• - I lost 50 pounds.
• - I got a promotion at work.
• - I’m working on connecting with my inner me.

2011 was an eventful and overwhelming year for me in many ways. The weight loss is truly front and center in that. I went from 200 pounds to 150 pounds in a year and a half. Last I wrote about it, I wasn’t close to my goal but I hit it after working at it every day. If 50 pounds wasn’t impressive in itself, how about losing 25% of my starting weight? That’s pretty life changing if you ask me (after all, I did that and my life is different now).

I had to adjust my wine intake. There was no way around it. Then the job promotion came and my weight loss slowed as my stress increased. It became harder to keep up my strict diet but somehow I shimmied down a bit more anyway. But I was stressed and not drinking as much so I had to get out my thoughts and emotions. I started writing more, but not here or about wine. I wrote in a personal journal that I still write in very regularly.

I realized that if I don’t write here, I have to write somewhere. I was also able, for the first time in my life, to put a name to this unending desire to write. I’m an introvert. I spend time living in my head and concocting theories, arranging stories, and thinking about life. A large part of how I keep myself sane is through writing. Being prepared with this knowledge, that I’m not just some crazy person, is helping me to be more me in every situation.

Deep inside of my soul lives a writer who lives to tell stories. When the stories stop being written, that part of me starts to wither (and you could argue that its not just a part of me but the whole me). I’ve always been that way. I know that even if I’m not the best writer who ever lived, I’m still a writer and writing keeps me sane/whole/”normal.”

It’s unfortunate, but not all of the stories that I want to tell are wine related and belong here. I’m sorry for neglecting you, but while I was neglecting you, I was trying to nourish myself. I’d do it again if I had it to do over.

I’m a healthy weight for the first time in nearly 7 years. I feel more emotionally balanced than I have since some time in college. I am able to clearly define why I’ve always felt “off.” These are huge wins. My art has continued to grow, if only within the confines of my pen and paper.

But then, my 3 year old blog still lingers here. Dusty and neglected. If only I had wine stories for every day so I could fill this up and overflow with amazing imagery and emotion. I don’t right now but maybe I will. Or maybe the journey here is less about wine and more about this woman that I am. The Wineing Woman. Who is she? Maybe, regardless of beverage choice, she is my outward persona who allows me to present my thoughts through an accepted medium. Maybe as I grow and change through the years, so does she and she writes about things unconnected to wine but she still is The Wineing Woman.

Or maybe not. I don’t really know.

So with my third year of blogging, let’s at least resolve that even if I can’t blog often, I will blog meaningfully. And that’s what matters most.

Of course, this was a personal mission and part of my gift (or blessing, if you prefer) that I could bestow on my friends. I felt compelled. I can only imagine that this is the same type of feeling that religious leaders get when they say that they got their calling. I knew my calling. It was to booze up some newlyweds with some (seriously legit) champagne. It’s probably less romantic to have gotten my calling from my inner wino than some type of God, but that’s not the point here (unless wino is my religion, in which case this was wholly the same thing).

I was called and I needed to do this. Knowing that the others who partook may not appreciate the gesture as much as I felt its importance didn’t matter somehow. All I was required to do was pour full glasses to Mr. and Mrs. Champagne, offer them the best sentimental gift that I know how, and hope they were happy.

The wedding commenced and everything was ready. My carefully chosen bottle was safely nestled inside of our limo, just waiting for its shining moment. The couple had theirs, and now it was showtime. We piled into the limo and I readied my offering. Camille Saves Brut Rose. The same wine I drank with Tom to celebrate our engagement. The same wine we toasted when we won the Stanley Cup. The same wine that I intend to toast upon my own marriage. The same wine, sharing here, now, with them.

I popped, poured, and settled in to watch their faces. Ashley, knowing how much this meant to me, profusely thanked me for my gift and we all sipped. It’s amazing how quickly a bottle of wine so special and prized can disappear when eight bridesmaids along with a bride and groom are enjoying it. It seemed like mere seconds, though I know it must have been longer. The wine was gone, my duty was done, and I felt fulfilled.

And then came the complimentary bottles of sparkling wine provided by the limo rental company. Andre. We went from Camille Saves to Andre. Now, if you’re not familiar, let me give you a little background here. Camille Saves retails for about $50 while Andre is about $5. Price doesn’t always equate to quality but here, oh dear, here it does.

After the beauty of my special bottle, we endured sugary sweet sap, that can somehow be considered in the same category of the former. The crowd loved it, which crushed my inner wino ever so slightly. But I had to savor that I introduced these people to something completely sentimental and while they may not have felt the gravity, I sure did.

I perched my half-filled glass of Andre back where it had been stored before our wine adventures began and resigned to savor the mission that I had completed.

I thought about this for a good long time and having accomplished my calling, I was proud. Sharing good wine (especially sentimental wine) is part of how a wino loves. I hope they felt that.

I hate being any sort of booze elitist, because who really likes guys like that? I had held my tongue when a bottle of Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante was referred to as champagne. A bachelorette party limo where talk of how drunk we’ll get tonight is hardly the platform to educate some lovely ladies on the difference between our bottle of bubbly and methode champenoise.

Try as I might, small sip after small sip of The Rough Rider started making me queasy. Sugary drinks are hardly my thing these days and as much as I could force my palate to approve the beverage, my stomach went into full out protest. I just heard it telling me that drinking this much sugar is going to trigger an upchuck way before it triggers any alcohol buzz. It wasn’t worth the trouble of keeping appearances and joining in on the novelty drink fun.

As I paid attention to my tastes and body during a conversation about how it would cost $500 if anyone puked in the limo so we should get drunk, but not too drunk, a $6.00 glass of CK Mondavi Pinot Grigio seemed all the more appealing. Maybe it’s not the best wine I’ve ever let touch my tongue but in that moment, the respite from sugar coma was incredible. There was acid, not accompanied by too much sugar, and I could relax and enjoy the moment again. Drunk but not puking? I can do this. As I downed my wine, all was settling in.

It’s hard to get comfortable in certain situations sometimes, as I was finding that night at my good friend’s bachelorette party. You may not have noticed, but I’m not the girly-est of girls around. But somehow, getting the right drink eased me into the night and opened me up to allow myself to have a good time.

A shot and a gin and tonic later (continuing my theme of lower sugar drinks), we hit the dance floor and let loose.

Spoiler: It’s not about doomsday in Charlottesville.

There’s all sorts of recaps for WBC floating around. Some good, some bad, some funny. This one is more personal (put on your group hug shoes and let’s get ready to do this).

Big events like WBC tend to evoke big emotion from yours truly. Last year, I was so overwhelmed with the amazing experience that I had that I still have a draft of what I wrote directly after the conference ended that I’ve chosen not to publish.

This year, I’d say my emotion was just as big, but the emotion was different. I’d had a fantastic time, drank great wines, visited super awesome places (Monticello, anyone?) and best of all, hung out with some of the coolest people I know. I feel lucky enough to call a number of the attendees friends and to have even shared a hotel party or two with one of our keynotes, Eric Asimov (who’s pretty badass because he’s so down to Earth).

But back to the emotion. I was left feeling unsure about the future of this blog. Why? Let’s get into that.

My life in 2011 has focused less on wine and more on losing weight and building a solid foundation with my fiancé for our life ahead (no, we haven’t set a date for our wedding and I don’t want to make any of this post about that, honestly). I was thinking about how I don’t post as much as I used to and even worse, I don’t follow through with posts that I have ideas for. Sometimes, it just feels like I’ve lost the motivation to keep up with this old thing (I started this guy in January of 2009 so in the land of blogging, that actually is pretty old).

And then I thought about it some more. So what if my focus in life is changing? That just means that maybe the focus here should change, too. After all, if you go back to my very first few posts (please don’t), I wrote a few wine reviews, and that’s something that I find extremely boring and unhelpful now. I stopped writing them after something like the 4th one, which shows how quickly I adjusted my writing and content a couple years ago when I was unfulfilled.

I started my blog back then with the ultimate goal of gaining employment in the wine biz, and that happened less than 9 months after starting to chase my goal. What did I do then? I refocused this thing to be a more personal account of my own life within wine. That’s worked for nearly two years but maybe it’s time to readjust again.

I’m not sure exactly what this means for me (or for the blog), but it does mean that I’m not closing shop, even though I’d thought about it quite seriously. It might mean that while I get my act together, there won’t be many posts. In the end, I hope that there’s a positive result to be found and that I can continue trying my best to deliver the best stories that I can tell.

In the end (which really might only be the beginning if you think about it), I’m sticking around and everything is pretty much unicorns and rainbows. I love writing and I love writing about wine.

Look at how Millennial I am, posting a Lisa Frank image. My generation is so unique that no one could possibly think that they understand us. (I really did have this stationary set, fyi.)

Since January, my life has been so different than the months before that. Now, two glasses of wine on a Wednesday night is something rarely even attempted, let alone commonplace. Going out to eat is a bit more tedious because I actually care about the nutritional value of what I take in. Making my own food has taken a higher priority. When we do go out, I more often order a salad instead of a sauce-covered piece of meat between bread. It might not have been want I wanted before, it’s what I want now. I’ve actually found myself craving salads in a way that I’d only ever craved chocolate before. A deep, aching cry from deep within the fibers of my being just screams “I need vegetables!”

It’s good.

This doesn’t mean that I haven’t found a balance between my life of wine consumption and calorie limitation, though. I still enjoy some pretty good wines. I’m just doing it a little less often and when I do indulge, I’m having fewer glasses. I’m a little more selective and I’m not finding that to be a terribly bad thing. The lack of hangovers also isn’t a bad perk (of course with the exception of my Stanley Cup celebration). My mornings are better for it.

It’s not like I never splurge, either. In May, I traveled to Niagara, CAN for a wonderful iteration of TasteCamp North, and totally forgot for a few days what counting calories was like. Granted, all of the food was amazingly local and fresh, so I wasn’t all that concerned with terrible gross additives or anything like that, but it was refreshing. I came back and was surprised that I hadn’t even gained anything back from some of those over-indulgences.

After all this babbling you probably want a numbers update, huh? Sure, sure. I’ll cave. In my last update I’d lost 25 pounds. I’m quite happy to report that as of this morning, that number is up to 38 pounds lost, meaning that I’m a mere 12 pounds from reaching my major goal of losing 50 pounds.

At this point, I’m pretty sure that I’ll take my weight loss further than that 50 pounds, but it’s going to be an amazing goal to reach before the end of 2011 (that’s really my only goal for a time table here). Having made all of this progress, I have no doubts that I’ll get there and when I do, I’m going to look back on 2011 as one hell of a transformation year.

While I’ve been a little absent from this blog and from the wine scene, it’s not been a waste. Wine will always be a massive passion for me to enjoy and nerd out about. One day (hopefully soon) I’ll be able to fully dive back into this in the way that I once did. Until then, I’ll see you at the Wine Bloggers’ Conference next week!

The boys with some Veuve Clicquot and the Cup.

They also took that a step further a couple days later and ordered a Midas sized bottle of Ace of Spades. Yeah, that’s 40 normal sized bottles all in one. And they drank it straight from the bottle. I was going to judge them for it but I can’t. They get to have a little fun (They also got 20 bottles of Moet Imperial that night so someone in the organization knows a little about bubbles.)

If this bottle doesn't look massive to you, take into consideration that the Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara, is 6' 9" tall and drinking from the bottle.

To top all of that off, the (now retired) vertan of the team, Mark Recchi, spoke earlier this year to Robert Taylor of Wine Spectator about his off ice wine hobby. In that interview, Recchi said: “I have a 1970 Pétrus. [...] I’m saving that Pétrus for something special; I want to win another Stanley Cup.” Well, he’s done that. Does he plan on drinking some of that wine out of the Cup? Has he already savored the 41 year old bottle of Bordeaux? I wish I knew. I’d love to speak with the man about wine some day.

Anyway, all of this got me thinking. The Bruins have been drinking some pretty decent stuff since last Wednesday when they first hoisted the Cup and Boston has been winning kind of a lot in the last decade. How does the Bruins celebratory wine stack up to that of the other major sports?

Lucky for you, I have the answers!

Red Sox This is a big one. I expected a lot out of their bubbly, to be honest. An 86 year draught aught to entitle players to something awesome, right? Well, maybe; maybe not. In 2004, they popped Mount Pleasant Brut, a $23 bottle from… Missouri? Yeah, I’ve never heard of it. I don’t know what it tastes like and I’m not sure it’s worthy of breaking the curse, but them’s the facts.

Then, in 2007, they popped another domestic sparkler, one that you might be a little more familiar with: Domain Ste. Michelle Brut (about $10 retail). It’s pretty solid for the money (I had it a few years ago at this point so I’m pulling from memory here) but I’m not sure it speaks “World Series Wine” to me.

Celtics Believe it or not, their 2008 celebration contained very few bottles of bubbles. It took some serious searching to figure out what the bubbles were, but I got it. They drank some Moet Imperial (though the locker room was more filled with Bud Light cans than anything else).

Patriots Let’s be honest, I hate football. All these guys seem to do is pour really cold buckets of water/gatorade on their coach and then say they’re going to Disney World. I couldn’t find evidence of one popped cork in their locker room (it’s possible that the NFL keeps that footage on lock down and if that’s the case, my next statement holds true). Bummer.

Which team had the best bubbly situation post-championship win? I know I’m biased, but I have to say that the Bruins did with the abundance of solid champagne that they’ve been drinking. The Celtics come solidly in second place here. Moet Imperial is good, but only a few bottles were out there being enjoyed. They couldn’t even spring for Bud Light bottles so I can’t honestly put that above the Bruins. Then, there’s the Red Sox in third. Winning the World Series after EIGHTY SIX years of losing, and you pick a no-name bottle from Missouri? It just doesn’t seem right to me (not that the wine isn’t good, because I don’t know, but it just seems weird).

I hope you enjoyed my little celebration sparkler post today. Hopefully there’s much more to come in the next few weeks. Cheers!

Photo Credits: 1. Boston.com 2. Foxwoods Facebook page. Photo here.

Here’s the deal. This upcoming weekend, on April 30th, there is a Spring Wine Fest (sponsored by BostonEventGuide.com) being held at the Cyclorama in the South End of Boston. It’s not like the craziness that is the Boston Wine Expo, either. It’s smaller, more intimate, and offers a chance for you to taste a whole wide selection wines for the afternoon. If you’re new to wine, that’s okay, too. Seasoned pros and newbies alike can enjoy an afternoon tasting wine at this event. The best part? I want to give a pair of tickets away to you. Totally free.

The tickets are for the 12-3pm session. If that doesn’t work for you or you still want to go even if you don’t win, there’s tickets still available for all three (yes, three) sessions on Saturday and you can purchase them here.

To win the tickets, simply tweet the following: Check out @bostoneventg’s #SpringWineFest on 4/30 for a social wine tasting plus food and wine seminars! http://bit.ly/eTvn33

OR!

If you don’t have a Twitter, comment below telling me why you would love to go to this event.

The straight facts: Entries will be accepted until Thursday April 28th at 11:59pm and you must enter by then to get a chance at the tickets. All entries (via Twitter and commenting) count equally. No double submissions will be accepted. A winner will be picked on Friday April 29th by me (using a random number generator, no favoritism) and notified as soon as possible so we can make sure that you get the tickets. If you win and can not attend or are not 21+, a runner up will receive the tickets. As a part of this giveaway, I also received two free tickets to the 12-3pm portion of this event.

Ready? And… GO!

This is more of a thing I’m tired of feeling sad about and I want to change about myself. Instead of feeling crappy, I’m getting up off my butt to do something about it. It’s working, and I want to fill you in on it. I think you’ve earned it (you do read the rest of my ramblings after all).

Here’s my plan. I’m not on a diet because diets don’t work. Well, they do, but not in the long run. Honestly, how many people do you know that can say “I was on _____ diet once and I lost a ton of weight.” Probably a lot. Did they gain it back? A lot of people do. The way I see it, after the diet it boils down to either not being able to keep it up long term or giving up on healthy food (or possibly a medical condition but that isn’t really anything that can easily be helped).

Sweet tangent, huh? Anyway, diets don’t work forever so I’m not on one. I’m just eating fewer calories than I use, thus burning off fat. If you want specifics, I’m eating fewer calories, fewer complex carbohydrates (bread, pasta, that sort of thing) and eating more protein and fat (yes, eating fat does not make you fat). Since the beginning of 2010, I’ve lost 25 pounds and gained a boatload of energy. I’m not at my goal yet, but I’m half way to my first major milestone of losing 50 pounds, and that’s definitely an achievement.

Now that I’ve gotten all of that out, here’s what I really came here to say. I have struggled with keeping wine in my routine. I kicked up my fight against fat this January, losing 11 pounds since the 1st of the year. I started to really focus my entire daily routine on what I ate. Truthfully, that was the only way to figure out what I should and shouldn’t eat. Wine is an extra but had to be cut in the initial eating trial. I needed to know how to eat everything else before I added wine back into my life on any real scale (which is something I have started doing in the past few weeks).

To aid my efforts, I’m using a website/iPhone app to help me track what I eat and this dreadful thing happens when I go over my daily allotment of calories. The bar graph turns red (see the photo). It’s guilt inducing and I try to avoid it at all costs. For this process to work, though, I need to be honest about what I consume. A hamburger? Add it. Chicken and broccoli? Add it. Wine? Yes, add that too.

When I’m trying to stay under a certain amount of calories, wine calories add up rapidly. In the last few weeks, I’ve gotten better control over how much and when. The graph shown is my actual graph from last week. The only day I went over was a night that we went out to a bar and I had some bar food. Not the best, but we’re all allowed a cheat every so often. That was mine last week.

Anywho. I hope this talk mostly unrelated to wine wasn’t terribly boring for you. I think this is a topic often important but rarely discussed within wine. I’m actually amazed that many of the winos I’ve met aren’t even the slightest overweight. Maybe they’re some of the lucky few born that way, or maybe they work their tushes off and have already figured out what I’m only just beginning to learn.

Moderation, with everything I consume. That’s the lesson I’m learning.

Oh yeah, who want’s progress photos? We love a good set of progress photos.

I cut out some fellow winos (can you guess them?) but here’s me close to my starting weight last summer. It makes me sad to look at this, to tell you the truth.

A shot from today, half way to my goal. I’m not even sucking in the gut!

The boxed wine in question. Duca Pinot Grigio/Garganega blend. I purchased it for $23.99.

For me, the epitome of the non-fancy wine thing was last Thursday. I was home alone and the Bruins game was about to start and I needed dinner. Fast. The fridge was rather barren except for a package of hot dogs, some milk, a box-o-wine and a million condiments. I was in desperate need of a grocery run but there was no time! Fifteen minutes before puck drop is a terrible time to lolly-gag at a grocery store picking out broccoli and yogurt.

I cooked up two hot dogs (sans buns cause we didn’t have any and I’m watching my carb intake anyway), topped with a little ketchup and mustard, and poured some ice cold pinot grigio from the box’s handy little pour spout.

Dinner was good for being incredibly cheap, my boys won, and the box-o-wine that was left over from a party the Saturday before was fresh, cheery, and probably the best wine from a large format box I’ve ever tasted.

I don’t rate wines, but if you put a gun to my head and said “Quick! What’s the best value I can get for 4 bottles of wine that doesn’t taste like junk?” I’d tell you this guy.

And that’s what this blogger does on a run of the mill week night. I’d love to hear your stories, too. If I’m not the only one slumming it up from time to time, it’s good to know.

Last week, tweets went out announcing a partnership between me and Finger Lakes Wine Country, which is a tourism information hub for people wanting to visit the Finger Lakes and experience it’s wine. More specifically, I’m their Boston area Finger Lakes Wine Ambassador (there I go trying to sound important again).

I’ve gotten a lot of kind words from people so far (thank you, by the way!) and it is a super exciting thing for me. The reason why I’m writing this, though, is not to toot my own horn. I want to let you know exactly what I’m doing to explain what that means for me and this blog but also avoid the dreaded conflicts of interest and to make sure I keep myself honest in my endeavors. After all, no one likes a dishonest blogger. (It’s true. Look it up.)

Here’s the deal. In my first job as their ambassador, I will be representing the Finger Lakes by pouring a number of wines at a Boston event called Wine Riot in April. In exchange for this and other tasks I’ll be doing for them, I’ll be getting compensated (both in services and in dollars). Basically, I’ll be paid to help them.

What this means for the blog is that I won’t be writing about the Finger Lakes for the duration of my role as their wine ambassador. While not all of the details have been worked out, I may be blogging for them about the Finger Lakes. I love the Finger Lakes and their wines, but I don’t want the role that I’m playing for the Finger Lakes to impede this blog or my credibility. After all, credibility is kinda all we got, right?

For me personally, this is just super exciting and a great opportunity to immerse myself in the region without having to live there. I fell in love with the wines from the Finger Lakes last summer at Taste Camp and have been frustrated when I can’t get them in the very next state over here in Massachusetts. It seems like people don’t even know how good the wine is. Now that I know, I want to spread that.

So, there it is. If you have any questions at all, I’ll do my best to answer them to the best of my ability. Like I said, not all of the details have fully been worked out at this point, but while we’re working on that part, I wanted to let you know the general sense of what I’m doing.