These days I'm in recruitment mode at work.  I have this picture in my brain about what traits this perfect employee should have.  Our most successful hires have been people from outside of my industry.  I know that's probably strange, but it seems like we get a higher energy level & a whole set of fresh ideas from people outside of the industry.  I look for people who have what I call "selling aptitude" or the innate skills that one has that with training would make them into a terrific salesperson. 

One of the places I always look for new blood is in the retail sector.   I remember working for McAlpins & Bacons department stores when I was in college.  Retail is a great place to work to learn how to work well with others & to work with the public.  Back in my day, we were well trained with emphasis on going that extra mile for the customer & had a strict dress code.  These days, I'm not really impressed with a lot of the sales people I encounter in retail, but when I hear about a good one & I'm in recruitment mode, I go shopping to meet him or her.

Last week, B., one of my co-workers recommended I check out a lady she met in designer handbags at a local department store.  B said this lady was really on her game & I should go talk to her.  B told her about what we do & that she should call me to discuss.  Before I could hit the store, the lady phoned me twice at work to discuss a position.  Her phone messages were upbeat & I liked her persistence.  It was polite persistence, not obnoxious pushy.  So, I decided to drop in the store during her shift on Thursday to see her in action.  I was less than excited when I did meet her...or rather spot her hiding behind a rack so she could talk privately on her cell phone.  I went over to the area to view the bags in the case & try to engage her in conversation & also introduce myself.  Again, she sees me, but chooses to ignore me.  I waited patiently trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but this time I'm viewed as more of a nuisance than a potential customer or a potential employer.  So I left the store without making a purchase (which I really wanted to since my 2nd vice to shoes is purses) & more importantly, I left with a bad impression of a potential employee.

The only reason I mention this is that you never know who you'll meet.  I met my current employer for the past 10 years when I was 20 years old & in college.  It was a random fluke, but Dan was working for him during the summers we were in college.  That temporary position evolved into an invite for us to attend a Christmas party where I ended up singing Christmas carols & a song from Phantom of the Opera with the pianist who was hired for entertainment.  Yes, I know that sounds weird, but if you were there, it actually was a really appropriate thing to happen & no alcohol was involved!  That performance evolved into a few more Christmas parties.  So when I started job hunting after college & trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up, a singing gig turned into a permanent position.  I didn't set out to get into this industry, but it's one that I learned to love & comes very natural to me.   So, my point being, you never know who you'll meet when & what can come from a random meeting.  So like a good scout, ALWAYS BE PREPARED!

 

Tonight we celebrated my birthday a day early at Napa River Grill.  Honestly, given the events of the past week, I was hoping for a quick, low key pass through to my 34th year.  Dan was open for restaurant suggestions earlier this week & we settled on Napa River Grill.  This is my 2nd favorite restaurant in Louisville.  They've opened at a new location in the new Westport Village.  While the patio isn't quite as charming as the old location, the interior is very neat & the food is awesome. 

I stopped by to see Bryan & Leslie last evening to check in on her.  Initially we'd planned on dinner w/ the DePasta clan, but I did leave an open invite to Bryan & Leslie if they felt up to coming.  I was really happy they decided to join us along w/ Leslie's mother & R.  Later, Dan O' & Gina called to see what we were up to & that evolved into a few more guests for dinner.

For appetizers, we had calamari & shrimp scampi.  Bryan, Dan & I had the Ferrari-Carrano Fume Blanc from Sonoma with our appetizers.  This is a terrific easy drinking wine that's very food & seafood friendly.  For my salad course, I had the special salad which was wilted spinach, toasted almonds & blood oranges w/ a blood orange viniagrette.  The entree was Napa's Sea Bass.  A & I split this as it's always too much for me.  They do a terrific asian seasoning along with ginger infused rice.  Since I'm a huge ginger freak, that's one of my favorites.  I paired this with a Napa Chard blend.  I do have to look up the winery as it was a nice pairing with the fish.  Unfortunately, I didn't take notes at dinner & the wine by the glass list hasn't been updated on the Napa website. Dessert was Napa's bread pudding with vanilla custard & chocolate sauce.  Everyone at the table enjoyed a bite!   Dan & Bryan had the steak & veal, so they did a bottle of the terrific  2004 Cinnabar "Mercury Rising" Cabernet Sauvignon from the central coast CA.  Lots of fruit, light tannins & smooth finish. 

Dinner with this group is usually a fun affair.  I think the week's events were weighing heavily on most of us.  We did all smile & had a few laughs though.  I really needed that!  Midway through dinner, I asked Leslie if her Mom was okay with all of our excitement.  We can be a rather wild bunch with no topics off limits.  The topics tonight ranged from TV sizes, broken legs & elderly girlfriends.  The whole experience can be overwhelming, but it will almost always be entertaining.  Leslie drew a parallel to how sometimes it's like dinner with the real life TV family....except I don't think we cuss that much & we're not dysfunctional. Dan & I were talking about the evening on the way home.   It made me happy to think about how warm we are, how sincere everyone is, how much we laugh & enjoy each others' company and how we all cheer for each other in our triumphs & stick up for each other when we need it.   We have some of the best stories...ones that we never tire of retelling & still entertain us even after a few years!  It's also a bit comforting to know that I have great friends & family.  I think I'm lucky for this.  It all makes for a great birthday...even on a year when we had more reasons to be sad than celebrate. 

A's at the lake this weekend with Grandma & Papa DePasta with her DePasta cousins from Texas.  Dan & I went for the day on the 4th, but brave as I may be, I wasn't brave enough for 14 people staying at the lake house with only 1 bathroom!  The weather was rainy for the 4th, but did clear off enough for a dramatic & spectacular firework display courtesy of my husband, the pyro & his assistant, our brother in law, Steve. 

That left us two days without child, without plans & a wide open schedule!  We shopped on Saturday.  I'm still in search of the perfect tacky hawaiian shirt & bermudas to wear to my luau themed high school reunion in a few weeks!  So far, I'm completely out of luck.  I guess I'll have to wear my normal clothes! 

We ended up at my favorite restaurant in Louisville, L & N Wine Bar & Bistro for dinner.  Have I mentioned it's my FAVORITE restaurant in Louisville?  Anyway, they've added a new Summer Recession menu of lighter summer fare.  I had a terrific gourmet BLT with mozzarella cheeze, thick country bacon & garnished w/ their homemade horseradish pesto.  My wine pairings were from Italy.  I started with a Gavi & ended with two Italian reds.  Dessert was Belgian chocolate fondue.  I paired with a Zinfandel & Dan paired with a selection of tawny ports.

After dinner, we both kicked around the idea of going out.  At first, heading to Belterra Casino sounded like a really good idea...until I stretched out on the sofa.  Dan went to the Casino with friends while I remained at home.  I thought about how that must be yet another sign of getting older...when you're tired at 10pm & despite not needing a sitter & having an evening free to run with adults, you choose to stay home & veg on the sofa...content not to have to share a remote with anyone!

My status update of:  "praying for a tiny miracle" & my mood of anxious brought a few notes to my inbox asking what I was talking about.  So, to clarify, my dearest girlfriend in the whole wide world is having some serious pregnancy complications.  So the tiny miracle is for her...to keep Mom & baby safe for a few more weeks.   Then the baby girl has a shot at being a tiny premie miracle!

Summer is when I fall behind on my blogging.  DePasta is back to traveling & thankfully A's finished w/ spring sports. 

Last week was a tough week because I spent most of it terribly worried about Leslie & baby yet to be born.  She had some complications which are pretty serious.  I'm saying lots of prayers to get her to 24 weeks so baby girl, Maybe Murphy has a shot.  Worrying takes a toll on me physically as I don't sleep.  Somewhere around Thursday the idea of an impromptu lake weekend w/ friends came up.  Mostly I needed to get away from town for a day & rest.  It was a much needed distraction from all the worrying about much I could do nothing about.

We jumped in the car & grabbed Syd Opus & Gerri plus Fibz (Syd will get the joke on the spelling).  We stopped in E-town for much needed supplies & for dinner at Arnold's cafe.  My boss & I had lunch there a few weeks ago while on a work related day trip to E-town.   Arnold's had pretty good casual food & a decent wine selection. 

We arrived at Casa DePasta at the lake in the early evening.  The kids got settled in & the adults lounged on the porch sipping first, a Pinot Noir Rose wine from Spot ..ars & our friend, winemaker Kevin Kelley.  Our second bottle came from the Casa stash, a Chard from Charles Shaw (Two Buck Chuck).  Strangely enough, it wasn't too bad!  That part of the evening was more about getting to catch up on conversation with friends anyway. 

Early Saturday morning, I fixed Cinnamon Raisin Vanilla French Toast.  It was GOOOD!  We had a forecast of spotted thunderstorms, so we hit the Slow Boat To China for some mid morning boating.  At lunch our friends Dan O' & his wife Gina joined us.  We got in more boating in the early afternoon & a stop by our favorite swimmin' hole on the lake.  DePasta was somehow strangely in sync with Mother Nature with his sudden premonition to head back to the house.  We were amazed how a rather dark, nasty cloud appeared behind us & followed us home.  DePasta got us back to our own dock safely & in the house before the thunderstorm arrived.  Later we learned, he was secretly watching the area radar on his Blackberry.  We had afternoon snacks on the porch & watched the rain storm under the cover.  The whole thing cleared out within an hour, in plenty of time for everything to dry out & be able to grill outside. 

Dinner was planned around some special wines, a 1994 Smith & Hook Cab (courtesy of SydOpus)& a 2006 Mauritson Rockpile Zin (courtesy of Wine Pimp tour 2008).  We had my all time favorite meal of salad, steak & potatoes!  Key Lime Pie was dessert.

After dinner, DePasta built a bonfire & we roasted marshmallows.  The kids told some rather "interesting" ghost stories.  DePasta added his time honored favorite of how the lake got it's name.  The kids went to bed, stuffed on sugar & tired from a long day on the lake.  The adults enjoyed deep conversations about life & the world around us.  DePasta & Dan O' found some mortars from July 4th last year & gave us a preview of the firework extravaganza for next week.

Dan O' & Gina had to head back to the 'Ville.  We joked before they arrived how they were a little non-committal on staying over.  They're from Michigan after all.  They weren't sure what to expect from a cabin in the woods in Kentucky.  I think they expected no A/C & an outhouse.  Gerri calls staying at the lake house a version of very comfortable camping.  She says you don't have to worry about your accomodations when going with me because I'm such an indoor girl.  You only have to know me, to know I'd never camp anywhere awful! 

On Sunday, we packed up & headed back home.  I missed not having Sharon & the girls w/ us.  They were scared off by the weather forecast this weekend.   We also missed Bryan, Leslie & Miss The Hit. 

The other problem with having fewer people is the amount of food left over!  Syd Opus even acknowledged that his 8 pound can of Bush's Baked Beans was too many...even when eaten at every meal & even without the extra guests. 

We've returned home from the annual family trip to The Outer Banks of North Carolina.  I'm getting unpacked today & ready to head back to work tomorrow. 

One of my very favorite things to do at the beach is to search for sea glass.  It's my own personal version of a treasure hunt.  Dan has joined in the hunt after our trip to Maine in 2002.  He got hooked after finding the mother load of sea glass treasure...a perfectly honed bottle lip that I can wear as either a ring or on a silver chain around my neck.

On this trip, I found a neat book about sea glass...it's history, how to value it & where to find more.  I was struck by the author's description of how different people approach the sea glass hunt.  I know each of the types of sea glass hunters he describes. 

Some people are in it for the competition of how many pieces they find.  My Dad falls into this sea glass hunter category.  When we're both walking the beach, he often stops me to compare the daily glass count.  If I'm beating him, he searches a little longer until he catches up! 

Others are in search of the perfect, rare piece.  Dan falls into this category.  He often critiques pieces of glass found for how worn they are & whether it really counts as sea glass if all the edges aren't worn down by the sand & surf.  He's been known to return those not worthy of his quality standards to the ocean.  In other words, he throws them back. 

Finally, some are hunting for sea glass for the meditative element.  There's something peaceful about walking the shoreline focusing intently on looking for glass while listening to the waves crash on the shore.  I fall into this category of sea glass hunter.  In my non-vacation life, I spend a tremendous amount of time either talking or listening to others speak.  I really appreciate the quiet while hunting for sea glass.  I didn't realize until this trip what I have been doing all these years is really close to a form of meditation.  So I guess I've been enlightened in a way...

By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, May 26, 2008, at 7:26 AM ET

I haven't been blogging as much lately.  I've been swamped w/ work & life in general.  It's all good, but doesn't leave much time for fun writing. 

My new passion can be found at Twitter.com.  Dan got started using this site which is sort of like a combination of a blog & instant messaging.  If you haven't found it, it's a really funny way to connect w/ friends by answering the question, "What are you doing right now?"  I find that I laugh a lot about the observations people make throughout the day.  You can even connect it to a photo uploading software so you can photograph what strange thing you're doing or seeing at the moment. 

So, if you're not into a long term committment of blogging & like to read through funny one liners, you might check out twitter.  You'll find me as "shopstar." 

Promise me you won't call me by my screen name in person, though!  I hate it when people call me by my screen name in person.  That brings up another thing that happened yesterday....which is Dan also known as DePasta decided A needed her own nickname befitting of a screen name!  My nicknames for her have evolved over the years with the latest versions being "A" or "Babydoll."  She doesn't like the babydoll one because she thinks it's too babyish.  Dan has a whole collection of names for her which change quite frequently & are often quite humorous.  His latest names have involved "Chick" or "Chicken Little" which evolved into a nickname to honor her efforts in Irish Dance.  We dubbed her "Kick'n L'il" last night in the car.  At first she was embarrassed by it, but after a while, it grew on her....especially with the apostrophes & all!

 

 

 

As promised, I'm adding details from the SF/Sonoma County wine trip...

 DAY 1: 

Leslie & I had a great chance to do a direct flight from Cinci to San Francisco on Thursday.  The great part was we arrived at about 11am local, the bad part was adjusting to PST when you live on EST.  We joined up with the boys for a driving tour of town in the first rental...which was the first of the two huge gas guzzling beasts we rented!  Yes, I did see gas as much as $4.59/gallon.  I'm not sure the beast was the best idea in hindsight. 

After driving around for a while, we did take a trip across the GG bridge to Sausalito for lunch & some shopping.  Despite my best packing efforts, I did manage to forget a coat.  After lunch, we headed to the top of Mt. Tam to scope out the vistas.  I did make it about 3/4 of the way up the hike to the summit before deciding to head back down.  3/4 isn't too bad for the indoor girl that I am.  I told Dan to video it for me & I'd just watch it on the big screen when we returned home.  I'm not a hiker.  I don't profess to be one & I'm the first to admit my running shoes are more for fashion instead of their intended purpose.  Those girls haven't seen a speed above brisk walk EVER!

Afterwards, we headed to the piers to catch our boat to Alcatraz.  I really enjoyed this tour.  I was in my element with the headphones on the tour because I really like structure in this part of my life.  What was really neat was after your recorded tour finished & you removed your headphones to revisit a few places inside.  It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop...nearly quiet enough to get the full picture of the isolation & despair in a place like that.  The impression I was left with of The Rock is one of isolation....it's location on an island in the middle of the bay, but yet still close enough to hear & see life across the bay in SF.  So, the inmates could SEE & HEAR what they were missing.

After returning to the city, I don't remember much afterwards.  Getting up at 4:45am EST didn't go well at 12am PST.  I've always been one to need my sleep.  Dan & I did have a great hotel room to rest our bones that evening.  Finally, his travel rating w/ Hilton paid back in the form of a FREE suite on the top floor w/ a balcony & view of the city.  I had a terrific view of the city for room service breakfast the next morning…which incidentally is one of my favorite things to order when on a trip.

 

DAY 2:

 

This day was our introduction into wine country.   Since we were visiting the Wine Pimp, we had to trade the rental in for something in true pimp style…a Cadillac Escalade.  We were a force to reckon with coming up behind the Priuses on the highway!  After milling around town for a couple of hours in the morning, we headed north to Santa Rosa.  Now, I realize there was a true art in the Wine Pimp's plan of showing us specific wineries in a specific order.  Our first stop was Siduri Winery.  I was shocked to see it located in industrial space.  We'd first become acquainted w/ Siduri wines on our Thanksgiving vacation in Destin, FL.  Siduri makes some killer Pinot Noirs (my personal favorite varietal).  We enjoyed tasting & I picked up a couple of bottles plus an extra one from their other brand, Novy. 

 

Our second stop was perhaps my favorite stop on the tour.  We visited nearby Salinia Winery & had a personal tour & barrel tastings w/ winemaker Kevin Kelley.  Dan & I remarked how awesome it was to meet someone with so much passion for wine.  There is science to winemaking, but it also involves instinct & art.  Kevin prepared a terrific tasting spread for us w/ an assortment of cheeses, salmon & bread.  We sampled his Chardonnay & two Pinot Noirs.  Salinia's Chardonnay is truly extraordinary.  I'm not sure I could fully describe it, but it definitely set the bar by all others were compared on this trip.  The Pinot Noirs were excellent, too.  Yet more wine was purchased here.  Hopefully, I'm on Kevin's list from now on because I'm convinced he will be one of the ones I'll read about in Wine Spectator in just a few years.

 

Day two closed with dinner at The Bear Republic Brewing Company.  It was a nice relaxing introduction dinner with our other wine/cigar enthusiast friends.  Afterwards, we all headed back to The Geyserville Inn for more introductions & to hang out.  Dan summed it up best that evening w/ the Wine Pimp.  He said, "My whole trip was worth today.  If I see nothing else, I can still leave happy." 

Just returned from our trip to San Francisco & Sonoma County.  First, a huge THANK YOU is due to the Wine Pimp & Mrs. Wine Pimp for putting it all together.  The whole experience of tastings on Friday & Saturday exceeded all of my high expectations.  I'm pretty tired from it all.  Photos & details to come after I've unpacked.  :)