Wordless Wednesday..

Two of my favorite things - Travel and Wine

This was originally written in August of 2008, right after the hub and I had gone to Traverse City for our one year anniversary. I’ve edited some things.

The hub and I went up to the Leelanau Peninsula for our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! It was a good time. We drove up Saturday morning and enjoyed the BEAUITFUL weather of the day. Not too hot, not too cold. Perfect northern Michigan day. We stopped at 4 different wineries and did wine tasting. My favorite was Shadylanes, where we started. They had a really good chardonnay that I liked, and we bought a bottle. We also got some kind of a Riesling because when you bought a bottle of chardonnay you could get that one for 4 bucks. :) (Yes, we may like our wine, but we are also cheap.) They also had a really good smoked salmon cheese spread we got with our wine. Yum.

At Shady Lane's

We also went to Chateau Leelanau, which was all right. We got a bottle of wine there as well but I can't seem to remember the name/kind. Our other stops were at Good Arbor and at the Cherry Republic winery. Ahh Cherry Republic was my second fave. All different kinds of cherry flavored wine! We bought a bottle called cherry red which was like 80 percent merlot and 20 percent cherry. It was soooo good and reminded me of a bottle of wine we had in Jamaica.

For lunch we stopped in Leland at Fishtown and had some yummy fish. Then we walked around for awhile and enjoyed the big boats and stuff. We had a hotel in Arcadia on Lake Michigan and our big plan was to watch the sunset on the lake. Well, we got down there at like 7:15 with our wine to drink, chairs and cameras and Mother Nature had a different plan. It started pouring on us a half hour before sunset! So that sucked, but we just ran back to our room and headed to the bar next door called The Big Apple to eat dinner. They had super yummy pizza. Then we hurred back to watch Phelps win Gold.

on the beach with our wine

after we got caught in the rain

Sunday we started the drive home taking scenic paths. We stopped in Bear Lake hoping to eat at a cafe there but it was closed but they had a beautiful lake to gaze at. We also stumbled upon a pretty cool campground we might want to check out sometime. We ate lunch in Mesick at Jeri's Family Restaurant, which was the PERFECT diner for hub so all was good with him. I think I forgot to mention I had us off roadin’ on a dirt road thru a HUGE hilly area and the hub was sure we were going to get stuck or he was never going to eat again. After that we continued on our way home with a quick stop at A&W for some root beer floats. All in all, a great northern Michigan weekend. :)

as we were driving our random travels home

In other trips to the Traverse City area, I have visited Left Foot Charley’s, Chateau Chantal, Chateau Grand Traverse, L. Mawby and other wineries whose names are escaping me at the moment. L.Mawby has a really cool atmosphere inside, with an excellent cheese spread and crackers and some awesome sparkling wine. Their wine has fun names like; Sex, Us, and Wet to name a few. J Left Foot Charley’s 2007 Red Drive is my favorite and is located in the old State Mental Hospital.

a view in early April from a top a hill on the Grand Traverse Peninsula outside a winery

Basically, Traverse City and wine go hand in hand. Traverse City alone, is a beautiful area to visit with lots of activities and if you do not check out a winery when you are there you are missing out!

Grandma June

I don't think anything I can say can do my grandma justice but I am going to try. She and I are a lot alike and yet so very different. We both love history and politcs but fall on very far opposites of the political spectrum. As my one uncle said the other day, "Fox News is going to go bankrupt." They definitely lost out on one of their number one viewers. If there wasn't golf on the tv, there was Fox News. And she wasn't a quiet Fox News watcher, no she was always vocally agreeing or disagree with whatever was being said. She did not keep her opinion unknown. I inherited that from her. I however, did not inherit the tact and kindness she would use when dealing with people.

Grandpa, my bro and my Gram after a bball game

However, tact and kindness did NOT entire into the political spectrum. There she let her naughty words fly. Speaking of naughty words, she taught more than a couple of her 12 grandchildren some pretty choice words. Actually, in her casket with her is a notecard with a message from my cousin with some of the very words my grandma taught her. There were a few cousins who had to have their mouths washed out after spending time with grandma, she certainly liked her 4 letter words. Nothing to bad, but nothing a school teacher would want to hear, or a parent. :) I myself at age three, may have said to my grandfather as he and she were driving me to the hospital to meet my new brother, "Damnit Walt. You've done it now. You've missed the turn!"



at my wedding in 2007

She was always reading. ALWAYS. I got my love of books from that sweet spunky lady. She was a fan of romance novels, porn for ladies as I call it. She also read books about history and tried to dable into literature. She turned up her nose when I let her borrow Ragtime, but tried to make me feel better by saying my uncle the English teacher said it was very good. I have so many books that I've gotten from her, that I don't think I will ever find the time to read them all. We would switch our books back and forth and she introduced me to an awesome used bookstore. I will miss her opinion and her awesome stash of books to borrow. After moving into the new apartment she shared with grandpa, she was ALWAYS on the couch. She slept there at nights because the bed wasn't comfy and she always was laying there snuggled under blankets her nose buried in a book.


my aunt, my mom and gram at her 80th bday party


She'd also always order my grandpa around to do things for her. I found it so adorable that he could never say no to my grandma. Whatever she wanted, he gave it to her. And honestly, the relationship my grandparents share was very special. She was his JuneBug and he spoiled her rotten. Taking her to the casino, buying her scratch offs, running to the store to get her things, driving her around... He sometimes acted like he was bothered by it, but he never once denied her things.


in Chicago for my cousins wedding shower

My grandma never really liked to drive and I am one of the very few grandchildren that experienced riding in the car with her. I have a memory of sitting in the backseat with the windows down and it seemed like we were FLYING through town. She also once geeked herself up to drive 2 miles down the road to watch me run in a junior high track meet. She got the car out of the garage and drove over to the track, only to find out that I had gone home from school early. So she had to jump back in the car and drive back home. I think that was her last driving adventure.

at my wedding

My grandma was ALWAYS there. She came to my school for Grandparent's Day, band concerts, softball games, basketball games, high school graduation, my wedding and my college graduation. I have her on video at a bball game YELLING at the refs. Oh yeah, that was my grandma she loved watching us play sports and was quite the vocal supporter. She and grandpa wouldn't even sit next to each other at my brother's varsity basketball games. I am so glad she could watch me graduate from college. She was so proud of me and my other cousins.

they left graduation right after i walked across, so i brought my cap and gown to christmas to get photos :)

Another one of my fond memories from my childhood is going to work with my grandma. She worked at an elementary in the library and she also played the piano for the kids. She taught me "This Land is My land," "America the Beautiful," and many other songs. She was very patriotic and she loved to play the piano. I am sad to say her lessons she gave me failed, the only song I can play is "Peter Piper."

Grandma and Honest Abe


I cannot even begin to express how sad I am that I can no longer call my gram and talk to her about my day or tell her my new exciting news whatever that may be. She was always ready with stories of the random old people she encountered or whatever her food cravings of the moment were. I'm going to miss watching her do her sway side to side as she walked and I will miss going shopping with her. I can't believe both my grandma's aren't there for me to call and chat with. I used to always call both of them on my way to and from work and school. I don't think I am capable of deleting eitheof them from my phonebook. I loved my grandmas and I know they loved me.

So Grandma June, I know I didn't capture nearly enough of how much I love and will miss you. How much I enjoyed you, laughed with you and debated. But I will always keep you dear to my heart. I'm so very sorry I could never have a child for you to meet. I hope I can keep your memories near and you always in my heart. I love you. Oh and your hair is beautiful. In the famous words of my brother... "Say your prayers butthead!"

Guest Bloggers Wanted!

Hello all! Life has been crazy the last few weeks and I really don’t think/feel up to writing all that much. However, I don’t want to let my blog just ‘sit.’ I have some posts for Mon-Wed, but was looking for someone/s who would want to blog for me Thursday, Friday and next Monday? Anyone up for it?

Especially if you are/have read Pride & Prejudice and want to throw something into that discussion, or any other book topics. Or heck, whatever you want to write about is fine with me! Or if you just want to promote something or any other type thing. Anything would be appreciated and loved.

If you would like to help me out, just leave me a message here with your email and I will get back with you. Thank you.

And also, thank you for all your comments about my grandfather and grandma. It has been a week.

suck

My mom's mom, my wonderful wonderful grandma passed away this afternoon.

I am completely spent.

For those keeping track at home, yes I have lost 3 grandparents in 3 months. And 2 in 6 days. Yes, I am spent.

I will go back to drinking my beer, nursing this massive headache, crying and pretending that things will be okay. Because frankly some of the best moments of my childhood left today.

Recent book happenings..

This summer I went through a phase where I found some new books via various peoples book blogs and put them on hold at the library. I JUST got one the other day and it is soo good I am addicted like crack. Like, if I didn't feel like I would be soo lost if I didn't catch up on blogs right now, I would be reading it. It is called Commencement and written by J. Courtney Sullivan. So far so good. I'd recommend it on the first 40 pages. :)

I also stopped into Target tonight to grab some deodorant and decided if I could find a book between 5-8 dollars that I really wanted to read I would pick one up. I found Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. I watched all of Season 2 of True Blood on HBO in September when I was sick and I really wanted to check out the Sookie Stackhouse Series. I read 3 pages while waiting for the hub to try on a tux for the wedding he is in this weekend. It is a nice fun light reading style which is what I need in my life.

I have not started Pride & Prejudice yet, I am going to try to finish Commencement by Sunday (I only get it for three weeks) and start up reading P&P. If I don't finish it by Sunday, either way I am starting P&P!

I have had a busy week and another busy weekend. Tomorrow I am back at work and realized I didn't stop to pick up some pictures I need to do our project I wanted tomorrow, so basically my entire lesson plan for tomorrow and Friday need to be arranged, and I am wondering how the sub did and who it was. I also am going to have parents in the room the next two days so my plan of, let's just go to the gym for 20 minutes tomorrow, probably shouldn't happen. Depends on the weather, if it is raining, we are so going to run off some steam in the gym! After work, I am going to visit my grandma (mom's mom) in the hospital because she is not doing well at all. I really CANNOT handle losing another grandparent this year so I am hoping she can pull out of this. This weekend we have wedding rehearsal and wedding. The cold weather is not making me excited, however it should be around 50ish this weekend. Yay..

Now I must catch up on all my blogs..

Have you bought/found any new books recently?

November's Group Read is..

....Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen! I am excited to read this. I started reading it this summer when my grandma was in Ohio. Then left the book in Ohio and after I got it back, never finished. So I will have to restart from the beginning. But I am looking forward to talking about this one with everyone!!

Here is the review from amazon.com :

Elizabeth Bennet is the perfect Austen heroine: intelligent, generous, sensible,
incapable of jealousy or any other major sin. That makes her sound like an
insufferable goody-goody, but the truth is she's a completely hip character, who
if provoked is not above skewering her antagonist with a piece of her
exceptionally sharp -- but always polite -- 18th century wit. The point is, you
spend the whole book absolutely fixated on the critical question: will Elizabeth
and Mr. Darcy hook up?

Here is some info on Jane Austen from litlovers.com :

In 1801, George Austen retired from the clergy, and Jane, Cassandra, and
their parents took up residence in Bath, a fashionable town Jane liked far less
than her native village. Jane seems to have written little during this period.
When Mr. Austen died in 1805, the three women, Mrs. Austen and her daughters,
moved first to Southampton and then, partly subsidized by Jane's brothers,
occupied a house in Chawton, a village not unlike Jane's first home. There she
began to work on writing and pursued publishing once more, leading to the
anonymous publication of Sense and Sensibility in 1811 and Pride and Prejudice
in 1813, to modestly good reviews.Known for her cheerful, modest, and witty
character, Jane Austen had a busy family and social life, but as far as we know
very little direct romantic experience. There were early flirtations, a quickly
retracted agreement to marry the wealthy brother of a friend, and a rumored
short-lived attachment -- while she was traveling -- that has not been verified.
Her last years were quiet and devoted to family, friends, and writing her final
novels. In 1817 she had to interrupt work on her last and unfinished novel,
Sanditon, because she fell ill. She died on July 18, 1817, in Winchester, where
she had been taken for medical treatment. After her death, her novels Northanger
Abbey and Persuasion were published, together with a biographical notice, due to
the efforts of her brother Henry. Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral.Jane
Austen's delightful, carefully wrought novels of manners remain surprisingly
relevant, nearly 200 years after they were first published. Her novels—Pride and
Prejudice and Emma among them—are those rare books that offer us a glimpse at
the mores of a specific period while addressing the complexities of love, honor,
and responsibility that still intrigue us today.

Happy Reading!!! I am off to Ohio for the funeral and will be back late tomorrow...

vote vote vote..

Just a friendly reminder to vote in our poll to decide if what we read.. it is currently tied. 2 votes for Jane Eyre and 2 votes for Pride &Prejudice.. voting ends in a couple hours.. iwill hopefully post the winner in the morning, unless we have to extend it!

Review: I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass

I See you Everywhere is the second novel by Julia Glass. It was also the first novel we chose to read as a group. It took me a really long time to read it, but not for lack of being interesting.

This book is about two sisters, Louisa and Clem. Very different, but both have a feistiness in them. Louisa seems to always be jealous of Clem and always looking for her approval, even though Louisa is the oldest. Clem is wild. She does not do anything half-hearted. She is an all in kind of girl, this gets her a lot of adventure and a lot of injuries.

The book switches back and forth between time periods and narrators and sometimes it does take some thought to remember what the timeline is and who is narrating. Towards the end, there are some bombshells of cancer and suicide. Though, the suicide in retrospect is not unexpected and if earlier events were looked back at, there is a clear history of instability.

While definitely not a happy book, it is a very interesting book about some whacked out family dynamics.

Don’t forget to vote for November’s group read!

November is...

Rivalry month... only 20 more days !! ;)

2008

2007

GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!