Sigh of relief.

It's the weekend! Okay, so this really wasn't a very difficult week, but I'm always happy when Friday night rolls around, if for no other reason than that I am obsessed with watching Say Yes to the Dress and Four Weddings! Johnny calls the former, "Say No to the Show" and everything else on TLC (aka "The Freak Channel") complete garbage. So I watch upstairs with a glass of wine, while he plays xbox. typical.

Anyway, thanks to Zicam, I am feeling almost 100% better. This may have been my shortest cold in history, I'm happy to report. Especially, because we will be attending the Winter Wine Festival at the Wentworth by the Sea tonight for the second year in a row. Last winter, I heard about it through my friend Leah Grace, and we decided to try it out. It's a bit pricey for a couple our age and on our budget, but I made a point to put some of my holiday overtime earnings toward it, because we truly love good food and wine, and don't really go out that much, for the aforementioned reasons. Well, it was totally worth it. Fab-u-lous. The dinner we chose featured wines from the Chilean vintner Lapostolle and the food was prepared by the executive chef from the White Barn Inn in Kennebunk. It's a four-course meal, with a cocktail hour and passed hors d'œuvres before. Ours ended up actually being a five-course meal, because the family that owns Lapostolle is descendant from the makers of Grand Marnier, so that was served with some chocolates and petit fours after the dessert course. It was a wonderful experience and introduced me to a new favorite variety of wine, Carménère, which is the "lost grape of Bordeaux. Delish. Try it if you haven't. There are some reasonable bottles often on sale at the NH Liquor store.

Anyway, this year Leah & I decided we should go to it together. She & her boyfriend Scott had gone to a different dinner and also had a great experience, but we both found we were the youngest people there by about 20 years. Yes, sometimes we do worry we are ridiculous and act like 40-year-olds... but oh well! We love wine! And the Wentworth is really nice, so it's fun to have a little mini-vacay close to home. With all that wine, we plan to stay the night there, even though we live close. They have a special rate for the Wine Fest, so it's not too unreasonable. We chose this dinner tonight because it features Italian wines and cheeses (yum!). I haven't seen Leah since right after Christmas, or Scott since Halloween (they both live in Boston these days), so it will be fun to hang out with them again!

Planning fun things like this, even once a month, is what gets us through the winter doldrums around here. This year has been particularly bad with snow and ice, and with our engagement, and the trip to Denver last month, things have been a little crazy for us. Our house is a total mess and completely unorganized. It just feels like we're too busy to keep to our normal routine and feel sane! 

On that note, I need to get some chores & errands done before the fun begins tonight. Happy Weekend to all and check out the Winter Wine Festival if you haven't heard of it - there are a few weeks left, and they do it every year. Some of the proceeds always go to charity, so in addition to being fun, delicious, and educational, it's a good cause!


The Winter Wine Festival at the Wentworth By the Sea