It's All About Wine

For my entire life, my mother has gotten together with her girlfriends to drink wine. They've been the Fab Four since I could remember, and among the four of them are eight children.... seven girls and my brother. Poor Garrett. But... when we were younger we would all make fun of our moms for being wine freaks, as they each had their own favorite bottles and flavors.... And then I lived in France. It's been more than a year since I lived there and in that time I've gone from "Yes, I would love a glass of wine with dinner" to "The cab from this year is better from Napa, but the next year has a better taste from the Pacific Northwest".
Yeah. I'm a wine snob.
And I can say that the other six girls enjoy it too. Well, five.... Heather doesn't really drink. But Jena and I are the best. We've actually turned into our mothers. This summer we sat in her living room watching the sun go down over the lake, catching up on gossip, men, work and life in general and went through a Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc... and not cheap bottles either.
Yet I think this true "Oh my God, I'm a wine snob" moment came to me two nights ago, as I wrote a review of seven different bottles for one of my friends. Yep. Seven different bottles based on a generally low price and what to eat each one with and so on so forth. And then there's the fact that I have "The Essential Wine Book" next to my bed.
How did I not see this coming?!!?!? What happened to my mockery of people who drink wine? I'VE BECOME ONE OF THEM!

So. I hope everyone has a Happy Easter.... I'm going to spend it with Nik and Heather, and hopefully cook something for dinner that goes well with the Reisling I want to try.

I wish I had Jesus' ability to turn water to wine.

That Panic Feeling

Does anyone remember me right when I got accepted to SCAD? I was a freaking mess. Not because I thought I wouldn't do well at school, not because I was ridiculously relieved to ACTUALLY have gotten into a school (Though, Plan B, as my sister will tell you, was to move to Australia. I woke her up at 3 am freaking out about if no one wanted me. She told me to shut up and go back to sleep.) but because I thought I wouldn't be able to make friends. So, if you know me at all, you can realize that this was a completely irrational fear. Because I talk to everyone, and (not to brag) for the most part everyone likes me. I can honestly say that there are very few people who do dislike me, and they have very good reason. So, five years later..... aka now.... I'm terrified of not making friends. I've been in Seattle a grand total of nine days. And I've made no friends. Granted, I haven't started work, I haven't really left my apartment that much, and I haven't gotten a lot of my shit figured out.... but I'm terrified. I know five people in this city; one is practically my little sister, three I went to college with (but one is moving next week), and one who is my parent's friend. Oh, and my roommate, but she doesn't count because she moved her with me.
PANIC.
Because I realized that our fantastically well connected, beautiful little gem of a town really never taught us to meet people. The people that I met in Savannah were through school itself; the dorms (made some of my best friends there), the rowing team (made some of the best memories I have there...), the photo building and the community theater. And those are all people I met and became involved with by proximity and then by mutual EVERYTHING because Savannah really is such a small city. But my Tahoe friends? I've had them since birth, first grade or middle school. We were never taught how to go out and meet people. And I realize that this gives me an insane fear of rejection.
Yet, I do know that I'm panicking for no reason. The fact that I didn't leave my apartment yesterday probably didn't help.... And the job interview I was supposed have this morning got canceled due to the manager having a migraine. So, I realize a lot of this is circumstantial.... but I still don't know how to go meet new people.
I feel like my New Year's Resolution is going to get a lot of use in the next few weeks..... be bold. Well, I'm trying. And slightly terrified. But, here I am in my new apartment with a girl I've only known for five months and my cat. I think I'm doing okay. Ish.
So that's my current update on Seattle. I'm sure I'll have less heart palpitations when I have a job and meet people. Because once I meet them, I'm confident of my ability to be charming and at least somewhat funny.
I'll even get to wear red lipstick more here... It's a city. People don't look at you like you're crazy if you're somewhat fashionable like they do in Tahoe.

More life to come later. I'm glad to be back to writing. I'll attempt to make it more consistent.