I'm half a bottle into some Reisling. Its 4am. I studied for 5.5hrs today. I'm not sure I have any brain function left to tie my shoes. Good thing I own many shoes that do not require such motor-skill memory or cordination.

Its going to be a long couple weeks.

Labels: Glass Half Empty, School, Wine

New years is my favorite holiday. I always have new toys to play with and with the family get togethers over I am in a good mood in my own house. Since being 21 I can't remember a bad new years...its a friend holiday where I surrounded by the people who are closest to me. The people who will hold my hair if I puke without a lecture and with whom I will point out shady allyway corners perfect for pit stops. Yep its all very glamorous.

For many year's we would ring in the new year in Green Bay which is as far as I'm concerned the liquor capital of the world, but when Heff and Hairnet moved to Nebraska Alice and I were left to improvise our fun.

Two years ago Alice, Rory and I went to lacrosse. Alice spent a couple hours talking cops throwing some guy out in the street she knew into detox....she then drove him home (he didn't live in town) The I think Rory lost her walet. I probably wore bad shoes because I do belive I was alone for a long time. We went home before bar close.

Then last year we attended Cobie's bash at his apartment. We cooked, we drank, I met new people. I talked with them until 5am about utopian health care. I think we drove everyone else crazy.

Although my last two new years were good they lacked that reckless quality which I think is a must-have once a year. No one threw up in a car, no one picked a fight (ahem Alice), no one went missing for hours only to be found trashed at the bar next door. Okay none of that happened last night either but still it was closer.

Alice, George, Bag and I set out for B&K's house. I always forget where they live. It really isn't that complicated I usually get to within a couple blocks of it. There is really no excuse I've probably been to their house 20 times. Sigh. I give up my wandering and call them. No answer. So I call K&E, after being informed to look for a van with ribs written across the side...(true story) I leave the car and begin wandering the street looking in windows.

Upon out arrival we were welcomed with pomegranate martinis, dice and whiskey shots, vodka + fresca (the ORIGINAL citrus beverage), plum wine and mountains of food. The was talking in a cold smoky garage. Shocking stories, work stories, gossip, laughter, snorting and several trips to the bathroom. We played rock band, we snowboarded, counted down the last second of 08'...it was good.

I started the new year right...I woke up with a stomach ache, headache, coal-miner's lung and generally smelly. Just how it should be.

Next year....back to green bay.

Labels: Alice, Beer, Cobie, Drinking, Food, Friends, Glass Half Full, Rory, Thoughts, Wine, Work

I'm trying to be a better person. I am by nature a grudge holder...a bad one. I can stew for years over someone who stole my turn at shotgun or a person who smoked the last cigarette in my pack at a bar. However I guess after the Ed disaster I figured grudge holding isn't doing me any favors so I have delved into the realm of a combination denial and acceptance. Basically when something pisses me off I give myself a specific length of time to be pissed over something. The pout timer is set according to the level of unforgivable deception to which I was subjected to.

So here is the story we all know I am obsessed with my beloved Amanda Palmer and purchased my priceless tickets to see her in Chicago and Minneapolis. I bought train tickets for my voyage to the city and took the entire week off to visit with my family, then cobie for the concert then back to visit alice and go the second concert on friday.

Yeah well Cobie called bragging about wonderful Halloween in Chicago with good weather...which is slightly annoying enough in the first place considering I was drinking Riesling out of a pink cat-shaped bottle of wine by myself on a friday night. But I digress this is not the point of my story. He proceeds to tell me that hes going on vacation...the first week of December with Apple. I mention the concert which he conveniently forgot and then dug himself a deeper grave by saying he didn't book it just to get out of it...and then says he pretty much hated the CD (Yeah thats when the pissed metter hit 10). And he had to know it too because I was doing the thats okay with tone and didnt do my normal 3hour "feelings" monologue.

Yeah I didn't think he did it on purpose until that last moment but first lets talk about Apple. I have nothing against her in fact shes okay with me. But you know that girl in high school that was just so much better than you, and you kinda felt like the side kick friend meant to stand around just to make her look better? Yeah well that's Apple. And for some reason Apple with Cobie makes me into some 3yr old jealous kid. Did Cobie ask me to go on vacation...no. Even though I happened to have the entire week off anyway so I could of gone. Then there was that I wasn't trying to get out of it...who says that unless they were trying to get out of it? Perhaps I'm reading to much into it (that is a bad habit of mine)

This evenings incident has transformed into 15yr old crazy Ava well except I have wine, cigarettes and no parents breathing down my neck. Its a small improvement but I'll take what I can get at this point. I'm willing to let this go. I bitched to Alice who is now extra dedicated to attending the Minneapolis show so at least I'm not completely missing out. I've written my blog admitting to everyone I'm an immature jealous baby and now its time to get over it and weigh my options.

I know I will simply start to starve myself (so I'm skinny and adorable), go to med school, cure cancer then become a famous actress and be too busy with all my new super cool rich smart friends and then be too busy to ever hang out with my old friends again...oh well accept Alice I can name the cancer cure after her and I will tell everyone it was because she went to that Amanda Palmer concert with me. (This option although pleasing on paper seems perhaps mildly unrealistic)

Lets get back to reality I will sell the tickets on ebay or just give them to some crazy fan on myspace (that does seem like the more altruistic thing to do). I'm not willing to throw $135 down the toilet for train tickets so I will go home visit my family for a few days and spend the time they are at work studying for my boards. So its not exactly the fun I was hoping for but it does sound like the kind of vacation 15yr old looser Ava would have. I'm done now, time for a new bottle of wine.

Labels: Alice, Bitching, Cobie, Friends, Glass Half Empty, Music, Thoughts, Tiff, Wine

So I received a bottle of wine from Rory's mom for my b-day. Her mom is cute like that. The wine came with explicit instructions...

• break all wine rules while drinking
• serve chilled over ice in a tumbler
• add a fresh squeezed lime (which she thoughtfully included)

Ive become just a little bit of a wine snob and asking me to break wine rules is like asking me cheat on my taxes. Somewhat tempting but I was afraid the wrath of god might come down upon me for doing so.

Seeing as it was a gift though I had no choice by to comply with the wishes. OH MY GOD was it good! It tastes like a cocktail but with that hint of wine plus the acidity from the lime...perfect absolutely perfect. I might have to go buy a case of this stuff or better yet try other wines in this manner.

I will have to send her a thank you card...all though I'm quite lazy so I give it 50/50 for a thank you card...60/40 for a thank you phone call. And because I was feeling artsy I took a picture, partially because I like how limes look and also because I wanted to show off my new glasses I got at linen's and things for 60% off. Cheers!

Labels: Birthdays, Rory, Wine

Oprah once told me to find something to be thankful for everyday....Today I am thankful for cheep Mexican wine, my Bose speakers, itunes, my cannon camera and in impending parental visit to get my house in ship shape....so its appropriate for viewing by aforementioned parental units.

I spent my afternoon rockin' out the the Dresden Dolls and drinking Viognier by Don Lus Vetto Vinicola L.A.Cetto 2006 reserve. (2006 seems hardly long enough to go to be considered reserve but I will let it slide. I tend to be giving like that.

After my cleaning binge I thought humm this is a good opportunity to take pictures of the house for whatever reason one might need pictures of their own dwelling....well all that turned out was these. The wine glass if from a set I received from my dad a couple Christmas's ago. The grocery list is new :P and random but I liked the picture none the less.

Note to self: Tomatoes is spelled wrong.

itunes has now blessed me with playing two cake bake bettey songs in a row it is a good day.

Second note to self: The is a second bottle of wine in the freezer don't forget it!

Labels: Dresden Dolls, Drinking, Music, Wine

I just had a weird flash-back. Here I am sufficiently drunk and doing homework at 3pm on a Saturday when I song comes up on Pandora. I was listening to the Regina Spektor station and what that has to do with amiee mann Im not sure but the song came on. Wise up is not a new song. It has been on various self-burned c.d.'s was on my first I-tunes library and still lives happily on my top-rated list. Perhaps it was the third glass of wine, perhaps it over-influence of religion but this song gave me one hell of a flash back today.



I remember being in my first apartment I would get the date to be fall 2001. I had the major depression thing going. I remember being alone in my first apartment with its little sunshiny bright walls blasting this song and crying while wearing a lemon-lime shaded GAP polo and looking in the mirror in my tiny bathroom that you couldn't outstretch your arms in. I hated my life at that time.

So as the oracle of 2008 here is what I would say to the me of 7 years ago.

• You will love other people
  
• You will love yourself
• You will currently have and still do have wonderful friends. Love and appreciate them for all they are worth, they are there for the long haul.
• You don't give your parents enough credit...and you wont change that anytime soon.
  
• You do not get your dream job but you are more successful than you anticipated.
• Go where the wind takes you....you have no idea where you are going and you aren't going to know anytime soon.
  

Labels: Lists, Spirituality, Wine

Okay so I don't love taxes but I do love tax refunds. It has been my habit to use my federal refund for something responsible usually school or debt related. But the blessed state refund is to spent on things I really really want to a point of being a "need." For instance last year I spent my refund on a pair of black pearl and diamond earrings, a snow blower and a 30 Gig I-pod video to replace my way overtaxed and outdated pink mini.

I was very pleasantly surprised this payday when checking my balance and finding the once a year 800+ thank you for being an American and overpaying bonus. I waited a whole 3 days before going crazy at Target today I spent $485.00 of my refund. The rest is going to a new scrub wardrobe and some nursing shoes so I can fit in with the cool kids at my new job.

1. $34.98: X-Tall Pet Gate with swinging door so I don't have to take the gate down every time I want to go downstairs or alternatively try to jump it and fall to my death a carpeted half flight below.
2. $249.99: Bose computer speaker system to replace my stereo from high school connected to my laptop by a tape on a cable (yes I am serious).
3. $7.98: Three Twelve packs of regular non-diet coke in a can
4. $149.00: Hover Floor Vac which vacuums wet and dry and can be used on all my upstairs flooring surfaces (wood, tile and linoleum).
5. $6.84: Hoover Floor Cleaning Solution
6. $4.79: Clorox Wipes
7. 13.79 impulse bottle of wine after turning into the liquor store at a stop light.

Getting drunk, listening to loud crystal clear music and walking barefoot on my floors without crap getting stuck to my feet....Priceless!

Labels: Drinking, Lists, Shopping, Wine

Last night was rough. This whole Ed conversation has worn on me. I was up until 4ish last night and did not at all hear my alarm go off this morning. I rolled over in bed saw the time and finally got in about four hours late. Actually I probably wouldn’t have slept at all if it weren’t for “Sport.” I had briefly dated him for a couple months this spring. We had an amicable breakup he was still healing from his ex and also moving a good 5 ½ hours away. He has also suffered a broken engagement and even though his fiancée was more bitch than sick-o he can relate to me better than anyone else I know.

This was actually the first real conversation we had since the breakup and I remembered all the things I liked about him. He has a fragile soul and a good heart and can recognize mine as the same. He understands my unrealistic hopes, my optimism and my utter despair when things invariably turn out horribly.

When I returned from work I did an impulse stop at World Market to browse and ended up in the wine store. I love wine. I love the bottles, I love the glasses, I love sitting on my chair reading a book and having a glass. Here is the problem I have a palate of a 4year old. I only like dessert wines, to be fair I usually have it as dessert so I like to think its okay. My favorites are icewine…something my wallet doesn’t much appreciate but today I deserve it.

Todays selection 2004 Jackson-Triggs Proprietors Reserve Vidal Icewine 187ml, a steel at $19.99. Im going to listen to my Dresden Dolls drink my wine and fall in love with myself and my life again.

“This Icewine displays rich tropical aromas of papaya, mango and apricot. Bold fruit flavours balanced with fine acidity caress the palate and conclude with an exquisite silky finish." –Wine Globe

Labels: Breakups, Dresden Dolls, Ed, Sport, Wine