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01/11/2010 - Happy New Year |
Yesterday I received a phone call from a favorite long distance friend (also a customer), whose tone was friendly and quite inquisitive. "What have you been doing?" she inquired. I paused while deciding how to answer, and during the pause she interjected, "Obviously you haven't been blogging." Yes, obviously I haven't, so now I am, so there. Just imagine that I was doing intense research on the latest trends in Oregon wine, and discovering more newcomers to the Oregon wine industry. Let's go with that story. For a quick recap on Oct/Nov/Dec activities, or "O-N-D" as industry workers say, here's what happened. October: Mushroom Festival was great fun. If you've never been to this festival in town, reserve your room now. There are lots of town-wide events but of course I was in the store the whole time, you know, selling Oregon wine. One of the highlights of that weekend was my very first champagne brunch, which was a big success. The event was sold out, and an extra person got squeezed in at the last moment. (NOTE: You know who you are, and there is always room for you!) Tim Shimmell chose the excellent champagnes for these brunch, and food was a joint effort by Green Salmon, Heidi's, and Cheese & Crackers. It was enough fun that I'll consider doing it again. November: Thanksgiving weekend was a busy and fun time. It is always a treat to meet the friends and family of regular customers. I went to a friend's house on Thanksgiving Day for breakfast. It was a congenial gathering of people I'd never met before, and a darling little girl about 6 years old. We were comparing our similar noses and I commented that I didn't particularly like my pug nose, since people could see right into it. She crawled into my lap and looked straight up my nose. "No, you can't see into it. It's too dark in there." Well, I'm glad we got that settled. December: I was talking with a new friend who asked "what did you do in December?" There was no pause in my response: I put wine into boxes and shipped it all over the country. Internet business, wine club, and wine shipping kept me up to my ears in cardboard the whole month. Although I had anticipated being able to get through January without buying wine shipping boxes, I was very, very wrong. In mid-December big van pulled in to unload more boxes to ship out lots more Oregon wine. I am thrilled for the level of business and the cardboard/styrofoam thing really disturbs me. If you're reading this and are also conscious of the environment (and the bottom line), please take the wine shipping boxes you've received and take them to someone in your area who can re-use them. They have another life. If you're in my area, make my day and bring them to me, along with any bags strong enough for wine tht can be re-used. OK, off the soapbox. January: Breathing deeply and saying "quiet time." This is a precious time of the year. I get to regroup and I'm spending time at home. I love to shuffle the linens, alphabetize the spices, organize the bookshelves. And of course, be lazy, which I'm getting to be very good at. I have a cold so I'm doing some sniffling and sneezing in a serious way too. Just writing this blog was a big effort so I need a nap now. ZZZ. Happy new year to you all.
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