If you could only drink one alcoholic beverage for the rest of your life, what would it be?

My pick would be champagne (technically sparkling wine). It’s crisp, refreshing, sparkly and goes with EVERYTHING. By everything, I mean breakfast, lunch, dinner, casual events, fancy gatherings, indoors, outdoors, etc.  You get the idea. I’ve even been known to drink it with pizza. 

To make this versatile beverage even better, add a few girlfriends on my deck to enjoy a sunny afternoon. This is exactly what I did. First though, I had a very clear message for my friends.  I needed their commitment. I had a magnum bottle of bubbly stored in my wine fridge that I was dying to open. This bottle is the equivalent of two regular sized bottles of bubbly. Once you pop it, you can’t stop it. It must be finished. They promised they were committed.

Once the bubbly was poured it didn’t take long for our chatty asses to kick in to high speed. Bubbly makes people happy. It makes us chatty. It enhances my ADD tendencies. We jumped around covering every conversation topic within the first 3 minutes. (I lied…three minutes is an exaggeration.) 

Several sips later and the discussion took a dive. Not to a negative place. But to a deep level. An intense discussion. And my bubble popped! We talked about heavy subjects such as failed relationships and love lost. When I say we talked, I really mean I listened. Our conversation turned into more of a whiskey discussion.  In fact, I would have imagined listening to country lyrics in a dark bar while smoking with the topics we covered. 

Lesson learned: Popping a bottle of bubbly definitely deserves a commitment to finish it. Additionally champagne commitments should only include light, fun conversations. 

That lesson probably explains why I would pick bubbly as my beverage of choice if I had to pick only one to enjoy for the rest of my life. I’m most comfortable living my life in a fun, light, chatty way.

What would you pick? Why?

Cheers!

Wino Wednesday…this weekly feature is designed to share my wine related stories.

A dear friend and I had lunch over the weekend. Since we both wanted a glass of wine, I convinced her that we should probably order a bottle. When I say convinced, I mean suggested. And she jumped at the idea. That is exactly why she is a dear friend. Anyhow, it went like this:

Me (to waiter): I’ll have a glass of chardonnay

Friend (to waiter): Me too.

Me (to friend): Maybe we should get a bottle. They are the small bottles.

Friend: Sounds like a good idea.

Me (to waiter): Make it a bottle of wine.

When the waiter brought the bottle of wine, my friend and I continued our conversation.

Friend: You said it was a “small bottle”. That is a regular size wine bottle.

Me: It’s mini small compared to the magnum bottles I buy.

Meanwhile the waiter was taking out the cork. I noticed he pulled out the cork and put it in the palm of his hand. And then he put the corkscrew back in the bottle and kept pulling a cork.

I was thinking he was an idiot. Seriously, if you’re in the service industry you should be able to pull a cork out in one piece. I was also thinking he was a maniac, because the corks used for this wine are plastic and IMPOSSIBLE to break.  Clearly he managed to break it. Nutty server.

Then he confessed that he wasn’t an idiot. I wasn’t willing to believe him until he showed me proof. 

This wine had 1 1/2 corks in it. We took pictures to prove it. It’s something I’ve never seen before. Considering the amount of wine I drink, this is clearly super unusual!

We all have different styles. Styles in our hair, clothes, communication, whatever.

However, there are only two ways to communicate which I define as snorkeling and scuba diving.

Snorkeling involves light conversations that skim the service. Snorkelers often have brief, upbeat discussions with very little depth.  The topics are covered in lightening speed and often involve such things as the weather, cute outfits, menu items, weekend plans, to do list items, etc. Snorkelers can do it in large groups or in a more intimate setting.

Scuba diving involve deep dive discussions. The pace of these discussions are usually much slower than snorkeling. Although they are often discussed with much more passion and conviction. Topics may include politics, purpose in life, repeated relationship failures, etc. The topics would generally hit the core of our being. Scuba diving discussions are generally conducted between two people.

I’m a snorkeler. I skim the surface. I cover one zillion topics if we engage in a discussion. Occasionally I scuba dive. This can be exhausting to me. The topics are more serious and can be stressful. But there is much more satisfaction when you connect with another person on a deeper level.

What is your preference…a snorkel or a scuba dive?