A votre saunté

I spent last week in Orlando, FL. It was an eventful trip even if I didn’t have the time to go to Disney, Epcot or Sea World. ..Spending the entire week expanding my work network was time well spent and I can’t forget to mention my victory dance after getting a hole in one at the miniature golf course resulted in a pulled inner thigh muscle which I am still limping around from…only me.
Most importantly though, from living in Paris I developed a love for wine and over the week it became very clear that wine must become a part of my career path (even though this makes my mother a little nervous).
I was sitting at the booth with two Segways next to me. Segways = the dorkiest and most awkward things in the entire world which makes it a great conversation piece and so we immediately started chatting. These two women were probably in their early 60’s. I can imagine that they had been best friends, prom queens, cheerleaders and neighbors since high school and probably spend more time together sipping wine and gossiping about the other 60 something’s in their town than they spend with their husbands.  After loving every second of our 5 minute conversation much about nothing they finally revealed why they were at the convention. They were representing a vineyard in CO. They proceed to tell me that they “work” at the vineyard and have been doing so for forever. We all know that they don’t “work”; they “drink” while enjoying the fruits of the vineyard life in Colorado. Sounds like the life to me. Then I was sitting at an Orlando-fancy restaurant with my colleagues and we got on the subject of astronauts. The second to last launch took place a couple of days before I arrived in Orlando at the Kennedy space station. There were a couple of kids at the hotel who were running around in the bright orange space suites dreaming of moon walks and stars and seeing their eyes glazed over with dreamy wonder I couldn’t help but fantasize a little bit too…mostly about how I once had that same dream of becoming an astronaut but mostly about becoming someone or doing something that only a handful in the world can say they have become or done. The dinner conversation someone meandered from astronauts to wine (after a couple bottles of the precious water) and the stat that more people have walked on the moon than have become grand master sommeliers sailed smoothly into my ear and through my veins and rushed into my heart as I felt this is what I am meant to be.
I lived in Paris and drank wonderful €3 and €50 bottles of wine while the Eiffel tower or Sacre Coeur smiled over my shoulder. I love wine but mostly I love the rich experiences, the pure conversations and the sophisticated air that is poured into every single long stemmed glass that I humbly hold. I sit outside in my backyard in north central Austin being eaten alive by mosquitoes, listening to the crickets play and drinking a 2006 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from France.  A votre saunté… I take a sip and couldn't be happier. 

Only in Paris

http://www.citizenside.com/en/photos/extreme-sports/2010-05-25/25153/massive-skate-ramp-at-eiffel-tower-for-record-breaking-jump.html

By Myself v Alone

The cafés in Paris were my havens. Some of my most smiley days were spent in a tiny red wicker chair at a café by my twelve squared meters big apartment. It was so simple- I would walk down five flights of oaky smelling crooked stairs, walk one cobble stoned block up and one cobble stoned block right, sit in my homey corner, order a Leffe or a café crème and people watch as I pretended to read the French book I impulsively bought but unfortunately could not read. I couldn’t help but beam with happiness with every sip. I was content with sitting in that chair made only for small derrières all by myself. At least half of the people in my café were by themselves too and I know I found comfort in knowing that I was in the company of those who were also by themselves and I love, love, love company.


At the coffee shop tonight I didn’t feel by myself, I felt plain and short and alone. I felt the difference in being by your self and being alone and I hated it. ‘By yourself,’ ‘next to yourself’ ‘near yourself,’- like I have a best friend who is me and who is by me (casually sitting next to me)…alone you are just s.o.l. on the side of the road in the middle of the Sahara (you have absolutely no one who can identify with your story). When I sat there tonight, I felt alone and company-less. People who were sitting by me weren’t beaming; they were glaring into their books like zombies. I set out tonight hoping to put a band aid on a bad day- life had other plans.

Denver

My Local in Denver was Leslie. Leslie and I first bonded over pancakes at ‘Breakfast in America’ in Paris. My summer stent at Fat Tire was ending and her fall in Paris was just beginning. Our time overlapped about two weeks but from the first time we met she struck me as of those people. Those people being someone who within the first thirty seven seconds of meeting, you just know that it is the beginning of something much bigger than you. Any way…she was one of those. We said our goodbyes sometime in August of 2008. Our attempts at keeping in touch were dismal but somewhere along the line I heard she was living and working in Denver. I had wanted to visit Denver but I must confess that the real reason why I bought the ticket was for retail therapy purposes as I was having a mini crisis about the thought of calling Austin home for awhile. I am pleased to announce that all that therapy and traveling was chicken soup for my soul.

Leslie picked me up from the airport Friday night and just like I expected we picked up right where we left off like those people do. Phenominal hostess to say the very least. A brief overview of my two days in CO below.

Coores Brewery- Free tour + free beer + free altitude = too good and its true-

Celestial Tea Tour- Trip Advisor rates this the number one thing to do in Denver...haha-

Pic-nic + Cote de Rhone wine in Wash park

Red Rock Amphitheater- Trip to Boulder- University of Boulder- Watching rock climbers- Mathew Winters Trail Hike

                                                                                                                         

                                                              

Trip

May 2010

The Mountains are Calling My Name

Expect-er

I have noticed lately a reoccurring word that will not stop following my every thought and dream. I would be lying if I said I wasn't an 'expect-er' by nature, whether it be of people, the future or even the weather, sometimes I just cannot help to expect things to work one way aka my way. For the longest time I would keep all my expectations and the disappointment or excitement that followed all to myself. Recently, I had this great I idea that maybe if I communicated my expectations to whomever or whatever, my expectations would be magically granted more often than not. "Wrong again mademoiselle...more often than not even communicating your expectations will never result in what you expect" says Mr. Expectations.

After all that above rambling, I must confess that even though I am an 'expect-er,' I am one hundred billion percent grateful that the ways of this world do not work out how I expect them too. Because if this was the case I would not be smitten for this city called Austin, TX and I definitely would not be missing less and less of Paris the place that held my heart in her perfect hands for so long and the place I expected my heart to never get over. It has been an enormous revelation as I see this new chapter of my life unfolding right before my very eyes- in the most unexpected ways.