It's Time For The Monthly Wine Reviews!

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I've been waiting so long to share this with everyone and I really hope a lot of people join in and share their favorite and least favorite wines! The link up will be live for 2 weeks and return at the end of the month, each month. 

Here is what I'm sharing with you this month: 

WILD HORSE - Pinot Noir: light and fruity. worth the $20? No, but it's def worth a $10-12 price. I don't hate or love this one, I found it to be delicious and simple but I think it needs to drop down a shelf. I would buy it again if I find it cheaper somewhere else. 

PRAXIS - Pinot Noir: ok, this one we had at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant and I honestly barely remember what it tasted like because there was like 23758 fruit flies trying to steal it from us so we just guzzled it and left. I'm pretty sure we didn't hate it though. 

ESTANCIA - Sauvignon Blanc: the pinot noir that Estancia makes is so damn good. So I wanted to try some of their other stuff. The sauvignon blanc was not the best one I've had BUT it was much better than some Robert Mondavi crap I had the day before. It was very fruity and even refreshing. I would buy this again without thinking twice. But I'm not sure if that's just because it's Estancia...

ESTANCIA - Pinot Grigio: Another one from them. While it's not bad, I'm starting think they are better at reds. I have bought this more than once and and will probably buy it again because it's so cheap. There's a fruit that I'm tasting that I can't exactly decide what it is. Maybe pear or something. Whatever it is, this is a tasty wine for a cheap wine. 

DaVINCI - Pinto Grigio: This one! Yum. I will buy this again and again and again. Super crisp and fruity. I could have easily drank the whole bottle in a sitting, it was just so good. 

Not pictured: Gnarly Head and Bogle, both Pinot Noir. They are both tasty and gave me a great wine buzz (especially the Bogel) but I will never drink them again because they both gave me a nasty headache the next day. I guess, a "gnarly headache"... that lasted most of the day. Yuck!

We have awesome wine sales around here (maybe because so many are from CA) so I got 6 more different kinds last night! Already getting prepped for next month's review!

My Biggest Flaw (and other tidbits)

My thoughts on apologies have always been pretty harsh and negative. I don't apologize very easily and I don't accept apologies very easily. The word "sorry" has just never had any meaning to me. I've always looked at apologies as a load of crap. Like, don't bother saying sorry, you just never should have done [whatever they're apologizing for] in the first place. Mostly, I view accepting an apology as --- giving that person permission to do that shit again. More often than not, when I've accepted someones "sorry", I got burned again. But now here I am at 31 years old and I'm realizing how stupid that is. Well, not entirely stupid. But my point is that I feel like I'm wasting so much energy on not letting shit go. I can say that over the last few years I have learned to let A LOT go, but not enough yet for me to feel at peace. I hold on to the bad shit people do to me. No matter how big or small, bad is bad and I will not ever let you forget what you did, what you said, how you made me feel. And it is goddamn suffocating. I've tried self help books,  and I've tried therapy but end up quitting because they usually just annoy me. I've thought of anger management classes (because I am a FIREBALL) but I really don't think "anger" is what needs management. I think it's all my emotions as a whole that need management. Even when I have happy emotions, I get overly excited about things! Everything is extreme with me. Ok, my anger is for sure more extreme than the rest but it also is like 75% better than it used to be. I guess I need "emotion management" to kill of that other 25%. Do they have those classes anywhere? Or is that just called "drink wine, do shots"? 

And I let people's lies really eat me up. I would really prefer to choke out people when they lie to me, but I can't so I let it fester in me and I develop all this hatred for them. Like, what the fuck though, why can't you just be honest? Especially over something so stupid. Ugh, those are the worst. But why am I letting it get to me? They are the ones that have to live with themselves knowing they are a piece of shit. I lay my head down at night knowing that I have nothing to hide. Now let me tell you, I was not always this way. I used to have plenty to hide. I had all kinds of secrets from all kinds of people. Big ones, awful ones. But then.... I grew the fuck up. And I changed all of that. I changed so much that I'm not even a good liar anymore, I could never get away with a lie. I can't imagine being the person I am today and looking right in someones face and lying to them. About anything. (Unless I don't care about you because then I just don't care.) But I can't control what choices other people make. I can only control how I react about it. And that is where my change needs to come in. My brother once told me, a long time ago: "you can't always control your emotions but you can control what you do about them" and "don't let other people control your emotions". I swear I have never forgotten those words, but I find them so impossible to live by. I've been like this for my whole life, how am I just supposed to just change? Letting shit get to me is so embedded in who I am as a person. And it often makes me a really shitty person. In all honesty, it's absolutely another reason why I don't think I will ever be a mom. It's why I think I'll be a shitty mom.  And sometimes I try so hard to focus on not getting upset about things, that I end up giving myself anxiety. Ain't that a vicious cycle!?

Does anyone else have a hard time letting things go?  What do you do to make it easier for you? ------------------------------------------------------------
Three more things to say: 1) this may or may not be being delivered to my house on Tuesday

may or may not. you will find out soon.

2) I'm going to VEGAS FOR MY FIRST TIME EVER!!! if you've been following along, you know that my brother showed up at my door last week as a total surprise!! Him and his girlfriend have been down in San Diego for the week for work, heading home soon, so we decided to meet in Vegas to hang out one last time before they go back east. Me and Vanessa have never been to Vegas. The boyfriend has been a million times and my brother used to live there for a few months. I've lived in LA for a few years and Vegas is only a 3-4 hour drive, yet I have never gotten off my ass to go. I AM SO EXCITED! FINALLY! I can't wait to eat at the Bellagio buffet!  I'm mostly excited about all the FOOD. I already know everywhere that I want to eat!
3) The day is so so close! It's so almost here! The start of my monthly Wine Reviews goes live tomorrow! This is my first time hosting a Link-Up on my own so I'm super nervous. I really hope that people will join in, I'm always trying new wines and there's legit like 35913705972395729 of them out there, so why not share them?! Check out this post for details. It will go live on 8/31 and stay open for 2 weeks, close, and re-open on the last day of Sept, and repeat each month. Ahhhhh! 

Oh and let's BackThatAzzUp with Whitney....

#TeamMiley.

ONE MORE THING TO SAY ABOUT MILEY/VMAs..... these "antics" everyone is crying about, they're not new. Let's go back a few years...
2009: Ice Cream "Stripper Pole" performance at the Teen Choice Awards that everyone lost their shit over. 

2010: Her "thug life" performance at the MuchMusic Awards that everyone lost their shit over. 

And if you check out her tours during those years, she has been shaking her ass and being sexy for a few years now. It just seems as she gets older she gets a bit more provocative. So what.
It's also not the first time a child star went thru the same thing. Most memorable - Britney and Christina. And look at them now. It's the same "break out" phase so many of them go thru. It's just the nature of that industry, and it will never change. And as much crap people talk, they're still on top. Everyone is talking about them, including me. #winning. 
But maybe everyone could move on from trashing her and basically bullying her about her booty and remember that she is just as human as you and makes good choices, bad choices, mistakes, wears the wrong outfit, etc.  

Leave Miley alone!

So Much of So Much

Yes please. Please stop doing that. I will admit, I used to be so guilty of this. I was a slave to Facebook as if it was some kind of diary that people wanted to read. HAHA false. It's very negative and very annoying. So if you are one of those people that I used to be, stop. Because seriously, no one cares. Everyone scrolls past and rolls their eyes. If they're commenting, it's because they're nosy. No one goes on FB in hopes to see a bunch of cry baby statuses. Go make a Tumblr. 

Uhh, there's only 3 episodes left of Dexter, like forever. WHAT is gonna happen?! This Daniel dude is already annoying me. I think that doctor bitch is gonna rat out Dexter and it's gonna end with him going to jail. SAD! Also, WHAT is gonna happen to Walt and Jesse?!? You guys, I DON'T WANT BREAKING BAD TO END! I'm really distraught about this.  What if they made a show of Dexter and Heisenberg? Ha, amazing. 

via

I really really didn't want to talk about Miley and the VMA's since that is about 91% of the entire internet right now. But, ok I will. Can we just all pipe the fuck down and leave her alone? Really, who cares what she does on stage in a performance? Most performances these days are weird and make no sense. Basically all of them. She was under the thumb of Disney for most of her life and now she wants to actually grow up. So what if she chooses to do it provocatively. She obviously has no idea how to go about this transition because she's lived in an unrealistic world her whole life. It's not like you or I just got on stage and did something like that. Think of who she is, what she's been thru, what she's trying to do. It's a phase, it always is. Everyone wants to always talk shit about people like that... I dare you to get out there and live that life. See what happens. Everyone thinks they KNOW a celebrity just because of what is shown to us, you forget there is a lot more that we don't see and don't know about. Stop being so judgmental. And just don't with the whole "role model" thing. 

Moving on...
Feel like waking up to an extra $235 in your bank account? Of course you do. There's a pretty cool giveaway that Beth put together. Go check it out at Hang On Honey!
Wait, wait... want another $200 in your bank account?! You can win some money over on Allie's blog too! Check out the giveaway she put together at Tales Of A Twenty Something. 
Omg what if you win both?! Jackpot! GO ENTER BOTH!!
Oh, it's not over......
Been eyeing a mascara or shadow pallet? Caffeine addict? Looking for some free ad space? There's a giveaway that Christine put together at Life With A Side of Coffee that has all kinds of goodies!
FREE STUFF!!

And don't forget about this in 4 more days! WINE REVIEWS!

Biggest Surprise of My Life

Hands down one of the best weekends I've had. 

You may have read in previous posts that my brother (who lives back in New England) sent us amazing tickets to the Dodgers/RedSox game this weekend. Also coming separately in the mail was the parking pass he got for us. He was sending it fedex with a signature required for Thursday at 6pm. Well, let's go back to Thursday afternoon... The boyfriend hasn't been feeling well for kinda a long time, we've been thinking it was just allergies but something just wasn't right. He called me at work telling me he needs to go to the ER. Obviously, I bolted outta work and hurried home. We went to the ER around 2pm and spent 6-7 damn hours there. Turns out he has some inflamed lungs and bronchial spasms, but he is gonna be totally fine. I was so scared! But as always, we still managed to make the best and most fun of it.  

See, he was fine.

Oh have you ever heard of this, because we didn't... because it was his lungs, they needed to see how much oxygen was getting thru, which meant they needed to draw "oxygenated blood", which meant they drew blood from his artery!! I didn't even know that was a thing!

So, while we're at the hospital my brother kept calling and asking when we were gonna be home so we could get fedex and then my phone died of course and we didn't end up home until about 830pm after getting discharged and picking up the medicines. A text comes thru to Robert's phone from my brother saying "grr epic fail", and I assumed it was because we missed the fedex guy. Next, a picture comes thru of my brother's dog sitting on my front steps! I was like whaaaaa? So I immediately call and freak out "what's with that picture?!??! ARE YOU HERE?!?!" He laughs hysterically and is like "no I just wanted to show you my photoshop skills and mess with you". I was like "ohhh, well that's a really good picture!!" (dummy). He says he'll call me back in a few minutes because he was in a store. Ok. 10 minutes later.... THERE IS A KNOCK AT THE DOOR. I fucking froze! I said to Robert, omg go look out the peep hole omg who is here? And he asked and we hear a voice go "Fed Ex!!" and I was like "ohh oh ok" (dummy). He opens the door and there is MY BROTHER (Kevin) and his girlfriend (Vanessa) laughing their trickery asses off!!!! I nearly died.

I froze again in complete shock filled with overwhelming excitement. I could not even believe they were here. in California. in my apt. SO EXCITING!  AND THEY BROUGHT TANGO AND CIROC WITH THEM!!! Tango is the most adorable dog ever and Ciroc is the coolest most chill lilac siamese cat ever. 

DeNiro was shocked too. 

He acts tough, but he's really a big giant baby and he ran under the couch to hide. Rude.  They drove across country making a few stops on the way and stopped by to see us for the weekend before they head down to San Diego for more work. As I write this, I still feel like I lost my mind. They are really here. This is so cool. AND he had 2 more tickets to the Red Sox game so we all get to go together!!!!
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I wrote all that on Friday, and never posted because, well, I was busy having an unexpected super fun weekend. So here is how the rest of the time went... 
Friday night we went for some drinks and sushi (well, I didn't eat sushi cuz.. gross! but they all enjoyed some). It was super late and we were all exhausted, they were still on east coast time and we had worked early that day. So we called it a night and then we headed out to Venice Beach on Saturday and they got to experience the jaw dropping world of that place. 

It was Vanessa's first time at the Pacific ocean so of course it was a very exciting documenting moment! Squueee! And if you 've ever wondered where Snapchat headquarters are; they're right on the boardwalk. The first time I saw it, they were all outside playing beer pong. This time, it was cloudy and cold as eskimo nips at the beach so no one was out. Sunglasses are a mighty popular thing down there, there's about 2872891957 different stands with all kinds of sunglasses. Some of the people that run the stands are douches. This one wanted to charge $10 just to take a picture wearing them. Hahaha what a joke. Fuck that dude, I don't follow nonsense rules. SNAPPED A PIC FO' FREE. And now I'm posting it on the entire internet machine for the whole world to see for all eternity and he didn't even get half a penny from me. Punk.

Moving on to Sunday... Breakfast!!!! We all went to this awesome place a few blocks from us called Another Broken Egg Cafe and it's one of our fave places in LA, which is shocking cuz we hate 99% of the food here.

After I got all fueled up from breakfast, it was photo shoot time!! My brother is a photographer and Vanessa does hair and make-up, perfect team. The pictures won't be ready for a couple weeks since they're driving around the country right now, but I did snap a few with my phone! I'm so excited about them!

Time was moving fast and we had to end one fun adventure for another. I threw on my Red Sox gear and we headed over to Dodger Stadium. This place was a first for all of us and damn it was nice. Just where we were sitting (cuz we had dope tickets cuz Kevin and Vanessa are awesome, hi guys!) there were like 6 celebrities. Like, friggin Ice Cube!! The Game, George Lopez, Knicks player Tyson Chandler, Quinton Aaron (the star of The Blind Side and my brother got a pic with him here), and Flea from the Red hot Chili Peppers. Oh yea and Magic Johnson but he was a little further away. Kevin got some really awesome pictures of The Game when he was walking by. Here's what my crappy low battery device got me though....

The whole experience was just so much fun. I wish we could do it over and over again. It didn't hurt that not only did the Red Sox win, but they beat the Dodgers ass 8-1. And there was a mild scuffle 2 rows in front of us. That was hilarious. People take sports way too serious, I'm like it's a just a game buddy. Pipe the fuck down. Go Sox!

If you've been following along, you've seen Robert's new "smile" that he throws around everywhere. I like to call it the "clown rapist smile" because really, it looks like a face of someone that would rape clowns. So, we all went on a hunt for clowns together! 

So much creep. I'll leave you with this joy...

Tango and Robert

WTF!

Another week, another Wednesday, some more WTF!

You're probably thinking this is a piranha, but nope! It's their cousin, the Pacu. Not only are they disgusting and terrifying looking... guess what they live for? Attacking men's testicles!! Evil monsters. If your man is ever in the Sweden/Denmark area, make sure he wears a cup. Or just stays the fuck outta the water! The Brazilian Pacu has also been found in an Illinois lake and been nicknamed the "ball cutter" hahaha wtf.

Have you heard about the lion dog at the zoo in China? They legit had a fucking DOG in the cage at the zoo, as an African Lion.... until it started barking at people! Who believed it was a lion before it started barking? Why did they even think they could get away with it!? Look, look..

WTF China... I just.....

Had a big WTF last night. You may have read that we got tickets to a private screening for Anchorman 2. Well, they overbooked that shit! We got there TWO HOURS EARLY and there were already hundreds of people there. The first guy in line was already there for 4 hours. Uh, we don't like ANY movie enough to wait in that nonsense. So yea we didn't stick around. Super sucks but I would have been so miserable in that line for that long with that many people. AND we left our phones in the car because you're not allowed to bring them in. Total first world complaint but I would def need my phone for that experience. But damn! I really wanted to see it last night, I was so pumped up. 

Link up your WTF stories and pictures each Wednesday!

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A link up!

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I Love Lamp.

You guys! Today I get to go to the private screening for ANCHORMAN 2!!!! Which means this is most likely going to be slowest work day of all time ever.

So my bloggy buddy Anna tagged me in this post that's been going around so here goes:

Five things I have a passion for:

1. dogs
2. cats
3. giraffes
4. owls
5. all animals

Five things I'd like to do before I die:
1. cuddle with a baby giraffe and bottle feed it and go ni-nites with it.

Judge away, I do not even mind.

(if a giraffe isn't available, I'll do all of the above with a baby elephant. And with #2 and #3)
2. cuddle with a lion
3. cuddle with a leopard
4. go to space in Virgin Galactic!
5. win the powerball, so I can do #4 and I can travel to all the places below

Five reads I love:
1. A Million Little Pieces - James Frey

2. My Friend Leonard - James Frey











3. A Piece of Cake - Cupcake Brown

4. Prozac Nation - Elizabeth Wurtzel
5. Wasted - Mayra Hornbacher

I'm actually not a big reader, I just like memoirs of people that had fucked up lives and then got better. Legit, the only books I like to read. Also, I realize all the controversy that went down with James Frey but I read his books before that happened, and they had a big impact on me so I stand by how amazing they are. Also amazing are Dave Pelzer's books. What a story! I read A Child Called It, The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave. And I recently finished A Wolf At The Table, a memoir by Augusten Burroughs. 

Five favorite movies:
1. BLOW. best movie ever hands down. plus also, Depp for life!!

2. Casino. (and basically anything else Robert De Niro)

3. Wizard of Oz. forever and ever and ever
4. Finding Nemo. this movie forever soothes my soul. absolute joy!
5. Anchorman. duh.

Fives places I'd want to travel to:
1. space.
2. Grand Canyon. I'm not even that far away from it, just haven't done it yet.
3. The Maldives, before that shit is all under water!

4. Italy. all of it.
5. volcanoes!!


Five blog friends I tag:
1. Ashton @ A Fluffy Girl
2. Jenna @ Life Is Sweet
3. Autumn @ The Unreal Life
4. Jenn @ Bad Luck Jenn
5. Liz @ Fitness Blondie

And now I'm gonna go think about all these places I wanna go and animals I wanna cuddle with and it's gonna make the day go even slower. But OMG I get to see ANCHORMAN 2 tonight!!!!!!!