Party in The USA

“Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus

I seem to excel at writing blog entries on my flights to and from Seattle, so here we go.

I have the BEST seatmate next to me on the airplane right now. I mean. He is superb. He’s not passing judgement on me, he’s friendly, he’s selfless, he’s a cuddly teddy bear…and he loves carrots. He has big feet. And he’s canine. He is a seeing eye dog. His name is Cooper and he looks a little like Deb and Ed’s dog Heidi, except he’s tri-colored. It is thoroughly outstanding that the only food I happen to have in my bag right now is carrots, which are his “treats”. We may be soul mates. ☺ The guy across the isle should take note, he’s pretty darn surly and has a staring problem!


Not his best pic, but I had to take it on my blackberry.

I was in Seattle/WA this past weekend for enology camp for my WSU learnin’. I was in Seattle/WA the weekend before for grape camp for my additional WSU learnin’. I’m tired of traveling, but have had a series of outstanding weekends. This past weekend I got to see a few of the people I really liked from the enology class and got to know a few more…wine people are (for the most part) hella cool. We’re winemakers, or wannabes, for a reason. Winemaking attracts an eclectic bunch, and that is very cool for me. Mostly passionate, confident, driven people. The week before was viticulture camp, and this is all an amazing fantastic world to me. I know comparatively little about viticulture, but I am certainly enjoying learning. Bring on the vineyards! I can’t envision being a winemaker and not knowing anything about farming. I equate not knowing viticulture to picking up a book halfway through and expecting to have a thorough understanding of what is going on. It just won’t happen. I like farmers, anyway.

I have been undergoing a bit of a….food revolution lately. A food revolution, you say? I underwent a food revolution last May in a big way (yes, I still miss big tasty ciabatta rolls and ice cream) but now I’m fine tuning things. I am reading a fine hunk o' book called “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. It is science dense and fantastic and I highly recommend it.



But, it has made me reconsider the foods that I eat where they come from. So, I’m setting off on a sort of quest to do my best at eating real food, grass fed meats, and un-processed as much as possible on a limited budget. I think that could be a blog in itself. I’m considering switching gears a bit here as this is consuming a considerable amount of my brain space and thinking time. Should I become a food blogger? Explore the world of being conscious about where my food comes from, how it is processed, and what that might mean for balance in many ways: environmental, nutritional, financial….balance. How can I try not to get bogged down in the buzzwords that are now corporate and government sponsored: “organic” or “sustainable”, etc? Do free range chickens REALLY free range? Can a woman like me wade through all of that crap…in addition to having limited financial means and no land to grow anything on and actually eat real food?

I don’t know. I’ll work on it. We’ll see. I’m working on a number of things at the moment…running a 5k next weekend (the 20th!). I’m pretty psyched. I will keep you all posted on how that goes.

Looks like we’ve started our descent into Oakland, so, I have to run!

Yes, I am listening to Miley Cyrus. I’m not too cool to admit it, I freakin’ love this song. “Got my hands up they’re playing my song, I know I’m gonna be okay…” Miley, you’re a little bit shady, but I sure do love this little pop-tart of a song! (And yes, I still have my Achy Breaky Heart CD, don’t hate.)