A couple months ago, I was annoyed at my husband. I don't even remember why now, other than it really wasn't a big deal. I'll be honest, I was PMSing and stressed about work and the kids had been sick (again!). I was doing dishes while he was putting the Pumpkin to bed, and I was thinking about some little thing that Londo did, getting more and more annoyed over what was virtually nothing (I mean, I literally don't even remember what it was now).
A glass and a half of wine later, I realized I was getting pissy over nothing. The mellow from the wine had kicked in, and I started to let it go. Instead, I started thinking about what a great dad and husband and worker and man he is. There he was, putting our daughter to bed after a difficult evening for all of us. I was cleaning dishes from the dinner he had made the family, drinking the wine he had picked up for me from the store. None of us are perfect, and he has a lot going on lately.
I also started thinking about a phrase he uses during some of our difficult times: I need you to cut me some slack. Written like that, it looks abrupt. But he never says it rudely. He actually says it or asks very nicely, and he often says that we should cut each other slack when we've got a lot going on.
So there I am, finishing up my second glass of Chianti, doing the last of the dishes, thinking to myself, "Yeah. I'm going to cut him some slack."
This could be a post about how we should all cut each other slack, or about how we should appreciate the good things our partners and others do for us, or about letting the little things go so that we don't stress out about everything, or about how we should all support each other especially during difficult times.
But it's not.
This post is about how I enjoy a nice glass (or two) of wine in the evenings, about how it helps me relax and enjoy things a little more. Some nights I don't have anything to drink, some nights I have a glass with dinner, and some nights I have a couple glasses after the kids go to bed. But since I've stopped nursing and I'm not pregnant, I have started to have wine more regularly to help de-stress. And I'm glad I am, for my sake, my husband's sake and my kids' sake! ;-)
This week's question of the week is:
What's your drink of choice?
Lately, my drink of choice is either Chianti or Chardonnay. My favorite mixed drink is vodka tonic, which happens to be my dad's drink also. My favorite drink for the beach is Captain and Coke. My favorite non-alcoholic relaxing drink is herbal tea. And my favorite morning drink is coffee!
What about you? What do you like to drink? Do you have different drinks for different occasions? Have you got a good way to mellow out at the end of a stressful day? Does it involve alcohol, like mine?
14 comments:
We are great wine consumers too and order our wine from an organic (well, as organic as you can get here in Italy) winery by the demi-john. I am no longer a boozer though ( oh, how I was in the old days pre husband and kids), and in fact find that I feel a lot better for it ( an intollerance issue not because I over-inbibed). So yeah, wine for me too, but the good stuff, because of the sulphides ( and not becasue I'm a snob).
I don't drink mixed drinks anymore because of my allergies. I used to partake in vodka cocktails but after years of feeling like sh.t the next day it finally dawned on me that voddie is made from rye and dah...I'm allergic to rye, therfore to vodka.
I'm like you caramama, its the wine. I like a nice medium bodied red. Like an Okanagan Valley Merlot. Or my current new-found best wine friend - Malbec from Argentina. Yumma.
I find the wine after the kids go to bed helps me unwind too. My husband complains that I go through it too fast though. :) I don't have a glass of wine every evening but maybe every second or third day.
My favorite mixed drink is a Crown Royal and Gingerale. Also don't mind swapping the Crown for a little Jack Daniels or basically any other quality Bourbon or Rye Whiskey. I like a mixed drink before dinner at dinner parties or when we're out (so like never).
I actually have a half written post in my drafts about wine. Maybe I'll go finish it!
Also, I found it funny that you were annoyed at your husband "a couple months ago". If you go months between annoyances, I am SERIOUSLY impressed!
Well, prego me is drinking root beer and chocolate milk. Those are my treats. Non-prego me likes the wine too, but I prefer white - like a nice New Zealand Sav Blanc (Oyster Bay or Kim Crawford are favs). I used to drink a lot before I had my son, but 18 months of no drinking (pregnancy and BF'ing) really lowered my tolerance, so now (or, at least, when I'm not pregnant) I can't handle more than a glass or two at a time - and it has to be with food. College me would be shocked and appalled by this development.
My mixed drink is Crown and Ginger Ale too :) Must be a Canadian thing - when I travel to the US, am often met with blank stares when I order a Crown and Ginger. And I had a serious lost-in-translation moment when I tried to order that in Scotland.
My morning drink is Tetley's tea, with lots of sugar, lots of milk.
Your husband is a keeper but you knew that already. ;)
I like a martini if out with grown-ups and someone else is driving. I like how cold they are and the glass. Maybe I should just say I like a fruity vodka drink in a martini glass because I can't say I've ever had the real thing with vermouth or whatever.
Coffee starts my day and diet coke carries me through. Earl Grey is my favorite hot tea and I refuse to drink iced tea (blasphemy around here but I don't care, it is gross).
I find a glass of red wine to be relaxing as well. But that may have more to do with the fact that someone dear is handing it to me and taking over dealing with the tornado than the wine itself...
@paola - Oh, how I loved the wine when I was in Italy. Even the cheap table wines were delicious. Way to make the connection between vodka and rye. I think that would have taken me forever to make.
@Melba - If only that were how often I went through annoyances. He wishes! That was just the time I realized that wine was making me a better wife. Ha! And after so long of not drinking, it feels (to me and hubby) like I'm going through the wine pretty fast now, too. I just told Londo to stock up, cause that's how I'm drinking lately.
@Jac - Crown and Ginger Ale? Yeah, must be a Canadian thing. Tetley's tea is yummy!
@mom2boy - He definitely is a keeper. :-) I LOVE those foo foo martini drinks, especially the ones with chocolate or mango. Mmmm. And it sure is nice when someone hands me the wine and takes over the kids. I hear that!
Now that I'm nursing I don't drink that often. However, I do enjoy a glass of wine now and then. I like shiraz or riesling depending on my preference that day. But I also enjoy a beer too -- heiferweisen (sp?) or a Belgian ale like Chimay are my favs.
I used to have a beach drink -- kamakazis -- but now that I'm older I just can't handle the hard stuff anymore.
Day to day I've been chugging water like crazy lately. Perhaps it's because of the nursing but it's the only thing that seems to quench my thirst.
About a week I very seriously told my husband I needed at least three months between finishing breastfeeding and starting project making baby 2 because dammit, I really wanted to ENJOY a glass (or three) of wine. My SIL is a winemaker (she has worked for Kim Crawford!) so I have to rate whatever she's been brewing.
However - to be honest, I prefer crisp, cold beer on a summer day. Ah - beery goodness :-)
I'm a teetotaler, so alcohol isn't in my mix. But Starbucks totally is. Something about their drinks relaxes me, which explains why some weeks I have quite a few drinks while other weeks I can get by with my one weekly allotment.
And on the very rare occasion (hello, Thanksgiving dinner at my house the first year I was cooking for the entire family including my mother who criticizes everything) I make a special trip into town JUST for Starbucks.
Oh, I love foo foo martinis too! But they only happen when I am out with friends which, like @Melba, is seemingly never.
My husband makes a mean chocolitini - once, when I was in the middle of law school exams and a big mess of exhaustion and stress, I came home to find he had poured me a proper bubble bath (complete with nice music and candles) and made me a chocolitini. That memory has carried me through and past many an "annoyance" with him. He knows that a chocolitini is a sure fire get-out-of-jail-free card as well as an I'm-going-to-get-lucky card. He works it to his advantage.
@mom2boy and @Jac, I'm on that foo foo martini bandwagon too. Love me a Cosmopolitan! In fact I just had one or 10 this past weekend in Vegas, for the first time in probably years.
And @caramama, don't knock the Crown and Ginger until you've tried it! It's yummalicious. :) Crown is the best rye whiskey on the planet IMO.
I prefer beer over wine, and have even hosted a beer tasting party last year. I used my husband's Michael Jackson beer book (not the singer!) and paired different speciality beers with appetizers, entree, and dessert. I can't wait to do it again.
My current favorite beer is a blueberry ale I found at a local restaurant...yummy. After that is Midas Touch by Dogfish Head Brewery. It's made from a recipe from vessels found in King Midas' tomb.
My favorite sip-it-slowly drink is Drambuie on the rocks, and my favorite mixed drink is a Midori Sour.
I try not to drink when I am upset or overly stressed, for (as my mother hammered in my head over and over) we have alcoholics in our family history and alcohol was not to be treated lightly.
I started to answer this yesterday and what a difference a day makes! I was going to be one more for the nice glass of wine at the end of the day camp, but an $8800 bill for a new furnace later, and now I'm going to have to make the switch to the large, cheap bottle of wine. Boo hoo.
As far as daytime libations, one cup of coffee to start and then this time of year I love aveda's tea and good ol chamomile or mothers milk. At night I also love teepee dreams if I'm wound up and needing a sleepinducing elixir.
@Melba - cosmos in Vegas? Sounds awesome!
@Jac - I LOVE root beer and drank an insane amount of chock milk when I was prego.
@mommyem - dh and I are both careful about why we are drinking, too. Alcoholics on both sides and dh has a tendency to bean addict, not in a dangerous or unhealthy way yet but not worth the risk. I'm afraid that it'll sneak up on us if we let our guard down.
Oh, kid is screaming. Good post! Sorry it always takes me so long to process, compose and type out a response. But what are you going to do? :)
Another beer drinker here, although I am partial to the NZ wines (if you haven't tried a pinot noir from NZ yet, you should!) when wine is required.
I'm currently in a kick of drinking ambers. Full Sail Amber is my current favorite, since the local SD ambers are a little bland. We're more of an IPA town.
I don't have mixed drinks much right now, since I'm still nursing- I generally limit myself to one, and a mixed drink goes down to fast! But I love a really good margarita. And when I really want to let go, I like to find a tropical location (or one that evokes a tropical location) and have a stupidly sweet fruity, icy drink spiked with alcohol.
Definitely a glass of wine - white - any kind...
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