a musing julius…

i made pasta with bell peppers and sea scallops tonight. it was delicious. but in the end, the meal was made by my favorite beverage…wine.

i opened up a bottle of dynamite vineyards merlot (not as sophisticated as their cabernet, but still good) and sipped on wine while eating my pasta. the combination of flavors combined with the fruity, woody, and spicy flavor of the dynamite merlot was just awesome.

i love wine. its my beverage of choice most nights…and if it was more socially acceptable for a 25 year old to drink wine in a group of guys at the bar, i’d probably do it more often, but i know that beer and shots are my only options in a group of dudes. either way, i love wine. its the greatest drink to complement food. and when i make pizza, it’s usually the first thing i’ll reach for when taking my first bite.

so christmas eve went off without a hitch. my family (me, dad, mom plus grandma) opened the 52 presents we had under the tree. yes, 52. 4 people, 52 presents. 13 presents on average. in actuality, mom and i got the most. dad was ridiculous again, purchasing not only 10 articles of clothing for my mom from her favorite store, he went the ‘laptop’ route. now, grandma, mom, dad and i all have laptops. christmas morning was spent on our respective computers*

dinner was different this xmas eve. we opted for non-polish fare…no pierogis, herrings or potatoes. the only thing we had remotely polish was barszcz (yes, that’s 5 consonants in a row) instead, seafood stew, bruschetta and baked brie (not all together, and not all at once) made up dinner for the night.

polish people open gifts on xmas eve…and this year, santa was good to me, mostly in the area of running effects. santa thinks i can run a 1:45 half-marathon, and did everything in his and her power to keep me running. the signature gift, a suunto t4, not only tracks my heartrate, but knows exactly the distance i’ve run, the pace, how many calories i’ve burned, and then downloads all of that to my computer, so i can see just how well i’ve been regressing progressing in my running.

anyway, after dad and i plowed down a bottle of wine between the two of us while opening presents, we decided to polish off another one (this time we split with mom and grandma) before we had to walk across the yard to our friend’s place. there, we told stories of the old polish country.

this morning (christmas day) we ended up spending an hour at starbucks with polish friends, in the corner, having a blast, and making fun of more absolutely ridiculous holiday greetings from poland. i’d translate these, but they rhyme, and their in polish. sadly, the words “yank” and “testicles” don’t rhyme in the english language, so the poem about santa getting his ass kicked when he comes down your chimney rhymes in polish, but not in english.

i took the new running gear out (which is ungodly accurate when it comes to identifying how far i run: 4.18 miles today)

but mostly, this christmas was a great time to be with the family. we rarely spend this much physical time together, and usually, we seperate and do our things, like work, visit friends, etc. it’s been 4 solid days, and we’ve not left each other’s side. this time, love has been the word of the week. i’ve never felt this way about my family. despite the distance, i feel closer and closer to my parents each and everytime i come. i’m not sure if its maturity in general, or if i’m gaining emotional maturity when it comes to my parents. i love them lots (obviously, we talk constantly, but they’re all i’ve got) but this week continues to show that my relationship with them continues to evolve, and i learn more and more each day about them and my relationship with them. it’s neat.

also, everyone should watch the movie Vitus.

*in all actuality, i left my laptop in detroit, but it makes the story sound better if i actually imagine i brought the laptop with me and used it this morning.

well ladies and gentleman, i’m back. strangely enough, i have returned to writing blogs. i blame this on stephanie, who asked me just 3 days ago if i had a blog. my answer, “sure, but i haven’t written in it forever.”

see, when i started writing my blog, i had this overwhelming feeling that i was important, had unique and different ideas to share, and wanted to captivate the world with some shocking observations about life, love and the pursuit of more wine.

but as it turns out, 3 years later, i knew exactly why i started writing that blog. i felt ignored, i was mad at the world, and upset with my life. things were changing rapidly and i needed to spew it out back at the world. it was a silly reason to start, and obviously, when things got better, i didn’t care to write in my blog. in fact, the last post i wrote in the old blog was about the time that i felt my life changed for the better. it was just a day after i got my offer from my company, and my crush at the time, finally got around to talking to me.

at this moment in my life, i’m generally content, and figure if i’m going to start writing again, this is the best time to do it. at least now i know i’m writing in the blog because i want to, and not because i’m upset that my life sucks or something. because it doesn’t. my life is awesome.

but tonight i must sleep, and tomorrow, i begin to muse.