I am not sure if he looked at me first or if I looked at him… I do know the canvas of my heart expresses an everlasting banquet created for him and his loyal friends that were blessed by every living Sunday that it took to finish his masterpiece… Luncheon of the Boating Party…. Renoir… you are… a superstar… and you always knew… you are past, present, future… and to that I raise my glass of Terra di Vigne Rose’ and say “rose colored glasses are how I choose to live my days”

the scenery. Fort Worth, Texas… the stage. Kimball Art Museum… the era. College…

Act 1 Scene 1

My Nonna (“grandmother” in Italian), my mother, and my sister spend a day relishing the exhibit “Renoir and Monet”… Nonna, who was born and raised in New York, always painted for my sister and me a precious love for the arts of paintings and Broadway plays. My Granddad is also an artist and painted many beautiful canvases of his heart. I am blessed that I was exposed to both even though as these loves were spotlighted I had no personal interest really.

As I was perusing the art of Renoir and Monet, I was enjoying, however, not into it… then…  my world turned and everything changed…

I am not sure if he looked at me first or if I looked at him… I do know the canvas of my heart expresses an everlasting banquet created for him and his loyal friends that were blessed by every living Sunday that it took to finish his masterpiece… Luncheon of the Boating Party…. Renoir… you are… a superstar… and you always knew… you are past, present, future… and to that I raise my glass of Terra di Vigne Rose’ and say “rose colored glasses are how I choose to live my days!!”

Act 2 Scene 2

I fall in love with the movie, “Amelie”… she is everything that I feel in my heart at the time… I find her in my post college days… I watch her on a regular basis, I am intrigued by her and her ways… she is French (like Renoir), passionate (like Renoir), sees thru rose-colored glasses (like Renoir), loves experiencing all the senses, delights, and small pleasures in life (like Renoir), she has a neighbor she spies on that paints Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party” (like Renoir)… she falls in love (like Renoir)… she sees herself as destined for something great (like Renoir)…

Act 3 Scene 3

Amy… amour… love… that is me! I realize I am destined for something greater than I know…  I am flavored with French descent (like Renoir and Amelie), passionate (like Renoir and Amelie), see thru rose-colored glasses (like Renoir and Amelie), love experiencing every small delight, pleasure, and the senses (like Renoir and Amelie) I sacrifice the safety of regular commissions (like Renoir) and choose to live out my passions knowing they will last for the past, present, and future generations to come… it is beautiful, it is painful, it is a different kind of knowing without knowing…. It is a masterpiece.

Why do I love Renoir so much? Well, I just figured it out really… isn’t that how love grows? It is not blossomed all at one time… how boring would that be? It starts out as a splash of color with fervor and passion, then it wanes to a smooth ebb and flow of this and that and maybe a little more of this and that… oh what a beautiful color… yes that’s it… oh, how did I get the depths of the vision wrong? Let’s try something new. . I am still in love with this painting… it intrigues me… oh wow, amazing how the lightest of a brush stroke changes everything… I am tired… I don’t think this is a good idea… I don’t know if I can go on… I have sacrificed everything for this painting and it is slipping from my fingers… no… I will go on… this is a masterpiece and masterpiece’s are really never done… I believe in love only if it comes from that place deepest in my heart that to abandon it would cause me the worst pain.

Act 4 Scene 4

scenery. Santa Rosa, CA…  stage. Connection Church… era. what I think is Love…

I am not sure if he looked at me first or if I looked at him… I do know the canvas of my heart expresses an everlasting banquet created for him and his loyal friends that were blessed by every living Sunday that it took to finish his masterpiece… Luncheon of the Boating Party….  His apostles… Jesus… you are… a superstar… and you always knew you are… you are past, present, future… and to that I raise my glass of Terra di Vigne Rose’ and say “rose colored glasses are how I choose to live my days… with you”….

You will always have my heart…. I never want to stop painting our love together… adorn me with new colors that I never knew existed… send me into the pleasures that I never knew possible because you exist… because you persist in your love for me… because you believe in me… I want to love you with more than wild abandon.

… and to that I raise my glass of Terra di Vigne Rose’ and say “rose colored glasses are how I choose to live my days… with you my amour… my love… my Jesus”…

From the inviting green wooden swing on the front porch of “Mama & Papa Browns” with a glass of sweet tea in my hand, I could see Pondtown Methodist Church with its white steeple and the Pondtown Cemetery across the way from the red clay dirt road and field that lay in front of the farm-house. My granddaddy, his sisters, and parents frequented Pondtown Methodist Church every Sunday growing up. I have learned a great deal about my family tree by walking through the cemetery and reading the names and years lived on each tombstone. Our family tree is deeply rooted in Pondtown dating back to the early 1800’s and farming was the name of the game.

Granddad was raised on “farm to table” food simply because if the family was going to eat… it had to be killed, grown and picked, laid, milked, preserved, risen… and even fermented in the making of homemade wine! I can only imagine what each early rising day consisted of and I am blessed that my 92-year-old Granddad still shares those stories of daily life with me today…. I do remember the delicious and divine down home country breakfasts the most…“could you pass me another biscuit please?… oh… and milking a cow with my Papa Brown, and the pony named “Red”.

The “farm to table” philosophy is alive and well today. I am pleased to see the growth in popularity. It is comforting to me to know that in our ever-accelerating world and culture that the slow food movement is actually increasing in crop share. It is now a bit more glamorous than the olden days to behold farm to table fare while the farmers/ chefs/ restaurateurs preaching and living the “good news” of the slow food movement still appreciate the time, hard work, and understanding that goes into the experiences of living fresh every day.

That is one of the many reasons I adore living in Sonoma County. Local, local, local & fresh, fresh, fresh surround me. The food, the wine, the air, the grapevines, the water and fog, the abundance of locally owned businesses all take me back to a bit slower pace which I embrace spiritually, mentally, and physically. It is my “happy place”.

I am savoring time this month in Fort Worth, Texas for the holidays. My resting place is “Nonna & Granddads” house, which is the house I have known since the day of my birth in 1975. My Nonna passed away on Valentines Day almost 3 years ago, my Granddad is “holding the fort” in Fort Worth with strength and valor! What is his secret? Well… quite simple really… daily exercise, a shot of apple cider vinegar once a day, a deep faith in the Lord,  good, honest work with the Soil Conservation Service, and a loving family around him. Oh, and most recently added… a swig of Texas wine…Llano Sweet Red before he goes to bed each night.

My granddad and I have grown our own daily ritual together this month… every morning over a good Southern breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuits and honey, and freshly brewed coffee; we read a daily devotional together. My Granddad reads from his Upper Room daily devotional… words of encouragement and inspiration that he receives fresh every month in the mail. It is a time that we share generational insight and I can’t help to believe that God is using this time to gain wisdom about Him, a God who is ever-loving and constantly fresh! I know that this is a time I will always cherish and am blessed to stretch my roots with family this holiday before I return to Santa Rosa, California. I guess you could say that my Granddad and I have created our own “farm to table” food experience…

… to that I raise my glass of Texas sweet red wine and say… “From the farm to the table and… all that is experienced in fresh, local goodness every day!!” AMEN!

There is a saying that I read somewhere… “don’t fit into your culture that you do so without even thinking about it”. How many days do I wake up “programmed” to go about my day without even thinking about it… it is what I do because around me it seems “the way”. It is a simple thought to say… “well, I will just change it” … it is not that easy sometimes when riddled with responsibilities… ones I am not sure even questioned right for me in the first place. I am experiencing a personal epiphany in this department.

I am landscaping my path as I go… the most recent creation was my resignation from my career at Southern Wine & Spirits Northern California as a regional accounts manager. This paved a pathway to a sabbatical for myself… something I have always desired on my “dream list”…  honestly never thinking it really would happen.

The wine business has loved me for 12 years… my passion began when my mother bought me “The Wine Book for Dummies” by Mary Ewing-Mulligan and her husband Ed McCarthy for my 24^th birthday. I had just gotten the bug for wine when I was required to write a paper on wine for my cooking class in college at TCU. My mother bought me this book knowing this and thus, my love affair with wine ignited like fire.

I started buying less than $10 bottles of wines… a chardonnay, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, sauvignon blanc and on and on… recruited my dear friends who I never had a drought of to taste the wines with me and talk about them together. What did a Chardonnay taste like? What was Merlot? How did you pronounce Viognier? (VEE-OHN-NYAY) I was intrigued to learn EVERYTHING! My first career (if you want to call it that) lasted 3 months. It was my first job graduating from TCU as a food management major and it was to be a supervisor of food production for American Airlines at DFW Airport … airline catering… it sounded fantastic and it had 3 zeros after 24! I was going to be rich… I thought! HA! I was supervising personnel that could have been my grandparents and I was all of 23. Adding to that, it was based on union AND… I had the night shifts. I don’t say, “hate” a lot to many things… but I hated it. I was miserable and thought… as I was driving home sleepy eyed one morning after my shift… “ this is not what I went to college for, to be miserable at some job… I am not doing this!” I started thinking about my passions… and thought… WINE!!! How can I make my love of wine a career? I decided that I was going to find the finest wine and cheese shop I could find in Fort Worth, Texas (my hometown) and get a job. I didn’t care if it was minimum wage or not… life meant too much to me to do something that I did not like. My belief has always been… “do what you love and the money will follow”… this belief has not let me down.

This thought brought my walk into Ronnie’s Fine Wine… and cheese… and… “the best baked bread in town”. My job was landed as a sales consultant… aka… do anything I was told to do… price wines, cut cheese all day (my companion was “The Cheese Primer” book and my knowledge for cheese was born), help Robert, the baker, with his bread that was nothing short of nurturing babies… PASSION was oozing everywhere and I drank every bit of it, I was in heaven. Times there, however, were not always the smoothest. Ronnie was a hard man to work for, had a vast knowledge of all aspects of the wine industry… and I loved him for it. He taught me my first lesson in the wine business… “don’t take anything personally”. My skin began to thicken as I was in residence there for 3 years. I learned, I worked hard, I met people from various walks of life, and networked a path for myself. During that time working at Ronnie’s, I enrolled myself into The International Wine Center in New York City owned by Mary Ewing Mulligan and Ed McCarthy (the authors of The Wine Book for Dummies that my mom had given me). I started out studying from a home program, which made me thirsty for more… I wanted to go to the school in NYC! My godmother and lots of family live in New Jersey, which was just a 30-minute drive to the school held at Chelsea Market Mall in Chelsea District of NYC. By the end of 1999, I had experienced NYC wine school and much more… my best friend, Janice, was a flight attendant for American Airlines at the time and based up there… free place to crash in the city after a night on the town! We lived it up for 3 months like we were superstars! I sipped, I savored, and I sought out everything I could learn about wine, I spoke it like a foreign language learned… my palette was becoming pristine and polished. I thought… “thank you God for this passion!” My return from NYC showcased a prepped and almost penniless Amy! It was all worth it. I returned to work with Ronnie for a time with a requested raise and more confidence in myself about what I had chosen to live. After that, I catapulted to Texas de Brazil as a wine assistant…  three months after that job… I found myself with a winery, Ironstone Vineyards, based out of the Sierra Foothills in Murphys, CA as their first Texas State Manager, then onto Chicago Area Manager, to my last acting role… a regional manager handling six states. Seven years had passed there when I was recruited to be a part of a USA team for Republic National Distributing Company based out of Dallas, Texas. I had known these guys for seven years already as my distributor for Ironstone, however, they were much more than that… they mentored me at the raw age of 25 and “brought me up” as one of their own even though I was a “supplier”… a dreaded kind, ha!

I was happily with RNDC until… our team went to New Orleans! We were attending our national sales meeting during the New Orleans Food and Wine Festival in 2008… food, wine, daiquiris, and then… love… struck me at a Lucky Dog stand on Bourbon Street. I met a man from California… we pursued a relationship between California & Texas… love and wine brought me to Santa Rosa, California and… here I am today! The passionate love affair lost its steam… however… my first love of wine never faded… and I have been blessed to learn much from the wine country here in Sonoma County and Napa.  It is almost as if I have returned to my roots…

Even though I am born and bred a Texas mare, my first trip to Sonoma County in 1998 as a surprise birthday trip from my college boyfriend revealed a love for this area… I returned home and told my mother I knew that I was going to retire there one day… little (wait, I mean… a lot!) did I know… here I am!

I resigned from Southern Wine and Spirits for many reasons… I was losing my luster for the wine business and it concerned me, I felt that I was numbing a passion that I knew not to be extinguished. A restoration was needed…  that I knew… from talks with God… that my passion is divinely inspired. I was hungry to work a harvest full time which is happening in Napa now… the Pinot Noir is being hand picked Friday! I also wanted to take some time to travel, visit family, and go back to Texas for a while… my roots… and reconnect.

The timing had to be set up financially and sure enough it was… it is Gods timing…

There is a new flight happening and it is one that could only be taken to higher heights by surrendering some “weights”…. It is uncomfortably comfortable… perfect!

I guess my point of this story is… that I am learning how to enjoy the journey that was meant for me, and once that is walked, everything else falls into place around me. I have to breathe before I can be truly alive with the ones I love around me. I have to be true to me… rooted in me. I do believe there is divineness to that because as I root in me, I am truly rooted in God… He supports me… He is the root… and we are growing together… I do believe that He orchestrates and landscapes the most beautiful and best fruit in me… if I let Him. He allows me to make my own choices… He never forces me to do what I am told or how to do things… He guides… but always allows me to make that choice even if it is not the best one… listening to His guiding voice would have been better… but we all have to figure it out for ourselves don’t we? …that is just my observation.

And to that I raise a glass… and say… to all that is dreamed and rooted in LOVE!!

This number of life is a constant ebb and flow… as a human being enters this world, a human being is exiting this world… there is one divine creation that physically, emotionally, and spiritually symbolizes this ebb and flow ~~~~~ our Heart ~~~~~

As a baby’s heartbeat is seen or heard in a mother’s womb to signify life, a human beings heartbeat can be seen stopping and not heard to signify death. It is the divine factor that we all live by.

One day, while I was working, I heard God say to me in my own heart… “the cares of this world do not compare with the matters of the heart”

I wrote this first chamber on “living the dream” on April 19th, 2011…. it has taken me awhile to write the second chamber and now I know why…

Our human hearts have four chambers… each chamber is like an individual room, with doors that let blood in and out…. I am almost borderline to continue this writing to become a dissertation as to all the physical functions of the human heart, however, my heart is beating another way tonight…. and as I write I will learn what that heartbeat is….

I wish I could have recorded the very first time my heart beat… the origin of my heartbeat… since then my heart has created many different beats… I believe now that my heart is beating in peaceful succession and it makes my heart happy!!

One day while creating in the kitchen, I heard… “living the dream” to one heart beat and to the next I heard “living the lie”…. I reflected on what I heard…. God revealed that the worldly idea of “living the dream” is a mirage, an illusion only leaving a person thirsty and dry… because in reality  it is “living the lie”… He then proceeded to say that “living the dream” meant having His heartbeat…. His heart… a heart that fulfills all desires in the spiritual world as well as the worldly world… it is an inside out benefit! As we pump His love into our hearts, He pumps out all good benefits…. breath, life, purity, and as we breathe clearly, worldly benefits increase… as we try to pump in worldly desires first it contaminates our hearts due to stress, striving, angst, pain… even if we think it starts out as blissful… it is counter-culture to what hearts are originally created to do.

It is no wonder why heart disease is so popular, we have “dis-ease” and are killing ourselves… actually participating in the death or life of ourselves by the choices we make…are we creating spiritual blood clots?

Today is May 18th… I am cooking Indian food while sipping on a laid back yet strong hearted Petite Sirah… this is my third chamber and my heart is more open than ever!

I think I just entered the fourth chamber, ha! Joyful blood pumps fast!! My taste buds have been soothed from their spicy state to a calm rest from some very fresh chocolate yogurt with cream…. and yes… the petite sirah will do just fine!

My heart is open, my heart is peaceful, my heart is…. there is not one heart that is shaped the same as yours… just like your thumbprint… just like your palette… just like you… no one in this world has a heart that looks the same as yours….

I am reading a book by one of the few female heart surgeons in the world called “Heart Matters”. Her name is Kathy E. Magliato, MD and I am captivated by every word she writes, as my heart beats (do you know our heart will beat an average of three billion times… enough to pump one million barrels of blood in a lifetime…. that’s a lot of wine!!!) … I read every word of her story… my heart has sunk, cried, laughed, hurt, stopped… if you think you are having “a day” read about a heart surgeons’… Dr. Magliato literally holds people’s hearts in the palm of her hands every day… to me that is a complete honor to be trusted with others hearts… physically and spiritually….

I believe that I have had a heart surgery of my very own… Dr. God has restored mine and is perfecting the original creation of my heart. This spiritual surgery is naturally healing any physical manifestations… rapid heart beat, anxiety, high blood pressure, sharp pains in my heart…. all things that lead to dis-ease….

I hear the word “surrender” as I am writing this… surrender and trust your hearts to God even if you do not believe in Him… if you take the  “risk” to say the words in your spirit… “God, I surrender to You!” it might just save your life from a “high risk” state…. what do you have to lose? What does your heart say? After all… it beat your first breath, it will beat your last… your heart has the final say.

And to that I raise a glass and say…. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth… and the HEART”

God is speaking (well, actually… singing) to me and making a beautiful story of it! If anyone thinks God is boring…. come on over and I will share! Just as there is no thumbprint in this universe the same as yours, nor is there a palette the same as yours (I struggle with tasting notes on wine because of this)… there is not one experience with God the same as yours…. God is WILDLY unique to all of us and He desires that we experience Him with wild abandon!!!!! I think I will have another cookie!!!

Whenever I make cookies, I always like to chase the cookie with a milk shooter… I have never bought Straus milk before… I was at Whole Foods and this milk captured me so I said, “I will try this bottled beauty”. After all my cookies were baked, and I was to christen the batch with a private tasting, I opened this newfound milk and found… a thick layer of cream at the top which I had never experienced… first thought was, “cream always rises to the top”… and I knew that this was to be a pure cookies and milk extravaganza! I have had many cookies and milk experiences, none of them even came close to this time…. this was the PERFECT cookies and milk experience… spiritually divine!

I had deeper revelation as I was soaking my warm, gooey chocolate chip peanut butter cookie in my glass of fresh, pure milk… that God had created a unique soundtrack just for me…. a one of a kind that I will remember for years to come. What will I name it? I am not sure, however, I do know that I would have never thought of pairing Pink Floyd with cookies and it was divinely good!!!

So with that… I raise a cookie and glass of milk and say….” To all recipes… add a generous amount of a joyful heart, soulful smile, genuine laughter, sweet song, mix well and enjoy with all of your favorite things!!!!!

Jesus is the ultimate romancer. His first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding feast at Cana! The wedding reception had run out of wine way before the party was over and that is just not festive, now is it?! He didn’t just turn any old water into any old wine, he filled six 20-30 gallon jars with water to the brim and told one of the men to “take some water out and bring it to the man in charge of the feast”. The man did just that, he took the pitcher filled with water and poured it into the man’s wine glass who was in charge of the feast and out of the pitcher flowed…. WINE!! The man said,  “Everyone else serves the best wine first and after the guests have drunk a lot he serves the ordinary wine but you have kept the best wine until now!” And to that I raise a glass and say… ”To JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR!”

It was at that wedding that Jesus revealed His glory and the man He was. I am in love with that man. Any man who can turn water into wine is a man for me! I am really the only one who understands this completely in me (besides God, of course!) as I moved out to the wine country 2 years ago “for a man”. At the time, little did I know that I WAS moving to the wine country for a man… JESUS! One morning while sitting in my Dallas apartment having a bold cup of coffee and quiet time with God… I heard, “Let Him love you”. I made my decision that very moment to move out to Sonoma County, CA where I thought I was on my way to marriage in the earthly realm. That didn’t happen, however, a romance started for eternity. One night at Connection Church in Santa Rosa, the church God led me to, I was listening to a good friend of mine get rocked in the Spirit and all he could say was, “Let Him love you, Let Him love you!” I started to cry as God revealed to me that moment what He had spoken to me a year ago… “Let Him love you” and from that day forward I let Jesus in as my true Savior and I haven’t looked back, I am full in love and growing! To that I raise a glass and say… “I now know how to love you!”

I believe that the miracle Jesus performed, turning water into wine, was a prophetic act of what was to come… in His last days at the Last Supper with his disciples… He pours them all a glass of wine as a symbol of His blood. He was soon to be crucified on the cross for our sins and put to death… to be gloriously resurrected for us so that we may LIVE, that we may have PLEASURE, that we may drink ABUNDANTLY of His wine, the new covenant, the promise of FREEDOM in Him! Jesus loves to pour us His wine, He never says, “That is enough, you have been overserved!” He says, “Drink! Drink of ME and receive my love until you are intoxicated with it!” His love is better than wine, it is the original design of “intoxication”, the original design of “pleasure”… all other vices are copy cats of the original design and always fall short… short-term satisfaction only to fall short again and again. I choose long-term intoxication in Jesus… the one who ALWAYS satisfies, heals, restores, loves us ABUNDANTLY and as I freely receive, I want to freely give it away… His love is ever flowing… and to that I raise a glass of my favorite wine to all of you and say…

Jesus…”I LOVE YOU!”

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Harry, than are dreamt of N your philosophy” was quoted by a very wise freeway sign in the heart of Los Angeles. Oh, I should say it was also voiced in a slightly different manner by a certain man named Shakespeare… who could be noted as having the largest influence in shaping the English literary world and whose works are timeless pieces of pleasure today!

I guess I could say that the movie, L.A. Story, has been a movie of epic proportions in my lifetime. I have watched this movie since the ripe old age of highschool at least once a year, some years… once or more a month! I am now in my thirties and as I watch the genius, Steve Martin (LOVE HIM!), as a wacky weatherman, Harris K. Telemacher… whiz thru an art museum on roller skates and eloquently share his rendition of the creations of someone’s mind on the walls, OR I watch him write “Bored Beyond Belief” on his living room window with a dry erase marker backwards so it can be read from outside, OR I watch him heed the freeway sign’s many hints of advice… “you should have gotten her number” OR… hear him tell his love, Sara, as she is about to leave him to go home… “all I know is, on the day your plane was to leave, if I had the power, I would turn the winds around, I would roll in the fog, I would bring in storms, I would change the polarity of the earth so compasses couldn’t work, so your plane couldn’t take off” … I never tire of this story!

Sure, it is a love story. Sure, it is a tribute to the city of Los Angeles. Sure… it is about the personal changes experienced by Steve Martin’s character… Harris K. Telemacher.

For me, it is much more than that… the most powerful character is the freeway sign that Harris encounters along his life journey. These scenes suggest that we are watched over, cared for, in ways that we cannot always comprehend. The sign, again, “U will know what to do,” and its riddle, “How Daddy is doing?”… simple mysteries in life that we are encouraged to seek out and find the answer to or sometimes we are even given a key that unlocks a bit of the revelation that will one day be fully revealed!

Well, you will just have to watch the movie to experience it for yourself, however, I can say that the outcome of Harris K. Telemacher’s life is greater than he could have ever imagined and he ends up not really even being able to explain it all because as the wise freeway sign said… “there are more things in heaven and earth, Harry, than are dreamt of N your philosophy” and to that…

I raise a glass and all I can say is… “wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful… “

This past week, I attended biodynamic camp in Ukiah, California which rests in Mendocino County. A group of us from Northern California & Arizona were to spend a few days with Paul Dolan, a creative leader in the wine industry who believes, “the future of business is to make the future its business.” Paul is a fourth generation farmer of Mendocino County who is rooted in the belief that we are all an intricate part of the fabric of the universe interwoven into the land we live in… the water, air, wine and food are part of who we are. A belief system that a sustainable business should consist of the holistic picture with a moral center, connected to its values and the world around them… a business that does what is right because… well… it’s just the right thing to do… an accountability and responsibility to take a creative step further into a larger realm of view…. a view that opens up and lets fresh air into the wine industry allowing an “out of the box” mentality to thrive and grow.

The fresh air being breathed in Mendocino is the word, “biodynamic”. Paul Dolan has pioneered and practiced this method of breathing for quite some time. I experienced firsthand the amazing energy and breath of fresh air that stimulates the creative approach to winemaking in this land. The peace I felt while standing in the vineyards affirmed that I was not in any ordinary vineyard, this place was ethereal.

This place is called Dark Horse Vineyards, Paul Dolan’s labor of love. It hugs the earth with 160 acres, 70 of which are grapevines…. Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Zinfandel. Biodynamic agriculture recognizes that all life is interconnected. It takes into account a farmers intuition that tends to the land with a mixture of holistic practices and a farmers experiences and observations. It is aware of the rhythm of the sun and moon and uses nature’s resources to create energy to the space that imparts wisdom to organize the farm as a thriving unit that is spiritually and earthly sustaining.

Our first day, Paul spoke of the earth and heavens, how they connect with one another to bear the best fruit… the understanding that to create from an earthly perspective alone falls short and separates us from the full dynamic of the universe. Our homework that night was to observe our surroundings, reflect on what we see, and create an awareness of the space lived in.

We stayed at Vichy Springs in Ukiah, a 700 acre ranch, with gorgeous views from all “points of view” and a meditative place. I discovered that it was a place that offered mineral baths, the only naturally warm and carbonated Vichy mineral baths in North America. I figured this was a good place to start my homework! I released the natural water coming out of the earth into my bath and immersed myself. After a few minutes I appeared carbonated fizzing like a beautiful flute of bubbly! The carbonation dilated my body’s capillaries and I started to feel warm and peaceful. I received the tranquility setting in and began to look at the intensely bright and luminous stars gazing over me. I thought, “These stars are so far away and I can SEE them, they are shining bright”. I noticed the moon was “waxing” on its way to completion again. I observed the constellations and how the sky was bright even though it was a midnight black night. I listened to the trees whispering softly to each other, became aware of my skin, my organs, my heart, my mind. I started to talk with God… “Thank you for this creation I am experiencing, please help me to be more aware of my surroundings, to realize that I am a small speck of sand on this planet, that there is more to this universe than I can grasp in my understanding, to allow good thoughts and loving energy to circulate in and around me, deliver me from stress molecules that don’t serve me or the environment around me. Give me the clarity, courage, and wisdom to step “outside of the box” so I can be a thriving, balanced creation in you God that beams with color, brightness, and health!

God reminded me then that He is the true vine and we are the branches. I am growing in His vineyard. He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit and He prunes every branch that does bear fruit so that I will be clean and bear more fruit. He “stresses” my vines so that I will drink deeper by stretching my roots farther into Him so I can produce the ripest fruit. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself, it can do so only if it remains in the vine. He said, ‘Remain in Me and I will remain in you. Remain in My love, you are growing fruit that endures for generations to come, for my children and grandchildren”. As Paul said, “the future of business is to make the future its business” The future of my family and the world around me is to make it my business right now. The choices made in the vineyard, the world, will be an outcome that will bear short-term satisfaction or long-term satisfaction. As we continue to shortchange nature to create short-term satisfaction by forcing high yields and injecting hormones in our food crops to sell more now, I believe that there is a better way, a balance that can be created to provide short-term satisfaction while preserving long-term satisfaction in ourselves, our world, our future…

 I will choose to be tended to by my organic gardener, God, who will create in me the best fruit for that season, in His timing, so that I can share the harvest with others for times to come! It will be fruit that will prosper and bear fruit for infinite seasons!

So… I raise a glass to God’s BIODYNAMIC SPIRIT and say… “To everything there is a season… and a time for every purpose under heaven! http://youtu.be/V6jxxagVEO4

 I had just taken in a 49er’s game with my friends, Tom & Gustavo. We went to Delfina after our WIN to imbibe in great food, even better wine, and best of all… lots of laughter! During conversation, it came up that my mother’s wonderful friends, Amy Jo & Ab, were coming out to the wine country with their in-laws in tow… I couldn’t wait to see them! They both looked at each other, smiled, and made a deal that they were going to organize a day for me that my friends would never forget. Tom & Gustavo have been in the wine industry a long time… together they create magical wine in Napa. I was honored and delighted that they would take a day out of their week to do this for me. I will never forget the memories of that day.

We journeyed to special tastings … swirl, smell, sip & swirl, smell, sip… just like a well conducted waltz.  I was elated as we arrived at Tom & Gustavo’s winery where the wine was patiently waiting inside for our enjoyment. Empty wine glasses were placed in our hands as Tom led the way with his wine thief to the 300 or so barrels laden with wine!! First, we sipped on Sauvignon Blanc from stainless steel tanks, and then tasted same vintage Cabernet Sauvignon out of various barrels…  I learned about the amazing transformation of flavors and textures within the same vintage and varietal and how this was influenced by which barrel was used for aging. I was in wine geek heaven! Little did I know that I was about to be love struck at the most unpredictable hour.

The object of my affection manifested as I was standing in an aisle of wine barrels. Tom extracted my “first kiss” from the barrel. As the flavors of boldness, strength, charm, kindness, and chivalry hugged and kissed my palette, this wine inexplicably permeated my soul… I realized that I had never been romanced by a wine quite like this before and it startled me. My love affair had begun and I knew I would be back one day to taste this Syrah as it evolved over time.  I have tasted many wines over the years thru experiences enjoyed in wine school, during my wine career, sharing wine with family, friends, and loves… nothing compared to my love, my amor… “My Syrah!” At this point, you might be saying, “Wow, lady, take it easy… it is just a wine.” I couldn’t explain the spiritual experience I had with that wine that day, however, a year later… I totally get it!

Last Thursday, Tom and I had meetings in Napa. After the meetings ended, we decided to take the rest of the day off and play in Napa. We started out at Rutherford Grill with a local microbrew in hand & lots of conversation! Tom and I are like siblings and we were enjoying catching up on each others’ lives. My friend, Autumn, who lives in Napa eventually met up with us and off we went to Tom’s winery for tasting. I was like a teenager giggling in anticipation and with flushed cheeks that I was about to see my Syrah again!!  The Cabernets that I had tasted a year ago were bottled that same day and I was excited to taste the new Cabernet Sauvignon vintages in barrel.  I also knew that “my syrah” was waiting for me in the barrel and couldn’t wait to experience that rush again! Throughout the year, I would ask Tom…”How is my syrah?” He would smile and say… “Waiting for you”! We tasted thru the Cabernet Sauvignons which were ridiculously good and then… it was time to taste the syrah. I was standing in an aisle with barrels surrounding us from every side. I did not know how to explain what I was experiencing, I did know that my spirit was definitely in the forefront and all senses were heightened and aware. I was laughing with joy that I was reunited with “My syrah”… as I was kissed by this wine again; it was much more intense and overwhelmingly perfect.  I could sense God’s presence in me and “wine angels” surrounding me. I heard, “This is your wine.” I said to myself, “Am I going crazy or did God tell me that this is really “my wine”? I heard again, “This is YOUR wine” and I smiled as it sounded good to me!! Tom and Autumn were laughing at my love affair I was having in front of their eyes and Tom especially delighted in it because it was his creation.

As we were walking out… Tom turned to me and said… “This is your wine.” I looked at him in awe because I had been told this thru my spirit while tasting, and for Tom to tell me that without him knowing anything affirmed that this was my “soul wine”. I said, “Say that again”! He said… “This is your wine…  I just feel that this wine was supposed to be made for you.”  I laughed as Tom and I haven’t talked much about God openly together, just subtly. I laughed and said, “God told me that inside also and now straight from the wine maker’s mouth!” He laughed and said, “God has been doing that all day!” It opened a door for us to talk deeper about our relationships with God and we both affirmed that He was a major part of the atmosphere that day.

“My verse” in the Bible is … “New wine must be put into new wineskins.” I believe that God is symbolizing my love affair with Jesus and the growth I have experienced over the past year. It was about a year ago that transformation began in me… just around the time I first tasted the Syrah. Now, a year later, as I was delighting in the evolvement of that wine which had gone from really good to fantastic… I had a revelation that thru my planting and pruning the past year I am growing into a vine that produces good fruit. I am maturing and evolving into great wine… just as my syrah is still aging for another 6 months in the barrel… and will continue to mature and evolve in the bottle.  I believe there is deeper revelation to that understanding… for now… I will delight in the simple pleasure of knowing that my winemaker, God, is delighting in His creation of me and that I am delighting dwelling in Him!!

Now, as the grape harvest is near… I am a new wine that must be placed into new wineskins, fresh and new! That is a harvest to celebrate and with that…I dance with “My Syrah” in hand and say… “Que sera, sera… whatever will be, will be!!”

We traveled to Wander’s hometown, Dourados, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Mato Grosso do Sul is known for its natural beauty… waterfalls, rivers, the Pantanal, a beautiful region abundant with wildlife and wonderful landscapes. His family has a beautiful ranch that we stayed on a portion of the time. I felt like I was in the Garden of Eden. Coconut palm trees were overflowing with coconuts and parrots were free to fly from tree to tree. The help would pick bananas, fresh pineapples, various papayas… I would pick my mangoes fresh off the tree as well as star fruit (carambola). Passionfruit juice was freshly squeezed every morning, coffee bean plants were abundant, I rode horses on the land… drank out of my freshly picked coconut while relaxing by the pool or laying in the hammock, I was in heaven! I drank out of many coconuts that month & could see the changes in my skin, hair, and overall health. I was completely satiated by my environment.

This year, I vacationed in Maui, Hawaii where coconuts are also abundant. My tradition every morning involved the simple act of laying in a hammock by the ocean. I enjoyed reading & hanging out with God. I was completely satisfied and enjoyed all the coconut palm trees shading me as a peaceful smile shined from my face and intoxication overcame me by the sounds of the ocean.

Google “health benefits of the coconut” and you might think it is the cure-all for everything by looking at the list. Coconut is highly nutritious and rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It also provides many health benefits beyond its nutritional content. Coconut oil is of special interest because it possesses healing properties far beyond that of any other dietary oil. In some cultures, the coconut palm is so highly valued as both a source of food and medicine that it is called “The Tree of Life.”

The recent revelation I have experienced is that I could live off of a “love & coconuts” outlook on life and be perfectly content! Why… do you ask? Well… love & coconuts have a lot of mirrored benefits…. they have many healing powers & carry many nutrients; they cure many ailments; make skin, hair, and overall appearance glow; increase the ability to smile & laugh, are filling and super satisfying!! They are also both very super natural!!

God is my “love & coconuts”. I have never been so healthy in my whole life as I am now. I have spent the past year drinking from His never-ending abundance of Love. This ”coconut water” has been intense, overwhelming in a joyous way, and deep. The love I experience now with Him has increased the love that I experience with family, friends, strangers, and my future husband will benefit as well! It is interesting to try to put into words as the experience is so natural that words almost take away from it.

I guess what I am trying to convey is that God fills me with His amazing healing powers, oils of fragrant love, consumes me with His nutrients of peace, love, and joy. All I have to do is drink and enjoy! There is a never-ending abundance & when all else fails in life, there are always enough love & coconuts to go around!

And to that, I raise a coconut and say… “To “love & coconuts!”