Visit a vineyard/winery

“Wine makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, every day more civilized.” ― Andre Simon

Part of the fun in undertaking an adventure such as this idea of being bold in 2013 is other people getting excited about it and, ultimately, joining in the fun. Recently, while enjoying a casual Saturday morning breakfast with a couple cousins and their spouses, we started discussing "the list". Everyone had their items that they were ready to join in on, things they thought should be added in, and more rarely, the items they chose to pre-emptively call in sick for. As we talked, and got more excited, the spirit really grabbed us and my cousin, Maria, said "well, let's cross something off." Which is how we found our group of five adults, a baby and a dog strolling the snow covered grounds of Flag Hill Winery in Lee, NH. Not exactly the prime time, as the vines are all in a state of hibernation and the winery tour was not running. Despite all this, we had a lovely afternoon, first enjoying some fresh air while Sammi ran through the snow, chasing whatever we threw. After we were good and chilled, we headed up to the the winery itself, which was warm and welcoming, after our tromp. The women working behing the bar were friendly and accomodating, ready with samples of anything we wanted to try. So we sampled wines, both red and white, liquors and liqueors. Some were tasty (red wine, port), others not so much (apple brandy). In the end we all walked out with a paper bag containing our favorite items to enjoy later. I personally took home a bottle of the first gin ever distilled in New Hampshire, and a bottle of the red wine. As our afternoon came to an end we all went off to our seperate evening plans, however, the danger of day drinking is that your evening activities can be heavily effected. I believe that every member of our little adventure party was either asleep or had taken a nap by 8pm that night. The beauty of being an older adult is that this doesn't bother us in the slightest :) I hesitated to post about this visit, as it was short and we intend to go again when we can do the full tour, but in the end the point is that we took the initiative and went. We had a great time, and their is definitely a little buzz that goes along with every checkmark on this list, and it definitely makes me feel like we are accomplishing something, which is the point of it all.

The sleeping vines

Our crew: Janelle, Charlie, George, Maria and Derik!

Buy a plant and have it survive a year...

"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." -Audrey Hepburn

I can't tell you what's behind my desire to have a plant survive, or not just survive, but thrive. I know I killed more african violets as a child then any one person should have a right to. I know I love a garden, both for its beauty and the tranquility that often comes with it. I have never had the land, or the patience, to care for a garden the way it's supposed to be taken care of. So, for the first time, I am making myself 100% responsible for a living thing. I can't tell you for sure what I will get out of it, but I plan to take this responsibility seriously. Since the goal was to keep it alive for the year I thought the sooner I got started, the better. So without further ado, please meet Gus Gus and Jacques, joined in this picture by Rosalie the orchid.

My friend Janelle, who is also on this goal achieving adventure of 2013, and I went out about a week ago in search of our plants. Let me tell you, you can learn something about people based on the plants they choose to maintain. For instance, as we strolled the aisles looking at all the various choices, we had wildly different attack plans. I had the simple limitation of no light, my apartment has no direct sunlight, and very little natural light on a day to day basis. That aside, the plants I was drawn to said things like, "tolerates neglect" and "easy care", that boiled down to "hard to kill". I was on board, because while I plan to achieve this goal, I also plan to make it as easy as possible on myself, which is kind of how I roll. I am not downing myself, I just tend to prioritize where I put effort in, which sometimes leads me to underachieve in a certain areas of my life, but it also simplifies it and so far it works for me. So, in the end I got my boys, Gus Gus, the Sansevieria, and Jacques, the lucky bamboo. Survivors (I hope), who are sturdy, strong and resourceful, much like their namesakes. Janelle, on the other hand, is a consumate overachiever. She saw the beautiful orchid, read the instructions to ensure she had a suitable environment and went for it. Of course, she found out later the life expectancy of an orchid averages out at about 3 months, making the goal of one year's survival unlikely and will probably require much more effort on her part. But, that's typical Janelle, she jumps in feet first, knowing she probably shouldn't and that her chances of success aren't great, and almost always finds away to pull it out. That being said, for my money, I bet Ms. Rosalie is still alive and kicking a year from now. I will now share the few things I have learned in one week of plant ownership... 1. It's a club, similar to kids or pets, people want to offer you advice and help you out because you have joined in the brotherhood, mostly unsolicited but for a novice like me, almost always helpful 2. Apparently I talk to living things, even if they can't hear me or respond 3. I love these guys, like feel deep attachment to plants I have owned for ONE week 4. I need help

Wow!

I was going to let it go, I really was. I mean, two years is a really long time to ignore something completely. However, in a new effort to get back to things I love, and find new things to add to that list, I am giving it one more shot. It's a couple weeks into 2013, the holidays are over and most resolutions made in a celebratory mood as the year came to a close, with champagne in hand, have been broken. It's that time of year where the majority of a cold, dark winter stretches out before you without much to break it up. This year, for the first time in recent history, I made no list of resolutions. What I did instead, is make a singular resolution to be "someone I would be interested in knowing". So with the help of my good friend Janelle, we made a list of things we intend to do this year, equaling out to approximately one thing a week from the list. They aren't all new things, they aren't all exciting, some cost money and others are free. Essentially it's all the things we talk about and never do. The hope is, with a list of items to cross off, we are more motivated then usual to get them done. One of these items is to keep a journal, which is why I will attempt to use this forum as my record of this attempt at being interesting. So here it is, in no particular order...
Listen to live music
Take a salsa class
Go Latin dancing
White water rafting
Skiing/snowboarding
Snowshoeing
Cooking class
Try a new workout (spinning, class, etc.)
Road trip to acadia national park
Go to Canada
Camping
Learn how to change a tire
Build something from scratch or refurbish a piece of furniture
Do a Murder mystery
Go to a baseball game
Play a round of golf
Visit Salem, MA
Go to Boston Art Museum
Walk the Freedom Trail
Go sailing
Make Jam(and other canning adventures)
Buy a new plant and have it survive
Have a SPA day
Go to a farmers market
Spend a day at the beach
Go paddle boarding
Go ice fishing
Keep a journal
Go hiking
Run a 5k
Do some charity work
Meditate
Go to a vineyard
Do something scary (not horror scary, nerve wracking scary)
Watch classic movies
Read a classic book
Read a non fiction book
Vacation to tropical place
Do an ART project
Spend a day thrift store shopping
Go ice skating
Learn to shoot a gun
Go horseback riding
Attempt couponing
Print pictures
Have a “cupboard potluck” dinner
Do a walking tour of my birth town
Make a living will
Learn to play a song on the guitar
Spend night out in Boston
Go to NYC
Sleep on the beach
Make homemade soap and candles
Visit some of New Hampshire's natural wonders
Seems overwhelming when all written out, but I have faith that it can get done...wish me luck!