Nothing like a brain tumor to give you a swift kick in the butt right? So what do you do when with that experience? As many of my faithful readers know, I thought that should be taking sailing lessons and buying a sailboat. When the boat deal fell through, and finding the right boat seemed to be stretching into the distance, my husband and I had to have a serious talk about what to do. I could feel myself sliding back into habits of over working and high stress as my health improved and I went back to full time work. It was clear to me that I needed to do something big and now.
Welcome to our 2 month adventure living in Colombia! Why Colombia? Well, my hubby did a study abroad in Chile while in College (which is how he fell in love with wine, if you are not familiar with the Vivac Winery start up story) and spent time traveling to the nearby countries...except for Colombia. As an avid traveler, and fluent Spanish speaker, the enticing country he had yet to explore called to him. The hugely varying climates was intriguing to all of us; high altitude (10,000ft) cities, the charming colonial towns, the gorgeous beaches and the lush juggles. My son, a 45yr old man trapped in an 11yr old's body was drawn to the land of Gabriel Garcia Marques (one of his favorite authors). And me? I wanted something that would take me out of my comfort zone and be an adventure.
We decided to fly to Panama City, Panama where we would stay a couple days, then board a 52ft sailboat (with crew) to sail to Colombia. The 6 days of sailing includes visiting some remote islands and a 2 day blue water crossing (that means no land in sight for 2 full days). We land in Cartagena, Colombia the day before Christmas Eve. We plan to spend a week in the old city of Cartagena, enjoying the Christmas activities and then go out from there exploring the various areas of the country. We hope to find a cool little town to settle into and become a part of for at least a month. Since my son graduated from 7th grade in one semester, by working his butt off at his extraordinary school, his only job is to learn about the cultures we are enveloped in and enjoy himself. My job, is to take all of you on the ride with us!
So buckle your seat belt and away we go!
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
Running on Wine; from Marathons to Rafting to "Fueling" on the Patio, We are Fueled by Vivác.
Saturday, December 16, 2017
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
The Good News
Those of you that have been following this blog know just how hard last year was, those of you that are new readers, you are welcome to go back and read earlier posts, but a quick overview is that I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, more specifically "an adenoma on the pituitary". Lucky me, mine was active and caused horrific side effects. My life seemed to spiral out of control as I prepared myself and my family for brain surgery. It was terrifying.
This year, everything changed. The tumor shrank, medication got me back on my feet and life resumed. We all held our breath as my health continued to be good, yet the threat that it could start growing again and the horror show could start all over loomed heavy over our heads.
In November I headed into the second 6 mo MRI and blood work nervously. I was armed with my cozy blanket and music cd, obvious that I was a pro at the 1hr 10min MRIs I need to monitor this thing in my head. This is the true test, what is this little fucker (excuse the language) up to? If it is good news, I will move to once a year MRIs. If it is bad...then, well, it is bad.
Days later we got the results that it is not growing, it is in fact significantly smaller than it 1st was and the blood work was excellent signalling that it is no longer active. This is terrific news! But I have to admit, I had a deep sense of disappointment that it isn't gone. My absolutely amazing Doctor says realistically I shouldn't expect it to ever fully disappear, but to focus on this incredibly positive news. I plan to take his advice. After I sulk for a little bit.
In fact, I plan to grab life by the you-know-what and have big bold adventures! Starting off with a 2 month trip to Colombia with the love of my life and my heart and soul, my hubby and son. Last year I swore I wouldn't let fear dictate my life, stress control me and instead do things that made my eyes pop wide open in awe.
Ok ok, I do have some fear about this trip, but the idea is to 'feel the fear and do it anyway' right? So when those fearful thoughts like ...
will they have wine?
will the wine be too expensive?
will the wine be horrible?
how easily will I be able to my hands on wine?
Seriously scary thoughts, I know. But I am going to embrace the fear and drink rum drinks and lots and lots of coffee.
Stay tuned for tales of our travels!
(this post is brought to you by Vivac Aglianico, Divino and Diavolo which I will be drinking by the gallon until I leave in an attempt to quench my wine thirst from the thought of going without.)
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
This year, everything changed. The tumor shrank, medication got me back on my feet and life resumed. We all held our breath as my health continued to be good, yet the threat that it could start growing again and the horror show could start all over loomed heavy over our heads.
In November I headed into the second 6 mo MRI and blood work nervously. I was armed with my cozy blanket and music cd, obvious that I was a pro at the 1hr 10min MRIs I need to monitor this thing in my head. This is the true test, what is this little fucker (excuse the language) up to? If it is good news, I will move to once a year MRIs. If it is bad...then, well, it is bad.
Days later we got the results that it is not growing, it is in fact significantly smaller than it 1st was and the blood work was excellent signalling that it is no longer active. This is terrific news! But I have to admit, I had a deep sense of disappointment that it isn't gone. My absolutely amazing Doctor says realistically I shouldn't expect it to ever fully disappear, but to focus on this incredibly positive news. I plan to take his advice. After I sulk for a little bit.
In fact, I plan to grab life by the you-know-what and have big bold adventures! Starting off with a 2 month trip to Colombia with the love of my life and my heart and soul, my hubby and son. Last year I swore I wouldn't let fear dictate my life, stress control me and instead do things that made my eyes pop wide open in awe.
Ok ok, I do have some fear about this trip, but the idea is to 'feel the fear and do it anyway' right? So when those fearful thoughts like ...
will they have wine?
will the wine be too expensive?
will the wine be horrible?
how easily will I be able to my hands on wine?
Seriously scary thoughts, I know. But I am going to embrace the fear and drink rum drinks and lots and lots of coffee.
Stay tuned for tales of our travels!
(this post is brought to you by Vivac Aglianico, Divino and Diavolo which I will be drinking by the gallon until I leave in an attempt to quench my wine thirst from the thought of going without.)
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
Monday, November 20, 2017
Thankful for Wine in the Glass: A Tour of NM Wineries
It's Thanksgiving week so this post will be about what we are thankful for...at the winery.
Vivac is owned and run by my husband and his brother, myself and my sister-in-law. The 4 of us have given blood, sweat and tears to the winery over almost 2 decades and hope to reach a point where we can pass it on to our children as a lucrative inheritance. As we built this winery, literally from the ground up, we have moved from working outside jobs to fund buying grapes and barrels, bottling at night at the end of a long shift and doing every last part of the process personally, to now having a division of labor, a fantastic staff and we are no longer on food stamps! As the winery has grown, so have we. We have won International wine competition awards, learned the hard way what works for us and what does not and are deeply involved in the development of the industry in the state as a whole. We have learned not to take every last thing so damn seriously and that taking time off is just as important as the time put in. So what better idea is there than to gather up our staff and visit some of our friends wineries to do a little compare and contrast; give us perspective on what we can be grateful for and where we need to improve?
We hired Cindy with New Mexico Wine Tours to take us around Albuquerque on her luxury bus and back home to Dixon. I highly recommend doing this at some point, Cindy is fabulous and having a bus allows you to imbibe safely. She can tailor the tour to your needs/ wants and get you up to visit us where you can drink in the view. There are several wineries on the way up to us and (cue unabashed plug) with phenomenal wines, local beers on tap, local cider, handmade chocolates, handmade cheeses, and all kinds of goodies, you really shouldn't visit NM or live in NM and not make it up to see us.
We couldn't include every single winery we wanted to or we'd drown, so we selected a variety to show different sized wineries as well as different approaches to winemaking and/ or customer experiences. I hesitate to name the wineries we visited because I want to share some of the things we learned and some of that may color your idea of that winery, which isn't fair. We all have off days or things that don't go smoothly. It is important to go out and visit all the wonderful wineries in our state without prejudice.
And let the complaining begin! You didn't think you'd escape my complaining just because this is a post about being thankful and doesn't include running did you? Silly readers, I always complain!
Of all the wineries, the thing we walked away with is that we are a thirsty group and most of the time the wine flowed like molasses. No joke! Perhaps you have had the same experience? It took too long to get a glass in your hand or too long between pours or too little of a pour...whatever it is (and we have dealt with complaints too), it comes down to POUR THE DAMN WINE! It is a legal standard that we all have to adhere to with how much to pour, but if the tasting is going so slowly that you spend most of the time twirling your empty glass, it feels like you were not given enough wine. Also, if you are not being entertained, the lack of wine becomes your focus. At one winery, we had to wait so long between pours and with absolutely no information or "entertainment" that we left. Lets face it, we are in the service industry and people expect you to 'dance' for them...so do it! At another winery conversation became too personal with the server oversharing to the point that it felt more like a therapy session...AND we had no wine in our glasses. It was borderline painful, clearly not the experience customers want. We are thankful for those that are not shy to ask for a taste of the next wine.
At one of the wineries, there was actually too much entertainment which made the tasting take too long. We all agreed too much was better than too little, but that the focus also needs to be on the group enjoying themselves and a little less about the winery's need to lecture. That said, the wine flowed well and constantly which made for a happy group. We are thankful for drinking wine in the morning.
At another winery, they relied on reputation to do all the work for them. This made that winery pale in comparison to other wineries. This is definitely not the desired goal. I don't think any of us want people leaving our tasting room saying "that was nice, but..." and while reputation may have gotten people in the door, it is your job to wow them while they are there. Here it is again, do the dance people! We are thankful for delicious wines even if there is no fanfare.
We also managed to sneak in lunch at a place that was fabulous with beautiful atmosphere but crap service. I am pretty understanding and give people a lot of slack, but this poor girl couldn't have figured out how to take an order or remember what she was supposed to do to save her life. It was a great lesson to our staff in how being distracted or flustered makes for a terrible experience for the customer. Breath, slow down and BE NICE! Seems simple, but over and over again that seems to be the challenge, just being nice. We are thankful for getting to finally leave.
Then there was the winery that had such screwy hours that it became difficult to visit, even with a scheduled appointment. When we were late (we know that is an annoying thing to do to someone that is waiting to meet you, but also unavoidable that day) and we could not connect with the owner to update our timing, we showed up to a locked gate. The high number of signs during this interaction that said to us "I don't care" really wasn't good for business. Talk about a good learning opportunity! We are thankful for ordering drinks at lunch to get us through the dry patch.
Not to sound full of myself, but in truth, most wineries, even in high profile areas like Napa, roll out the red carpet when they hear winemakers are visiting (yes, we are now totally spoiled). We hope that our staff does the same in return. However at one winery, the staff was so busy that they were not only distracted, but gave us the distinct impression that we were a pain in the ass for being there. Pretty sure that winery did NOT want us to have that experience. Server after server came through, trading off who would throw wine at us, each server worse than the last. At one point when I asked the server to share with our group the story of the winery, she said with an exasperated huff "I really don't know". Hmmm...that sucks. We are thankful for knowing when to leave an abusive relationship. Yes, our experience tasting wine is a relationship.
It wasn't all negative though. Over all the wineries were lovely and welcoming and we had an amazing day tasting wines that were different than ours. We had a wonderful time with a group of incredible people that made us so thankful they are our staff. We were able to make that trip happen and take a day off to play, boy oh boy are we thankful to be at a point where we can do that! We saw that our staff is engaged and excited and that they are doing a fabulous job. Each one of them is always trying their best, and for that we are so very thankful. We also saw that the industry as a whole is growing and evolving and yet showing individual personality and that is very exciting. We learned that we are doing so much right and that we need to be grateful for how far we have come.
So this Thanksgiving, be thankful for the little family owned businesses around you, be thankful for the people that make your dreams come true, be thankful for the changes you've made in your life and above all, lets be thankful for the wine in our glasses!
*this post is brought to you by the newly released Heaven & Hell Artist Series wines: Divino & Diavolo. These wines are off the charts amazing, the label art by Jessamyn Lovell is mind blowing and they are a must have for your Thanksgiving meal.
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
Vivac is owned and run by my husband and his brother, myself and my sister-in-law. The 4 of us have given blood, sweat and tears to the winery over almost 2 decades and hope to reach a point where we can pass it on to our children as a lucrative inheritance. As we built this winery, literally from the ground up, we have moved from working outside jobs to fund buying grapes and barrels, bottling at night at the end of a long shift and doing every last part of the process personally, to now having a division of labor, a fantastic staff and we are no longer on food stamps! As the winery has grown, so have we. We have won International wine competition awards, learned the hard way what works for us and what does not and are deeply involved in the development of the industry in the state as a whole. We have learned not to take every last thing so damn seriously and that taking time off is just as important as the time put in. So what better idea is there than to gather up our staff and visit some of our friends wineries to do a little compare and contrast; give us perspective on what we can be grateful for and where we need to improve?
We hired Cindy with New Mexico Wine Tours to take us around Albuquerque on her luxury bus and back home to Dixon. I highly recommend doing this at some point, Cindy is fabulous and having a bus allows you to imbibe safely. She can tailor the tour to your needs/ wants and get you up to visit us where you can drink in the view. There are several wineries on the way up to us and (cue unabashed plug) with phenomenal wines, local beers on tap, local cider, handmade chocolates, handmade cheeses, and all kinds of goodies, you really shouldn't visit NM or live in NM and not make it up to see us.
We couldn't include every single winery we wanted to or we'd drown, so we selected a variety to show different sized wineries as well as different approaches to winemaking and/ or customer experiences. I hesitate to name the wineries we visited because I want to share some of the things we learned and some of that may color your idea of that winery, which isn't fair. We all have off days or things that don't go smoothly. It is important to go out and visit all the wonderful wineries in our state without prejudice.
And let the complaining begin! You didn't think you'd escape my complaining just because this is a post about being thankful and doesn't include running did you? Silly readers, I always complain!
Of all the wineries, the thing we walked away with is that we are a thirsty group and most of the time the wine flowed like molasses. No joke! Perhaps you have had the same experience? It took too long to get a glass in your hand or too long between pours or too little of a pour...whatever it is (and we have dealt with complaints too), it comes down to POUR THE DAMN WINE! It is a legal standard that we all have to adhere to with how much to pour, but if the tasting is going so slowly that you spend most of the time twirling your empty glass, it feels like you were not given enough wine. Also, if you are not being entertained, the lack of wine becomes your focus. At one winery, we had to wait so long between pours and with absolutely no information or "entertainment" that we left. Lets face it, we are in the service industry and people expect you to 'dance' for them...so do it! At another winery conversation became too personal with the server oversharing to the point that it felt more like a therapy session...AND we had no wine in our glasses. It was borderline painful, clearly not the experience customers want. We are thankful for those that are not shy to ask for a taste of the next wine.
At one of the wineries, there was actually too much entertainment which made the tasting take too long. We all agreed too much was better than too little, but that the focus also needs to be on the group enjoying themselves and a little less about the winery's need to lecture. That said, the wine flowed well and constantly which made for a happy group. We are thankful for drinking wine in the morning.
At another winery, they relied on reputation to do all the work for them. This made that winery pale in comparison to other wineries. This is definitely not the desired goal. I don't think any of us want people leaving our tasting room saying "that was nice, but..." and while reputation may have gotten people in the door, it is your job to wow them while they are there. Here it is again, do the dance people! We are thankful for delicious wines even if there is no fanfare.
We also managed to sneak in lunch at a place that was fabulous with beautiful atmosphere but crap service. I am pretty understanding and give people a lot of slack, but this poor girl couldn't have figured out how to take an order or remember what she was supposed to do to save her life. It was a great lesson to our staff in how being distracted or flustered makes for a terrible experience for the customer. Breath, slow down and BE NICE! Seems simple, but over and over again that seems to be the challenge, just being nice. We are thankful for getting to finally leave.
Then there was the winery that had such screwy hours that it became difficult to visit, even with a scheduled appointment. When we were late (we know that is an annoying thing to do to someone that is waiting to meet you, but also unavoidable that day) and we could not connect with the owner to update our timing, we showed up to a locked gate. The high number of signs during this interaction that said to us "I don't care" really wasn't good for business. Talk about a good learning opportunity! We are thankful for ordering drinks at lunch to get us through the dry patch.
Not to sound full of myself, but in truth, most wineries, even in high profile areas like Napa, roll out the red carpet when they hear winemakers are visiting (yes, we are now totally spoiled). We hope that our staff does the same in return. However at one winery, the staff was so busy that they were not only distracted, but gave us the distinct impression that we were a pain in the ass for being there. Pretty sure that winery did NOT want us to have that experience. Server after server came through, trading off who would throw wine at us, each server worse than the last. At one point when I asked the server to share with our group the story of the winery, she said with an exasperated huff "I really don't know". Hmmm...that sucks. We are thankful for knowing when to leave an abusive relationship. Yes, our experience tasting wine is a relationship.
It wasn't all negative though. Over all the wineries were lovely and welcoming and we had an amazing day tasting wines that were different than ours. We had a wonderful time with a group of incredible people that made us so thankful they are our staff. We were able to make that trip happen and take a day off to play, boy oh boy are we thankful to be at a point where we can do that! We saw that our staff is engaged and excited and that they are doing a fabulous job. Each one of them is always trying their best, and for that we are so very thankful. We also saw that the industry as a whole is growing and evolving and yet showing individual personality and that is very exciting. We learned that we are doing so much right and that we need to be grateful for how far we have come.
So this Thanksgiving, be thankful for the little family owned businesses around you, be thankful for the people that make your dreams come true, be thankful for the changes you've made in your life and above all, lets be thankful for the wine in our glasses!
*this post is brought to you by the newly released Heaven & Hell Artist Series wines: Divino & Diavolo. These wines are off the charts amazing, the label art by Jessamyn Lovell is mind blowing and they are a must have for your Thanksgiving meal.
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Diet? What Diet?
I'm starting to wonder if I should have named this blog "Complainie Complainerton". But then that is half of what all of you seem to love... at least your private messages to me say that; you are a shy group! So why make excuses, let's get this complaining party started!
Crush is heavy under way (the time when we get grapes coming in from all the vineyards and wine making starts) which coincides with huge fun filled wine festivals and events. During this time, we are exhausted, excited and stressed. So of course I decided that NOW was the time to really kick my butt and start a diet. I mean why head into your busiest time and be easy on yourself? No, no, why not add a complex diet to your stress load so you can intermittently fail and add hating yourself to the fun? Clearly that is the correct choice.
You thought I was already on a diet from reading my previous posts didn't you? See? I'm a spaz! I was and then realized that I suck at dieting. I hate meal prepping. I hate cooking so spending a full day cooking all the crap, I don't want to eat, for the week sounds like torture. Not to mention I drink when I cook so that leads to a tipsy lady by the end of the prep day. In an effort to be safe, I cut out dealing with sharp objects and fire and just sat on the sofa and drank. No prepped meals, but soooo much more enjoyable AND I believe me when I promise to eat 'right' all week.
Every single weekend, as I sit on the sofa and drink wine, I also promise to workout all week. They talk about "beer goggles", well I think I have "wine-exercise goggles". Every time I have a couple glasses of wine, I think I am going to train for the Olympics the next day. Guess what? I don't. In fact, I am not even doing very well keeping up with my Physical Therapy exercises. I know, it is pathetic. And to end your curiosity, I do NOT eat 'right' during the week.
I am also not surrounded by much support. My talented winemaker husband MAKES me taste new wines. Famous Guest Chef's to our events MAKE me taste their special dishes. Travelling winemakers from prestigious wineries around the world MAKE me taste their award winners. Friends with free tickets to specialty events MAKE me go eat lobster and fried oysters and duck and little delightful pastries and then wash it down with the world's very best wines! I mean, really it is a cruel cruel world when you are trying to diet.
Needless to say a friend recommended a lazy person's option with protein shakes and limited calorie meals. I decided if I ever wanted to take this 'brain tumor weight' off, I needed to do it before I got so comfortable with my humpty-dumpty shape, I stopped seeing it. I immediately lost weight and felt good on the diet! I felt so great about it, that I decided I was invincible and attended some of the aforementioned events. It started slow with a work event and a few sips of wine, I skipped the enticing food and felt I'd escaped fairly unscathed! I was a dieting badass. Next was the event with friends where I decided calories didn't count, boy was that a fun day! Clearly less of a badass day. And then finally I closed the week with an event that had lots of wine, lots of phenomenal food and ended with tequila shots and a bowl of pita chips. That day was zero badass and 100% dumbass. Amazingly, I didn't loose any weight that week.
"Enough woman!" I screamed into the empty wine bottle. The next day I got right back on my shake train and vowed to kick this pudgy butt to the curb. It's going pretty well too. All I have to do to stay away from delicious food and choose to eat vegetables, say no to the beautiful ruby liquid of the Gods and just drink water...is to go to bed at 7:00pm. It is really amazing how much willpower I have when I experience the world from the other side of a locked bedroom door, wearing an eye mask and ear plugs.
* This post is sponsored by all my scorned lovers: Vivac Malbec, Vivac Aglianico, Vivac Refosco
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
Crush is heavy under way (the time when we get grapes coming in from all the vineyards and wine making starts) which coincides with huge fun filled wine festivals and events. During this time, we are exhausted, excited and stressed. So of course I decided that NOW was the time to really kick my butt and start a diet. I mean why head into your busiest time and be easy on yourself? No, no, why not add a complex diet to your stress load so you can intermittently fail and add hating yourself to the fun? Clearly that is the correct choice.
You thought I was already on a diet from reading my previous posts didn't you? See? I'm a spaz! I was and then realized that I suck at dieting. I hate meal prepping. I hate cooking so spending a full day cooking all the crap, I don't want to eat, for the week sounds like torture. Not to mention I drink when I cook so that leads to a tipsy lady by the end of the prep day. In an effort to be safe, I cut out dealing with sharp objects and fire and just sat on the sofa and drank. No prepped meals, but soooo much more enjoyable AND I believe me when I promise to eat 'right' all week.
Every single weekend, as I sit on the sofa and drink wine, I also promise to workout all week. They talk about "beer goggles", well I think I have "wine-exercise goggles". Every time I have a couple glasses of wine, I think I am going to train for the Olympics the next day. Guess what? I don't. In fact, I am not even doing very well keeping up with my Physical Therapy exercises. I know, it is pathetic. And to end your curiosity, I do NOT eat 'right' during the week.
I am also not surrounded by much support. My talented winemaker husband MAKES me taste new wines. Famous Guest Chef's to our events MAKE me taste their special dishes. Travelling winemakers from prestigious wineries around the world MAKE me taste their award winners. Friends with free tickets to specialty events MAKE me go eat lobster and fried oysters and duck and little delightful pastries and then wash it down with the world's very best wines! I mean, really it is a cruel cruel world when you are trying to diet.
Needless to say a friend recommended a lazy person's option with protein shakes and limited calorie meals. I decided if I ever wanted to take this 'brain tumor weight' off, I needed to do it before I got so comfortable with my humpty-dumpty shape, I stopped seeing it. I immediately lost weight and felt good on the diet! I felt so great about it, that I decided I was invincible and attended some of the aforementioned events. It started slow with a work event and a few sips of wine, I skipped the enticing food and felt I'd escaped fairly unscathed! I was a dieting badass. Next was the event with friends where I decided calories didn't count, boy was that a fun day! Clearly less of a badass day. And then finally I closed the week with an event that had lots of wine, lots of phenomenal food and ended with tequila shots and a bowl of pita chips. That day was zero badass and 100% dumbass. Amazingly, I didn't loose any weight that week.
"Enough woman!" I screamed into the empty wine bottle. The next day I got right back on my shake train and vowed to kick this pudgy butt to the curb. It's going pretty well too. All I have to do to stay away from delicious food and choose to eat vegetables, say no to the beautiful ruby liquid of the Gods and just drink water...is to go to bed at 7:00pm. It is really amazing how much willpower I have when I experience the world from the other side of a locked bedroom door, wearing an eye mask and ear plugs.
* This post is sponsored by all my scorned lovers: Vivac Malbec, Vivac Aglianico, Vivac Refosco
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
Monday, September 4, 2017
Celebrating the Labor
Ever notice that people that are in the food/ beverage/ hospitality industry are never excited about the big holiday weekends? That's because, while YOU have off to play with your family and friends, WE are working... A LOT.
For winery people, not only are the tasting rooms bustling with events and promos, but in September, we are smack in the middle of crush (harvest). This means that grapes are coming in that need to be made into wine; with constant attention and care during fermentation. We are also making more space in the winery for the wave upon wave of grapes needing to be processed. THEN we have the wine festivals. Whomever decided that it was an ideal time to have a huge wine festival when we are all at our wit's end in not just one city, but two (Albuquerque & Las Cruses), should be tortured by a long slow death... of restricted wine.
Needless to say, we are happy to do what we do and love seeing all your happy faces at the festivals and our tasting rooms. This is a time when people flock to their favorite local spots and enjoy an extra laugh or two. We know that you work hard for your money and when you choose to help us live our dream by spending that money at our place, it not only makes working extra over the weekend worth while, but warms our hearts. Thank you for making us a part of your holiday!
* followup to my 2 previous posts about dieting...you simply can NOT diet on a holiday weekend. Also, I am typing this with a glass of wine in hand. I know all of you are drinking this weekend and it isn't good to drink alone so I'm having a glass of wine "with" you. You're welcome.
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
For winery people, not only are the tasting rooms bustling with events and promos, but in September, we are smack in the middle of crush (harvest). This means that grapes are coming in that need to be made into wine; with constant attention and care during fermentation. We are also making more space in the winery for the wave upon wave of grapes needing to be processed. THEN we have the wine festivals. Whomever decided that it was an ideal time to have a huge wine festival when we are all at our wit's end in not just one city, but two (Albuquerque & Las Cruses), should be tortured by a long slow death... of restricted wine.
Needless to say, we are happy to do what we do and love seeing all your happy faces at the festivals and our tasting rooms. This is a time when people flock to their favorite local spots and enjoy an extra laugh or two. We know that you work hard for your money and when you choose to help us live our dream by spending that money at our place, it not only makes working extra over the weekend worth while, but warms our hearts. Thank you for making us a part of your holiday!
* followup to my 2 previous posts about dieting...you simply can NOT diet on a holiday weekend. Also, I am typing this with a glass of wine in hand. I know all of you are drinking this weekend and it isn't good to drink alone so I'm having a glass of wine "with" you. You're welcome.
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
Monday, August 28, 2017
She's Been a Bad Bad Girl
I feel like a complete loser. I started a diet, was off to a grand start and then I seriously dropped the ball.
My son had a camp-out so my husband and I had one of those stay-up-talking-all-hours-of-the-night kind of nights which I love, but I have to admit, they always have wine involved. I had not been drinking my beloved wine, but when your winemaker husband comes home with different vintages of Syrah to taste side by side...well, you HAVE to! Ok, maybe I was the one that suggested we taste them side by side, but let's not point guilty fingers, the point is we then had multiple open bottles of wine that were begging to be enjoyed.
The next day I had a marathon of a hangover. Why is it that when you haven't been drinking, it hurts so much more? Shouldn't your body be in a happy place and able to weather the storm better? Biology class aside, I simply could not stay on my diet and succumbed to every desire my tummy threw at me. Flour tortillas? YES (those are definitely NOT on my gluten free diet). Candy? YES! More wine? Uhhhhh duh, I said I was hungover didn't I?
OK so 2 days in a row and back to the diet. Or so I thought. I am now on day 5 of having wine and honestly, I don't think I will be skipping it tonight. I feel a cold coming on and clearly need the alcohol to burn the germs out. I will work on being good on my diet on Wednesday, Wednesday has a nice ring to it.
*This post was brought to you by Vivac Winery Syrah, available in wine growlers from our wine kegs. The perfect way to fall off your diet.
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
My son had a camp-out so my husband and I had one of those stay-up-talking-all-hours-of-the-night kind of nights which I love, but I have to admit, they always have wine involved. I had not been drinking my beloved wine, but when your winemaker husband comes home with different vintages of Syrah to taste side by side...well, you HAVE to! Ok, maybe I was the one that suggested we taste them side by side, but let's not point guilty fingers, the point is we then had multiple open bottles of wine that were begging to be enjoyed.
The next day I had a marathon of a hangover. Why is it that when you haven't been drinking, it hurts so much more? Shouldn't your body be in a happy place and able to weather the storm better? Biology class aside, I simply could not stay on my diet and succumbed to every desire my tummy threw at me. Flour tortillas? YES (those are definitely NOT on my gluten free diet). Candy? YES! More wine? Uhhhhh duh, I said I was hungover didn't I?
OK so 2 days in a row and back to the diet. Or so I thought. I am now on day 5 of having wine and honestly, I don't think I will be skipping it tonight. I feel a cold coming on and clearly need the alcohol to burn the germs out. I will work on being good on my diet on Wednesday, Wednesday has a nice ring to it.
*This post was brought to you by Vivac Winery Syrah, available in wine growlers from our wine kegs. The perfect way to fall off your diet.
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
Monday, August 21, 2017
Take it Off Baby!
OK people, long time no post! Summer flew by and if you are anything like me, you did NOT start that workout plan and did NOT diet. I have some "brain tumor" weight lingering that I would like to take off, but food tastes so good! And wine tastes even better.
I've had it with carrying this extra weight though. I'm feeling better now so I want to look better too. I still have my ankle injury to contend with, but I'm serious in my focus. I have already gone over a week with very limited alcohol intake and a Gluten Free diet. I know you are all thinking "limited" wine in my diet must mean I'm down to a bottle a day, but I swear, over this past week I only had 4 glasses of wine! One glass on two different nights and 2 glasses of sparkling wine on another day. It is impossible to only have one glass of sparkling wine... and maybe illegal. Anyway, that means lots of nights without anything. It isn't fun, but I'm already down 4 pounds so lets keep this train movin!
I know that exercise coupled with calorie restriction is the best way to shed pounds, yet each of the days this past week, as I went to bed each night, I would plan the next day to start working out and each and every day, I forgot. I even looked up YouTube exercise videos, but still, the next morning I woke with a fresh, blank memory.
So now that my son is back in school and I can focus on me a little more, I am determined to start working out. I mean, not today. Today is the 1st day back at school and I wore a cute skirt without thinking about it (see?!? I completely forgot that I had ANY intention to work out today). BUT I am going to research possible workouts I'd like to try...so that I can forget about them tomorrow.
Cheers! Wait, not cheers for me, I'm not drinking today. Will you drink for me? A good friend would drink for me.
* this post is brought to you by the wines I am fantasizing about today: Vivac Winery Gruner Veltliner, Vivac Winery Montepulciano & Vivac Winery Malbec
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
I've had it with carrying this extra weight though. I'm feeling better now so I want to look better too. I still have my ankle injury to contend with, but I'm serious in my focus. I have already gone over a week with very limited alcohol intake and a Gluten Free diet. I know you are all thinking "limited" wine in my diet must mean I'm down to a bottle a day, but I swear, over this past week I only had 4 glasses of wine! One glass on two different nights and 2 glasses of sparkling wine on another day. It is impossible to only have one glass of sparkling wine... and maybe illegal. Anyway, that means lots of nights without anything. It isn't fun, but I'm already down 4 pounds so lets keep this train movin!
I know that exercise coupled with calorie restriction is the best way to shed pounds, yet each of the days this past week, as I went to bed each night, I would plan the next day to start working out and each and every day, I forgot. I even looked up YouTube exercise videos, but still, the next morning I woke with a fresh, blank memory.
So now that my son is back in school and I can focus on me a little more, I am determined to start working out. I mean, not today. Today is the 1st day back at school and I wore a cute skirt without thinking about it (see?!? I completely forgot that I had ANY intention to work out today). BUT I am going to research possible workouts I'd like to try...so that I can forget about them tomorrow.
Cheers! Wait, not cheers for me, I'm not drinking today. Will you drink for me? A good friend would drink for me.
* this post is brought to you by the wines I am fantasizing about today: Vivac Winery Gruner Veltliner, Vivac Winery Montepulciano & Vivac Winery Malbec
-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com
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