Was it the Italian wine or my Russian girl crush?

 

On April 29, I held a fundraiser in honor of my dad to raise money for ZERO - The End of Prostate Cancer.  Two days later, I felt run down and physically miserable. It was inevitable because I had been tirelessly working myself silly for this event since January. Now that the event was over, my body needed to rest. Rest is good. Four days of antibiotics in my system though is not good. The antibiotics wreaked havoc on my "wine buds".  No, not my friends who enjoy wine with me but my taste buds which could no longer enjoy wine.  Pretty devastating for the chick who writes a blog on wine and food, right? Yeah, that's probably why you haven't seen any blogs of that nature from me lately - because for the entire month of May my taste for wine was destroyed.

 

All wines tasted the same.

Red. White.

Dry, Sweet.

A moscato tasted the same as a big Napa Cab.

All wine tasted like salt water.

Yep, I might as well have opened my mouth and shoved it face first into the ocean. 

 

This same thing happened to me a few years ago when I had a glandular virus and was hospitalized. I lost my wine buds for six months straight so I was devastated that it had happened again, but unfortunately prepared for the worst. I figured it would be a torturously long summer without wine.

 I decided to make the most of it though and thankfully, wine was the only thing that had an altered taste. Thank God for whiskey and a plethora of breweries to try out!

 

Each Friday, I would still go to my happy place and partake of the free tasting in hopes that maybe my taste would come back. After about a week, I could get some "wine taste" out of the ocean but it wasn't enough to actually want to drink more than two sips. It had become depressing but was more of an experiment at this point.  In fact, I think it upset my friends more than it did me after a while.

I had been through this before and to be honest, I thought it was a way to make me appreciate how good I have it.

Things could be a lot worse.

For instance, I could be fighting for my life and enduring chemo.

 

I thought I was on the mend when one night I went to an event (which was already paid for) and the first sip of wine tasted almost normal but then the second sip was pure salt.

What a cruel joke.

So what did I start doing?

 

Wine shots!

 

Yep, the only way I could taste the wine normally is if I drank both sips in one gulp.

Whatever it takes.

Let's at least make a game out of it if nothing else, right?

 

********

 

On June 3, I bought my first new car in 10 years. A Jeep Cherokee Limited!

I was so excited and couldn't be happier.

 

 

I don't know of anyone who enjoys going to car dealerships and I am no different. However, my "screw you, I know what I want" attitude made it bearable. The bright spot in that debacle was meeting Rochelle, the Customer Service Manager. We hit it off immediately and once wine became a topic of conversation, I knew we'd be friends for life. She lived less than a mile from my happy place and knew nothing about it! I, then, felt it was my civic duty to inform her and invite her to join me at some point in the near future.

 

On an impromptu June 5 night after work, Ro met me at my happy place for the first time.

Instant kindred spirits.

 

I can't even begin to explain how well we instantly hit it off and let me tell you something... I don't have many real girlfriends. Most women are catty, annoying and too high maintenance for me.

On top of that, I'm allergic to most blonds.

 (Can you keep a secret? She's really a brunette! Makes perfect sense to me!)

 

 

No, your glasses aren't dirty and your vision isn't going. This photo is out of focus.

It's probably out of focus because I was so excited and shocked when I took it.

A blurry picture of this moment is better than no picture at all.

 

The tasting of the weekend was Italian wines. I am not exactly crazy about Italian wines but I am growing to like a few. Years ago, I told Arthur that I didn't like them and he was determined to find one (or four) that I would like. He loves a challenge and I love giving them to him.

 

I tasted the first few whites and they tasted normal to me. Still, I didn't want to get overzealous.

I got to a light red and it was still normal.

I got to the big red of the night and still normal!

No salt!!

As much as I love the ocean, I don't want it in my wine glass!

 

After a little over a month,  

My wine buds were back!!!!

 

Hallelujah!

 

The question of the night:

 

Was it the Italian wine that brought my wine buds back?

(That's what Arthur likes to think so he can make a point.)

 

OR

 

Was it my new Russian girl crush that brought my wine buds back?

 

 

 

Either way, this Tiny Wine Girl had one of the most natural, super fun nights of her life and knows there will be plenty more where that came from!

Ya never know what life has in store for you.

Who knew I had to buy a Jeep in order to find my kindred spirit?

Everything truly happens for a reason and in its own time.

 

 

“It was like discovering a wine-cellar filled with bottles of amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before. It quite intoxicated me.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien