It's Harvest Time!

Mom - 2 buckets down, 84 to go!
My dad and Vince (aka: The Grape Pickers)
Vine and Brian (aka: The Assistant Winemakers)
2007 Harvest Team

Me, Brian, Shannon, Vince, Mom, Dad

Sharon and Bob

It takes a lot of buckets to pick grapes!

Doesn't everyone use the trunk of their Jag for a table?

It's that time of the year again when the air gets a little chillier and the grapes are ready to be picked. This weekend, we went to my aunt and uncle's house to help with Harvest 2007. We are now "senior" pickers as this is Brian and I's 3rd year of helping.

We sarted at 8:30am and 1 tons of grapes (or 88 buckets) and 3 1/2 hours later we were done. We tried a new technique this year and I must say, it was a lot quicker and less energy. Instead of picking the grapes, dumping the grapes into a large bin, taking the large bin up to the house and then putting the grapes back into the smaller buckets to weigh and crush, we skipped the large bin step. We picked the grapes, my uncle came and got the full buckets, gave us empty buckets and then he took the buckets to the house. This method, I believe, is the choice of champions!

Everyone had a great time. The day was full of good food, good friends and of course, good wine! Would you expect anything less?

Vroom.... Vroom....

I remember now why I don't like riding a horse. My butt hurts!

Today my mom, dad, Brian and I went on a motorcycle ride. As much as my mom and I gave our thoughts about how long the ride should be (45 minutes max!) and where we should go (lunch) the boys took over. The ride was 1 1/2 hours going to lunch and 1 hour coming back. Well, at least we got to eat lunch. Now you are probably wondering where we went that took us so long...Healdsburg! I know, it is 30 minutes away but we took the "scenic route." We went all over the contryside on great motorcycle roads. (That's at least what the guys said, how would I know, I was the passenger!) About 1/2 way home I was convinced I wasn't going to be able to sit on the seat any longer. My butt hurt, my legs hurt and I was getting a headache from the helmet.

All in all we had a good time. The scenery was nice (vineyards, forests and farms) and the weather managed to clear up for our ride. Dad's bike needs the brakes looked at now but other than that, we managed with no problems!

Here's to next time!

We need more wine...

This is not a phrase that you hear often in the Wing household. You do from time to time hear that we don't have anything to drink. This doesn't mean that we are actually OUT of wine, it just means that we don't have anything we are willing to open. It just doesn't seem right to open a fancy Bordeaux that we got in Europe or an expensive wine we got wine tasting on a Wednesday night when it is just Brian and I. In fact, we have no more room for wine in our house. Both wine fridges are full, the 60 bottle rack we have in the closet is full, there are 2 full cases of wine sitting on the guest bedroom floor and we bought another 1/2 case this weekend when we were out with friends. (We got the wine at 1/2 price...how could I pass that up?) We also have cases of wine stored at my aunt and uncles because we can't take home the wine they are trying to give us!

Some ladies have a shoe obsession, not me. I am ready to admit I have a wine obsession. Not so much drinking it (although I sure do enjoy that), I just can't stop buying it! This last week I joined a new wine club. Anyone in their right mind would have joined this club though. They have a cap at how many people they will let in their club and when we visited the winery in March, there were not any spots left in the club. You could be put on "the list" if you wanted and wait for a spot. I begged Brian to let me be on the list but lost that battle. Well, good news!! They have opened up 200 more spots in their club. Now I HAD to join. Not only was there a spot for me, their tasting room is going to be members only starting in January. I just HAVE to be a part of this club. It works out to be abour $20/month and since that is how much Brian spends on his obession (Aleworks) it is only fair that I got to join the club. So, here comes more wine.

Anyone want to come over and help us out....we need to make some room in our wine closet for my new friends!

Moving up and out!

Well, it's official. I am now the Hospitality Event Sales Manager. After two weeks of meeting after meeting our CEO has promoted me to the new position. Our old event manager left the company three weeks ago and I've been doing my job and his job for the last three weeks. Before I was responsible for the coordination and operation of events as well as overseeing the tasting room. Now I am responsible for selling the events as well as overseeing the coordination and operation. The good news is that I don't have to oversee the tasting room anymore!! The most exciting part is not having to worry about their work schedule. I HATE having to make schedules and deal with people calling in sick.

Part of the deal is that I have to move offices. My office will now be in with the CEO and Chariman of the Board. There are three offices in their building and 1 is empty so that is where I am going. Wish me luck!!

September 11

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone today.

A-L-P-H-A X-I D-E-L-T-A, Alpha Xi Delta the best sororoity!

It's that time of year again. Time for school to start and girls to rush sororities. This single event is hands down the most tiresome, wearing and stressful time of any sorority girl's life.

The normal life of a sorority girls is as follows: go to school, rush a sorority, spend the next 4 years having the time of your life, graduate, get a "real" job and possibly keep in touch with a few sisters. Do I live this normal life? No, I decided one day I needed something to keep me busy besides work so I volunteered to be the membership advisor. Yep, I'm crazy. I willing volonteered to partake in the craziest time of all.

For all my sorority sisters out there reading this here are the details:
204: number of ladies signed up for recruitment
38: quota (no that is not a type-o)
40: number of ladies we matched bids with!! (yep, 2 OVER total)
#1: top sorority during recruitment

For everyone else:
We had the most girls ever sign up to go through recruitment
The number of girls that we were allowed to offer a place in our sorority was the largest ever!
We gave out 40 invitiations to ladies to join our sorority.
We haven't always been the best at recruitment and this year we kicked everyone else's butt.

OK, I've now been up since Thursday and I need some sleep. I think it should take about 4 days for the sorority songs to completey get out of my head.

Ponder this...

Nothing exciting has happened in the Wing household lately so I thought I would post something a little different for all of my readers...

2 tough questions

Question 1: If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion?

Read the next question before looking at the response for this one.

Question 2: It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three candidates. Who would you vote for?

Candidate A. Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologist. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.

Candidate B. He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon , used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.

Candidate C. He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife.

Which of these candidates would be our choice? Decide first... no peeking, then scroll down for the response.

Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Candidate B is Winston Churchill.
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler.

And, by the way, on your answer to the abortion question: If you said YES, you just killed Beethoven.

Pretty interesting isn't it? Makes a person think before judging someone.