Throat Punch

2013 Grand Valley Winery Association hosted the 11th annual 

"Barrel into spring" tasting.

The event was held for two days with eight wineries participating.

The cost was $70/person.

The admission fee included as much wine and food as your body could handle!

Due to unfortunate circumstances, my group of gals, and some of Amie's that had planned on making a girls weekend at wine fest, were unable to attend.

 [Each person got a passport.  But each passport was at a different location which made it difficult for a large group to individually gather their passports and meet up at a beginning point to enjoy the day together.  Also, the tasting sold out before anyone in our large group could get their tix :(     

So, a heads up! If you plan on going in 2014 get your tickets early and buy them at the same time so all of your passports are at the same location]

Chelise had booked a plane ticket and bought her passport in advance.

She was excited to meet Amie and try a new adventure in an all day wine extravaganza!

We arrived at Amie's casa Friday evening just in time for the horderves and amateur wine tasting game to begin!

Amie and friends had made up a beautiful smorgasbord of fruit, cheeses, meats, and dips for us to devour.

We each got a paper that taught us about the swirling, swishing and tasting of wines.

It was a hilarious experiment and surprising how each of us have different tastes.

Chelise thought everything tasted like a leather thong and sandalwood!

She coined the phrase "throat punch"!

[you can take the girl off the farm but you can never take her bud light taste buds in a different direction]

Saturday morning at 10:30 we hopped in Subee and ventured through Palisade Valley.

We were each given our passports along with a 2013 wine glass and set free to roam about the vineyards sampling good eats and varieties of wine.

We learned about pairings and the difference between aged, middle and new wines.

[Aged wine is the best of course, but if you don't have the money to spend you should always go with the 'middle child'.  It is a good compromise because the youngin' is not mature and a bit bitter.

It was so cool for my pallet to acknowledge the difference between a 2012, a 2009, and a 2007 merlot.  There really IS a difference!] 

[Jordan-Amie's daughter, Sonja, Chelise, Me, Amie]

After completing six out of eight wineries, IN ONE DAY, we downed a few pitchers of "dirty hippie' at a local brew pub.

A few hours later, we walked to a distillery to get these mason jars full of bloody mary love!

Over twelve hours of non-stop eating, drinking and gut wrenching laughing, we were in bed at 10:00 pm.

IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!

 Thanks Amie for putting up with our crazy asses!

Love you long time!

[Don't know why you were in non of the pics!?]

Insider:  DO YOU SEE A MAN IN THIS ROOM?!?!?!

OWEN!  OWEN!  Get her a man!

What my laugh-a-dufilator needed

"SALUTE!"

We said as our shot glasses of Jager 'tinked'.

My favorite gingy from Colorado graced me with her presence for a few days.

Amie knows when a girl needs her friend close by to talk about life issues, give guidance and support, and to celebrate a 42nd birthday.

Thanks Amie!

And because you were so loving and helpful this last week, I won't show everyone the video I made of you singing "Call me maybe".

You are welcome.

And when I say 'YOU'........

 I mean you readers!

Standing next to Amie for a picture, made me finally understand what Paula feels like standing next to me.....

or anyone taller than 5 foot nothing for that matter.

Amie crouching down a foot or three, made it possible to get a picture without me looking like a midge, 

OR having to cut off Amie's head because 

"AWH!!!!  She so tawh, we no fit hewr in da peekchuwr.  

Ahhhhh Sooooo!"

[somehow that accent became a mixture of Chinese and Spanish........

something I like to call Spanese....or Chinish.]

A night with my girls at A Bar Named Sue, was just what our laugh-a-dufilators and beer pallets needed!

The thoughtful cards,  grand expense of gifts, abundance of texts and voice mails, love put into hand made treasures, and genuine time carved out to be with moi,  

spoiled me beyond what is deserving.

I thank each one of you [you all know who you are]

for making me feel embraced and content as I turned another year older.

MUAH!

Off the rails of a crazy train

Before I could second guess myself, for the 463rd time, I hit "submit order" on the e-ticket form for the Amtrak train headed East bound to Grand Junction, Colorado.

The four days of abundance in love, laughter, and support made up for the lack of  decent hours of sleep nightly.

Sometimes the rails on the train need to break to give you permission to not come home and deal with the realities of life.

Thank you my Colorado family for taking me out of my world for enough time to remember 'life is good'.

And thank you Amtrak for making my stay last two days longer then planned.  You must have known that my de-railed spirit needed more time to be put back on track.

Celebs gone wild

[card is courtesy of Auntie E]

Our posse of friends were busy going different directions over the summer.

I had enough of the absence between us all, and called a meeting.

The memo instructed everyone to show up to my house the Saturday before Halloween to engage in a 'Dead Celebrity' costume party.

Randy came as Jesus

[sorry m.i.l]

I dipped deep into my inner soul and brought out Janis Joplin.

It's only fitting that Jesus and Janis came as a couple!

They were some of the first original hippies!!!!!

Anna Nicole Smith was one hot mess, wonderfully played by Amie.

Of course she brought her hubs, J. Howard Marshall [played by Sonja]  with her to help pay for the alcohol!

I caught her trying to pinch off his oxygen tube many times throughout the eve.

Sonja and Amie surprised me by riding in on the Amtrak from Grand Junction to attend the party.

Yes, I am loved and my friends are super cool like that!

Jay looked very dapper in his suit and white JFK smile.

Lyns was so damn cute in her Jackie O pink suit and pearls.

Marilyn [real name] and Ben showed love as Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio.

Derek was a great salesman [and carpet spot remover] as OxyClean's Billy Mays.

Lisa was a sophisticated, classy Audrey Hepburn.

Jay D was Jerry Garcia because he has the perfect beard for the character, and Paula was Amy Winehouse.  

Paula KILLED it with her attitude and  priceless expressions!

Carrie was a beautiful basket-full of Carmen Miranda [she made the head piece] and Eric was a perfect Julia Childs ready to whip a lil somethin together.

We also had a Lucille Ball and the Croc Hunter, but I couldn't get those pics to download.

I had to PG-13 this post by purposely leaving out pictures that could be incriminating if parents, children or bosses caught sight.

Below is a small album of the evening.

You will see that we ate well, played idiotic games, laughed at inappropriate behavior and enjoyed the hell out of life that night!

Thanks friends for being so awesome and putting great effort into your kick-ass costumes!

You people rock my world :)