A few more...

Laura noticed that none of the pics below had me or Nikki in them, so I've added a few more. Thankgiving was really nice having all of us together, but unfortunately Michael, Christine, and Abby were all sick when we got there, and then I got sick too. :( But I think I'm getting over it even though I'm still coughing stuff up. Yuck.

If you can't tell from the pictures, Abby was baptized on Saturday and Nikki and Tyler are the godparents. Nana (my mom) made the dress, and yes, she has 2 bonnets on in the pictures. Mom made her one that was a little too big, and then some friends of theirs also gave them a bonnet that is made out of a lace hankerchief. When she gets married, she's supposed to carry the hankerchief with her.

Also, my cat won't leave me alone since I got back, in the most adorable way, but still. And she's now a very fat cat. I free fed her while I was gone and she gained half a pound!

Thanksgiving in a Nutshell

I'm too tired to write, so here's Thanksgiving in pictures:

Bella Sera Pinot Grigio

So I think it's going to be very hard to review this wine because it's my go-to Pinot Grigio and I've been drinking it a long time. Pinot Grigio is probably my favorite wine and there's not too much variation in brands in my opinion. There are a few I don't like, but not too many. Generally Pinot Grigio is a very plain wine to me that can be paired with anything. It's not sweet at all. It has barely any bite to it, but it's not bland either. My favorite thing to do with it is put fresh raspberries in it. I'm pretty sure wine-snobs would look down on me for that, but it's really good.

Bella Sera is $7 a bottle. Normally I'll try more expensive wines to see the differences, but even one of the 'best' Pinot Griogios, "Santa Margherita" which is $20/bottle, isn't any better to me. So, I think this will continue to be my go to for white wine.

Heroes: Kristen Bell

So, I watched Heroes at the beginning and then stopped because there were so many characters that I found uninteresting. Lately, because Kristen Bell, formerly of "Veronica Mars" is guest-starring and I'm nuts about her I started watching again. So she's definitely a bad guy. She's supposed to be a Cautionary Tale (also the title of tonight's episode) of someone living with their power for too long. She can shoot electricity from her hands (and other places, but we won't get into that) and enjoys it just a bit too much. The character up to this point is written a little bit one-note. But Kristen Bell, in my humble opinion, has given the show a nice kick in the pants. Apparently the die-hard fans don't like her because they're scared she'll take screen time from other characters, but I think she's better than most of the actors on the show. In particular Parkman, Niki/Jessica, and Mohinder could fall off a building and I really wouldn't care. At all. Oh, and Peter can die too, but we'll have to come up with another way for him. He can fly. And heal himself. Damn, I guess we can't get rid of him. I'm such a nerd.

Also, my other favorite person, Noah Bennett, a.k.a. HRG (Horn-Rimmed Glasses), pictured above, had an awesome storyline tonight and I can't wait to see what happens.

A little late...

Here's a couple halloween pics. Katie is a three hole punched piece of paper (If you watch The Office, you'll understand) Bill is a lumberjack, Amanda is a "Horny housewife" - she has a horn, and I'm the chick (no pun intended) from "The Birds". Also, Katie tells me I do not make a good blonde. Good to know. Finally, fake blood can be made from hershey's syrup and red food coloring, however it is very sticky and does not mix well with feathers. Just so you know.

Red or White?

I've been on a red wine kick lately. Usually I'm a white wine kind of a gal, but lately it's been red. So I'm going to give a little review of each of them and pretend that I know what I'm talking about. My favorite is a California red table wine called Menage a Trois (shocking!). I'm totally that girl that buys new wines to try based on the label. So lots of labels w/ animals on them (penguins, kangaroos, etc.).

The Menage a Trois is quite sweet for a red wine, and has the consistency of merlot. Not too thick, and not dry at all. I think it is too sweet for someone that enjoys Cabernet and traditional Merlots, but if you're not a red wine drinker I think this is a nice wine to try. It was quite smooth with not very much of a tannic taste. According to the lovely people at Napa, and Nikki told me this as well, tannins are what give a red wine that taste that makes your mouth pucker. I'd almost call it a sharpness. So generally, the sign of a good red wine is one that is not tannic. I will try this wine again. I believe it was around $10.

The second wine I tried was called Italo Cescon, Piave Merlot. It has a little piece of the vine from which the grapes came tied around the neck of the bottle. It's very impressive looking, but I wasn't overly fond of it. It had a strange mix of flavors. It was quite tannic, a little dry, but also had a very strange sweet flavor in the background. It's definitely not one I will try again. The bottle was $13.

The third wine I will post on later after I've opened the bottle! It's Gallo, Sonoma Reserve Merlot. I tasted it at the grocery store (yes, my local Jewel-Osco does wine tasting) and I'll give you a preview. Not a typical Merlot, a little dry, not sweet at all, but with a nice consistency that's more reminiscent of a Pinot Noir. The bottle is originally $15, but I got it for $10 since they were doing the tasting today.

Update: Ok, I really like the Gallo Merlot. It's incredibly smooth. I think it's the next step darker than a Pinot Noir really. It does have a base of sweetness to it, I was wrong, but it's just really well balanced and barely tannic. It also has a lovely flavor. Sometimes I can tell that I simply don't like the grapes the wine was made from, as with the 2nd wine, and I think the opposite is true for this wine. I'm very fond of the taste. It's somewhat complex, I think is the best way to describe it. I would highly recommend it if you like the lighter reds and are thinking about trying out some of the darker ones.

P.S. I'm totally listening to Banjo/Bluegrass music while I critique my red wine - kinda strange, huh?

Dueling Izzies

Here's the picture I promised of Izzie in my Banjo case.

Hoarders

So I was watching Oprah last night around 12:30pm and they were doing a two-part story on hoarders. You should see it, it is absolutely appalling. And yet, I can kind of understand how, over 10 or 12 years that could happen. My grandpa shackelford was a "packrat" and I remember cleaning out the two-story garage after he died. He must have had 20 or so fishing poles! So I'm watching the second part right now (I tivo-ed it) and it's inspiring me to clean out all my junk. Apparently not inspiring enough to do it right this second, but close. If you can, you should see if Oprah re-airs on your stations and check it out. They'll be doing the before and after shots tonight! And there are some clips on the website that you can watch online. http://www2.oprah.com/index.jhtml

This woman had 3000 purses, 3000 pairs of shoes, 75 TONS of trash (literally), and 1800 crates of stuff that was sold or given to goodwill. Unbelievable.

Of course, when my family moved out of the house on Meadow Ridge, we threw away 17 big yellow garbage bags of boxes. Empty boxes. Mostly used for Christmas presents. And we had to take my Grandpa's truck, fill up the bed of it as much as it would go and take it to the dump twice. So, I don't think we have much room to judge. So now, I'm going to go clean out something.

Izzie

So is anyone really surprised that my first post after the intro is about my cat? We're coming up on our one-year adoption anniversary, but, alas, we will be apart. I'm leaving Wednesday night to go to Oklahoma for Turkey day and Thanksgiving day is her anniversary. So I guess I'll have to make it up to her. Any toy ideas?

So, I've been taking Banjo lessons and because of this Izzie has a new favorite sleeping bag. My banjo case. Specifically, the round part of the (soft) case, which she just fits in perfectly. I'll post a picture when I get the chance. Hopefully Ryan, my teacher, isn't allergic because she leaves hair all over it.

She's currently sitting in her second favorite place, i.e. the chair I sit in while I'm at the computer. So of course I sit right on the edge just so she can sleep on the chair. Ok, i'm not that selfless, if she's sleeping then she doesn't walk right across the keyboard while I'm typing. I don't think she likes not being the center of attention.

My first post!

So I got the idea of doing a blog from Laura and Anna and it seemed like a good idea. Especially since I read so many of them! Also, I can't post to it at work so it's not another procrastination tool. Of course, Laura and Anna do it to keep people posted, but I don't think I can use that excuse, seeing as how I call everyone all the time "just to chat".

So what will I be blogging about? I think I'll take a cue from some of the blogs I read and split it into categories: my social life, tv (i.e., my lack of a social life), my cat Izzie, wines I like, and anything else I feel like talking about.

I probably won't update everyday since my internet at home is a little sketchy and usually only works about once every 3 days. Oh well.

So here it is..enjoy!