Wine is the Most Civilized Thing in the World

Oh, Hemingway, you've never been more right. Many great men knew the pleasures that wine brings us. 

"Clearly, the pleasures wines afford are transitory - but so are those of the ballet, or of a musical performance. Wine is inspiring and adds greatly to the joy of living."

--- Napoleon

"A bottle of good wine, like a good act, shines ever in the retrospect."

--- Robert Louis Stevenson

"Wine rejoices the heart of man and joy is the mother of all virtues." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

You might be wondering why I'm talking about the joys of wine. I recently went on a wine tour to the Central Otago vineyards. We went to many vineyards including Mt. Difficulty Wines, Wild Earth Winery, and the Blossom Festival to try numerous wines.

We started at the Blossom Festival where we tried wine from Maori Point and Aravin wine. My favorite Aravin was the white and my favorite Maori Point was the rosé. At this point, it was only 11am and I realized that the reds were far too strong for me, so early in the morning. 

Bagpipers at the Festival

Aravin Wines

Our first taste of the day!

A contraption!

 After we tasted these wines, Alex and I decided to behave like children (as usual) and play on a bungee trampoline where we were doing front flips and back flips. I finally landed a double!! (well, almost). 

After the festival, our first winery was Northburn Station. We tried 6 different wines. My absolute favorite was their 2008 Riesling. I learned, after awhile, that I enjoyed Riesling the most. 

Delicious Lunch Platter

Our First Taste at Northburn

We made our way to Wild Earth Vineyards. The vineyard is owned by Quinton Quider, an American! He came to New Zealand as a diver but then realized he had a passion for wine and opened a vineyard. He taught us about how they grow and care for the vines, while also teaching us about how most of the wine is stored, whether it is oaked or unoaked, and taught us how to differentiate between the flavors of the wine. He gave us ample amounts of wine, and eventually got us drunk! 

Me, Alex and Quinton at Wild Earth Vineyard

Our last Vineyard was Mt. Difficulty; at this time, we were all intoxicated (Our tour guide Janine said this wasn't supposed to happen, yet we managed it). The wine, however, was delicious and we had a blast with the bartender who was serving us our taste testers.

I got to wear their Gold Medal Award!

After a long day of drinking and touring around Central Otago, Janine (our fabulous) tour guide let us nap all the way back to Dunedin.

x Live Easy x

I Make the Desperate Housewives look Hopeful!

I realized today, along with Sierra, that I am seriously missing coffee. I mean real coffee, not the espresso coffee that you sip on casually in a cafe, reflecting on your thoughts and life. I'm talking about a Venti Starbucks or a Turbo Sized DD, at cheap prices; not 5$ for a long-black with an extra coffee shot in a cup that's the size of a jar of baby food. 

I started dreaming about my package from Jen that consisted of a 4-cup coffee pot with two pounds of DD coffee (YES!). When I finally received the package, Sierra and I were so excited to not have to pay for coffee 3 times a day. We plugged that bad-boy in and we got so far as getting two cups out of it until the fuse blew. That might have been the saddest day of my life. 

Starting to pay for coffee again (with two pounds sitting in the house) just seemed wasteful. After a night of my innovative dreaming, I decided that we could put a coffee filter in a flour whisker and pour hot water over it to filter the coffee into a cup. 

<as seen below>

This was so key to the functionality of our lives. We happily danced around the living room in the mornings with the aroma of coffee in the air, until the day arrived when we ran out of coffee filters. 

I'm thinking: 

EFF MY LIFE. 

#whitegirlproblems 

<http://betcheslovethis.com/node/84>

#mycoffeeisanaccessory

etc. 

 Two days ago, I realized that we were desperate; I mean more desperate than the Desperate Housewives.

After a day of not having our coffee filters, I noticed that there was a coffee cup in the sink, I knew it was Sierra. The second she walked in the living room, I asked her how she made her coffee. 

Her response was: 

I ripped open tea-bags and put it in the baby flour-sifter.

(you can't make this shit up)

muy desperado

So, until our trek to Kmart begins (in about twenty minutes) for filters, we will be ripping open tea bags and drinking coffee that way. 

x Perpetually Camping x

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

A group of 5 of us took a tour of the Catlins, which consisted of beautiful beaches, gorgeous waterfalls and a picnic for lunch. Slope Point was our final stop, it is the southern most tip of New Zealand. There is only one land mass between Slope Point and Antarctica. The sights we saw were absolutely breath-taking. I can't wait to see more sights like these in the weeks to come. 

x Stay Beautiful x 

HFamily: A Tribute

We've all suffered loss in our lives, one way or the other. We've all felt the pain, the fear, and the sadness that loss brings upon us. However, it's different when God takes one of us away too early or too young. How could such tragedy happen to a person so young, to a person who has not experienced all of what life has to offer? 

Could it be the purity of their spirits, the sanctity of their souls?

We've suffered a tragic loss. I emphasize "we" because my High School, Harborfields, has this miraculous ability to come together through a time of loss, sadness, despair, and all of those feelings associated with the loss of life. One of the members of our HFamily passed away, Jacob. Some of us may only remember him, some of us may have interacted with him, and some of us may have loved him unconditionally; regardless of our relationship with him, everyone is suffering his loss. He was known for his contagious smile, his ability to make people laugh, how he lit up every room he walked in, and most importantly, how kind and genuine he was as a person. He's positively impacted all of the people whose lives he has walked into. He exemplifies the pure goodness that people are capable of. 

Take time out of your day to pray for Jacob, his loved ones, and all of the others you have lost in your life.

Cause You Had A Bad Day...

Yes, everyone, I had a bad day today. 

Last night, I barely slept a wink and I had a huge presentation this morning. 

I woke up this morning and had THREE very large cups of coffee to wake up and meet with my 'oh so pleasant' group.

We met at St. David Cafe. 

The kiwi girl, who was 15 minutes late, for our 8:30am meeting came fully dressed and made up. 

You get that a lot here.

After our meeting, I went home to change into something other than my pajamas. Went to class. Gave a baller introduction to our project. 

Kiwi girl took 12 out of the 20 allotted minutes for her part of the presentation. 

Had to speed through my part. Skipped the American boys part. Jumped to the conclusion. 

My professor hated it, he asked us really hard questions, that only I knew. 

Thank You, Wesleyan, for providing me with a phenomenal education. 

The only bright side to my day was venting to Jen (yeah Jen, I gave you a shout out) and the awesome Skype date I had. 

x Keep on Smiling x

Stayin' Classy: Savory Sipping and Naughty Nibbling

I decided that it would be awesome to have a Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate Party to keep it classy one night. Everyone had delicious (not 6$ bottles) of wine, some awesome cheese from the Farmer's Market and delicious chocolate.

Everyone dressed their best, lookin' fine. Although this party had every intention of being class, after everyone started 'sipping' on the wine and trying to find out what wine worked best with what cheese and what chocolate, all hope was lost of classiness.

Sipping turned into gulping and gulping turned into chugging; and chugging always turns into fun.  Everyone shed their coat of inhibitions and shit got weird. What more could you ask for?

x Staying Classy x

Thank You, New Zealand

...for having chocolate named after the most rancid of animals.