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SOTW #4: She Does Drink Cheap Wine!

SOTW #4: She Does Drink Cheap Wine!

by vinomadre ♥ 1 Comment

2014 Kirkland Signature Chardonnay (Sonoma County)

cheap

Cost: Under $10 – I want to say it was around $6.99. Practically the price of one latte!

Smells/tastes like: Apple, pear and orange citrus notes with hints of vanilla, spice and subtle oak. You know, exactly like you would expect a good chardonnay would taste.

Other fun facts: Back in the [very recent] day I didn’t discriminate when it came to white wine…and then I was introduced to Rombauer Chardonnay. Sweet nectar from the gods, I tell you. Rombauer is our go to Chardonnay these days, thanks to the wine club, but this one actually stands up pretty well as a plan B in a pinch.

Best Occasion: Definitely worth stocking up on to serve at parties or when unexpected company drops by, especially if they don’t discriminate. And if they do, you can just keep the bottle hidden and tell ’em it’s the good stuff. Also not a bad choice to sip on while you cook dinner at home after putting the baby to bed while hubby-to-be is in Vegas on his 1st of 2 bachelor parties. Glug, glug, glug.

Buh-bye Baby Body

Buh-bye Baby Body

by vinomadre ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Not only has Spring almost sprung – which is cause for celebration all on its own when you live in the PNW – but this month also marks two very important milestones:

  1. Baby’s 1st birthday (seriously, I can’t even)
  2. Less than three months until I’m a not-so-blushing bride

If ever there were two reasons to get serious again about my fitness and diet, these are it.

But, damn it’s hard to stay on track after so many months (ahem, almost two years) off. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with exercise & diet. I love the results, of course, but with every move/job change/life event-and there have been many-I’ve struggled to keep a routine that works for me. It was actually around the time I met darling fiancé that I was in the best shape of my life…like frolic down the beach in Mexico in a bikini shape. Being 29, newly single, and dating for like the first time ever were all motivating factors for sure, but the biggest thing that made it so easy was TIME. I lived alone and had a job with almost no commute that left ample time at the end of each day to hit the gym and cook a healthy dinner.

Fast forward four years to the busy working mom, living in a house where things like cookies and ice cream just show up uninvited, and who lately factors in taking the stairs and vacuuming as workout time. Now, to be clear, my pregnancy was book-ended with feeling sick and then full all the time so I didn’t get to enjoy eating (and gain a bunch of weight as a result) and I also got back to pre-baby weight fairly easily. But that girl on the beach in Mexico still haunts me – I did it once and I want it again.

So here’s the plan: lunchtime yoga, signing back up with my personal trainer, prioritizing my fitness time, and a looming 8 week eating plan that nixes sugar, empty carbs, and (eek!) alcohol…or so I thought. Turns out Wine Can Help Burn Fat And Keep It Off – so maybe it’s not so bad if I keep that one little splurge in the mix! Someone wrote an article and it’s on the internet so that makes it totally legit, right?

Future post about that diet plan coming soon and thank god that diet part doesn’t start until next month!

 

 

First Comes Love

First Comes Love

by vinomadre ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

You know how it goes – then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage. Just like that. The recipe for a perfect life…

and_they_lived_happily_ever_after_1

THE END.

Um, ‘scuze me, but I beg to differ!

Having spent my 20’s married to the wrong person, I was surprised to find my 30-year- old self figuring out how to reimagine that previously well-planned future. And lucky girl that I absolutely realize I am, it didn’t take long (two short stints on Match.com to be exact) before I stumbled across the person I should have been with all along. Cue the Lionel Richie…Hello?

So after doing everything that was expected of me and following all the rules up until that point, I got this real crazy, harebrained idea. It went something like this: I like you. You like me. We’re totally gonna get married someday but how ’bout we make a baby first since that’s the thing we both want more than anything else in the world? And, boom, done. Well, not exactly, but you get the gist – we were grown ups that knew what we wanted, when we wanted it, naysayers be damned.

“When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you.”

So longest story ever, getting to the real point of this post, I’m now a mom of a 10-month-old (totally adorable, love of my life tied with her dad) and planning a wedding. Yay, bring on the taffeta and flowers! Or, in my case, bring on as much DIY décor using free things like wine bottles and corks as I can get my hands on.

So, there you have it, a little TMI about my personal life and fair warning that you’ve just entered the wedding planning/DIY décor zone. Stay tuned…

 

 

Baby It’s Cold Outside

Baby It’s Cold Outside

by vinomadre ♥ 4 Comments

Ah the holidays…if there’s ever a time of year to be totally justified in overindulging, this is it.

Starting with the food coma we call Thanksgiving, to brunches and holiday party stops along the way, coupled with the onslaught of baked goods that seems to never end, all the way until the hangover that marks the beginning of the New Year – well, let’s just say good thing it’s the season for puffy jackets and resolutions.

If you’re really lucky however, you have that one family member or co-worker who knows to leave the cookies at home and bring on the holiday homemade booze instead. Might as well be drinking those calories, am I right?!

WinoMom’s Irish Crème Recipe
1 1/3 C Irish Whiskey (you could use less but why would you want to?)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 C (1/2 pint) heavy whipping cream
4 Tbsp chocolate syrup
1 ½ tsp instant coffee granules
¼ tsp almond or coconut extract
Bottle (leftover wine bottles work great). Shake well before serving chilled, over ice.

bottletree

 

Move Over Supermom

Move Over Supermom

by vinomadre ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

If supermomyou’re like me, “a really fun, surprise project” at work sounds like a very sugar-coated “ALERT: extra work coming your way that you better pretend to be happy about”.

Fun? Extra project? Who has time for such things? Not this working mom, I thought…I’m lucky if there’s time to toss back a glass of wine at the end of the night and still get to bed before 10pm. [You heard right – this mama likes her sleep!]

But when the project is actually to come up with a blog, based on a hobby or some other interest, and you find this might just be the nudge you need to inspire a little creativity and share some good ideas…well, you give your boss a high five and hope she never finds a better gig.

Not only do I now have permission to invest some time in finding my inner domestic guru (think: food, family, home décor, gifts, and the like – all through the lens of some awesome rosé-colored glasses), but it’s actually a requirement of my job! High five sister, here goes nothing.