My Hawaiian getaway barely missed the fourth quarter mark, but my travel diary is linked here. These final three months of the year have been busy in a good way. Recap of Q4:
Wine Dinner in the Hill Country
Grace is one of my best friends whom I met through graduate school. She hosted a huge wine tasting dinner party at her beautiful home in Austin this fall. I had never experienced anything like it! There were about 9 bottles of different wine served with several courses she prepared for 10 people. In addition to the meal preparation, Grace also provided some info on each bottle of wine including taste notes and region. To say I was impressed is an understatement! The night was fun and the wine delicious. I’m not much of a cook, but I’m far more inclined to host a wine tasting now thanks to Grace!
Rio Grande Valley
My last visit to South Texas had been a long time ago. Maybe a year? And for sure before then at least a couple years. This trip to where I’m from was a special one because *drum roll* I took Jeff with me! “Home” looks very different for me now than it did 10 years ago. Ten years ago my mom lived in my childhood home, my dad a few miles away, and both siblings lived in my hometown. None of that is true anymore. These days I’m far more inclined to call Austin home since that’s where I visit most, but I always knew a weekend in the RGV was necessary to really show Jeff my roots.
So, I took him to Weslaco, TX. It’s a small town of 40k and it almost felt like there wasn’t much to see except there was. We drove by my childhood home, ballet studio, high school, favorite bakery, and stopped by for what people in North Texas would call a snow cone. As for me, it’s called a raspa. I always get the same grape flavor topped with artificial grape flavoring, koolaid, and gummy bears. It’s sour, and it reminds me of home.
The rest of the weekend consisted of family time. I made it to watch my nephew play soccer on a toddler sized field, binged TV with my big sis, and had home cooked food. Frankie, my brother, hosted us at his home for a backyard BBQ. My brother’s the cook in the family so everything was delicious! It was Jeff’s first time meeting him and a big part of the reason we decided to take this trip to RGV.
Napa Valley
Napa has been on my bucket list for so long! The good news is it’s finally checked off. The bad news is I was extremely sick while I was there.
Two days before departure I went to urgent care. My throat was killing me. TMI but it hurt so much I was spitting into a cup upon arrival to the doctors office! I was tested for the usual: flu, COVID, strep, and my tests were all negative. I was given an antibiotic band aid (that didn’t work by the way) and got on a flight to California like that.
Once there, we met Jeff’s friends from Houston. Side note: It was a birthday celebration for one of the guys, and can you believe the turn out?! Eleven schedules coordinated to make this happen and it brings me a little joy! But like I said, they’re in from Houston and I hadn’t seen anyone in months. I was excited to chat with everyone and lost my voice on the first night. This happened the entire time I was there where I’d conserve my voice during the day and then lose it trying to talk in the evenings. It was extremely painful.
If you’re interested in where we went with the group:
Rare Cat Sparkling: My favorite of the ones we visited with the group! I’m a champagne girl and this place delivered.
Saddleback Cellars: A relaxed and laid back vibe. Although I did enjoy their Albarino, the vineyard as a whole felt more like Fredericksburg TX to me than CA and that’s plenty for me to skip it next time.
Krupp Brothers: The most stunning view from this vineyard. I politely asked the wine guy for an entire glass of their white so I could skip on the 4 red tastings and I was told no. I would never go back and do not recommend this place at all for their lack of accommodations.
Taylor Family: The wine was great, the pours were very small. For that reason I wouldn’t recommend it.
Domaine Carneros: Me and Jeff went to this vineyard just the two of us and I’m so glad we did! It was the only time alone we had and was so special. The chateau was stunning and the sparkling wines were right up my alley. Truly such a wonderful experience!
My final thoughts on Napa Valley? Now that it’s been checked off my list there’s no urgency for me to return any time soon. When I do one day, I will be doing research on vineyards with sparkling and white wines and make reservations for those only. Too much red wine went to waste on me this time around and it also felt like an unreasonable way to spend money on tastings that included reds when that’s not something I would drink.
Turkey Trot 5K
I started running over 10 years ago. Initially for the purpose of looking my best for the pageant season. Those days are long gone but I still enjoy running! It’s almost a little sad to think that if I had never competed in pageants there’s a chance I never would have started running at all. Since then I’ve always wanted to do a Turkey Trot, but 1) no one in my family runs and 2) we don’t spend many Thanksgiving’s together.
Fast forward 10 years and I met Jeff who on our first date said he’d run a Turkey Trot with me. Jeff is an athlete but not a runner. Just a guy who wanted to impress a girl, and a girl who reminded a guy of his promise. In the weeks leading up to the race, Jeff often told me that we would need to take walking breaks. I was completely ok with that as long as we got it done. Lo and behold, we ran the race straight through! It felt great to get some exercise in on a holiday, but I was just overwhelmingly proud of Jeff for running the entire time. I promise it brings a smile to my face just thinking about it!
If you recall from our triathlon in May (recap here), we didn’t run our 5K straight. The weather was bad and Jeff didn’t feel well. The important thing to note is that we did finish the triathlon, but the Turkey Trot run was more aligned with the experience I always wished Jeff would have had in May. Run non-stop or not, I’m happy to have been able to start a new tradition this year.
Coach Audition
It’s been a few months since I earned my group fitness cert and I finally started the process of looking for a position! I don’t know what I was expecting, but the amount of preparation that has gone into an audition has been more than I planned. I was provided a script to familiarize myself with and was asked to be ready to provide technical cues and modifications for 3 random exercises. I did my best to prepare, and yet I showed up to the audition feeling a little… unprepared. There were six decision makers in the corner of the room with one person recording me as I stumbled over my words on the microphone. I was nervous clearly, and even though I didn’t know the script word for word, I somehow still felt comfortable on the microphone! As if that’s not a win in and of itself, I also got invited back for the week-long coaches training! I am over the moon and look forward to sharing more as I go through this process.
XO,
Vivian