Tag: wine

My Mission Statement

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In his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey talks about creating a personal mission statement.  It’s been awhile since I read the book, but my remembering was that this is what is core to you.  It is helpful because you can evaluate all possible activities and actions against your statement.  Does it further your mission statement?  Great, move forward.  No, move on.

I’ve been puzzling over this.  Here is my current bare bones mission statement:

  1. To enjoy time with my family and go on many adventures with them.
  2. To be a thoughtful and considerate friend.
  3. To take steps to improve my writing.

This is a little light, I know.  There are other concepts I’ll have to capture with a more developed statement (faith, charity, etc.), but this is my start.  I thought about putting something on learning Italian, but this feels like more of a temporary goal and I’m not sure how much I want to focus on that overall.  Yes, I want to get better, but I’m not sure it will be a big focus.  More on this later.

This start is why I recently embarked on a whole30 and am committing to exercise and more sleep.  I know it doesn’t say anything about this in my statement; however, I’ve realized I need to take better care of myself to make the mission work.  If I’m tired, I could miss out on something fun with the kids.  I’m not as patient as I’d like to be.  I probably won’t send that email to a friend.  And I may nap instead of focusing on writing.

Hopefully this helps.  The whole30 may turn into a whole14 or even a whole7.  (Because, I mean, PIZZA.)  But I’m looking for a reset.  I’ve been spending too much time in “vacation mode.”  Sure, sure, you can stay up and read.  There’s only a little bit of wine left in that bottle.  Why not have gelato every day?  You get the drift.

Much of this mindset is because it really hasn’t sunk in that I live here now. I live in a foreign country.  I live in Rome.  James and I turn to each other almost every other day and ask “can you believe we live here?”  The other day–just for a moment–I thought about driving to Annapolis on Saturday.

I’m sure this will wear off at some point.  Probably sooner than I think.  I do plan to enjoy everything this country has to offer–including plenty of pizza, cheese, and gelato.  Maybe just every other day.

Do you have a mission statement?  What does it cover?

 

Wine tweets: What I’ve been drinking*

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*Descriptions from a wine/beer lover who is really bad at talking about it

I’m not sure if this will be a regular feature.  We’ll have to see how it goes.  If I keep it up, I definitely need to do more in real time, as I have forgotten much about these poor bottles.  So with all of these glowing recommendations, here we go . . .

Reds

Reds

Up first, some chiantis.  The chianti on the left was legit.  Hands down favorite of this post.  James got this on his first visit to the wine store, where he consulted with a very helpful English-speaking wine enthusiast.  I have not yet been to the wine store because stroller.  And taking Henry into a store that specifically and deliberately sells glass bottles seems like a terrible idea.  If I had to pick one word for this one, it would be “mineraly.”  It wasn’t overly tannic, but you were scraping your tongue a little after each sip.  But in a good way.  #gobigred

The chanti in the middle I don’t recall specifics, but I think it was pretty good.  The word here would be “adequate,” but meant in the best possible way.  Here is a nice red that I would enjoy drinking with most things.

The chianti on the right, however, not so much.  I picked this one out at the grocery store.  This is wine that prompted James to suggest we only drink “classicos” from now on.  There just wasn’t a lot to it.  Although when we had it the next day with a nice weekend pizza lunch, it was much better.  I guess I just need to decant my crappy red wines more.  (snort) #pass

More reds

The valipolicella on the left was very nice.  If I recall, when selecting a wine that night, James asked what I wanted and I said “I want something that feels velvety in my mouf.”  I know.  Who says that?  But this one did fit the bill.  #smooth

The other two I do not have strong recollections of.  I believe they were Italian adequate.  And ooo . . . cool bottle decoration.  It’s like the hood ornament to your drinking experience.  #fancy

The lone white of this batch

Even though we arrived to excellent white wine sipping weather (read hot), I’ve just been craving the reds.  This was also Italian adequate.  More on the fruity and refreshing side.  This would be great to drink on its own.  #porchwine

9.18_wine 4

And one beer

James grabbed a pack (they come in 3s) of these beers at the grocery store.  I use the term beer loosely.  Not because it was bad, but because it really seemed more like lemonade.  In its defense, it was only like 2%.  #wouldbuyatthebeach

And that concludes this edition of wine tweets.  We’ll see if this feature returns.  If it doesn’t, it certainly won’t be because of a lack of subjects.  If this is a must for you, do let me know!