How to learn to hate wine

Happy holidays! 'Tis the season of holiday parties, friends, family, gift-giving, etc.

'Tis the season to imbibe.

This past weekend, I visited Asheville, NC for my birthday! While in Asheville, I went to a wine tasting at the Biltmore Estate.

Jess! You hate wine! It makes you dry heave to smell it! People pour you a glass with dinner and you rudely turn it down! Why did you go to a wine tasting?

Good questions. And a better answer: it was free with our fancy schmancy Candlelight Christmas tickets. And I never say no to free.

So we embarked on the tour, learned all about the grapes and fermentation and how to make the bubbly. And it was really really neat and educational. I love educational... and then came the tasting.

First, let me digress and tell you about my history of wine drinking.

1. Freshman year: my roommate and I bought a bottle of Merlot. It tasted nasty with our Olive Garden take out... but delicious with the vending machine cookies we ate for dessert. I had a wicked hangover.

2. Sophomore year: to celebrate our first apartment, my roommate and I bought a big bottle of Riesling. We drank too much, too fast, and danced to Miley Cyrus. I had a wicked hangover.

3. Discovery of Arbor Mist and, my personal fave, Andre: Oh, peach-flavored Andre. Oh, you. You don't even taste remotely wine or champ-like. A beautiful thing, you are.

4. Mistaking liking Andre for liking Champagn: Champ and Andre are NOT THE SAME. Champ is not nearly as delicious. Even if you put fruit in it. Or juice. Sigh.

5. Trying to learn to like wine: This happened this summer. I decided once and for all it was time to get over my vino-aversion, and start choosing wine over beer (because beer makes me farty, ok?) I wimped out. After 1 sip. I still prefer beer.

Which brings me to the wine tasting. I was handed a list and told I could have as much as I'd like. My first thought was, I wish this was beer. But then I decided to suck it up and taste some and get over it.

And you know what? It wasn't half bad. I even found a couple I really enjoyed. Yes they were white wines, yes they were sweet and fruity, so what? I bought a bottle, it's Christmas Wine. It's delicious.

Bottom line: don't try to like something by overindulging, especially with alcohol. And drink good wine. And remember Tums when you're drinking beer.

Me, in front of the Bass Pond at Biltmore.

Vacation Part 2

For our week away from home, our gracious host was Terry's wonderful aunt, Chris. She was super fun and took us to the Everglades for a day! We saw a bunch of wildlife: turtles... and gators... and more gators...

even a little gator movie!




a little gecko friend...



AND BEST OF ALL:

DOLPHINS!

It is super hard to take pictures of dolphins. According to our boat's Captain, they were mating.

Me and Terry on the Boat:


An accidental butt on the boat:



While on vaycay, we also indulged in a relaxing game of mini-golf:


I think Terry won.



All-in-all, it was a great vaycay. Our wonderful hostess Chris made everything so fun and relaxing:



But my favorite part was getting to be with a great friend for the week!


In a few days, I will write a little about the OTHER embarrassing camera I brought with me. Bye!

Vacation, Part 1

A Vacation in scenic Naples...

Err, wrong Naples.

Last Saturday, Best friend Terry and I set out for a Spring Break adventure to Naples, Florida.

Before leaving, I was determined to be an embarrassing tourist. Unfortunately, Mom wouldn't let me borrow her vintage black leather fannypack with the brass trimmings. Luckily, I brought along two embarrassing cameras to capture those sweet vaycay moments.

For the past few years I've really loved taking pictures with disposable 35mm cameras. My love results from equal parts clumsiness, forgetfulness, and nostalgia. The images they produce are never sharp and the colors are always a little duller than real-life, but they are fun because you can take them on a boat, in the water, in a kayak, on a hike, in the sand, in the mud...and you never have to worry about messing them up. It was a no-brainer to pack not one, but TWO(!) disposable cameras for this trip. Here's a photo-log of our vacation, in disposable-cam pictures.

1. We stopped 20 minutes from my parent's house at the Georgia-Florida Welcome center to indulge in some free fresh-squeezed OJ, pick up maps, and have a fellowtourist take our pic at the Florida sign.

This was the first time we handed someone the disposable and they didn't know how to use it.

2. Our first day there, we headed straight to the beach. The beaches there are terrific: pretty, wide and the sand is bright white. There are even some pristine seashells to be found.


The beaches, with little dot Terry in the water.


Fellowtourist friend took our picture.


I wanted to hold the yacht! One of the very obvious pitfalls of a disposable cam is the difficulty creating believable yacht-in-hand photos.


Terry looking cute in her polka-spotted suit. I really like the colors in the photo.

3. We of course ate and drank some yummy and not so yummy stuff.

A terrible idea: Sunset Margarita. It tasted like soap. (But I drank it anyways)


Also a bad idea: 2 for 1 drinks.

Eating at the Naples Pub. This was the second time our photographer friend did not know how to work a disposable cam.

And lastly, simultaneously the best and worst decision of vacation: Eating at Skyline Chili. I can't help it, it's the Cincinnatian in me! I hadn't had it in years... and probably wont dare for a few to come.

More vacation fun later!