90 Day Journey – End of Week 10 Self Awareness (I forgot week 9…)

So first, I apologize Week 9, I forgot you… So I will include you with week 10.

Digging deep into who you are, discovering the Why, and even the Who, What, When and Where, are important. If you have not taken a few days at some point in your life to really dig in and ask yourself “Why…” like Why do I react that way to situation X, why do I believe in Thing Y, etc, you are missing something.

Often these tidbits are not Life Altering, or some huge discovery about yourself, but they are important. BUT if something is big and life altering, then you have done yourself a favour.

Self Awareness, and being HONEST with yourself about who you are, what you believe, how you want to live, how you want to love, is some clarity that I believe very few of you ever really get.
We all know Who We Are, but do we REALLY know Who We Are?
The answer will shock the fuck out of you.

Elements of Self Awareness – Self Love, Confidence, Self Acceptance
These elements are not used to fool yourself into a delusional state, that would be the opposite of Self Awareness.
You could easily use “Confidence” to hide things, build up around them. That is not real Confidence.
Confidence is there to allow you to be Honest with yourself, look yourself in the eye and accept what you truly see (self acceptance) and then employ Self Love to improve upon it, or realize it is what it is, accept it and move on.
Not every weakness you find or see needs to be worked on. Sometimes they are just what they are, and the effort to truly improve them is not worth the time and extreme added effort, when you could do so much more with that effort on either a different weakness, or a strength and gain exponentially more. BUT Accepting It is ALWAYS worth it, Acknowledging it is ALWAYS Worth it.

What have I discovered recently about myself with this process? Glad you asked:
I allow the status quo to set in too often, give up the fight for change too easily.
I am not straightforward enough with employees and co workers when it matters most. (sort of part 2 of the status quo weakness)
When something finally has to be done, I knee jerk react to it, because I allowed the status quo too linger too long and now it has to be solved.
I am smart, determined, flexible and capable of almost anything I set my mind too (as long as I cure the status quo part…)
I avoid confrontation in situations that really need it, and confront at times in situations that do not need it (part of the knee jerk reaction from above).

There are a host of other things as well, strength and weakness, but these were the higher level ones and things I have chose to work on actively.

Now on to the Fun Stuff:
On May 5th – 7th I got to head to Eastern Washington for some fantastic wine events, a tour of Cascade Cliffs and the Leonetti release party. While there did some tastings at Gramercy, L’Ecole, Lagana, Col Solare and Jacob Williams.
Some FANTASTIC wines in that group. I will get some content out around those this week and a post or two.

Happy Weekend and looking forward to a great week a head for all of you!

–Chris

AFV2022: Italy so far…

So I am WAY behind where I wanted to be on posts, but it has been a WHIRLWIND so far in Italy. Milan, Venice, Florence, San Gimignano, Bologna and now on the train to Rome (and then to Sorrento).

I figure most of the detailed posts will have to wait until I am home and then will gather thoughts and notes and pictures over the next few weeks.

So far the trip has been amazing, Food, food and more food, wine flowing pretty free also. Prices in Italy for many things are significantly cheaper than I remembered, the EUR and USD are about even, which helps a lot as well. Dinner is usually about $15-$25 a person, for two, if not three courses and wine. And this is not Olive Garden italian food… this is real food.
Your average pizza, about the size of a medium from Domino’s, $10-$12.
Bottle of wine $8-$20 ($20 is extreme, usually $12-$16), a glass $4-$6, maybe $8 if you go top end.

Quick thoughts on cities we have stayed in:
Milan – not a lot to see, food is so-so, likely a good party city, as it is the most modern city in Italy.
Venice – I am not a fan. Have been twice now. The history of Venice is amazing but the actual place leaves something to be desired.
Florence – amazing sites, great food. A lot of our group did not like it, but I do. I especially like the surrounding countryside
San Gimignano – Tuscan Hill Town, but very touristy. It is the visual representation of Tuscany, but is not the intimate, individualistic, Hill Town experience. Worth the visit, but not a long stay.
Bologna – Still confused by this place, just leaving the city right now.

The trip on the whole is amazing. Even if parts of it have not hit the spot for me, something in every place is has been someone else’s favourite. Just being here in Italy is fantastic.

We had quite a few side trips, wineries, restaurants, cheese prosciutto and basalmic makers. Details on those things and more coming.


See ya 2021, Welcome 2022. Time to refocus and get Purpose Driven

2021 provided me with a lot of options and some issues. I am not one to dwell on “issues” or problems, so I really want to focus on the options and positives.
Obviously Covid was a negative for all of us… that was really the big issue, things closed, or half open, access restricted in a lot of ways.

On the positive, I left my job to make a full time go at Day Trading, went from single to not single (after a couple tries at dating different people) and got my yard at the house finished, really started to get my cooking pictures on a different level (still needs work) and just took a lot of time off to get some things straight for myself.

In 2022 I need to continue to get focused and really dial myself in.
My Goals for 2022:
Peloton three or four times a week, and days I do not use the Peloton, do some strength/conditioning work.
Core52 focus, study and get back to Church on a more regular basis.
IG story things better and more often. Spread my content around into more regular posts.
Post on this site at least weekly, but two or three times a week really. Use IG for quick posts, and promote this site through my IG posts.
Get my Garage cleaned up. Its a legit mess. I need to throw a ton of stuff away.
Day Trading focus on $2000 a week income and build my Trading Account to double its current size, and then focus on $3000 a week income.

Then I have a couple personal things that I do not need to air out and posts, relationship things.

That is my 2022 Plan. I look forward to working on it and making it happen and having an extremely successful 2022.

What are your plans and goals for the year?

Linguini with Rustic Tomato Sauce

Started with fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic and basil. Browned the meatballs in a cast iron pan, then transferred them to a baking dish and into the oven at 350. Rough cut the tomatoes, onion, crushed the garlic. Garlic and onion in the pan using the meatballs grease for oil. Added tomatoes and cooked for a few minutes. Asparagus seasoned with salt and pepper and into the oven. Allowed the sauce to cook down a little and blend together. Cooked the linguini. Added torn basil to the sauce. Pulled the pasta from the pot and added to the sauce to finish cooking.

Plated the pasta, meatballs and asparagus, added parm cheese and served.
Added some pickled cauliflower on the side.

Paid this with a Cascade Cliffs 2019 Nebbiolo – AMAZING WINE.

Kevin White – 2017 En Hommage

Kevin White

Kevin White, is in my opinion, one of the best wineries in Woodinville right now, and for the last couple of years. This 2017 Syrah is from Boushey and Olsen Vineyards.
On the nose is dried herb, red berry, maybe a touch of citrus? Light smoke.
This wine is smooth with raspberry, red fruit, a touch of smoke.
This wine, like everything Kevin has done the last 3 or 4 years (and maybe longer?) is AMAZING!

If you have not been to Kevin White Winery, GET THERE. One of the best values in Woodinville and some of, if not THE, best wine in Woodinville right now.

Three of Cups – 2018 Mourvedre

Three of Cups 2018 Mourvedre

Three of Cups is one of my favourite wineries in Woodinville. This 2018 Mourvedre (100% and from Columbia Valley) is a fantastic wine. On the nose grilled meat, dark berry (blueberry?) and dried herb and pepper. First sip, blueberry and herbs. Second try pepper, maybe something like prune?
This is a club only wine (sorry all).

Great wine. Great winery. Make sure next time in Woodinville you swing by, they are in Artisan Hill.

This weekends Wineries (4.17.21)

A lot of pick ups this weekend… so I lot of tasting is about to happen. On the slate this weekend for pick ups and tastings:

Ancestry
Kevin White
Three of Cups

I feel like I have picks up at Elevation also.

While in Artisan Hill, I need to hit a couple of other places to see what is new.

Where you hitting this weekend?
Let’s connect and drink some wine together!

2021 Spring Release Season is upon us…

It is Spring Wine Release season and if you are a Cork Dork, this is one the best times of the year!
It is also a hard period on the check book if you are in a lot of clubs (which I am.. OUCH)
My top releases I look forward to in Woodinville:
Kevin White
Col Solare
Passing Time
Efeste (a few weeks ago)
Cascade Cliffs (a few weeks ago)
and a half dozen others…

Have favourite wineries you look forward too? Let me know and lets go hit them!
See you in Woodinville this weekend!

Spring 2021…

As we move into Spring, I am looking forward to getting back out to the wineries. I have been very active on my IG (see the side bar), but I have not been that inspired to post here. As things loosen up, as wineries reopen, as releases happen, I plan to be there.

Tasting through Woodinville is still the goal, year after year, and I will get back on track.

I have added a new section to my journey, a spiritual one, if you are at all Spiritual, check it out. Its my journey through a specific period.

Lets get back out to the wineries to taste and have some fun in 2021!

Snohomish Wine Walk 9.14.19

Had a great night at the Snohomish Wine Walk last night pouring with Jim VanCamp from https://www.vancampcellars.com/

It was a last minute addition for me, so I was not prepared to even go to the Walk. We stopped by VanCamp to have a glass and he was packing up to go, so I asked if he needed help… he did, so I poured with him.

Met a ton of people, talked about wine with everyone. Had a lot of fun.

Next time I will try and make sure I have cards to give out so we can do Winery Meetups in the future!

THANK YOU Jim for letting me help you!