My Name - in all its Boozy Glory

I am sure you all wonder what my name is all about. Yes I know that that seems vain, because probably none of you do - but I am going to tell you anyway.

Alright, I am almost positive that I have written a post about where my name came from, but I can't seem to find it right now. So...let me give you a brief back story:

My father was a Sommelier - a wine steward/connoisseur. Long story short, I was named after a very nice/fancy French Bordeaux. In French, my name means "the spot."

With this name comes the lack of having my name on touristy items (read: key chains, toothbrushes, license plates etc etc). There used to be a restaurant in Chicago called La Tache and I even enlisted a friend to go to the restaurant and get me a matchbook or something, so I have a matchbook (somewhere) with my name on it! It's pure amazing-ness! Whenever I see my name on something, my husband can attest, I get extremely excited! And whenever someone comes across the wine or my name written on something I usually get a picture text :-)

So, every once in a while, I will do a google search of my name and look to see if any restaurants carry the La Tache wine. Let me just tell you now: most places don't. So I did a search back in 2008 when I turned 21, to see if there was a restaurant in SF that carried it and, well to my surprise, I found one! I immediately called the restaurant, asked how much it cost and then was dejected because I knew that I couldn't get a bottle. Anyway, long story short, we went to the restaurant for FRIEND's birthday and I asked our waiter if I could see the bottle, so he brought it out for me and I was able to hold it! (As long as I kept it at the angle that he brought it out to me in - as you can see in the awkward image below)

the wine

Every now and then people have heard of the wine or have drank the wine and we always have a fun conversation about my name.

Actually, last summer, we met a friend of a friend and when I introduced myself, he said "La Tache, like the wine?" I almost died! No One has ever recognized that before!

This past weekend, my Alpha Gamm Big Sister sent me a text message telling me that there is a beer with my name on it! I almost peed myself in excitement! The beer is brewed and bottled in Bend, Oregon by The Ale Apothocary!! (And just think of the few times we have been to Oregon and I haven't known about it! AND that I have done countless name searches and never come across this before!) So I went to the site, and read up on the beer. Rich and I decided that I will call the brewer and ask about the origin of the name and hopefully they will sell us some bottles or a case over the phone!

the beer!

I am seriously over the moon with this news!! Seriously! How cool is this!?
I keep thinking: "Ok, so there is a wine, now a beer, what else could there be?!"

Have any of you had the La Tache Wine or Beer?

My family had 2 bottles. We opened one of the bottles for my 21st birthday. I had just turned 21 and, for real life, I didn't really drink before I turned 21, so I didn't appreciate the wine for all that it was because I didn't have a wine tongue yet. And the 2nd bottle, we are saving for another special occasion...what that may be? I am not sure yet!

my 21st birthday celebration

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Day 13: Issue a Public Apology My Name

Happy Mother's Day

Aside from my birth mother, there are many women in my life who have been and who have become like mothers to me. I am grateful each day for the women in my life who have shaped me to be the woman I am today. I would not be even half of the strong, independent, outgoing, optimistic woman I am today without these influential people in my life. So thank you. Thank You. THANK YOU. 
My Mom. I love you more than words.

My Mother-in-Law. You are kind, loving and warm. I love you.

My grandmother. You are have been a huge part of my life and I am grateful every day for you. I love you.

 I could seriously go on and on about so many more women! But don't have the space!

One more shout out to my beautiful sister on her first Mother's Day! She is an inspiration to all mothers and little Vincent is one lucky/blessed boy to have her as his mother!

--- Challenge: What do I miss Happy Mother's Day!

Hilarious Video & Day 11: Sell Yourself in 10 Words or Less

1st of all - this video is freaking.amazing!  Watch it.
--- Challenge: Sell yourself in 10 words or less
I am outgoing, friendly, optimistic, engaging, personable and supportive.
{9 words...BOOM!}
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Day 10, Most Embarrassing Moments

Challenge: Most embarrassing moment

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I truly cannot think of an embarrassing moment. I am sure I have lots that I have just conveniently chosen to forget...I guess I can think of a few habits that I have that have proven to be embarrassing. 
1) I have a staring problem. Like a serious staring problem. And I don't realize that I am doing it until someone either (a) points out that I'm doing it or (b) I make eye contact who the person I am staring at. I will stare at anyone and everyone.
2) I can't whisper. I.Seriously.Cannot.Whisper. Example: Rich and I were sitting on the seawall in Carlsbad and someone walked by, on the sand, maybe 15-20 below and I "whispered" that I loved the gal's dress. She immediately looked up in my direction, smiled, and thanked me! Ha! I was shocked she could hear me since, you know, I whispered. Rich, to prove his point, jumped off of the seawall, and reenacted the entire scenario and told me in fact that I am incapable of whispering.
3) It has become a funny joke in our house...when I find something interesting, I making this high pitched "HM" sound, without realizing it. We mock the "HM" all of the time but when I do it for reals I don't even realize it, and Rich will catch me and give me a hard time. How it all started: We were sitting at a patio table at a restaurant in Paris on our honeymoon. (Those of you who have been to little places like this know that the seats are all very close together.) So, anyway, two men sit down at the table beside us and, in French, order something. The waiter comes back with a glass filled of random veggies, and a can of tomato and carrot juice. Apparently, as the waiter placed each item on the table I made the aforementioned "HM" sound as Rich sat mortified because I was practically doing it in these guy's ears! Rich yelled at me and told me to stop staring and asked me what the heck sound I was making.
I just have some embarrassing habits, that have grown into quirks (?)

Day 9: A moment in My Day

Challenge: A moment in My Day

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Well, I guess this constitutes for a lot of moments in my day...
As I mentioned/advised yesterday, drink a lot of liquids during the day. This keeps you hydrated, your skin glowing and keeps you active while sitting at work in front of your computer. I, almost like clockwork, get up to use the little girls room every hour. It takes 2 minutes and it also takes effort. I have to get up, walk through the office, open the door, walk down the hall, use said ladies room, and then repeat to get back to my desk.  This little break gives my eyes, wrists, elbows and butt a rest from sitting and staring at a computer screen all day. And it give my legs a little exercise {hey, it's better than nothing, right?}
So...during breakfast, I drink a big glass of water, I also brew a big cup of tea in the morning and drink it when I get to work. I make sure to drink the blue bottle of water (lemon water, thanks RNL) all in the first four hours and then the second 1/2 of my day I drink the purple bottle(regular water). When I get home, I fill up the purple bottle again and drink at least another one at night!

Day 8: A Piece of Advice

Challenge: Day 8: A Piece of Advice

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I have a few pieces of advice for all of you out there...
Marriage Advice: Do some sort of pre-wedding counseling.  Whether it be through your religious affiliation or not, it is really important and I can't stress this enough. Yes, you know your future spouse, I mean, you agreed to marry that person! But there are inevitably topics that you have yet to cover. Trust me! Rich and I only had phone calls and skype dates for the majority of our relationship, so we pride ourselves on our communication skills. Even when the marriage counselling came up, there were topics that we hadn't really talked about and this was a great way to get the conversation started.
Wedding Day Advice: Take about 20-40 minutes to spend time alone with each other. This just happened upon us. We hadn't thought about it. No one told us to do it. Between our ceremony and the reception (and all of the pictures and bustling my dress and and and) our caterer/day-of coordinator set up a tray of hors-dourves and champagne for us in a tucked away room. Away from the guests and the cameras, the flowers and the food to just be together. The room we were in was upstairs and had a big window looking down on the entire reception venue so as we basked in this amazing day we watched our guests enjoy the reception venue. It was magical. We were able to sneak away and spend some alone time together in peace and quiet and shrieks of excitement!
Work Advice: Make sure you are ergonomically set for your body type and drink a lot of water. I can.not. stress this enough. With the way technology is advancing these days, I cannot see moving away from sitting at a desk all day, typing away on a computer keyboard and staring at a computer monitor. Make sure that you are in an as ergonomic friendly position as you can be; if you can stand, stand! And make sure to drink a lot of water, for 2 reasons. 1) To stay hydrated! Obviously. And 2) So it forces you to get up from your desk and walk to the bathroom. Take frequent 1-2 minute breaks to stretch and look at something aside from your computer monitor. Break up your tasks with computer and other tasks that you may have that involves other muscles, and limbs! (Need help: check this out)
Life Advice: Your body is a temple, you only have one so take good care of it. Thanks, mom! This cannot be more true in more ways than one. Keep your mind learning, your body active and your heart loving. If you are lacking stimulation in any of the aforementioned categories, change up your routine! Run a new route, eat a new food, read a new article. Keep up with current events so you can engage in intelligent conversations with people aside from your spouse and your parents. Teach yourself a new language, start a new hobby, don't dwell on the things that hurt you in the past, forgive. All of these things keep us young at heart and wrinkle free!
Happy Hump Day everyone!

Day 7. The Thing(s) I'm Most Afraid Of

Challenge: The thing(s) I'm Most Afraid Of

~ Public restrooms with stalls
{insert scene from a horror film here}

~ The Ocean
The thought of its vastness terrifies me! I mean, c'mon, there are animals in the ocean that are as big as 747s! And there is more than 1! How is that not scary!?

~ My family and friends dying
yes, I know, morbid, but it's true!

~ Falling on my face and losing my teeth
Vain, yes I know, but what could be worse? (ok, a lot of things...lets not go there)

Why I Started Blogging..

I saw this link up last week and thought it would be fun to read some of my first blog posts. You can find my very first one here.
Wow! ha!

Reading this made me smile and it brought me back to that time in my life. The summer of 2009. This was the summer I was supposed to graduate from college. But since I couldn't make up my mind on what I wanted to major it, I had another year left. I was working in housing and for a private equity company Downtown San Francisco. I had not a care in the world except to get some work experience and have fun. I had been with my boyfriend (now husband) for almost a year. We had endured a deployment and lived apart for most of our relationship. We met through the lovely woman who I dedicated my first blog post to - his sister, my Alpha Gamm sister, my friend.

I started out writing about: current events - hello, what happened to Michael Jackson, Relationships, Inspiration,  Restaurant Reviews, Youtube Videos and Recipes (which is still make, to.this.day.) - all while incorporating fun colors and fonts what was i thinking?!

This blog has definitely gone through a lot - life, jobs, friends, travel, family, moving, life, health, wedding, moving, fitness, marriage, well being, recipes/food, family, friends, travel, life. I have kept up with this blog daily, weekly, monthly. I have neglected it. I had it designed, I designed it myself.

This blog really does represent who I am, what I am going through and what is important to me. Of course life isn't perfect, I don't use this space of mine to complain and vent about the bad things, I use it to highlight the fun/exciting/beautiful things that I am up to and what is most important in my life. I mean seriously, who wants to read about what 'Debbie Downer' is doing? No one.

I use this blog to catalog my life and share it with my family and friends. To keep in touch. I use this blog as a portal to keep it touch with my friends in far away places and learn new and exciting things.

Thanks for reading!
And going on a trip down memory lane with me! ;-)