Aspiration Toward Inspiration

While some of you may think church is kind of lame, I gotta say– you obviously don’t go to my church. We had a cost-free trip (!) of tastings at 3 wineries, a stay in a beautiful cottage on Friday night, and great food and company (dinner courtesy of Jenn).

I just got back from the 20s/30s retreat to Napa. It was fun… when we first got there, Kerry Ann couldn’t find the keys to the cabin (which is her mom’s). We spent a good half hour looking for them before Steve pulled himself up to the balcony in a random bout of masculine upper body strength and thank goodness the sliding glass door on the balcony was unlocked. We all got into the cabin safely.

Next plan was to take a walk. A fine plan until Kerry Ann yelped “ow!” followed by an “ow!” from Jenn. Apparently, someone had stepped on a bee hive and we all fled the redwood area as bees clung to people’s clothing– most notably, Jenn’s. The best part was Steve pointing at a bee in Jenn’s crotch and going, “Ummmm….!” uncertain whether the right thing to do was to swat the bee or not touch Jenn. Oh man. The second best part is that Steve got a good portion of this on video.

We then had a lovely dinner (homemade, organic veggie lasagna, garlic bread, caesar salad, and apple pie courtesy of Jenn). We read from a book Steve brought called “With Open Hands” (about prayer and opening ourselves and letting go).

I decided to go for a walk that night, though I shortly found a skunk staring at me from a few yards away and decided to turn back, figuring this trip didn’t need anymore silly stories (especially none that involve de-skunking me). I came back in to find the girls in a circle of slumber party-ness, and we talked about dating and boys and the problems we have in relating to people and stuff. What girls are we?! Haha, one of the many reasons that Steve slept in a different room.

Anyway, since I am always the last to go to bed, I went into another room to read and pray. I finally got the knack of some embodied prayer, which I learned from Victoria Rue. I think practicing yoga has helped with this. I think that for me, repetitive motions can work for enhancing prayer. I also read some Thomas Berry before deciding sleep would be a benefit for the next day.

We woke up the next morning and made coffee, bagels, and oatmeal, showered and went outside for meditation and discussed some things that we’d never said we were grateful for.

Next step was to go off to some wine tasting, first at Cuvaison, which was awesome. I bought a bottle of Zinfindel, which had an awesome spice aftertase and a dessert wine that was loverly.

Winery #2 was Twomy, which was also nice. Steve, Lisa, and Rebecca left from Twomy and Jenn, Krista, and I went on to the last stop– Stone Oaks.

It was a lovely little trip and a good bonding experience. I feel like I got to know some of the girls better and the environment was beautiful. Part of me feels like the midwest is right for me, because I lurve forests. Hmmmm, how expensive is it to live in Napa? ha.

No one’s sent me pictures yet, but we are an attractive group of women… I really don’t know why we have no men showing up.

Bee stings and key problems aside, the trip was lovely… hopefully I’ll have some pics for tomorrow’s Sunday post.

Also, PRIDE PARADE TOMORROW, mfs! I’ll be in the parade, which is super fun. Woot!

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healthy snack: dried fruit & almonds!

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A team of scientists at Newcastle University discovered how to create sperm from the bone marrow of women.

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Shirts of Bamboo!

click here!

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(image from http://www.marriedtothesea.com/)