Yet another overdue update - the only kind I seem to make
My reasoning why I never updated before was because nothing new was happening in my life. Now, I actually have had some stuff happen and still I didn't update. So my new reasoning is that I am just a lazy good for nothing...so deal. ;)
So I'll start with the Seder (even though that is very un-chronological). The Seder went well over all. There were little things wrong, but what can you do. Everyone there was just happy for wine and a home-cooked meal. I think it is something I might do next year as well, but time will tell.
Matt had his 21st birthday. Since that happened to fall on Monday of finals week for him, no big party. I took him out to a really nice restaurant in Berkeley and had an expensive dinner. I also gave him a wallet, but that is just because his was really old. His real gift was a trip to Napa which I get to in a minute.
So during this week of Matt's birthday and Seder prep, my stomach was killing me! Its always been a little ify but this week was murder. I had to leave work early one day because I was doubled over in pain. So I finally make my way to the doctor. She told me I have acid-reflux and probably have IBS (I am going to a specialist in a few weeks to confirm). The acid-reflux I got some medicine for, but it takes awhile to work...so I'm still feeling it. The IBS, since she wasn't positive, I'm trying to treat naturally. This means lot of yogurt and no carbs. Yeah, that's right no carbs. How crappy is that. I'm becoming one of those annoying Aikens people, but not by choice. I'm hoping this isn't a forever thing. Granted, a positive side effect is loosing weight, but I really like bread. After the specialist I'm going to have to make a choice of pain or bread....and that is tough. Bread is something you don't miss until it is gone. I went out to dinner the other night and just savored this tiny little piece of bread from the bread basket. Ever savored bread? Thats not something most people do. Chocolate maybe...but just plain bread. Bread is something I really like. sigh. We'll see what I do.
More upbeat topic. I took Matt up to Napa for his birthday. We went wine tasting and stayed at a nice B&B. We actually only made it to four wineries...partly because we stayed awhile at each one and partly because I did have to drive you know. The first winery we hit was Neibaum-Coppala. You might know this one...Francis Ford Coppala's one. We took a tour around the estate and got to see where he lives and his studio (from the outside of course). Afterwards we had a little tasting. We got to taste this $100 wine. Damn was it good. There were so many flavors and they all blended into this incredibly smooth wine. Soooooooooo good. After that wine we figured we'd go for something really different and went drinking sparkling wine. The place was called Mumm. It was really good too. The next day we went to Mario Andretti's (the chef on Food network) winery. They had an amazing Merlot there. I was really impressed. The funniest thing about that place was that a professor from Matt's school was one of the pourers. Nice weekend/summer gig. After that we went to Hagafen, which is a nice Kosher winery. I didn't even plan that, they just had a free tasting coupon. Got to taste 17 year old wine there. Yummy.
Wine and outlet shopping aside, it was a really nice weekend with Matt. We both turned off our cell phones and just concentrated on each other. It was really nice to have this weekend of just us, especially because summer is just around the corner and I won't be getting to see much of Matt. He is mostly likely going to be leaving for his parent's house in a few short weeks and then after 2 months, he will be gone for cruise. I hate thinking about a summer without him. My job has this stupid vacation policy, where you can't take it for 6 months. Which means for me to come down and see my brother's graduate, I have to take 3 unpaid days off. I have these vacation days sitting there taunting me too. Since I've been sick, I can't use my sick days that freely. So basically what this means is that between Matt leaving and him coming with me to my brothers graduating, I won't get to see him. I might get a day or two the month afterwards if I'm lucky and then nothing but an occasional e-mail for the next two months. This is going to be a very difficult summer. I miss the days when summers were something to look forward to.
Anyways, this is an incredibly long post and I really should be working. Bye.
So I'll start with the Seder (even though that is very un-chronological). The Seder went well over all. There were little things wrong, but what can you do. Everyone there was just happy for wine and a home-cooked meal. I think it is something I might do next year as well, but time will tell.
Matt had his 21st birthday. Since that happened to fall on Monday of finals week for him, no big party. I took him out to a really nice restaurant in Berkeley and had an expensive dinner. I also gave him a wallet, but that is just because his was really old. His real gift was a trip to Napa which I get to in a minute.
So during this week of Matt's birthday and Seder prep, my stomach was killing me! Its always been a little ify but this week was murder. I had to leave work early one day because I was doubled over in pain. So I finally make my way to the doctor. She told me I have acid-reflux and probably have IBS (I am going to a specialist in a few weeks to confirm). The acid-reflux I got some medicine for, but it takes awhile to work...so I'm still feeling it. The IBS, since she wasn't positive, I'm trying to treat naturally. This means lot of yogurt and no carbs. Yeah, that's right no carbs. How crappy is that. I'm becoming one of those annoying Aikens people, but not by choice. I'm hoping this isn't a forever thing. Granted, a positive side effect is loosing weight, but I really like bread. After the specialist I'm going to have to make a choice of pain or bread....and that is tough. Bread is something you don't miss until it is gone. I went out to dinner the other night and just savored this tiny little piece of bread from the bread basket. Ever savored bread? Thats not something most people do. Chocolate maybe...but just plain bread. Bread is something I really like. sigh. We'll see what I do.
More upbeat topic. I took Matt up to Napa for his birthday. We went wine tasting and stayed at a nice B&B. We actually only made it to four wineries...partly because we stayed awhile at each one and partly because I did have to drive you know. The first winery we hit was Neibaum-Coppala. You might know this one...Francis Ford Coppala's one. We took a tour around the estate and got to see where he lives and his studio (from the outside of course). Afterwards we had a little tasting. We got to taste this $100 wine. Damn was it good. There were so many flavors and they all blended into this incredibly smooth wine. Soooooooooo good. After that wine we figured we'd go for something really different and went drinking sparkling wine. The place was called Mumm. It was really good too. The next day we went to Mario Andretti's (the chef on Food network) winery. They had an amazing Merlot there. I was really impressed. The funniest thing about that place was that a professor from Matt's school was one of the pourers. Nice weekend/summer gig. After that we went to Hagafen, which is a nice Kosher winery. I didn't even plan that, they just had a free tasting coupon. Got to taste 17 year old wine there. Yummy.
Wine and outlet shopping aside, it was a really nice weekend with Matt. We both turned off our cell phones and just concentrated on each other. It was really nice to have this weekend of just us, especially because summer is just around the corner and I won't be getting to see much of Matt. He is mostly likely going to be leaving for his parent's house in a few short weeks and then after 2 months, he will be gone for cruise. I hate thinking about a summer without him. My job has this stupid vacation policy, where you can't take it for 6 months. Which means for me to come down and see my brother's graduate, I have to take 3 unpaid days off. I have these vacation days sitting there taunting me too. Since I've been sick, I can't use my sick days that freely. So basically what this means is that between Matt leaving and him coming with me to my brothers graduating, I won't get to see him. I might get a day or two the month afterwards if I'm lucky and then nothing but an occasional e-mail for the next two months. This is going to be a very difficult summer. I miss the days when summers were something to look forward to.
Anyways, this is an incredibly long post and I really should be working. Bye.