Sympathique

Sympathique, by Pink Martini

Sorry guys, long time no blog! No excuses, but I've been a busy girl. Two of my classes ended at the same time (Growing Grapes and Wine Production I) so I was hella swamped with those. Anyway.

Let's see, let me bring you quickly up to speed. Since the wedding, I've seen quite a few people. The first were Maelina and Ela, friends of mine from college, who were out visiting SF. Thankfully, I was able to spend an afternoon with them in the city. It was VERY nice to catch up with both of them. We ate lunch at a restaurant called the Stinking Rose, which is in North Beach, the Italian Neighborhood of SF. We then we off on a walking tour-ish of downtown...we saw Chinatown, did a tea tasting, and walked, basically. I attempted to take them to my favorite Chinatown stop, a bakery called the Golden Gate Bakery, which has Chinese pastries to die for. Unfortunately, the bakery was closed.

Chinatown is a favorite of mine in SF. It doesn't smell like NYC's Chinatown and it reminds me very much of Sydney. It's one of my happy places, and I go there as often as I can. If anyone wants to go...let me know!

Anyway, some photos:


Maelina and I posing in front of the Port of SF/Embarcadero...in cartoon motion!


Ela and I in front of the Bay Bridge

Thanks to she and Maelina, these are their photos!

Upon arrival home that evening, I had house guests! My friends from Fox Run, Mike and JR, came out from their new home in Healdsburg to visit so that we could make the trip to Gilroy for the mother of all Garlic Festivals. Also arriving that evening was Gianna, another Fox Run alum who is on temporary assignment in LA. Reunion! We drank some FL riesling (home it's home i'd like to be!) and ate some pizza. There is something very special about spending time with people who know where you come from.

The next day we were off to Gilroy for the less than awesome garlic fest. Numero uno: it was FREAKIN' HOT! Fox Run puts on a much more garlic centered festival! Gilroy's fest was over commercialized, and I was surprised at how little raw garlic there was there! One of my favorite memories of the Fox Run garlic fest was sneaking out from behind the tasting room bar and doing a "garlic tasting" of all of the different types of garlic. Nothing of the sort in Gilroy! Most everything was cooked garlic. And, don't get me wrong, I loved my garlic fries, but, totally missed Fox Run. First full weekend in August people, remember!

Took Gianna to the airport and JR and Mike to Wente for some barrel surfing. It was nice to see their reactions to the sheer size of Wente. I have adjusted, but it was a nice reminder of the wonder I once felt. Now I just need to work on restoring that sense of wonder!

Here we are with the Foster Farms chicken people, saying "No" to plumping....and YES to sunscreen!



And...the coolest thing in Gilroy...the Olympic torch of garlic...amazing.




The next weekend, my old friend Sara Marian visited! She is amazing! I hadn't seen her since I visited her in Boulder, CO. She's now in med school and kicking ass! She's pretty much my shopping soulmate...and it was so nice to see her! We did Wente, climb Mt Diablo (yes, I mean climbed...we took a wrong turn and took a very long and steep path up the mountain!), toured around in the city, and had ray-ban wayfarer and dress up day in Napa. She, of course, is one of the only people who can talk me into wearing a dress where jeans are perfectly appropriate. ;-)


The vista from the summit of Mt. Diablo. Yes, it was sunset. This resulted in some running back down said steep mountain.


Extra-circular dress wearing day.

And finally, this past weekend, we had a weekend outing just the Wente labbies! Chris has a cabin near Lake Alpine, CA. OMG! It was amazing. It reminded me of how much I missed green. I accomplished the first of my "skinny" goals: kayaking. Turns out, I freaking love it! Chris has promised before we left that he would teach me, so I held him to his word.



Ahhhh...Nirvana. I will be kayaking a lot more in the future.

It was a fantastic weekend. I admit I was a little anxious to go away someplace for an extended amount of time with my coworkers, but my anxiety was not grounded. I think we all agree we had a great time! On my first day at Wente, one of the winemakers said to me "Welcome to the Family", and he wasn't kidding. They are a big part of my Cali family. :-)

Speaking of family...I GET TO SEE MINE IN THREE DAYS! Family of the east coast variety, of course. I am so ridiculously excited. I haven't been to NY in 14 months...since Miranda's wedding! I could just about dance up and down I am so excited. I get to see my grandparents, cousins, friends, ahhhhh! So pumped!

For any of you in the PY metro, I expect you to stop by my house for a hot dog and a beer on Friday (the 14th) after 7 pm. Party up in 289 E. Lake Road. Come on now, put it in your GPS.

More pics on facebook from the last few weeks.

Cheers
Catrina

Long Time Coming

Song: Long Time Coming, Lil Wayne

Hello All. I know it's 2009, half way through!, but for some reason I've been bitten by the blogging bug again. Unexplained...totally! I've been exercising, working, laying in bed...and blog entry ideas have been popping into my head. I kind of still hold the view that blogging is a bit narcissist, but, for those whom I know that are not on facebook, they have no means of knowing what I am up to. So, pictures, stories, the occasional rambling...we'll see how this goes.

You know I hate catch up entries, so this is going to be a quick brief so every one is on the same page in the life of me. Okay, so, I came to California one November day in 2007 with very clear objectives:

1) To get experience in the wine industry (in progress)
2) To go to school for a professional certificate program in both enology and viticulture (check, I will be finished at Washington State University by Christmas 2010)
3) To have gastric bypass (completed, May 7, 2009)

So, I had been pretty tight lipped about the whole gastric bypass thing, mostly because I didn't want to jinx it. I will leave it at it was a years worth of doctor visits and further shame and embarrassment that is now coming to a close. Why did I do it? Simple. My health. Quality of life. It is that simple. My lifestyle has completely changed since May 7th and I couldn't be happier, truly. I have a bit of a complicated relationship with food, as I am suddenly completely disinterested in consuming it, but, I am feeling great. Food has never been my friend, never will be. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean I don't love good food...especially when shared with good friends!! So, you may occasionally get the ramblings of someone with a re-routed digestive system, but hopefully my weight isn't the most interesting thing about me. ;-)

School. School is tough! It is mostly online work, but I have to appear in Washington State 6 times (3 times for each program) before the close of the program. I am learning a heap, but it is expensive in both time and money. But worth it, I hope.

Otherwise, still working at Wente. I've been there 1.5 years!!! I love them though, they are my California family. My heart still feels the love when I think about all of the love I received after surgery. You Wente folks are awesome! :-D

Okay, so, the dreaded catch up entry is over. On to bigger and better things.

Cheers

Pablo!

Wente has brought in a Chilean intern to work for the year. His name is Pablo, and he is very entertaining. I found out that he takes videos with his digital camera to show things going on in the states to his family, and then he posts them all on youTube. (good idea, no?) They're in Spanish (obviously), but I want to share this one with you all. He's in the winery standing over a fermenting bin of red wine. He is so funny!

Please also note the loud Mexican music that is blaring in the background of the video...and still blares everyday.




Cheers

Going to California

Arhhhhhnold ;-)


You know what?? There are a lot of songs about California. Heaps of songs about the state. There are a few about New York, even fewer about Washington or Pennsylvania. And by some of my favorite artists. Tupac, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Led Zeppelin.

It only makes sense that I would have to live there to see if all of the songs are true, right? Feel the "California Love"?

Okay, so it wasn't exactly for that reason, but I am taking my current living situation as a good excuse to listen to an obscene amount of Tupac and Led Zeppelin. (For those who are unaware of my musical tastes, I do have a preference for some pretty ridiculous rap music.)

Here's the annotated story. Vintage in WA finished in early November. I had been looking for a job anywhere, but had made up my mind that I would stay on the west coast if that meant that I got to working in the wine industry. That being said, most of my opportunities were bound to exist in California. I got a cal about a week after vintage finished for an interview in Napa. Being that I had a place to stay in Napa, with My Aunt Deb and Uncle Ed, I told the woman I could be there Monday. In true rockstar fashion, I threw all of my shit in my car, had my cable cut, called Chris (my room mate in Wenatchee), and drove to California.

I arrived in Napa and had not only a place to stay, but a kick ass place to stay! I got an opportunity to know a few people that I wouldn't have normally know and had a fantastic time. Plenty of gin and tonics (and wine!) were consumed and I, quite frankly, wish I could stay in the Napa area. Napa is the perfect sized place for me. ~75k people, nice weather, green, lots of dogs, plenty of stuff to do, and san fran within reach. And lots of wine! And wine people! Hell, the street names are wine related. Hello! Amazing! And, of course, if I was able to stay in Napa, I would have been much closer to the people who took care of me, that I have come to love dearly, and that I enjoy very much!

As fate and my luck would have it, I got a job in the wine industry, but not in the Napa Valley. I took a lab tech job in a small city called Livermore, which is down bay from Napa by about 1.25 hours (in no traffic, of course). After about 1.5 months of feeling broke, helpless, and hopeless, I interviewed at Wente Family Estates and bam, job offer, which I took. In a whurlwind, Deb and I went to Livermore and got me an apartment. A few days later, thanks mostly to the help of Deb and Ed, the majority of my stuff was moved in Livermore.

So, I haven't started work yet, but I start tomorrow. 4 days a week, 10 hour shifts. The salary is not quite what I had hoped, so I'll have to get a job or two to supplement my income, but that's nothing new for me.

Definitely going to be a new experience. A New Yorker in Cali, living alone, working at an 800k case/ year winery (!?). I'm looking forward to it.

If you're wondering about Australia, that dream will have to be deferred for a while. Mostly due to financial problems! No surprise there. I will, at the very least, go back to Australia for a vintage. After I get my ducks in a row and my shit straightened out.

So, that's the short version. Now I am caught up and can blog at will. I will try to do so regularly.

Cheers