CONGRATS TO ANGI of Just Like Birdie for being #19 out of 20 to get her comment in and WIN the “Rate that Bottle” GIVEAWAY!!! Thanks to random.org for picking #19 because there were just too many great stories for the pressure to be placed on me to choose a winner.

Angi, shoot me an email with your address info and choose “Rate that Beer” or “Rate that Wine” and I’ll get it sent out to you ASAP!!!! CONGRATS!!!!

Thanks to knockknock.biz for their wonderful products and please check out their site for great stocking stuffers this season.

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ever been to a party or just a small gathering wherein you partake in the consumption of alcoholic beverages???

i know, totally redundant question after a long holiday weekend…

even still, after consuming 2-3 new and tasty brews or glasses of vino (or both), have you ever found yourself the following morning in a cotton-mouthed-advil-needing haze, then thought, “damn, i wish i could remember the name of that beer/wine!!!”

so how friggin appropriate is it to have this killer GIVEAWAY right after a fantastic weekend of indulgences, whether it be of the food or beverage kind?!?!

with that being said, i present you with the official “RATE THAT BOTTLE” GIVEAWAY!!!

(((wild applause and cheering)))

the fantastic folks at knockknock.biz, those who “put the fun in functional,” have shared with me a bit of their awesome biz to share with you.

first up we have the “Rate that Wine” notepad… (photographed by your’s truly)…

Rate that Wine

and then we have the “Rate that Beer” notepad… (again, photographed by your most beloved bottle lover)…

Rate that Beer

each notepad provides you, the beverage consumer, with all sorts of categories from “food pairings” to “color” and “aroma.”

so whether you are the unsophisticated wino, like me, who would giggle while circling “bitter in the swallow,” or the knowledgeable beer connoisseur like my husband, who would fully appreciate the “head” and “mouthfeel” and “finish” categories… this handy-dandy notepad is for everyone.

and with the holidays already upon us, these notepads would make for a fantastic stocking-stuffer!!!

so here are THE RULES…

1) leave a comment below telling me a cotton-mouthed story in which you couldn’t remember the name (or cute label) of a tasty beverage you once consumed and wish you had.

2) if you’re not of the alcohol-consuming-kind, i encourage you to take a gander at knockknock.biz and leave a comment below about which notepad (if these two don’t rev your engines) would best suit your needs.

the contest will close on thursday at 5 pm EST, with a winner being selected at random. the winner, male or female, will then have THEIR CHOICE of which notepad they would like… “Rate that Wine” or “Rate that Beer.”

good luck!!!

what once was...

and now is...

mama needs a stiff drink and box of kleenex.

i moved a lot as a kid. i have moved a lot as an adult. i will continue to move a lot, in many different ways… physically, emotionally, spiritually… ideas of mine will shift and move.

life takes new direction every so often.

moving does not bother me. transitions do not bother me. i’m surprisingly ok with a little bit of chaos here and there, so long as i have some sort of idea of where i’m headed… what or where the end result will be.

for example: my book that i’m working on, that i have been working on… (yes, i know i keep talking about it incessantly, it’ll die down) is moving. i think it’s moving forward and in a good direction and i have received some excellent guidance to aide in that transition.

ok, enough about the damn book.

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my life is in constant transition and occasional upheaval with the job that my husband has, the upcoming career choices he will be making and potential relocations as a result of it all.

the magoo is transitioning from a toddler into a little boy… little man. he’s becoming more and more independent with each step he takes, and it is incredible to witness.

sometimes when he wakes up from his nap, i go in his room, pull up his window shade and watch him rub his eyes and embrace the afternoon. he asks me for “mah treez” and points to the windows, and i tell him, “yup, those are jackson’s trees out there, waving ‘hello’ to you.”

he waves back to them. my little earth-day-birthday boy.

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yesterday, thanksgiving day, was a transition for me as a wife and mother… hosting our first turkey day in our little apartment with our friends and not our family members.

change is occurring all around me and all throughout me.

and i’m not afraid.

i welcome it.

new ideas excite me. finding inspiration in the smallest of things overwhelms me with joy. and it is then, at that moment of inspiration when i decide to talk things and shift, transition, change and move.

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this website is changing and will be going under construction within the next week. it will have a new look, both aesthetically speaking and in purpose. it will be taking a different path… where that will lead, i’m not quite sure.

but i trust the end result will be something i am proud of and something that conveys my passion and my heart.

my site, my stories, my words don’t define me.

i define them.

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and so if you check in over the next week and witness little quirks here or there with regards to My Bottle’s Up, just know that we’re in transition… and heading to a good place with the help and support of good friends.

oh yeah, and i have a button thanks to lisa and aaron and you can scope that out by looking to your right, in the middle bar. feel free to copy and paste the code below it to snag my button for your own site and support my transition. thanks!

should you be desiring the flavor of a turducken on thanksgiving day (that is a turkey within a duck within a chicken), i saw one for the first time at whole foods last week. for realz!

also, i have a friend who, when she was a vegetarian, (she has since seen the light and now consumes the meats), ate tofurkey on thanksgiving.

it’s good to know there are options out there in terms of food for this time of year… holiday celebrations and whatnot. LOTS and LOTS of food options. traditional food items as well as “but my mom always made these…” items.

i cannot think of a holiday season that has gone by without my mother-in-laws “fuzzy balls.” yup. that’s what they’re called… “fuzzy balls.”

it’s ok, i giggle when i hear “fuzzy balls” too… in fact, i’m giggling right now just typing fuzzy balls multiple times.

yes, i am a 12 year old child.

anyway, they’re powdered sugar covered balls (hahaha!) of dough. in fact, i don’t even know what, if anything, is in the actual dough of the balls (again, hahaha!), but that’s not for me to know. it’s my mother-in-law’s thing… her recipe, and one that i know i will never be able to quite reciprocate so exquisitely, much like her homemade apple pie.

so i don’t even try. really, i don’t. i know my attempts will lead to nothing but disappointment and i wash my hands of the fuzzy balls (BWAHAHA!), leaving them to the expert.

my family… we’re of the chocolate-desiring-kind. we like fudge and those peanut butter cookies that have the hershey kiss on the middle of it placed ever so perfectly so as to NOT crack the cookie dough. my mom even makes these fudge mint brownies that are friggin insane. i will do ANYTHING for ANYTHING that includes mint and chocolate… except maybe give up wine.

anyway, these brownies are spectacular because they have layers… yeah, like multiple layers to them. so you can either bite into said brownie all at once, thereby experiencing the trifecta of flavors, OR you can be OCD like me and first nibble off the top layer of hardened chocolate, then the layer of green mint, finally getting to devour the brownie.

it’s madness, i tell you… MADNESS! (but the good kind.)

i have no idea how this post went from talking about turduckens to tofurkeys to desserts, but my point is this… i’m cooking for the first time EVER on thursday. thanksgiving dinner will be at our apartment, and it’ll be a small gathering of me, hub, the magoo, and our two fantastic friends. nothing fancy.

and yet, i’m scared shitless. i’m afraid of catching my apartment building on fire (which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.) i’m scared of not defrosting the turkey at the right time, so it can go in the oven at the right time, thereby throwing off the timing of every other side dish that needs its own oven space.

we’re not doing a whole turkey. in the same way that i know i cannot tackle the fuzzy balls (LOL), i KNOW i cannot and should not even attempt an entire bird for thanksgiving.

so i bowed out of that one gracefully, discussed the bird with my friend and we decided to do turkey boobs. we will be cooking turkey breasts. yup. “turkey titties” as she and i have called them over the last couple of days that we’ve been menu planning.

why are we doing two?

A) they’re boobs. you do the math.
B) ya gotta have enough turkey for the late-in-the-day/early-evening sammich.

we’ll have an abundance of fixins, and even an apple pie.

fear not though, i am not making the apple pie… i cannot and will not even consider the craft and skill that it takes for one to make such a creation. my mother-in-law has that honed skill, as does my friend, who is making the apple pie.

i will be the one sitting in the corner with my glass of wine, trembling in fear of burning something, over salting something (cuz i love me some salt) or incorrectly measuring something because i do not read instructions.

i did it.  i saw twlight’s new moon last night… and yes, it was satisfying in every possible way.

*NOTE: THIS IS NOT A SPOILER POST FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE.*

instead, it’s a post about desire… wants… needs.  and do we not all possess these things, these aspects within ourselves? perhaps at times we choose to hide them away, even neglect their existence all together, not yet ready to share them.

sharing our wants, needs, desires makes us vulnerable.

men… women… people have desires.  desires change with age and circumstance, but i believe, at the core of one’s being is one’s ultimate desire.

whether that is to pursue one’s career to the point of excellence, a life-long dream to climb mt. everest or travel the world, write a book (or several)… or even to find love.

not just love in the platonic form, but to find that all-encompassing, passionate, i-cannot-live-without-you IN LOVE feeling and desire to be with the one who makes you breathe a little stronger, stand a little taller and smile incessantly not fully understanding the reason why.

THAT is what sparked my interest in this whole twilight saga.  

i didn’t watch the first movie until just a few months ago.  and i’ve forced my husband to watch it with me twice since.  and yes, i admit it, i am a twitard, according to a friend of mine by definition of the washington post.

so when the previews for new moon began, i felt my inner girl get giddy. but i wasn’t giddy for edward cullen’s luscious locks, or jacob what’s-his-last-name’s 16 pack abs.

that’s what the tweens were there for; or at least it seemed that way as we waited in line and listened to a gaggle of girls in high school gush about a boy who they knew liked one of the girls in their gaggle, yet this boy had not yet “asked her out.”

OH THE AGONY!!!!!! THE LONGING!!!!!! THE HOPE, DESPAIR AND TEENAGE ANGST!!!!!!

have we not all been there before?

but again, that’s not exactly why i was there, standing in a line marked off by ropes, leading us into the theater like cows in a coral… going in for the slaughter.

i was there to watch a great love story.

that’s what i desire… a great love story. whether it is recounting my own with my husband, or hearing “the greatest love story of all time” from a friend of mine who is in the midst of filling her heart with the love of another as i write this post… (you know who you are, my beautiful friend who is so deserving of every bit of happiness.)

we each have different needs, different dreams to pursue… desires to be fulfilled.

and so after the movie mayhem, having my desire of seeing a great love story fulfilled, we returned home, discussed the movie a bit and then went in the magoo’s room and watched his belly rise and fall as he slept in the subtle nightlight of winnie the pooh.

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my ultimate desire… the thing i want most and strive for on a daily basis… is to live a passionate existence.

it may sound simple, but it’s not. somedays it’s harder than others… yet still, living a passionate existence is my ultimate desire.

what’s yours???

so apparently turkey day is like this coming thursday. i can’t even say “next thursday” anymore, because as of yesterday, turkey day is now LESS than a week a way.

i’m not ready. it’s ok. we’re having magoo’s auntie amy and uncle steveo over and it’ll be great.

but i don’t cook… well. at all.

meh. we’ll see what happens. the good friends are all my tunnel vision is focused on at the moment.

good friends are needed in so many places right now, like here.

friend, acquaintance, whatever… please keep this family in your thoughts, prayers, mind… they need it all… and they deserve it all. this family is a family of warriors, not just fighters… warriors.

warriors… vampires… i get a hot date with my hot hub tomorrow night to go see hot vampires (yes, i’m talking about New Moon)… and yes, i’m all hot and bothered by it all… but i love it. a date! like a real date… out in public.

most of the time our dates consist of sitting on the couch and watching Top Chef while drinking good beer. and i love that too. but it’ll be nice to wear makeup and go OUT somewhere.

i haven’t worn makeup in over 9 days. like none. not even under-eye concealer.

meh.

i need to spend time this weekend writing and working on the book. it’s both a daunting and awesome task.

my new ink is itching at the moment. need to lube that up with some lotion. peeling is done, which is great, so technically it’s healed… but such new skin needs lube.

hahaha… “lube.” *snort*

i miss my family. i don’t like thinking of not having turkey with them next week. i do not like that at all. i do not, would not like it sam i am. (magoo is reading dr. seuss right now.)

magoo is still obsessed with red’s dog hair and finding it in all corners of the apartment… the apartment that currently has 6 cracks in the master bedroom, bathroom and closet that leak with each drop of rain we get. but this has been going on for 3 weeks now, so we’re used to the whole “move the furniture, place buckets and towels” thing.

back to the dog hair… at least now the magoo will take his treasured dog hair and dust bunnies and place them in the garbage can, like we’ve worked so hard to teach him… sometimes… other times, he runs away with said dog hair and tries to eat it.

gross.

speaking of gross, i gotta go… poop.

happy fighting friggin friday. hug your loves… tight.

honestly??!?!?!

did you guys not take to heart how people responded to whoopi’s “rape rape” comment before????

let me remind you…….

how low are you willing to stoop ABC????

with the original roman polanski account, i took issue with whoopi. i had a twitter discussion with sherri shepherd and while i refuse to (and will never) watch the show again, this clip was brought to my attention by another rape survivor advocate.

and barbara walters… wow!!! how quick you were to move to the question regarding vergara’s teenage son and how he deals with having a “hot mom.” well done. (heavy sarcasm) because clearly THAT is the issue at hand… having a young, hot mom. (again, heavy sarcasm)

so again, ABC, i ask… how low are you willing to go???

to laugh, to belittle, to move on to the next question as soon as possible… thereby taking us RAPE survivors and causing us to shake our heads, widen our eyes and think “are you fucking kidding me?”

imdb.com is also taking a look into sofia vergara’s “rape joke.”

*UPDATED 2:29 EST*
Sherri Shepherd of “The View” was kind enough to once again respond to the link I tweeted her this morning regarding my post above and the clip from yesterday. Sherri, thank you again for your response… but I’m still done with the show. Nothing personal.

And PS: Why wasn’t this addressed today on the show???

And PPS: Mucho gracias to @culturalsavage for help getting the screen shots.