be drinking it. She also likes to let me buy the wine because she knows she'll be likely with me when we drink it. Smart. 

I am happy that we're tasting wines again. I missed it last year. It also gets me out of house - which is where I like to stay too much. I can't wait to taste some of the new ones on the list. Stay tuned for those stories. 

Wineries and such

Happy November! We're well into November and the holidays are upon us. If you didn't know, the TV and the stores will tell you. So much Christmas stuff already in the stores. It annoys me that they don't let us get through Thanksgiving first. Oh well.

I'm doing turkey day again here. I do love this holiday. So much food that reminds me of Mom. Last year was hard, but doable. I have no idea how hard or "easy" this year will be. Grief works that way. Just when you think you're "safe" from it WHAM something out of the ordinary hits you and you find yourself crying in the grocery store.

As the year draws to an end, I'm finding myself reflecting again. I am not at all happy at what I'm seeing about myself this year. I spent a lot of time at work. I've worked, according to my time tracking a total of 1786 hours. Which - in a year - the available work hours is 2080. So oddly, it doesn't look like I've worked as much as I thought. Though I do still have 6 weeks to go. Regardless of the time tracking, I know I've been at work a lot. It's affected my relationships for sure. I have wondered if it's my "escape" from having to deal with a few things - that's what got me reflecting. Things that make you go hmmmm...

Health is another reflection. I stopped caring about the time we went to Scotland. My gym closed and I've just not made an effort to find another. I'm starting to feel it for sure and it's time to get my act together again. It's too bad being lazy wasn't a way to lose weight...I'd be super model thin.

In recent news, Seattle SIL and Mrs. Braspir and I went to do some wine tasting yesterday. I'm still trying to work my way though these passports I bought at Costco.  Technically I have 17 wineries left in the passport, but some of those wineries we tasted during our Wine Walks and 4 I won't go to. 2 because they only will accept the passport if you make an appointment (Two Vitners and Covington) and 2 because I've been to them so many times (St. Michelle's and Columbia). So if I cancel all those out I only have 10. That's totally doable in 6 weeks.

The problem I have with wine tasting is I buy the wine. It's not a horrible problem, I just need to drink the wine in my house quicker so I have room for this new wine. Such first world troubles.

Wine Wine the magical fruit...

Wow, two posts in a row with Wine in the title. Hmmm...

This last weekend SIL, Bluberry and I went out to do yet more wine tasting. It was "hidden" behind the veil of "let's go play with out new cameras". But I wasn't fooled. It was about wine tasting.

I've gone back and forth on the "wine goal" for this year. I find it amusing I even have a goal around wine. But here you have it.

I originally was going to try to taste 50 wineries this year (you know because it's my 50th year). Then I thought that my be too, oh I don't know, wino-esk.

So I changed it to 50 new wines. Well, shit 4 wineries and you've almost hit that goal.

Officially, my goal is to taste every winery in the Passport that I bought from Costco.

Done.

Know how many are in that...42! I'm going to give it my best though.

In other news, Scotland is a short 3 weeks away. I finally pulled my suitcase out and it's ready to go. The packing list is printed, and it's starting.

In more other news, Mother's Day is Sunday. This year has been different. I haven't been "a mess" leading up to Mother's Day like I was last year. Which makes me wonder if this year the actual day is going to be a mess. I miss her so much and it's amazing how much your heart can hurt.

Thank god I have all this wine.

Lake Chelan, Cruishing grapes and other stuff

This past weekend was the annual hunting wives get away.  You may recall that I don't have a husband and are therefore wondering how I am part of a "hunting wives" adventure. It's really quite simple.  I came as a packaged deal when the MomUnit (who was a hunting wife) invited me to join this illustrious group. And so now, this "hunting wives" are really known more for them being Crabs and I'm a major player in the little band of crabs. Seattle SIL, the MomUnit, Mrs. Braspir and Blueberry make up the rest of the Crabs.

This weekend, however, it was just Mrs. Braspir and Seattle SIL that joined me for our girls weekend get away.  In past years we've gone to San Francisco and San Diego. This year we kept it close to home and headed to Lake Chelan.

The Crabs hit Chelan

Lake Chelan is a small resort town east of the mountains from Seattle. Lake Chelan itself is a narrow, but deep lake (about 1400 feet deep). It's 50.5 miles long and is the longest natural lake in Washington.  It's a beautiful area to me. Not quite the desert, scab lands of Eastern Washington and not quite the evergreen, woody area of Western Washington.

Lake Chelan - I think looking North

View of the lake from our hotel

Our plan for this weekend was wine tasting. It was Crush weekend (as one not so friendly restaurant owner pointed out to us when we inquired about reservations) which meant all the wineries would be open for tasting. And who doesn't like to taste wine?

We tasted at 6 wineries on Saturday. Caideras Winery, Lake Chelan Winery, Winegirl Wines, Four Lakes Winery, Tildio Winery (of which I called Dildo winery), and ending at Tsillan Cellars Winery. Of the wineries, Lake Chelan was my favorite. I bought two bottles of wine there which were fewer than I expected to buy.

Caideras was a nice little shop with a very friendly wine steward there. She chit chatted with us the entire time we tasted. Their wine was good, but nothing I felt I had to own.

Caideras Winery

Abby the Crab wants a taste

At Lake Chelan Winery not only did we have exceptional service but they were crushing grapes out in their vineyard and who doesn't want to crush grapes with their bare feet. So off we went. They were having a grape crushing competition - which I didn't want to participate in - but I did want to stick my feet into a barrel of grapes. So I asked if I could between competitions, and sure enough. I stuck my feet in. Gross is what I'd call it. But I can check this off my bucket list...even though it didn't actually exist on the bucket list.

Lake Chelan Winery - my favorite stop

These grapes were made for stompin'...

 

And that's just what I did...

Their grapes had crabs

After that we stopped at Winegirl Wines. This little place was COVERED in fruit flies.  I do realize that with wine, there's fruit, and with fruit there are fruit flies...but my goodness there were a ton of fruit flies. I mean when the wine pourer gives you a coaster type thing to put over your glass so flies don't get in it...there's a problem.  To top that off, I wasn't a fan of any of their wines. Interesting side note however...the owner used to be a Rat City Roller Derby girl and so the wine labels reflected that.

From there we had lunch. We figured we'd better get something in our stomachs before we were blotto! We ate at a delicious restaurant called Blueberry Hills (click that link for a virtual tour of the restaurant). The food was fantastic and the portions HUGE. Soooo glad I shared a French Dip Sammy with Mrs. Braspir. I swear they used an entire loaf of French bread for this sammy.

Stuffed and happy we headed up to Four Lakes Winery. The son of a friend of BigBro's owns this winery.  So naturally we had to stop by. I wasn't impressed with their wines either. And since all of the wines were sold out I didn't have an opportunity to buy any.

View from Four Lakes winery

Back down the hill into Chelan we stopped at Tsildio winery...which I kept calling Dildo winery...I'm sure they would not have been impressed with my name. I couldn't help it. For some reason their name reminded me of that. Their wines were good and I was tempted to purchase a bottle of one of them until I realized it was $34. Well over my price per bottle level.

Our last winery was Tsillan Cellars. Beautiful, big Italian style villa. Packed with wine tasters and thus made getting our next taste challenging.  They had some good wine though. Mrs. Braspir bought a bottle there I believe. And I almost did. But I opted to not and just stay with the two bottles I had already purchased.

All in all we had a blast tasting wine. But by the time we were at Tsillan Cellars we were done. We dined on Mexican food that night and I might add it was delicious!

The trip was a great one and while we missed having the other two crabs there (the MomUnit and Blueberry) we managed to have a good time on our own. We created some great "you had to be there" moments that made us laugh and laugh and laugh.  I do love these women and find myself thankful to have them in my life.

Looks like those apples have worms...

On a "change in my lifestyle" note - I was proud of myself the first night we were in town. We stopped to have dinner at a place called Tin Lily's - delicious food. And the type of place I'd normally make a bad food choice.  This time, however, I had a chicken breast (grilled) with a side of grilled veggies. Swapped our the starch they offered for more grilled veggies.  Seattle SIL just stared at me and kept saying, "Who are you?" I'm hoping that soon no one recognizes me.  Other food choices throughout the weekend I was proud of - not great choices, but still I shared most my meals with someone whereas I might have normally eaten (ate) the whole thing.

Red, Red Wine....

It shouldn't be too surprising that this song is stuck in my noggin this morning considering last evening Mrs. Braspir, Seattle SIL and I went on yet another wine walk. 

This wine walk was in the Hollywood School winery district - still in Woodinville, just a different set of wines. I kinda felt like these wines were WAY more expensive and WAY out of my league when it comes to purchasing. I'm a relatively cheap wine connoisseur.

Anyhow, Woodinville is home to roughly 100 wineries. The number keeps changing depending on what article you read, who you talk to, and the month.  So I'm rounding to 100. My goal this year was to taste at ALL The wineries in Woodinville. If they stayed static, this wouldn't be a problem - other than me becoming a wino.  But as the months have gone on my list has ebbed and flowed with regards to available wineries.

New ones have been added, and some I've already tasted are no longer "on the list". The "list" is this handout that Woodinville provides that's essentially a map of wineries.  I suspect these missing wineries still exist, but have chosen to not be on the list for whatever reason.

Anyhow...that's a long winded way to tell you that I've adjusted my goal.  Instead of ALL the wineries, my goal is 75 wineries.  As of last night, I've tasted 30.  I've got a long way to go by the end of the year. I'm going to have to go tasting on my own it seems.

This wine walk was a fun adventure. The sun was out and it was a beautiful evening in Seattle.  We started - after I told Seattle SIL the wrong direction to go - with Trust Cellars. They had several to choose from and I opted for their Cabernet Sauvignon and their Cab Franc.  All were delicious and all were out of my price range.  And nothing, in my opinion, to write home about.

Moving on...

Our next winery was Dusted Valley - characters abound here.  The pourer was a sassy blond woman who was all to happy to tell us all about their wines, their winery and stories behind some of their names.  I tried their Grenache and their Mourvedre. Delicious wines. If I had an occasion to bring a NICE bottle of wine, I'd go here to get it. They had an interesting wine too called Squirrel Tooth Alice and they had a fantastic story about how they got the name. They had a photo of this old timer woman who lived in the late 1800's / early 1900's who died at 98 in the 1950's. Anyhow, I'll let their site fill in the blanks, "The namesake of this old Dodge City, KS lady of the night lives on famously. The sex appeal of this wine jumps out of the glass with loads of seductive allure. You're gonna love 'er. If not, you'll have to have to answer to Alice's pet ground squirrel. No kidding. She had a pet ground squirrel...How else did you think she got her name???"  Crazy...and while I didn't taste it Seattle SIL did and loved it.

Our  next stop was William Church.  I love their logo and sorta love their wines. I had their 2 Spires and their Bishop's Blend. Both were decent, alright, they were good. But again, not in this girls price range. I had tasted at William Church before so I kinda knew what to expect here.

Our next stop was back to where we started - the ticket pick up - at Otis Kenyon. Now it could be that this was winery #4 and our taste buds were almost drunk OR it could be they just didn't have wine that was complimentary to my pallet. Either way, I wasn't a fan.

The next winery is out of Oregon and was offering a free tasting ... so we HAD to do it. Torii Mor was a fun, lively little tasting room. The young gal who helped us was BURNT to a crisp by a sunburn that just made me ache.  I opted to taste their Port blend and...OH....MY....God...it was delicious. Seattle SIL and Mrs. Braspir followed suit and it wasn't long before we were pulling out our wallets. We bought ONE bottle between us (it was expensive...very expensive - $45) and we figured we'd split it and have it as a special wine for our annual trip we do. I can't wait to taste that Port blend again.  We didn't taste any of their other wines. We were too in love with the Port.

Our last stop was Zerba (not Zebra).  The guy in there seemed less than enthused to be helping us and frankly I didn't like their Cab Franc blend I tasted at all. I may not know that much about wine, and what makes a good wine, but I would like the wineries to at least make an attempt to tell me what they're tasting and why it's a good wine. 

After this winery it was determined that we all had had a bit too much and that we should go sop up the wine in our systems with some Mexican food.  So we went and sat for a good hour and chit chatted in the sun (I sat in view of a Mustang Cobra convertible and drooled the entire time...then a Shelby convertible came and parked next to it...I was in heaven). 

I love these two women as they are ALWAYS game to go and do something like this. We laugh a lot, and talk about nothing overly important or sometimes deep, important stuff - but we always have a good time.

Oh I almost forgot, we weren't drinking on an empty stomach. When we do the warehouse walks they have a food truck there so we can get quick, good food. While there are restaurants in the Hollywood School House area, we didn't want to waste an hour of the wine walk eating, so I brought snacks.

It might become a tradition.  You may also notice our wine glasses are essentially travel coffee mugs but like a wine glass (they even have lids that go with them) we got these when we went on the Mt. Rainier Railroad wine tasting thingy last year. They were all the rage. Every winery we entered someone said how much they loved our glasses. One gal even took a photo.  Maybe I should buy a bunch of them and set up shop out there and sell them! I'd be RICH!!!

The Casual Vacancy...

Book club was tonight. For the second time this year I did not finish the book. Blech. The first book I didn't finish was I am Malala.  I really didn't like the way the book was written and just felt like I was reading a very dry, very boring history book.  I felt sorry for the plight of this girl/woman, but felt like the book was propaganda over literary explanations.


Enter The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowlings. Yes, that's right. The author who brought us the Harry Potter series branched out and wrote a very adult book.

I bought the book because J.K. Rowlings wrote it. I knew going into it that it was a great departure from all the Harry Potter books.  I knew that this book would be dark and edgy.  I knew all of this. And yet by page 100 I was so done with the book I put it down.

I disliked all the characters. None of them were nice, every aspect of this book was mean to me.  I didn't like the writing style. I felt like she was using these Hemingway - esk long run on sentences way too often and required me to look up like every other word. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. 

Still at the end of the day, the book was not for me.

Book club thoughts ranged all over the place. Some, like me, really didn't get it. Some didn't like the language, the brutality, the gritty-ness of this book. Others thought the book represented a real view into the reality of the have's and the have not's.  At the end of the day, I think we all decided it wasn't our favorite.  Considering out of the 5 of us that were there, none of us had finished the whole book.

In typical book club fashion though, we did have wine, and we did have some good food and a great location for book club this month.

Meet Mrs. Atlanta (she moved here from Atlanta and I've got no better nick name for her).  She was our hostess. 

Her and her husband live in this TINY, beautiful apartment on the 11th floor of a building in downtown Seattle. THIS is their view.

They are moving out of said apt and onto a boat for the summer. We were all somewhat jealous (I'm jealous at the idea of moving onto a boat and just going anywhere. I'm not jealous of trying to figure out what to pack on said boat.

We ate burgers. We ate fruit. We ate salad. We ate chocolate. We drank wine. We chatted books.

We were missing one of our compadres. Princess Lori had other more important things to do than sit around and drink wine and chat with a few of her besties. Though I'm sure she would have preferred to be with us than what she was doing.

This is Mrs. Braspir (formally known as Queen PopUp).  She's one of my most favoritest people.  Family friend forever and keeps me amused and entertained. If you ever want to do something and need someone to do it with Mrs. Braspir is usually in.

This is Blueberry.  She wasn't at all happy about me taking her photo since, in her words, "I've been at the lab all day and I look gross."  I don't see any lab schmutz on her and I think she looks just fine.  She gets the lucky title of BFF for me.  We've been BFFs since sometime in the EARLY 80's.

This is Seattle SIL...she needed the glass of wine more than any of us. She, like Mrs. Braspir, is usually up for ANYTHING...and I just love doing stuff with her.  She makes me happy 99% of the time.  And that 1% is when I start thinking about BigBro and missing them together.  But I keep that to myself...mostly. She is who I'm going on the next cruise with and I guarantee THIS pose will be a frequent one. Smile on her face, glass of wine in her hand!

This group of ladies that we now call Vines & Spines are some of my most treasured friendships. They all bring something unique to the relationship with me and at the same time bring the same thing. They bring love, acceptance, humor and hope.  I am so very blessed to have them in my life and hope each and every one of them knows it.

ahem...sniff sniff....

We added a new member to book club this month too. More on that later. I'll have to come up with a nickname for her. More on that later.

February Sunday Dinner...and a few other things

This month Sunday Dinner was hosted by the Braspirs.  You may know Mrs. Braspir by her other code name of Queen PopUp.  After much deliberation - and a vote between the kittens and me - I've determined that Queen PopUp will henceforth be known as Mrs. Braspir.  They are, after all, family - sorta. In fact, I ran into someone who knew Mrs. Braspir's daughter-in-law and without skipping a beat I told the person she was my niece. So you, see, I've said it, therefore it is.

Moving on ...

Sunday dinner was out in BFE...also known as Carnation.  And those of you not from around here, yes it's THE Carnation where Carnation Dairy once (and still may) exist. It has absolutely nothing to do with the flower though. I don't think.

Anyhow, back to BFE. It's a beautiful drive out there and such a lovely place to visit. I'm not country folk and so wouldn't really like to live out there - unless the price was right.  Still, the Braspir's have a beautiful home that always makes me feel so welcomed. 

We ate 7 layer dip (and by "we" I think I mean me and Mrs. Landlord - cuz I swear I ate almost the whole platter of it), fudge, brie/crackers...and wine. That was just the starters. Oh the wine.

So remember, maybe you don't, but recently I purchased 10 bottles of wine within 2 days because all my favorite wines went on sale, and well, you can't NOT purchase your favorite wines when they go on sale, right? 4 of the bottle's were, actually, not a "favorite" wine in as much as wine's I thought would be my favorite if I had a chance to try them. So they went on sale at Cost Plus and I purchased them. ONE of those bottles, we drank last night. After two sips I debated hiding the bottle and not letting anyone else have any. Mr. Braspir poured himself a glass and I almost whimpered when I realized it was almost the end of the bottle.  I did take a photo of the bottle, and will be driving my butt to Cost Plus sometime this week and purchasing another bottle, or 2, or 3.

After I gorged myself on appetizer, we were served Baked Ziti, salad, and garlic bread that may or may not have gotten slightly burnt. No fire alarms went off, but those of us not in the kitchen helping smelled burnt toast and heard a suspicious scraping sound going on in the other room. It still tasted spectacular and it didn't stop me from having two pieces.

Dessert was a layered cake that was white cake layered with raspberry jam and topped with frosting. OMG...so good. I may have to request that again.

By the end of the evening I was stuffed, as usual, and I didn't have to do dishes. It was, for me, a win win.

The Pantry Goat thought it'd be a great idea to reverse the photo from below. I cropped out my fat butt...

In other none Sunday dinner related news, the job search continues. I had another interview today and three "outstanding" interviews - meaning the recruiters have my resume in front of people who want to bring me in for an interview, but we just need to nail down availability. Ugh.

A Sunday with a Headache by any other name...is still a Sunday with a Headache

Whoa...and what a headache I have. I blame myself though. But nothing that a couple of Tylenol and water and a little bit of coffee can't fix. I get ahead of myself though. Let me back up as to why.

Thursday night I got a text from The Yank asking if I wanted to join him and PhotoGirl for some wine tasting on Saturday.  PhotoGirl is looking for wine for a birthday blowout she's having.  Ultimately I said yes I'd go, but let me walk you through the thought process for me.

Since I've been working from home, I've discovered that going out and doing things - where it used to be an immediate YES - has become a thought process.

Leave the house?
Oh man, I'm not sure about that.
But wine tasting could be fun.
Yah but you have to leave the house.
I enjoy The Yank and PhotoGirl.
Yah but you have to leave the house.

And so it goes.

I really am not sure where this thought / feeling comes from. I do realize I could become a hermit a little too easily.

Anyhow, I did ultimately say yes and I'm glad I did. The two of them are a bunch of fun and really know their wines.  I learned new ways to explain how wine tastes, "gripping tannins" was perhaps my favorite description.

We hit 4 wineries in Woodinville. Woodinville, for those of you who don't know, is our winery town. There are about a 120 wineries in Woodinville (this is not a full list BTW) and growing.  These are all mostly small wineries who produce some pretty damn good wine.

Our first stop was diStefano - they had a cat that lived in this winery.  The Yank and PhotoGirl had some wines to pick up there. We tasted I think 5 wines there. But see here's the thing, The Yank and PhotoGirl SPLIT their tasting. I drank mine all by myself.   I do realize that you can toss the wine after a taste. And I do realize that a real taster doesn't actually swallow it. But come on. It's wine. And in most cases really good wine.

Then we stopped at Isenhower Cellars. I'd been here before. Seattle SIL got donated wine from this winery for her wine tasting parties.  Their wines are good to me and reasonably priced.  They had two vendors there sharing some food too - which was good cuz I needed something to soak up the wine.  They had a baker there who had cheesy bread that was - ZOMG so good - and bacon bread that was - you guessed it - ZOMG so good. There was also a cheese maker there who had some fantastic cheese.

We tasted I think 4 there. I bought a bottle of The Last Straw wine they had. Just loved it. The Yank and PhotoGirl bought a case of The Last Straw for her birthday.  Glad I could introduce them to a new winery.

After that we headed to Novelty Hill / Januik winery. This place was PACKED. "Rick" behind the counter was quite the character and while we paid for 5 tastings, we got two extra from him.  One was one of their reserved wines and it was delicious. It was $65 a bottle sadly, so I did not purchase one. It was like drinking a buttery goodness though.

Finally we ended our drinking binge (well my drinking binge) at Patterson Cellars. They had super friendly pourers (I'm sure they have a technical name) and kept the wine flowing. We tasted 4 or 5 there too. Good but not great wine in my opinion. The first taste was of a white wine that tasted like what I imagine sweat socks to taste like. Needless to say, I dumped it.

After we headed across the street for some much needed food and had a great dinner at The Commons.

By the time I got home I was so glad I went and can't wait to go taste some wine with these two again.  I was super tired when I got home and managed to stay awake until it was bed time.  Since I was gone all day I had to entertain the demons a bit - they weren't all that happy I had been gone all day.

And so that's why I have a headache this morning. Aside from all the wine, I did mix reds and whites and that is a big no-no for me. I'm not a white wine fan at all, but feel obligated to at least taste them once in awhile. I do have to admit there were a couple yesterday that I could drink if I had to.

The day started great yesterday too. I got to have breakfast with some of my favorite ladies.  I've known these ladies for 8 or 9 years now (since about 2005) and while we only get to have breakfast/lunch/dinner a couple of times a year, I treasure those times like crazy. These ladies are so grounded and often offer up some good advice, a great listening ear, and unconditional love.  I just adore them.  I can't wait until we get to spend time together again.  I don't have nicknames for them yet, but I'll work on it. KA and J - you know who you are and I love ya both.