I've Got A Lot Of Drinking To Do...

Have I ever mentioned how much I love wine?


Well, yeah I kinda like the stuff. One of these days I'm going to venture out and try to make my very own!


...One day...


In the mean time I get to reep the benefits from someone else's hard work. My friend Stacy makes her very own homemade wines and liquor. I've raved about her before, here and here, but she has been crazy busy making all sorts of wine as of late and I couldn't stop myself from ordering some:






And by some I mean the whole lot! Yeah, I got this here shipment in the mail last weekend.


14 bottles of wine and 2 bottles of her famous Licor del Cafe! This package weighed 45 tons people. (Okay 45 pounds but still..) Yeah, I don't even know how they got it into the delivery truck but somehow it got to my house.


Of course I love collecting wine so I won't be opening these all at once, I like to let them sit in my wine cabinet for a bit while I admire them. But I can't wait to try some soon. All the wine I've ordered from her has been absolutely delicious and very unique. So what did I get? Check it out:


2 Bottles of Licor del Cafe
















1 Bottle of Blackberry Merlot
I've already got another on my shelf, it is delish!)




















1 Bottle of Apple Wine





















2 Bottles of Raspberry Dragon Fruit White Shiraz


















2 Bottles of White Cranberry Pinot Gris



















2 Bottles of White Shiraz




















2 Bottles of Mango Citrus Symphony


















I was able to snag 2 bottles of Black Cherry Pinot Noir before it sold out!




















I also snagged 2 Bottles of Apple Cranberry Wine before it sold out as well.



So the question now is, when you comin over to share a bottle with me????

Cheers!

I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus

Last night I was itching for lasagna.


My favorite.


So I chose the appropriate apron for the occasion and got to cookin.





Like always, I had to chase the animals out of the kitchen, because as you know, Dozer has to be at my feet AT. ALL. TIMES.





While the lasagna was in the oven, I made myself a little appetizer to appease my impatient tummy.





After looking at my primitive aperitif, I had a revelation.


"Look Al, I'm just like Jesus!"

What Happened To Real Life?

I wanna be a real adult in a real-life neighborhood with real-life friends.


Like the adults in Desperate Housewives. They have neighborhood parties, they chat with each other while getting their mail, the women gossip over wine in the evenings while their husbands put the kids to bed. They have neighbors who try to kill other neighbors, neighbors with dirty secrets and best of all, every single person in the neighborhood is beautiful. You know what I'm talking about, real adult life!


I want that.


I want to be that party hostess who throws the best Halloween party that everyone looks forward to every year. Just like Bree, I SO want to be Bree.

Not the new Bree that robs her own house so that she can divorce her husband without losing half of her belongings and not the Bree who cheats on her husband with her best friend's ex at a dirty motel.


No, I'm talking about the old alcoholic, anal retentive Bree. Can you imagine what her Halloween parties would be like? Amazing!


Every year when Halloween comes around I get this yearning to dress up. I love Halloween so much I have to refrain myself from kidnapping a child just so I can take him trick or treating. I have a feeling if a 5'10 & 1/2" ghost showed up on someone's porch yelling "trick or treat!" that it would not last 10 seconds before getting punched in the white face.


I just can't take that risk.


And every year I get this craving to host a Halloween party, with extravagant spooky decorations, wine and cocktails, and yes, FINGER FOODS! But then every year I realize that I am missing the main ingredient for a killer Halloween party.




People.


You need people to show up in order for the party to be a success. People who are willing to dress up, people who are willing to let loose, people who don't mind a little spiked cider, people who are willing to put up with my husband.


There are no such people in Utah. Where's the real adult life? Does it even exist?


Are you a real adult in a real-life neighborhood with real-life friends that like to have real adult Halloween parties?


Can I come?

This spooky shit was brought to you by prompt #1 of this weeks writer's workshop.

Will Put Out For Wine

I'm intrigued, maybe even a little obsessed with a certain blogger. It all started when I entered her Blogiversary giveaway a few weeks ago and totally took the cake. I won the best prize ever.

(No I did not put out, I won fair and square, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't if the opportunity ever presented itself.)

Homemade wine, liquor del cafe & basket full of bath pleasures!

(The cat tail was not part of the prize.)




Check out her labels, aren't they beautiful?

And yes, you heard me correctly,


H O M E M A D E. W I N E.


Yeah, Stacy's basically the coolest person I know. I anxiously await her posts on wine making, which include her own recipe for her fabulous Liquor del Cafe (Kahlua) & homemade vanilla extract. This woman makes wine out of anything, she is famous for her apple wine and this year she will also be making cherry wine. Sounds delicious right?


She also gave me a coupon for 20% off of anything in her boutique Savannah*Haven, in which I was already planning to empty my pockets so this coupon was just the whip cream on the pumpkin latte.


Mmmmm, pumpkin latte......


What? Sorry, got distracted.


So yeah, if you couldn't tell I'm REALLY excited about my prize! Stacy's got mad skills and has inspired me to make my own wine, which may never happen but it's fun to dream...


...and drink wine.

Don't Miss Out (Or Do)

A few giveaways you do don't want to miss!



1. "Stay At Home Prize Pack"" at Stacy's Random Thoughts!

Includes a coupon for Wanchai Orange Chicken as well as Asian inspired rice bowls, chopsticks and bamboo placemats.

Click HERE to enter!



2. Stacy's Blogiversary Giveaway, again from Stacy's Random Thoughts!

Wine and Spa gift pack:



This woman makes her own wine (and Kahlua!!!) I'm not even kidding you, she is a dream come true peeps. My favorite are her beautiful labels!

Don't worry, if you're not into wine (what?) you can enter to win this gift pack as well:



Darling right? Go HERE to enter one or both!



3. Heavenly Apron Giveaway from The Apron Goddesses!

Isn't it beautiful? Click HERE to enter!

Man Card? What Man Card?

The second day of our vacation is what I like to call "Bad Ass Biker Babes Day". We rolled out of bed, put on our mean Harley gear, and left for an all day long Harley ride.

We road into what the Californians like to call "mountains" but in reality they were just hills, or little bumps if you will. (Come on, I live in UTAH!)

First stop was Hell's Kitchen where the service is awful, the food is mediocre and the testosterone level is off the charts.










I always knew I'd go to Hell, I just didn't know it would be so soon.






After breakfast we wanted to go riding by the beach so we had to take the freeway to get there. Unfortunately the freeway looked like this:




Before we got on the freeway, Lyman (Dennelle's fiance) asked Alex if he was okay with "white lining". Not being able to hear over the roar of the engines, Alex thought Lyman asked if he was okay with "sharing lanes" to which he replied "YES".

When we entered the freeway all was well until Lyman started driving on the white line in between cars.




Apparently this is common in California but I had never seen it before. As I sat on the back of the bike I watched the mirrors on our motorcycle pass inches away from the mirrors on the cars. This is about the point when I started to freak out. We were going pretty fast and the cars were at a slow steady roll and drivers would change lanes out of no where in front of us.

My jaw was locked, my body went stiff and I knew that if I was going to make it through this I would have to shut my eyes. So that's what I did, the whole freeway trip I was wincing, keeping my eyes closed, my jaw shut and my body stiff.


Yep, I was that constipated chick on the back of the bike.


The freeway ride from hell seemed to last for an eternity but we finally arrived at the beach in one piece. Lyman said Alex did a great job white lining, I wouldn't have known, I was just trying not to pee my pants. Once at the beach I was finally able to breathe and relax.


But my jaw is still sore.


We rode ALL DAY LONG.


Wait, I don't think you get it, I mean we rode ALL. DAY. LONG. on a rental with a standard seat. Not the comfy cushy seat that our bike at home has, this one was like sitting on a burning slate of steal and I swear to you that to this day my butt still hasn't forgiven me, possibly never will.


In the morning we were able to ride through the wine country on our way to return the rental. Don't be fooled by my smile and helmet hair, my butt was killing me and threatening to disown me.




Now don't be afraid of this next picture, just don't pay attention to the bulging veins on my forehead. They show up often and are shaped in a Y, which I think is one of the reasons my mom decided to end my name with a Y instead of an I. I'm sure of it.




After dropping off the bike we were able to get in two more wineries before we had to fly home. The first one was really fun, not the best wine, but fun none the less.

Wilson Creek Winery & Vineyards




It was really fun inside and beautiful outside.








The last winery was Leonesse Cellars which had fantastic wines!




One of Dennelle's friends was able to make it out with us. I'm not even going to comment about the tall monster in the middle, I don't like to focus on such things, besides I was crouching down anyway.






I love this picture of Lyman.



"Mmmmmm, crackers!"





So that's about it, after that we headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Utah. Lyman and Alex had become such good friends during the trip that they both cried a little after saying goodbye with a man hug. They'll both deny it but Dennelle and I know the truth.


They both got a punch out of their man card for that one.

What, No Chocolate On My Pillow?

We finally made it out to California last weekend, we stayed at the finest 5 star hotel called Chateau de Dennelle's House. We were treated like royalty complete with robes and slippers, the only thing missing were the chocolates on our pillows.


I guess I can forgive her for that.




The concierge, aka Dennelle, mapped out our whole weekend so there was never a dull moment, well except that time we went shopping at the Tangerine Boutique, but I was a trooper and suffered through the torture that some people like to call shopping.


I guess I can forgive her for that.


Our weekend started with a tour of Temecula's wine country. This was a first for me, I don't think I've ever seen a real grape vine in my life. Check it out.






I even got a little taste test.






We were able to visit four wineries that day:

Falkner Winery

Weins Family Cellars

Callaway Vineyard & Winery

Hart Winery


My favorite of the day was Weins Family Cellars. Below is Dennelle with her men:




And here is me with my men:




What?


Didn't your mom teach you to share?


At Wein's we got to do a tasting straight from the barrel, very cool!






For lunch we had ourselves a little picnic at one of the wineries while enjoying the beautiful view.





Then we went inside this cute little winery called Hart Winery. Dennelle knows the owner so we got a little extra special attention. Mr. Hart gave us a tour of the winery and a little lesson on how they make their wine.




As you can see, Dennelle is paying real close attention to dear Mr. Hart, you can just see the concentration in her face.




That night we had a little party and were able to meet a few of Dennelle's friends. Man, these guys know how to entertain! Lyman is a chef and made the. best. ribs. ever.




Ok, check out this set up. It is like Man Heaven, they've got 4 TVs so they don't miss one game during football season. After seeing this room, Alex decided that he wanted to move in.


Permanently.





My response,


"Promise?"


Not because I would leave my sweet Albert there alone, although come to think of it, that would mean less laundry for me to do, but no, I wanna move in too! A girl could get used to this kind of luxury!