Too busy doing what I love?

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I have a website (www.vineducation or womenwhowineonline or gastronomad.com) that my web designer abandoned... Too busy doing what he loves.

As I sit her feeling a bit resentful about this... The fact that my future lies (a bit melodramatically) in a webspace frozen in time with the graphics I paid for nowhere to be seen and the photos I so lovingly prepared for poorly represented by the plainest one of the bunch (catching my breath), I realize that I could (should?) get in there and do it myself... Make it happen... Design the site of my dreams... Then I realize that aside from the fact that I know NOTHING about websites except how to surf them, I am also too busy doing what I love!

Somehow since I purchased the website and started this blog page, I became busy despite the lack of a flashy front... Just putting my focus on what I really wanted for my future, I created it (unwittingly, of course)! Careful what you wish for!

Current projects:

School - My final paper for the first semester of my MA in Gastronomy is due on Friday June 17... I'm deep in research but no words on the screen yet... Need to break this pattern! I intend to post the paper on my website someday, if I ever figure out how to do that!

Work - Gave my notice at my so-called-real job (apparently "Premier" translates as "we don't have to pay you what your worth"). Come July I will be forced to make my living from my own dazzling wit, mental fortitude, and well-honed skills. You've been warned!

Chef Stuff - Did a few fabulous dinners recently... Most recent was a 30th birthday party for a small group of revelers enjoying a most-perfect wine country evening, poolside at the "Maison de Joie" in the Napa Valley. Menu: HD's - Red Endive Spears with Apple Endive Slaw and Seared Shrimp, Wild Mushroom tartlets, and Little Black Bean Tostadas. First - Asparagus Spears wrapped with either Potato Ribbons or local Sole with citrus buerre blanc. Entree - Napa Grass Fed Beef Medallions (or roasted tomatoes & portobellos for the veggies) on mustard greens and scallion corn fritters with melted tiny tomatoes and fresh basil. Cheese course - Vella Dry Jack, Redwood's Camellia, and Pt. Reye's Blue with Marcona Almonds & local honey. Dessert - old school chocolate cake with chocolate frosting & fresh berries. Lots of wine paired to each course... too many to mention!

Home life? - Moving. Again. That says it all. Ah, yes... forgot the dog - skunk thing! Do not use the old tomato juice remedy!!!! Bad for the carpets if your little precious gets away from you accidentally! Best Bet: (another grocery store solution!) 1 bottle hydrogen peroxide, 1 small box baking soda, 2 squirts of Dawn (skunk is an oil and "Dawn takes grease out of your way!"). Much nicer on the carpeting. BTW... White vinegar and back-breaking patience gets tomato juice out of beige carpeting. Gotta love the food remedies!

Wine - Drinking lots of pink lately... York (Sonoma), Frog's Leap & Il Guffo (Napa), Mas Gran Plaginol (France? - can't look at bottle - already recycled)... Pink is a good thing!

Writing - Obviously not doing much on the blog lately. Just signed first cookbook contract with my dear friend Amy Reiley (www.lifeofreiliey.com) the Aphrodisiac Diva! LOTS More on that soon!

OK, speaking of writing... back to the school work... Academic writing doesn't come as easily as I expected it to.

Cheers!
Annette