Day 312: The Start to IPNC

Friday, July 25

I slept in.  I was exhausted after a long work day and event.  I eventually got up and got to work just after noon.  IPNC was well underway and I would participate later in the afternoon.

 

I spent the afternoon getting caught up on work missed from a day setting up the wine dinner event last night.  I took an afternoon break and used a coupon I had for an iced mocha latte at the Coffee Cottage in Newberg.

 

When I was finished with work, at around 6:00 p.m., I changed into a cute gray strapless summer sundress with a couple of faint pink flowers on it, touched up my make-up and drove out to Linfield College in McMinnville for the International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC).  I got there for the evening’s Alfresco dinner, where I met up with co-workers and colleagues, and then we walked over to the Grand Dinner.  I sat at a table with members and friends from the Oregon Wine Board, a couple other winery principals, and a handful of writers.  It was a nice dinner.

 

After, Shirley and I went to Double Deluxe in Mac for a nightcap.  We thought there would be more IPNC attendees there to hang out, but it was mostly locals.  We shared a drink with a couple of colleagues and then called it a night.  I stayed over at my friends’ Jerry and Meg’s house right down the street so I wouldn’t have to drive back and forth to my home.

 
I was glad for a decent night’s sleep, as tomorrow night would be a little bit more of a marathon, following the annual Salmon Bake, going into a bubbly party at my host’s house.

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Day 305: Mexican for Lunch, Iced Lattes in the Afternoon & Perfection at Park Kitchen

Friday, July 18

I had a bunch of meetings today, but they were marketing focused.  I have a lot on my plate, but it’s all good stuff.  I spent much of the day planning for the pre-IPNC dinner.  I am excited about it.  I love planning dinners and doing the décor, putting the flowers together, just being creative and trying to create a memorable experience.

I had to pick up lunch today, because I forgot to get turkey breast lunchmeat.  So, I went to Panderia in Newberg for three corn tortilla tacos with carne asado and a side of rice and beans.  It was amazing.  I just love authentic, fresh Mexican food.  And I’m 99% sure it’s gluten-free.

In the afternoon my co-worker and I walked over to Coffee Cottage for iced lattes.  I had a raspberry white chocolate latte, more dessert than an afternoon pick-me-up.  Oh well.  Nothing like a sugar rush.

I left work later than I hoped and headed for downtown Portland.  I was meeting Kerry, Shirley and Susan at Park Kitchen in the Park Blocks to celebrate Kerry’s 35^th birthday.  We started with a round of delicious cocktails served up by our friend, and bartender extraordinaire, Jamie.  I had an herbaceous cocktail with a floating pear peel.  Kerry brought pink bubbly, which we had once we got a table outside.  Our friend Shelby met us at the table.

I ate a lovely cold cucumber soup with almond, shrimp and Thai spice flavor.    I then had lamb tartare with mint and chick pea hummus.  I was still hungry. Shirley and I selected a bottle of 2002 St. Joseph.  I ordered the roasted duck and split it with Shelby.

 

After dinner, we walked over to Ten-01 and found our friend, and sommelier extraordinaire, Erica Landon, outside sipping on some Gevrey Chambertin and Chambolle Musigny with her boyfriend and friends.  We grabbed the café table next to them and ordered a bottle of Ennio Morricone Moscato d’Asti and dessert.  I split the crème brule.  It was the perfect end to a perfectly lovely evening.

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Day 267: A Cold Spring, the Bestest Soup Ever & the Mystery of Love

Monday, June 9

It’s been a slow recovery.  It doesn’t help that it’s been so cold out.  It’s bizarre that it’s June.  I am used to sunny, hot and humid Junes of Virginia.  This, the woeful northwest ‘spring’ is basically an extension of winter.  We get days, no, weeks of gray coolness blowing in mists from the Pacific eastward, sometimes falling to heavy rain.  It’s like March exists in April, May and now June, too.  It only clears and blossoms into summer after Independence Day, on July 5, to be specific.  As I chill to the bone with nostalgia for the random but limited days of 70 and 80 degree temperatures with sunny, blue skies, I try to be patient for a better July.

I got to work early for a meeting at the Coffee Cottage in Newberg.  After, I had about an hour to get caught up on work.  I met my co-worker at the winery for another meeting with a local chef for one of our summer wine dinners, but he had to cancel at the last minute.  Then, I drove off to Portland to meet with our designer and web administrator.  I had thirty minutes to kill and went to Taco Del Mar for corn tortilla tacos with pork and a side of black beans and rice. 

I had a long but very productive meeting, first reviewing the website and going over our next steps for ongoing improvements and redesigns, where needed.  Then I spent about two hours meeting with our designer to go over our brochure, wine club brochure, press kit folders, and matching mailing envelopes.  The over-all look is quite beautiful and it streamlines all of our materials.  I was very excited about the progress.  Finally, we looked at some packaging options for our concept wine, which will release in September.

I left their office feeling really great about the work we’ve been doing since February.  This is certainly an exciting time at work.

When I got home, I changed and went to the gym.  I walked for fifty minutes while chatting with my mom on the phone.  She had sent me another Safeway grocery gift card!  She is too generous.  I picked up my mail and headed over to Safeway for groceries. 

When I got home, I made probably one of my best batches of soup.  I heated a box of organic, free-range chicken broth and about 8 cups of water.  Next, I added fresh Thyme and lots of ground pepper.  I chopped up organic carrots and celery and added to the broth, with celery leaves.  Then, I added Swiss Chard and two small Vidalia onions.  I cleaned two ears of sweet white corn and cut each into four sections, adding them to the soup, which was nearing to a boil. 

While that was cooking, I heated a small bowl of Annie Chun’s sprouted brown rice and dumped it in a deep, large soup bowl.  Then I added some fresh chicken I sliced from a whole homestyle free range roasted chicken.  I ladled the soup over the brown rice and chicken, steaming and looking quite beautiful with the sliced carrots, greens and sections of corn on the cob.  It was delicious!

After dinner I had a Klondike Slim-A-Bear French Vanilla Bar with lowfat vanilla ice cream and a chocolate shell, with only 100 calories.  Klondike introduced the Slim-A-Bear bars and sandwiches to give consumers a variety of options that were lowfat, low calorie – for a lighter indulgence.  It was pretty satisfying.

I had a nice cup of Yogi Chamomile tea while I watched The Bachelorette.  I admit, it’s a guilty pleasure.  I can’t get over how hot these guys are or how perfect their abs are!  I mean, I respect a guy for his mind and all, but this is ridiculous.  This girl is quite lucky.  She has a pack of hot men fighting for her heart.  And here my single girlfriends and I would be happy with one date!  Dating is practically non-existent in Portland.  But, according to lifestyle coach, Jared Matthew Weiss, we need to figure out what’s holding us back and then go out and ask three men out per month.

I did get a text message from a guy we watched the Redwings games with – he asked me to meet him for a movie this week.  That’s pretty cool.  And a step.  I am really wanting to date around and see what’s out there!  At minimum, I’ll make some good guy friends.  I long for male friends – I miss having the guy buddy. 

My French ex had sent me a lovely email before the weekend, accompanied with a sweet poem he wrote for me.  The romantic part of me wondered deeply about this man.  But I kept hitting a wall with the same old conundrum.  If we wanted to see where we are today, whether or not there’s still a spark, and if we could have a happy, healthy relationship, I wondered how we could possibly do that while I was living in Oregon and he’s still in Paris, France.  I would feel totally guilty to take him away from his family, there, too.  I just don’t know if it’s logistically possible for us to come together.  I thought about reaching out to some of my friends out here who do some form of film production, I thought perhaps he could get a temporary visa, work for three months in production in Portland and stay in a furnished apartment downtown for a short-term lease.  If we were to test the waters, we would need to live separate and slowly date without pressure.

It’s a mystery.  Finding and cultivating real, balanced, good love.  Totally ambiguous.  From where it comes, to how long it stays, it’s all mystery to me.

 

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Day 246: Sacred Mornings, Redwings Victory & A Sign of Providence

Monday, May 19

When my alarm went of this morning, a cool breeze crept in.  It was glorious.  I got up slowly and stretched.  I decided it’s time to stop rushing through my mornings and to treat them as sacred.  So, I took the time to do a writer’s prompt – a 10-15 minute dedication to writing (no edits, just stream of consciousness writing) on the following topic: morning.

And this is what I wrote in my notebook:

In the quiet, dignified hours of my day, I try to create peace so that I can slowly, meditatively open up to morning.  I think of the song Silent Lucidity by Queensryche, a lovely sound that parallels the rhythm of my ideal morning.  Listening to this song is like watching the sun rise.  It is also the song that best illustrates my first love – a bittersweet reminder of tender, innocent, unconditional affection that blended with fumbling, inexperienced, immature adolescence.  The song is a metaphor for my climb into love – in those nascient moments of learning to be someone’s sweetheart, in the time where my fears foiled my heart.  I am now in the mid-day hour of my love life, still searching for the one to watch the sunset with, still somewhat afraid, but full of hope. 

I am not an early riser, as I like to sleep until 8:00 a.m.  That is an ideal time for me to gently wake up to the soothing sounds of my Tibetan gong alarm clock.

I like to stretch.  I wish I could afford the time and money for a morning yoga class – power vinyassa or ‘hot yoga’.    But, since that’s not an option for me now, I stretch.  I’d love to go for a walk, to just look around and observe the way poet Mary Oliver does, wandering and taking in each sacred view, each natural beauty with wonder.  But, I don’t have time for that…yet.

I like a light, healthy breakfast.  With summer fruits and vegetables soon in season, I can’t wait for the bounty.  I enjoy the process of making myself breakfast.  I don’t drink coffee, but by mid-morning I’ll have my cup of tea.

I used to say that I wasn’t a morning person, but that’s not true.  I just don’t like to start my day with work.  Rather, I wish to create sacred ‘me’ time from the moment I wake until the time I am ready to take on the day.  I need to ease into the work day. 

After I wrote this prompt, I made myself an egg, a piece of gluten-free brown rice toast with a fresh basil and yellow tomato garnish.  I consumed a nourishing glass of light orange juice.  I prepared my lunch and then hopped into the shower for a quick salt scrub. 

On my way to work I felt incredibly refreshed.  My arms were a little sore from shooting my basketball yesterday. 

I got to work and caught up on my regular morning check list of things to do to get organized.  During my lunch I called the director of Fishtrap in order to register for a summer workshop.  I have been advised to try to attend this.  I can’t afford the week-long writer’s workshop and gathering and hope to get a partial scholarship.  This would be an amazing opportunity to connect with other Oregon writers and will ultimately help me to get published in literary journals and magazines.  I felt really good about this.

I took some of my work and went to the Coffee Cottage to work without distraction – phone, computer, email.  I was able to work out the full first draft of our brochure.  I was very pleased with this progress, feeling one part an editor and one part the writer.

I left work just after five to meet Shirley at the Upper Deck to watch the Redwings game.  I didn’t get there until 5:45 p.m.  I sipped on a cider, which wasn’t great.  We nibbled on chips and salsa.  Our new Redwings friends, Mike from Michigan and Chris, the new guy, watched the game with us.  Shirley’ friend Molly showed up, along with Claudia, who actually missed the game.  The Redwings defeated Dallas 4-1, moving on to the finals in the Stanley Cup against Pittsburgh.  Go wings!

After, Claudia and I met Kerry at Susan at Veritable Quandary.  We sat outside on the patio and had burgers - mine without the bun.  It was fantastic.  Susan and I shared a glass of a Portuguese red blend.  Blame it on the full moon, but we were all very slapsticky.  We just giggled over goofy stuff.  It was nice to be light and to laugh.

When I got home I fixed a cup of ginger Yogi brand tea and began to write.  I noticed on my painting of Samson and Delilah (by my friend Erin) that there was a ladybug crawling along the top ridge of the canvas.  It eventually made its way up the wall.   I smiled.  According to the Victorians, a ladybug was good luck – the sign of providence.

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Day 242: Wine Dinner at Ft. Vancouver & Locavorism

Thursday, May 15

 

I woke up to a beautiful morning.  The forecast called for temperatures in the 80’s.  I was excited!  I worked on some print materials this morning and prepped for a wine dinner I was doing in Vancouver this evening.  I agreed to help out our sales manager, since he was double  booked.  Strange, but I had never been to Vancouver.

 

I went with my co-worker to the Coffee Cottage in Newberg, just around the corner, for iced coffees.  After I finished up the day, I drove to the winery to pick up a 9 case wine order to deliver to the sales rep in Vancouver who I was meeting for the wine dinner. 

 

The day was glorious, up to 87 degrees out, clear skies, just how I like it.  I was jamming to some good music in my Hyundai Tucson, Goldie Hawn, as I drove to the winery to pick up the wine.  A little Marley, some Samples, the Clash.  On the way to Vancouver I took it to country -  Dixie Chicks.  And then I went to a Journey Live CD.  I stopped by my home to change into a pair of sleek, stylish seersucker pants and a great green t-shirt with a lovely ruffled, slightly-plunged neckline made from organic cotton and bamboo.  I touched up my make up, put my hair up, pulled on a nice pair of high-heeled sandals and continued on my way to Vancouver.

The traffic was ridiculous.  It took me over an hour to travel 17 miles!  Not a good sign in Portland, as it feels like the region is morphing into a Seattle.  When I finally crossed the bridge, I headed toward City Center, picked up Evergreen Road and parked in Ft. Vancouver.

 

I fell in love with this quaint stretch of historic land.  It reminded me of the southeast – with wrap around porches, historic houses and buildings lining the road with gorgeous, old trees creating a canopy of leafy boughs.  If I squinted, I could have been in Charleston or Savannah.

 

I had a lovely, gluten-free dinner to accompany the wine pairings.  The guests were lovely, the restaurant staff were very kind and accommodating.  It was a gorgeous evening out.

 

When I got home I watched ABC’s Nightline.  The opening report was on localvores and growing provisions in your own back yard, which is both extremely environmentally friendly and great for the pocket book.  The segment highlighted a family living in a house near L.A. where you can eat everything in their front yard – edible pansies, chives, lavender, kale, guava, figs and bananas, and mor which grows down the side of the house and into the backyard.  It’s a little family farm in the middle of suburbia.  What they don’t eat, they sell.  It’s quite beautiful.  The idea of doing it yourself.  Go back to basics.

 

A good reminder of why I want to garden this spring and summer.  I need to pick out some pots and lettuces, tomatoes, herbs, etc.

 

 

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