A Hefty Pour

I love to learn about wine. In fact, 6 of my items from this year's edition of "The List" are wine related. Now, here we are, two-thirds of the way through the year, and I can finally check off one of these wine related items, which is to visit a winery I've never been to before. In fact, I can check it off twice!

Over the past few weeks, I've had the pleasure of visiting two wineries I have never before visited, including Fenn Valley Vineyard in SouthWest Michigan (not far from where I grew up), and Loma Prieta Winery, located in Los Gatos, CA (less than an hour from the Santa Cruz coastline). Here's a little taste of my two very different (but both enjoyable!) experiences.

Fenn Valley Vineyards

At the beginning of August, B and I took our annual excursion to visit our families in Michigan. My family lives in SW Michigan, and my sister and brother-in-law were visiting from TX at the same time, so it was also a little bit of a family reunion of sorts.

Because B doesn't get loads of time off, we built in a little quality vacation time for just the two of us in the midst of the swirl of family. To accomplish that mission, we rented an AirBNB overnight on a sailboat at the Yacht Club and Marina in Saugatuck. Saugatuck is a charming little Lake Michigan Coast town, with plenty of cute shops and restaurants, and of course, the Lake.  I can't say that we'll ever take up residence packed tightly in a tiny v-birth sailboat for a night again in the future, but we LOVED drinking bubbly on the bow, watching the sunset across Lake Michigan, and soaking up a wholly new-to-us experience.

Fenn Valley Vineyards is just a short jaunt from charming little Saugatuck, tucked away in the Lake Michigan countryside, and we decided to check it out before reconnecting with my mom and step-Dad back "inland." With the slogan "The Lake Effect Everyone Loves," Fenn Valley has been a premier coastal MI wine producer for more than 4 decades.  Along with a variety of reds and whites, they also produce the famous "Michigan Cherry Wine" and even boast a few sparklers, which is a favorite style of mine (and probably a favorite style of ALL true wine lovers!) In fact, they day we visited Fenn Valley, they were disgorging their latest sparklers and had to close a portion of their operations to the public (they do daily wine production/facility tours) due to the natural CO2 release from the disgorgement. I guess that makes sense -- don't need anyone passing out due to lack of Oxygen!

My "everyday" wine drinking palette tends to prefer dry, high acid, citric white wines, so when we completed our tasting, it was a little surprising that my favorite wine of the day was a 2012 Late Harvest Vignoles. Apparently, weather conditions contributed to a very unique harvest that year, that ultimately resulted in an unusual, yet deliciously fragrant and sweet vintage. It was a nice, unexpected departure from my "usual", and a tasty reminder to allow myself to stay openminded and explorative when playing in the infinite possibilities world of wine.

If you find yourself in MI, I recommend a visit to Fenn Valley.  The tasting fees are low, and the pours are HEFTY. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!

That's me and my hefty pour at Fenn Valley in SouthWest Coastal Michigan!

Loma Prieta Winery

Just days after B and I returned to MPLS, I hit the road again. This time, I was off to the West Coast where I was hosting a bachelorette party for one of my oldest and best(est) friends, WJ.  WJ lives in San Francisco, adjacent to Sonoma and Napa, which are arguably among the best wine valley regions in N. America and the world, and I've been lucky to spend a tiny little slice of time in both regions during past NoCal visits. Napa and Sonoma were both in the mix as potential locations for our Bachelorette weekend; however we ultimately decided to take a different tactic for the weekend and head down the coast to Santa Cruz for the weekend instead.

We had a "wild" bachelorette weekend in the literal sense that we spent a lot of our time soaking up nature, with an awesomely rejuvenating hike through the redwoods of Nisene Marks State Park and getting our Namaste on with a private cliffside yoga session overlooking the Pacific.  But it wouldn't be a #NoCal bachelorette without a winery visit, so we made sure to carve in time to visit the gem that is Loma Prieta.

Loma Prieta sits in the midst (and mist) of the Loma Prieta Mountain, about 45 minutes outside of Santa Cruz, in Los Gatos. The day we were there, the weather was an uncharacteristically warm 80 degrees, and the views stretched to infinity, offering a perfect setting for an afternoon of wine drinking.

Loma Prieta is considered a "boutique" winery, due to its limited production (less than 3K cases. For comparison sake, the Mammoth Mondavi sells MILLIONS of cases annually). Ironically, LP is the LARGEST producer of "Pinotage" in N. America.

For the uninitiated (which included me until a few weeks ago) "Pinotage" is a hybrid grape that was first born in S. Africa, in a marriage of Pinot Noir and a grape called Cinsault, which originated in Southern Rhone, France. LP does a fine job with this special hybrid. I especially enjoyed a unique Sparkling vintage (2014) Blanc de Noirs so much that I bought a bottle for WJ and her "fancy" (aka fiancee), and then I MADE THEM OPEN IT the night before I flew home, just so I could have a glass. Y'all already know I'm "Klassy-with-a-K" like that!

If you find yourself in Santa Cruz...or in San Fran...its well worth the trip to this, perhaps unexpected little winery outside of the "classics" of Napa and Sonoma that you may already know and love.  Need more convincing? Just check out the views!

Blue Skies, smiling at me at Loma Prieta Winery (hey! That rhymes!)

Cheers, mates! I can't wait to check a few more of my wine related items off my 2016 LIST!

Hello, World.

I've been pretty anxious lately. Out of sorts and off kilter, and feeling a bewildering mixture of completely 'blah' and apathetic in one breath, and then oscillating to feeling oversensitive and highly emotional in the next breath.  So, what's it going to be, mind? Do we care, or don't we?

I've been sweating the small stuff...and the big stuff. Some days, I just want to hide from the world and take a long nap or just veg in front of the TV all day and escape my reality until it's time to go to bed again. And, truth be told, some days I've done just that. Yay, depression and anxiety.

Today, I woke up on a trajectory of bland escapism. I had a bad dream last night (a dream that I can't even remember now), and when I woke, I felt a hollowness in the center of my body, the one that murmurs and hypnotizes, "eh, who cares if you don't do anything today...it doesn't matter"...immediately followed by feeling of low grade despair that threatened to set in a as a result of that 'nothing', hopeless feeling. Good old apathy with its sidekick, sadness.

But, I got up and I made myself a cup of coffee, and for some reason I felt that today was a day that, for my own sanity and peace, I really needed (NEEDED) to "fake the funk" and ignore the shades of blue and gray vibrating in my head. Honestly, I'm not sure how I managed to escape the  hijack and convince myself that, yes, it was a good idea to get up, get moving and do anything (ANYTHING at all!) rather than retreat from all action and the blurred incentives of vitality, but I did.  I got my ass right on up. And, I ended up having a pretty productive and enjoyable day, culminating in a bottle (ahem 2!) of wine with my husband out on the deck, under the twinkle lights of the stars above (or, more noticeably, our Amazon-ordered outdoor hanging globe lights) amidst a summer cool Minnesota evening.

My day wasn't anything exciting or extraordinary. I sorted through a lot of boxes left over from the move, and I worked on some household organization while B was busy sharpening his carpentry skills outside in our beautiful backyard, building custom University of Michigan Cornhole boards for our housewarming party coming up next Friday (and hey, if you live in the TCs, you know us, you were missed on the original invite, and you wanna come par-TAY next Fri at our place, please reach out! We'd love to see you! We're contemplating whipping up some Jell-o shots, like we're 21 again! Hey, we don't have kids, so this type of partying is a rational conclusion! Plus, we have a hot tub and a fire pit! Yessss!). We took a late lunch break for some Jimmy John's and DQ...and several hours later we enjoyed a late night dinner of grilled chicken and homegrown basil and tomatoes for a Caprese salad (and those 2 bottles of wine), along with a lively phone call to my older sister, E. Simple pleasures.

I also decided, in my desire to set a new course for my weary and muted mind, that today was a good day to get to 2016 List Tackling.  So, this evening, I headed to Yoga by Candlelight at my yoga home here in Minne.  I'd never been to the candlelit practice, though it's something I'd wanted to exeprience (#14 on the 2016 list).

Through the years, especially since moving to Minneapolis, practicing yoga has become one of my reliable safe havens, a place where I can go to feel connected to the world, to reintegrate when I'm "out of body" and all over the map with my anxiety. And tonight, yoga by candlelight offered just that.

To be fair, the candlelit class was a lot like regular yoga. Class commenced at 7, so the sun was still seeping in through the skylights, and the candlelight itself was more of a footnote than the main idea (not surprising at this time of the year). Still, I found myself practicing with a group of people that I don't always see in the classes I attend regularly. I think that practicing with those "new to me" people, that energy shift, was just what I needed.

At each yoga practice, we are encouraged to set an intention or a dedication for our practice that day. I usually pick a person I care about to dedicate my practice to, or a way of being that I'd like to encourage in myself (like "peaceful" or "empathetic"). Today, the words "hello, world" were what my mind mustered.  In my mind, "hello, world" meant that I wanted to focus on engaging with the world and with my emotions, rather than defaulting to ignoring those feelings, to hiding.

During savasana, our candlelit teacher read "The Guest House."  This poem was exactly what I needed to hear at this point in my life, on this day.  The Guest house is about accepting all of our emotions and feelings, good, bad and apathetic, and welcoming in the lessons that each of those emotions has to teach us. However unpleasant, we invite the experience of those emotions in, to learn from those feelings... and then we move on..."to make room for some new delight" (as the poem says).

So, here we are.  I'm going to flow with it, to float with it. To let go, and welcome whatever it is that surfaces.

"Hello, world."

The Big Stuff

I'm going to cut to the chase...it's been a rough summer.

The world seems to be in some sort of maddening tailspin of pain and suffering, rampant with unbridled and age-old racism, bigotry, oppression and terrorism, filled with a self-righteous overpopulation that often seems more focused on being "Christian, white and right" than on living with compassion and love and prioritizing common ground, equality and human kindness to all. This summer alone we've been witness to Philando Castile, Miami, Brexit, Nice, Dallas, Trump and Pence...and a list of other global human driven atrocities that grows longer by the day and by the hour.

But, I'm not completely hopeless about the big stuff. I know that our world is resilient and capable of positive change. I know that we can find our way to more peaceful, compassionate and equal footing for everyone.

I don't know the answers, but I know that change at least starts by acknowledging the realness of the problems we have and their complexities, by having deep and productive conversations about important issues even if they make us uncomfortable, by educating ourselves, and by getting involved in our communities and showing love and compassion to one another. Being a bystander and an apologist is not an option for me.  I plan to be a part of those big, important next steps. "One foot in front of the other." It's time to move forward.

The Small Stuff

I'm going to cut to the chase...it's been a rough summer.

This is a personal blog, so I'm going to talk specifically about one of my own, individual challenges. The small stuff, if you will. I acknowledge that my personal challenges seem petty, pale and insignificant in comparison to the pain, suffering and injustices happening to people all over the world.

At the end of the school year, I was laid off from my guidance counseling assistant job and the school that I so thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated. In more specific terms, I was "bumped," which I guess softens the blow a little, because I know that the people I worked for valued my hard work and abilities and did not want to see me permanently pack up my office and leave.

Last year I left my job on my terms, ready to leap into the unknown, eager for change and excited for the possibilities. This year,  I left on someone else's terms...the motivation that revved me up last year is harder to muster up...and right now I'm feeling a bit adrift.

Adrift...but not hopeless. I've learned a lot about myself this past year and that I am more resilient and capable of change than I previously thought. I know that eventually I will find my way. I have some ideas on my next steps, and now it's a simple matter of choosing one rabbit to chase."One foot in front of the other." It's time to move forward.

But that's just the small stuff...

Self Care & Self Reflection

Three months ago, I took the first steps down an entirely new career path when I accepted a guidance counseling assistant position at a public school in St. Paul. Specifically, I oversee the standardized testing that occurs at our school, I manage student records, and I even have the opportunity to advise students on certain topics -- but I'm not a licensed counselor, so my opportunities in that realm are a bit more limited.

My past three months working in education have been an incredibly fulfilling and enlightening experience.  My position provides me with a looking glass into several directions I could potentially pursue if I ultimately decide to build a long-term career in education. I've had people ask if I plan to someday become a licensed counselor, or would I ever want to consider teaching and get a teaching licence, or perhaps I might eventually pursue a position at a district level versus supporting a specific school, or maybe even venture into political pursuits or policy making that focus on education improvement (I do have many thoughts on testing now!). And yes, I've let my mind wander and ponder what each of these paths could look like. But, it's all a bit premature, given I'm so completely new to this world and I have a lot to learn.

However, for now, I'm trying to focus on my current responsibilities and do them to the best of my abilities without getting too swept up in the excitement and stress of identifying the next big achievement goal. A key lesson from my career pause, after all, is to stay present in the "here-and-now", to live fully in each moment without getting too caught up in a specific narrative. It can be fun to dream, sure, but I have a tendency to get swept up in those dreams only to then to inject unreasonably high expectations and stress so that those dreams shift into more of a nightmarish territory.

It's not always easy to stay present, and I do find that now that I'm working full time again, I fall victim to some of my old and exhausting habits. My perfectionist inclinations and my inner control freak have followed me into my new career path. Those traits did not magically disappear just because I left the "high powered" world of corporate strategy and consulting. However, now I am much better about catching myself when these tendencies surface, and guide myself to a gentler, more caring state of mind.

In December, just before I started my new job, I chose to end my "career time out" with a Yoga retreat to Tulum, MX with my yoga studio. For 5 days, I had the incredible gift to practice self-care in an epic, inspiring, natural paradise, to reflect upon the big risk that I took when I left my job and finally allowed myself to imagine a very different sort of life, and redefine what "success" means for me (hint: it's not about "stuff" or income brackets).

Returning to that state of mind that I captured during my time off and during the Yoga retreat helps me to reconnect with my true intentions for the kind of life I want to live and the person I want to be. When I find the stress kicking up and the worry sinking in, I remind myself to "float down the river", to embrace the ambiguity and transition, and to relish in each messy, beautiful, chaotic, glorious moment.

Seaside Selfie. 
 Lighter in mind, body (by more than 25# at the time this photo was taken...even more now!) and spirit than when I first left my  job at the end of May, 2015.

Easy breezy beach side in Mexico.

Here I am, climbing a Mayan Ruin.

I captured this majestic sunrise my last morning in Tulum. 
What a perfect way to end one chapter, and begin another.

Aloha! A Throwback to the HI Life

B and I took a Hawaiian Honeymoon to Maui back in March, wherein I checked off a grand total of 5 items from my 2015 List, plus 2 bonus items.

And now here we are, some 9 months later, and I still haven't written about our incredible Hawaiian Honeymoon. Heck, my friend MK (who inspired my list) has already written up her recent HI life experience via several posts (like here and here and here), and her trip was just a month ago. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she wrote up her entries while she was still kicking it on the Big Island!

So here we go, better late than never. Besides, it's fun for me to reminisce about our Maui Vacation (achieving #71 on the list), especially now that the weather here in Minne has turned snowy and blustery. Plus, I only have a few days left in 2015 before the 2016 listing begins!

Despite cooler than average temps and a decent amount of rain, we had a wonderful time, filled with adventure, new experiences, tasty treats, and plenty of Hawaiian rainbows (a nice output to all that rain).  Here's a pictorial of some of the highlights from our romantic getaway.

B and I stayed in an ocean view room at the beautiful Westin Maui Resort & Spa on Ka'anapali Beach. The grounds are beautiful, and include a parrot that says "Aloha." We had a terrific stay.

  

We had fun checking out the Whaler's Village, a cute little shopping and restaurant district right next to our hotel. This is a view of the Whaler's Village from above, taken from our hotel room balcony.

We also enjoyed exploring various sites along the beach. Check out B, the surfer, and me, the hula girl :)

  

One day, we drove out to have a late lunch at the famous Mama's Fish House located on Maui's North Shore. It was absolutely 100% worth the hype! Next time we visit Maui, we think we may stay at the Inn at Mama's, just so we can eat at the Fish House every single day. Mmmmm!

  

We had fun exploring various parts of the island in our Jeep. The photos below are of Sun Yat Sen Park in Upcountry Maui, The Ulupalakua Vineyards/Maui Winery, and the famous Banyan Tree on Front Street in Lahaina.

 

My friend LWH recommended we check out the Feast at Lele, a Polynesian Luau that explores the culture and cuisine of several Pacific Island nations. One of the dancers looked just like my cousin, which added to our enjoyment of the evening. Going to a Luau was #73 on my 2015 list.

  

We also took in a day of snorkeling (#72 on my list) and whale watching. During our snorkel, we swam with sea turtles (#75) -- one even swam right up next to me -- I had to hurriedly swim out of the way so it wouldn't collide with me! Whale watching was also a wonderful experience. We were in Hawaii at the end of Humpback whale season, after the whales had their babies, so little whale families were surfacing often. In fact, the experience was so cool that I retroactively added "go whale watching" as a Bonus item (#104) on my list.

 

 

One rather eerie activity we did was visit the Nakalele Blowhole, a naturally occurring wonder that has claimed several victims, its retreating water sucking in unsuspecting lives through the blowhole. We kept a good distance. Safety first...

 

One of the most fun activities we did during our vacation was to zipline. I can't believe this one wasn't on my list either, so hey, what the heck - I added it as Bonus item #105. We ziplined with the Flyin Hawaiian, Hawaii's longest zipline adventure! The trip also included a surprise 4 wheeler ride up to the first zipline - so much rain and mud made four wheeling the only way we could get to the start of the course.

 

B and I also traveled the Road to Hana (#74 on the list) an incredible adventure that we enjoyed, but mutually agreed that once was enough (switchback city! The ride is a nail-biter.) Here are just a few of the stops we took along the way...

Generally speaking, the whole drive felt like being in the movie, Fern Gully. 50 Shades of Green! So lush!

 

Early on, we stopped to see Three Bears Falls for a few brief snaps. We had to park up a hill and hike back down the twisty turny road to see it, but it was worth it.

While we were waiting for the Lava Tube tour to open, we checked out the Kahanu Botanical Gardens and ancient sacred temple. A picturesque stop that was worth the visit. Also, watch out for falling coconuts!

 

The Hana lava tubes were awesome. Do it. Trust me. 'Nuff said.

 

We got a bit ambitious and took a hike on the Pipiwai Trail, a climb of nearly 100 vertical flights of stairs, according to my Fitbit. The hike included the rather ominous sign listed below, and an incredible stretch of bamboo forest that seems to appear out of nowhere and ends with a waterfall. Cool!

 

Just beneath the Pipiwai trail hike are the famous Seven Sacred Pools. Sometimes sharks swim in them - yikes! But fear not, the pools where quite dry when we were there...so no sharkies. Confession time: By the time we got to the pools, we were on nature overload, and I admit, we didn't stay long.

All in all, and as you can see from the photos, we had a spectacular honeymoon. Aloha, Hawaii, until we meet again!

Adulting (aka a Somewhat Boring Post about Long Term Fiscal Planning)

Money Money Money. Money.

I've thought about money here and there over the past several months, ever since I left my job back at the end of May. Funny how that works, once the money train stops a-choo-chooing, it suddenly becomes a top of mind topic.

While I was more than prepared with savings especially set aside for my time away from working professionally, I couldn't help but think about my net worth, and how I would secure my future.

So, I decided to step up my investment game with the help of a professional financial advisor (#12 on my 2015 List).

I ultimately decided to work with a trusted family advisor who managed my grandparents' estate, and one particularly arduous task on my to-do list with said advisor was to finally get around to consolidating my retirement accounts set up through my various employers over the years.

So...okay, YAY for my (ultra limited) 'savviness' and investing in my employer retirement plans, meeting at least the match, and for saving every last piece of mail and paperwork associated with said investments from the last 13 years in a couple of big file bins...and BOO for basically doing absolutely NOTHING else to help my future self financially (like, I never even opened any of the previously mentioned mail -- I would receive it and eventually get around to throwing it in a file bin to "deal with later." Yep, financial genius here).

Let's just say it took a long flipping time to get my financial house in order to finally consolidate my moolah. All in all, I started the process in July, which included a lot of sleuthing, making frustrating phone calls, and sorting through mountains of paperwork and old mail to make sure I had everything I needed, and I only just finalized my new consolidated account, like 3 weeks ago.

I freely admit I dragged my feet along the way and didn't necessarily bank a lot of confidence with my new advisor who might think I'm kind of a moron (true), but I'm glad that I finally got my act together to take care of my biznaasss.

I now feel like a bonafide successful grown ass woman, with a legit financial planner and a positive net worth (until we buy a house, that is...), and a clear understanding of WTF is actually going on with my hard-earned benjamins. It's also comforting to know that I'm on track for saving for my retirement, despite this little career pause.

So hey. I adulted. It was boring, it was frustrating, and it involved me having to buckle down and think through some important decisions regarding my and Brian's future and use my brain when I thought I'd spend this whole down time period letting it atrophy (kidding...a little!). But, it was also empowering and freeing to see the fruits that I've worked so hard for all of these years -- knowledge is power!

No more adulting for me for a while now (kidding again...a little! winky face! ;))