Some Whine With Cheese

The End of An Era

2012-04-21T18:14:00.004-05:00

I have an announcement to make.
I will no longer be writing here at Some Whine With Cheese.
Sniff.
This blog has taught me a lot of things. And I have met some wonderful people.
But life changes.
So come see me here instead.
http://www.masonjarlife.com/

Garden!

2012-03-18T16:58:00.003-05:00

18MA

Today we started up the garden! Last year I was a bit late and my garden didn’t yield very much given the fact that it gets about 215* here in Texas between June and september. This time I wanted to do it right, so I would be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor (our being me and Wes’ mom, Sue. She’s a gardening guru). We are planting all kinds of “salad” veggies in the trough – lettuce, onions, chives, more lettuce and spinach. Front two barrels (plus the planter Wes built me, not pictured) will have tomatoes. Back two barrels have bush cucumbers and Swiss chard. Then we have pots of pepper, basil, oregano, parsley and thyme.

Can’t wait to grow and eat!

Crazy greek and mexican oregano from last summer that survived 110* to 29* and freezing. I named it “Moregano” after my crazy Greek Mexican friend Morgan

Day 2

2012-02-14T10:22:00.001-06:00

Grammys Stage

Richard Branson

Hugh

Bonnie

The Hanks

Day 1.

2012-02-10T02:24:00.001-06:00

Location:Los Angeles, CA

Excited!

2012-02-08T08:47:00.001-06:00

Today I leave Texas for California for one week....

because I get to go to the Grammy's!!!!

Seeking Friendship

2012-01-18T22:27:00.001-06:00

This is not me. Or anyone I know.
Once upon a time I had friends. Lots of friends. I don't mean that to be as arrogant as it sounds - promise. But its the truth. Whenever I wanted to escape the boredom of my bedroom walls, unwind after a rough day at work, or just spend some time with more estrogen, I had a few lovely ladies I could call up and convince to come grab a glass of wine with me. Some of them didn't take a whole lot of convincing after the word wine came out of my mouth - you know who you are.
Then I moved to a whole new state.
Finding friends is hard.
I have been lucky to meet a few wonderful people at my job. But I'm looking for more. I love my boyfriend - I do. So much. But sometimes I want to bitch about my boyfriend, and I can pretty much guarantee he doesn't want to hear it.
(Boyfriend, I mean that in the nicest way. I know you'd like to bitch about me, too)
I know there is a blog and a book out now - http://mwfseekingbff.com - about a woman who literally "dated" to find her new BFF.
And so, that's what I am doing. I am asking my blog friends to "set me up" with anyone they know out here in San Antonio. But remember, Texas is a BIG state. Dallas is 4 hours above me. Houston is 3 1/2. And even Austin is 90 minutes away - so calling up a potential friend there to meet me for happy hour will kind of defeat the purpose.
Help a girl out.

Tap Tap Tap

2011-11-30T21:18:00.001-06:00

Is this thing on?
Hello friends, followers and family. Remember me? I managed to hold onto all my followers, so I'm guessing you guys are just as busy/unmotivated as I am to have the time to unfollow my blog.
Yes? No? Whatever.
I don't really have a topic to post about, but I have friends that have been bugging me (ahemmodyahem) to write something, so I'm going to provide you with some bullet points of things in my head as of late...

I love working again. Yes, I am crazy but whatever. You may think being unemployed for 10 months would be like a vacation, but it gets really f&%$ing boring.
I still love it here in Texas - especially now that its been getting cold like everyone swore to me it would someday. I've never been more excited to see "overnight freeze warnings" on my weather.com app.
My grandma died last week. I hate more than anything that I can't be in California with my mom right now. I miss you momma, and I think about you everyday.
I get to see EVERY.SINGLE.SISTER of mine this December. That's right, all FOUR of them. We haven't all been together since Kristin's wedding in 2010. And I can't even remember the last Christmas we were all under the same roof. My heart is so happy knowing I get to see them all, and all my little kiddos. Merry Christmas indeed.
My cousin wrote a book, called Gypsy Fade. It's a collection of short stories, and it arrived in the mail today, and I can't wait to dive into it. She is a pretty talented writer for a woman her age (woman?! That sounds so crazy to say). I think you should read it, too. If you were stumped on what to get me for Christmas, order a copy of her book for yourself. Go check it out here. If anything, you need to see the rad cover.Soon, I get to chop off all my hair again. Very soon.
I still think I will someday live in the Pacific Northwest. I really do.
That's all, folks. I miss you.

Working Girl

2011-10-02T21:38:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I will be taking myself out of "forced" retirement and will be rejoining the corporate world.
I have mixed feelings about this.
On one hand, I will be taking home a paycheck again, with benefits and all those corporate goodies.
On the other hand, my alarm will be going off at 5:15 am.
Rising before the sun for work is something I haven't done for a LONG time.
I should probably go to bed now, just to save my body from the shock. But no, I'm updating my blog, something I haven't done consistently for awhile now.
Another thing I haven't done for awhile?
Worn heels.
Here's hoping I don't twist my ankle.
Happy (almost) Monday to everyone!

New Girl

2011-09-20T17:09:00.001-05:00

If you ever watch television these days, you may have seen the commercial for the new show, New Girl.

(anything in quotes comes from the show description here.)

"JESS DAY is an offbeat and adorable girl in her late 20s who, after a bad breakup, moves in with three single guys. Goofy, positive, vulnerable and honest to a fault, Jess has faith in people, even when she shouldn't. Although she's dorky and awkward, she's comfortable in her own skin. More prone to friendships with women, she's not used to hanging with the boys - especially at home."

I could have written this sh*t

Once upon a time, I broke up with a guy and moved in with 3 boys - complete strangers. Ok, J was actually someone I sort of knew, but I don't think knowing my drink order at my favorite bar constitutes a close friendship. Oh and I may have broke up with my douchebag ex like a year earlier, but you get the point.

"NICK is the most grounded. He had big plans for life, but somewhere along the way, he stopped caring and became a bartender. "

J was a bartender.

Ok that is the only similarity for that one.

"SCHMIDT is a hustling young professional who fancies himself a modern-day Casanova. Though his heart is usually in the right place, he's always scheming ways to climb the social ladder and is driven by an immature and almost obsessive urge to be on "the scene."

This would be A. Or D, to some people.
Although climbing the social ladder is not something he fancies. A true hater of Facebook, he would probably rather stay at home with a good movie and a good drink, before venturing out to be on "the scene"

COACH is a former high school athlete who currently makes his living as a personal trainer. Set in his ways and with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude to dating, Coach is most comfortable when he's in the gym. Though he'll never admit it, Coach's macho athletic exterior is actually a cover for his shyness around women, and he struggles to translate his personal confidence into conversation, preferring to speak in sports metaphors - or not at all.

This would be N.

He is a former high school athlete. He also once had some award winning catch or something in some important football game. He did go to school to be a personal trainer.

But I don't think N is most comfortable in the gym. And I don't think he is terribly shy around women. But I do think he would speak in sports metaphors all day long if he could. Oh, and he is white.

"Rounding out this group is Jess' childhood best friend, CECE, a deadpan, somewhat cynical model who blossomed after outgrowing her promiscuous adolescent years."

Alright, I didn't have any cynical model friends.

As their relationships progress, the five(four) friends come to realize they need each other more than they ever thought they would and end up forming a charmingly dysfunctional family.

Now that part, it's pretty dead on. Although I don't talk to these boys as much as I did when we all lived together, they we're a very important part of my life. One even became my BFF. Some of the best stories of my life are from living in that house.

But bottom line - although I most likely won't watch the show, I'm very flattered they picked Zooey Deschanel to play my character.

Recycle.

2011-09-06T18:56:00.003-05:00

Hi friends!

It seems I have been away from my blog as of late.

I wish I could say it was because I have been "ohsobusy" but no.

I'm unemployed, remember?

Thankfully, I have finally landed a job, and I start in a month. Couldn't be more excited!

(seriously!)

But, since I have no good blogging material to share (besides the thousands of ideas in my head), I am re-posting what I wrote a year ago today. Because it hits home - then again it would hit home anytime I read it.

So read on.

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched ' Jeopardy ' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said , 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because people cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to...not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Beauty.

2011-08-14T14:53:00.001-05:00

via

Comfort.

2011-08-10T18:59:00.001-05:00

source

There is something to be said about old friends. The one’s who weave in and out of your life like ribbons. You can go months without talking to them, and then suddenly they are back in your life like there was never an absence. They are the ones who know the best of you, the worst of you, and everything in between.

I have a dear friend like that. Best friends in high school, we have been separated over the years not by bad things or choice, just by circumstance. And when we need each other, its like we pop back into each others lives without knowing why.

Despite what is going on in her life, she always has a good piece of advice, or an encouraging word.

I feel like I go through life looking for connections like this with every friend I make, only to realize the important ones have been there all along. Minus the few that have actually become my new old friends I will have for life.

They are just hiding in the sidelines, waiting for the right moment to pop up and cheer you on.

Summer

2011-07-18T17:46:00.001-05:00

This weekend, my kindred spirit will be visiting me, and we will be doing this

and this

and then I jump on a plane and land here

(Orange County)

Can’t wait to spend a week with my family!

And some friends

But I guess I will miss this guy…

Books!

2011-07-07T21:32:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time, I was a reader.

As in, there wasn’t a free moment in a day when I wasn’t reading.

I remember my first “big” book I read was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and I’m pretty sure I read it in 3 days, at the age of 10.

Growing up I did a lot of the tween books.

Sweet Valley High

Babysitters Club.

But it really didn’t matter what it was, I loved disappearing into a book for hours and hours.

Maybe it has something to do with being an introvert?

Anywho, at some point I hit a time in my life where books just weren’t that important. Sure, I liked them. But just found better things to do with my time (ahem, TiVo)

But now I’m back in the game.

I recently visited my local library, and the minute I walked in I loved the smell.

I will never buy a kindle/kobo/e-reader

Nothing against people who do, it’s just not my style.

But back to the library.

I picked up my new card, and checked out books like I would never be back.

(even though I have been back, twice)

I have once again fallen in love with reading, and it feels so good.

I also belong to goodreads, and a fantastic book club run by Girl With A New Life

The Smart Chicks Book Club

If you are an obsessed bookie, I think you should come join!

Craving....

2011-06-30T15:37:00.000-05:00

"There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.
...Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. "
— E.B. White

Oh, Kate.

2011-06-27T19:36:00.000-05:00

Last night I had the most awesomest dream.

Kate Middleton wanted to be my BFF

We have good times.

I was invited to the wedding and everything. I walked up to the reception and she ran outside and gave me this huge hug and said “I’m so excited you are here! You have to come meet everyone.” (she has the sweetest little british accent)

she thinks I'm hilarious. The guy on her left - total a-hole.*

I watched her and William smash cake in each others faces (after someone tested it for poison first – no joke).

I did the chicken dance with Harry and Pippa

(have you seen the bum on that girl? Total jealousy)

Then I woke up and was truly devastated. It wasn’t real!

a real BFF always brings wine.

Most girls dream of landing princes? I dream of shopping with the princess.

*I really don't know who the guy on the left is in that picture. He might not be an a-hole.

Creativity

2011-06-24T10:00:00.007-05:00

Brilliant.Found here
"Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit." ~Ira Glass

Picture taken by me, July 2010, Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival

True

2011-06-23T14:07:00.000-05:00

Love this...I found it here.
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent.

Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

(I loved this line! I talked about the book here.)

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

Rosemary Urquico

This was written in response to You Should Date an Illiterate Girl

Yep.

2011-06-19T19:31:00.001-05:00

source

I don’t know what it is…

BUT I AM CRAVING FALL & WINTER LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS

I blame the 100 degree weather.

Today.

2011-06-13T16:41:00.000-05:00

"A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes. " - Mohandas K. Gandhi

Grr.

2011-06-10T18:42:00.000-05:00

Somehow, in the midst of cleaning up my Picasa, I managed to delete my blogger album.

So now, half my blog is missing pictures.

I could clean it up, and add them all over again,

but man that seems like A LOT OF WORK.

Sigh.

Blogger Fail.

This Is So Me

2011-06-10T12:26:00.001-05:00

I get this ALL. THE. TIME.

You can read more about this condition here.

LOL.

2011-06-06T10:22:00.001-05:00

Makes me laugh every. single. time.

Déjà vu.

2011-06-01T12:23:00.001-05:00

I walk out of a house, sun is shining, screen door slaps against the door frame behind me. I pull my wavy blonde hair into a ponytail, grab a brown basket, smooth out the skirt of my yellow dress, walk out under a massive tree and….that’s it.

For the past few years, I have this recurring image that pops into my head at random times. It shows up when I’m daydreaming, about to go to bed, making dinner, reading. I’m not kidding when I say at any time, this image will just flash in my head.

Its odd for a few reasons. I despise the color yellow on me. I haven’t had blonde hair for as long as I can remember. And it always just….ends. Sometimes I will sit there and try to conjure up some sort of continuation, as if I’m being told the story of my life and the person just closed the book without finishing. I practically beg my brain to show me what’s next. But it never happens. And I just go back to what I was doing before, and the image is forgotten.

I could try and analyze it for hours, but really, what is there to analyze?

Screen door, brown basket, yellow dress, blonde hair, big tree. No deep meaning there.

But I do know there is a reason my brain decides to fire this image for me at random times. I just hope someday it either comes to me, or the image continues on to some sort of story.

Anyone else this crazy?

Important.

2011-05-31T16:00:00.000-05:00

Welp. This made me tear up.