Refresh me!

As I have not yet finished or posted my last wine tasting story, I have finished the story of last weekend!
Today is Thursday and its been five days since my fabulously incredible weekend with my sister and girlfriend. My sis showed up Friday early afternoon which was nice because she thought she was going to get here later. My hubby left for a weekend in the mountains with his friend so he suggested I have a girls weekend. He stocked the house with goodies and I planned a weekend of food, fun and friendship.

I was ready when my sis arrived so we decided to go to World Market to get a bottle of wine. We ended up in there for hours just looking at all the exotic textiles, candles and foods. I wanted her to experience it  because it's been such a long time since she's had a break from her insanely busy life. We ended up by the wines and by that time I had to go up front and get a cart because we couldn't resist most of the delectable treats in the food section! I had a limited resource of money so we picked out the cheapest but prettiest bottle of wine. It was a white wine, Vinho Verde, named Gazela, made in Portugal. The label was clear with four gorgeous photos...a peacock feather, rain on a leaf, sea and clouds and an red orchid. Like I've said before, I'm not a connoisseur but I know how to love my wine experience! Just being with my beloved sister on a beautiful California day, shopping and laughing and buying a wine just because the label is stunning was an exquisite interlude of love and fun!  We had a beautiful time and my favorite part is making the cashier laugh and feel good! I even got to share my wine blog with a couple girls! After we left there we made a couple quick stops at the Esplanade, making all the cashiers laugh as we checked out and then she dropped it on me...my sister wanted to go to Walmart! After spending a few hours in stores that had classical, international and nature music, I couldn't believe we were going to go, ON a SATURDAY, to what I like to call, the three ring circus of Hades!

My sis said it would only take a minute (NOT) and for the millionth time I actually believed it. True to our warped sense of reality we went there thinking it was really going to be an in and out experience. Over TWO HOURS later and of course a trip to the front to get the cart that we were so convinced we weren't going to need, there we were...surrounded and crowded by hoards of people. It's truly an ant farm experience that I think only ants could survive! We even carried 100 times our weight in purchases that my sis made (ant's do that you know)! I have to admit that as tired as I was we laughed a lot! As my BF and I always say, "The more ludicrous the situation, the more we laugh!" We did have an adorable check-out person too and she made us laugh and feel good because she was a lovely lady with a great big heart. I don't care where I am, if there is a kind person there, they have a way of making it feel like heaven :)

Although we were thoroughly mentally and physically exhausted I remembered we had to go to the grocery store for a few things. I seriously did not think that my body could do it but I switched my shoes to crocks and prayed for strength. As we walked in there was a Starbucks and this big poster of a lime-aid cold drink. You know the kind with the beads of crystal water droplets dripping down the side of a clear glass with the tinkling ice cubes surrounded by icy liquid. We had to have it and the girl working behind the counter was an angel. We got her laughing with our delirious comments and she in turn made us laugh. She even shook the mixture in the ice extra long so it would be even colder! We were so dehydrated and tired that it literally took about three sips and we were down to air. That sweet angel could tell we were spent so as she kept us talking she made us samples of the other flavor and then just refilled both our empty glasses again and said enjoy! God bless her.

We finally got home, opened the house up, put the ceiling fans on, drank a big glass of water each and sat down for a bit out on the patio to rest our feet. I was excited about making dinner so I poured us a glass of wine. The Gazela was a light sparkling white wine and suited me just fine as I needed to feel refreshed and infused before I could carry on and make dinner. It's perfect for pool side, the beach or sitting on the dock at mid-day. I put on some nice music then made whole wheat angel hair pasta with sauteed baby carrots in butter, tiny sweet tomatoes sliced in half soaked in extra virgin olive oil with basil, sea-salt and a pinch of thyme along with shredded roasted herb chicken all mixed together with asiago cheese! Ahhhhhh. Beautiful life...