White Slate

Ha. Clean slates, new moons, springtime… I’m all for it.  It’s never a bad time for a fresh start.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the bottle that caught my eye this week is the little gem from a Naramata vineyard, aptly entitled White Slate.  Because you see, I don’t believe in coincidences.                    

There’s been a lot going on lately, and I was on a mission to be inspired… to turn the chaos from my spirit into crisp, clean words paired with a bottle of wine.   In my mind, though, I was hoping for a bottle that looked enigmatic and dark – something I could distract myself with by delving into the mystery of a new wine - something called, ‘The Agony of Living’, or maybe a tasty little shiraz titled, ‘Contemplating Darkness’… but alas, upon first glance, all I could see were the same old names lining the shelves.  And then, as I was about the give up and hit the vodka and gin, I ran right into the guy who was stocking the shelves with a nice little number called ‘White Slate’.  I had to laugh.

Ok, Universe.  Message received. I bought two.

I paired it with the ever-classic Miss Vickie’s Sea Salt & Malt Vinegar chips and a large, pink wine glass to go with some heavy contemplation. 

Life.  When will it stop happening to us?  As far I can see, no one is immune to this human condition, and yet no one has mastered it either.  Disappointment, joy, pain, loss, love, sadness, beauty all go hand in hand.  How can that be? 

I was determined to try and breathe.

Though my heart was heavy, I swirled the light, clear, white wine and breathed in its freshness.  I closed my eyes and smelled a cool, fruity breeze on a hot summer day, sitting on a patio in an orchard in the Okanagan and for a moment I forgot it all.  Summer fruit and picnics and moments in the sun.  But as I took a sip and felt the cool, crispness reach my lips, I felt the bite of the tartness hit my tongue and I opened my eyes.  The flavour took over the reverie and I was brought back.  Acidic and bright, I wanted more.  Not unlike life.  A delicate balance. A sharp sweetness.

It’s what binds us, moves us… and heals us.  Knowing that each moment is the chance to begin again.  No matter how heavy our hearts, sometimes, amid the chaos of this life, we need to remember to stop for a second, close our eyes and breathe in the freshness so that we are ready to face the rest.

Every day, every morning, every MOMENT is a chance to start again – to rewrite the words on our page.  To catch up, give up, give in… a white slate.  Cheers.

Cut back on WINE?!

Soooo, I’ve been a little slow with the writing lately, and besides the nuttiness of work and life, and everything else, my real excuse is this: my damn new fitness plan.

Yep.  Fitness has left me a little uninspired.

And let me tell you why.

It has been suggested to me that maybe the reason it’s taking a little longer (this time) to get back into shape, is not simply that I’ve hit an age where I can no longer binge out on junk food after a breakup and then expect a quick run to blast the calories… no.  It’s not even that it’s been far too long since I’ve hit the stage, studio or dance floor and traded myself into an office, desk and computer… no.  It’s not even that I’ve become lazy in my old age (however true that might be.)  It has been suggested to me that the reason the process seems slow(er) is because I should “cut back on wine.”

Hmmm… really?  Well, I took this to heart.  I gave it some consideration.

And ok, so I gave it a shot.  It’s now been a few weeks, I’ve been hitting the gym, and here’s how I feel about that…

What I’ve learned from cutting back on wine…

1.     It’s not really helping my new fitness plan because, instead of sipping on a nice Bordeaux and getting inspired to write or paint, or walk down to the beach, I get bored and snacky.  I’ve been eating too much pasta and cheesecake, and chips, and drinking WAY too much juice.

2.     My blood sugar is out of whack because I’ve been eating too much pasta and cheesecake  and chips and drinking way too much juice.

3.     I have a hard time winding down after a busy day at work, a ton of new vitamins and supplements and a kick-ass gym session… come on, people, a hot bath can only do so much.

4.     I feel much less inspired, because juice or lemon water instead of wine just makes me pee and not chill-out-so-I-can-be-creative… AND therefore…

5.     I feel like I’ve had nothing to write about, paint about, or lament about, and being that this blog is mainly about my experiences with wine… well, it cuts back significantly on those experiences.

6.     Frankly, I’ve hardly tried anything new… no new restaurants, vintages, cheese, etc, because the only thing that pairs with no wine… is boredom and this stupid new fitness plan.

7.     I miss my little jaunts to the wine shop to browse the new labels. The only place I ‘jaunt’ is to Whole Foods for brown things, and well, Whole Foods scares me most of the time. 
  

8.     It’s draining.  I stick to it and I’m good for days and days, and then I sneakily ‘cheat’ and do go out for drinks, and then get over-excited and drink too much, and then get over-emotional because my tolerance is way down and then feel crappy the next day because I can’t drink as much as I’m used to.  So the whole process sort of stinks.

9.     I’ve begun to loathe this new workout plan, despite the fact that I normally love to work out and be generally healthy.

10. Most importantly.  I miss my wine and that makes me grumpy.

I don’t think I need to lay out the “moral of this story” – if you don’t get it by now, we can’t be friends anyways.

I will be adding wine back into my nutrition and fitness regime, and I expect that it will be an excellent decision.

Stay tuned.