A glass of wine

Last week I wrote about a good cup of coffee, and this week I wanted to take a moment to write about a sumptuous glass of wine.

While nothing may beat a good cup of coffee, there is something exciting and refreshing about an amazing glass of wine.  For me, the experience is often interlinked, and tremendously enhanced by, where I have the glass of wine and who I am with as we taste, sip, drink, throw back or throw out, the wine.

I have my favorite vineyards and tasting rooms - mostly in the Marlborough Region of New Zealand and the Napa Valley.  Both places hold wonderful memories and are very dear in my heart.  In Marlborough, Wither Hills is one of my favorite tasting rooms.  I enjoy their wine, however, it is their location and architecturally designed building that I LOVE.  As such, I make sure every time I am in Marlborough I take a drive to the Wither Hills property.

The photo above was taken by my dad on a trip when we were visiting family.  Wither Hills has a tower which guests can walk up with their glass of wine and look out over the valley - I love this view.

In October, while we had family visiting we went to Napa and had a couple of nice hours at both Mumm and Duckhorn.  Aside from the gorgeous weather, great champagne and wine, and tasting lessons from my sister-in-law (which was fantastic!), I loved the time spent with my family, the shared nature of tasting and the slowed down pace that comes with tasting wine.

I hadn't been to Duckhorn before, but I will certainly be going back.  The venue is stunning, gardens lovely and staff incredibly pleasant, friendly and accommodating.  It is simply one of the most relaxing places to sample wine - and their wines are fantastic to boot!

So, if you enjoy a glass of wine, be it at home after a long day, or at a dinner party with friends who make you laugh, take a moment to sit back and savor both the taste and the atmosphere that accompanies it, it is unique, precious, delicious and often, unforgettable.

Public Service

On my way to get a cup of coffee and fill the car with gas this morning, I happened to turn on XM Radio to the Oprah & Friends channel.  While I am not a huge fan of Rabbi Shmuley, once in a while he will talk about something that is of interest to me and this morning, in honor of Veterans Day, he was talking about Public Service and raising children to be of service to others.  The people who called into the show had me in tears.  They shared their stories of how they, and/or their families have served others.  The spectrum went from helping to prepare the food for Thanksgiving at shelters to a child who designed her own clothing line and then donated the money to the specials needs class at her school...it got me in the heart.

For several years my husband and I have talked about volunteering on Thanksgiving or Christmas - to give something to those who are less fortunate than we are.  Given he knows me well, he has wisely pointed out that while this is a great idea, it is likely to leave me in tears and and unwilling or unable to then turn around and celebrate the day myself.  I know he is right.  I couldn't go and volunteer in the morning with children who have no gifts and then come home and open my own gifts, it would just break my heart.  Instead, each year we have settled on donating money to the Second Harvest Food Bank.

As I drove I started to feel selfish and embarrassed at my lack of community service. 

And then I remembered, I had spent a year-and-a-half serving on the Board within my community and for years I always had at least one pro-bono coaching client.  Plus, years ago I spent a morning cleaning up a beach with a friend, which as strange as it may sound, was a lovely experience.  It was a gorgeous morning, the water lapped at the beach and as we picked up trash we caught up on each other's lives - I felt fantastic and like I had really done something positive for the planet.  Thank goodness, I thought, I do have a good heart and more importantly my actions are consistent with it - I do give back!

When I arrived home, I shared the stories I had heard on the radio with my hubbie and I choked up even trying to retell them.  We have agreed that we will look for some way to be of service next year in terms of our time, and we will continue the discussion as to how to contribute as this holiday season approaches.  

We all may have our own challenges in life, but there are those that are far less fortunate than us.  As we all move towards the holiday season, please give some thought as to how you could do, or give, a little extra, to make someone else's life a little more filled with cheer.  My experience has been that the way I feel about myself when I do it, far exceeds the gift I have given.

Thank you!

How much to share?

I was at a networking event last week, and the topic came up of how much personal information we should be sharing - be it on our blogs, our websites, Facebook etc - and I have to confess it is a question I have been, and continue to, struggle with.  

I love the blogs where people are very real and share what they are going through, their imperfections, their struggles and their inner voices that tell them they should be doing something other than what they are doing.  And yet, I have come to realize that I am perhaps a more private person than I thought.  On the Myers-Briggs scale, I am a big Extrovert, but on some other scale, I want to have my own private spaces.  Frankly, I would love to have a room where only I go into (and my hubbie sometimes too), but one that is not open for public viewing.  Where I can put my thoughts or works in progress, up on the walls and not fear someone looking at them and thinking I am weird or judging me.  I would equally love to have a very public side of me, where I am leading large groups of people through exercises that enrich their lives.

But the question raised, of how much to share, was an interesting one, and again, gave me pause for thought.  My advice for her was to share only as much as she really, truly, feels comfortable saying.  I am applying the same advice to myself.  Is there more I could share on this blog?  Absolutely!  Are there days when I feel like perhaps I have shared too much of myself?  You bet!

My guess is, at least a good portion of the concern comes from fear.  Fear that if we reveal too much someone could steal our identities.  Fear that people will think we are weird.  Fear that we could say too much and later be hurt with that information.  However, if there is one thing I am really clear about it is that I don't want to live in fear.  I may not be able to go back to the carefree innocence of childhood, but perhaps there is a middle ground that will allow me more freedom and less concern.

I'm off to go looking for that middle ground, I'll let you know what I find.

Friday's Quote

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A good cup of coffee

A superb latte at Joe's Garage, Queenstown, New Zealand

There is nothing quite like a good cup of coffee.  

The aroma, the taste, the warmth and the comfort...ahhhh.....

There is something about it that I sink into.  It is a ritual for me.  

I only have one cup a day so I make sure it counts.  No drip coffee for me.  I am a latte girl through-and-through.  My hubbie keeps offering to buy me an espresso machine, but I keep declining.  I like going out to get it, whether to a mom-and-pop shop or a larger chain like Starbucks (I know, some of you pure coffee connoisseurs are now cringing, but at least at Starbucks I can order my coffee exactly as I want it made) I like the engagement with the baristas, and that first sip for the day...de-lic-ious!

No matter your drink of preference, here's a toast to something so good it makes us sigh with deep, satisfying, contentment!

Hopeful

As a US Resident, but a NZ Citizen, I don't have the right to vote here.  However, as the results come in I feel HOPEFUL.  Really HOPEFUL.  Which is something I can't say I have felt about the politics here in the US for some time.

Tonight, here's to a truly united United States of America.

I am filled with hope for a bright future for us, our children and our grandchildren.  And I hope that my hope is well-founded.

Apple

I am a HUGE Mac fan!  I have been, since I was a teenager.  (So much so, my husband recently bought me this t-shirt!) Of course, I have had a few jobs along the way that have seen me working on a PC, but at my core, I have always been loyal to Apple.

Luckily for me, when I met my husband, he worked at Apple HQ in Cupertino!  So we had lots of Apple products around - iPods, iBooks, MacBooks, MacBook Pros, iPhones and more.  It was like Apple HEAVEN!

Did I mention that I am such a loyal fan that now all my immediate family members have at least one Apple product?

While we were in New York in June this year, we went to the 5th Avenue Apple Store at about 1am.  It was like going to our own personal version of mecca.  Ahhhh....the beauty that IS Apple was represented in even the structure itself.

And few companies package their items as beautifully as Apple - even down to the last details in the box.

If you haven't bought an Apple product ever, or recently, treat yourself, the experience is like no other.

Long live Apple, it's products, it's high standards and mostly, it's beauty!

PS - Did I mention the Mac TV ads rock?!!!!