Last year, I picked up a new skill, namely crocheting! After completing my first project in the first week of Feb, my fingers were simply twitching to do something more ambitous, and more colorful. In terms of ambition, I did go a tad further, but colors! hmm! I have to work on that one. But, I love white and love the contrast it brings to other colors. I am surprised I strayed away from just pastels into the bright lavender and deep sage. I like how the project turned out. I believe there are one or two boo-boo's in there, but I love it!

	Besides, as I was excitedly taking pictures, drapping the 60 inches long wrap on different chairs and tables to get the right effect, I turn around to this! Now, do I need any other approval? How content can a cat get! Duke loves it and so do I! Princess is playing around with little bits of yarn in the living room.

What happens when your favorite wine store does a 75 year celebration and you are invited to this party? What do you do? What can you do?

I for one, gave in to select some outstanding wines, and add to the collection! Man! I have not regretted even one selection from Bermans Store. If you have not checked it out yet, I recommend the store and the people. The store has really very carefully selected wines. Almost like a master artist selecting his palette to work from. It shows passion, love for the art of wine, dedication to show case the best of what he has selected. I commend Joel Berman, on such a fantastic achievement. I wish I can bottle that success. :) You step into the store, and instantly you are transported into the different regions of wine producers. Be it Spain or Canada or California or Italy or any other place. The staff is so gracious. They stop to chat and ensure you are getting the fullest experience of the store and the wine. They have never disappointed me. It has made the wine-world more than just a tasting and loving to learning and wanting to know more. For that, and that alone, I thank the store and staff.

So, why am I blogging about wines this evening? Simply, because, I can. :) That is usually a good enough reason for me to type away. Besides as I am typing, I am drinking the Cairanne-Domaine de l'Ameillaud. I have never been to anywhere in Cote du Rhone, France. But, this wine feels home! With it jamminess, and minerality, and the herbs!

I watched King Arthur last night after work. I picked this movie up for Clive Owen and Clive Owen alone, but along with that gorgeous hunk, you get a quite a few gorgeous knights as well and one epic soundtrack for Hans Zimmer! Holy smokes, the soundtrack is haunting!

But back to the knights! You have Ioan Gruffudd (as Lancelot) and Mads Mikkelsen (as Tristan). Now where in the world have I seen these two cool guys before? Ioan is in Horation Hornblower (duh!) and, of course, Mads the coolest thing from Denmark in Casino Royale as Le Chiffre! Both adorable and so, so damn cute, that it hurts!

The soundtrack is blooming haunting! Needless to say it is on my buy list in Amazon!

The movie itself got a weird odd rating. But, now, I am kicking myself for having missed it on the full screen and theatre sound system! Ah! Well!  I liked the movie, for the historical accurateness that it tries to achieve. More of the dark ages time, rather than the whole legend of Camelot thing. Merlin being more of native pagan fighting for his land against Rome, than the wizard. Wars are little more realistic than people dancing around. Knights being human, that is not the pious, self-righteous characters, but realistic, oppressed, barbaric, mercenaries. Costumes carefully chosen and location shots are amazing! For me, the process of change in Artorius to being King Arthur is really heart rendering. It is process of realization that for the longest time the beliefs he has held about Rome, grandeur and justice and freedom for all, are no longer existent and that he has to strive to build it with what he has.

Wonderful movie!

Yesterday, I spent time in really going through 25 Best Time Managment tools and tips and some part of the Getting Things Done. With new found knowledge, I decided to put some learning into play.

I started the weekend (plus two days vacation time), with a goal to simplify the whole house! Instead, I have a vision for my life (at least as it stands currently) and values/standards or principles that I live (and want to) by.

Focusing on fulfiling those values, I have set goals for the year! Some of these are large and some are tiny, but they are there, with a deadline by which I want to get done. For example, Decluttering and finishing some decorative aspects for home has a deadline by June this year and yet another for spring/summer plantation. These are great project titles, but a project is only as good as its action items and and mini-milestone deadline dates. So, I put into play excel, outlook and notepad to jot down the "What needs doing", and "When it needs doing by" and "What I do need to (note: did not say "like to") do to get to end result". This system is out on trial! It is only as good as the efforts put in for its up keep. So, I am going to try it out for the month and do a review towards the end of the month on what worked or what didn't.

Pst: I will blog as I go to write what is working and what is not. Oh! and I am happy to report that my closets look spic-span with four categories: Keeping stuff, Donating stuff (already in my car and ready for Goodwill), Craiglist/Yard sale stuff, and finally Altering stuff (professional or me). It is fantastic to know that I had four black skirts! a zillion other shirts that were way-way to big for me (yeah, I still had them). Also, completely categorized my yarn stash, with yarn-don't-remember-what-I-am-going-to-do-with-you, and ongoing-not-yet-completed-knitting/crocheting-projects.

All in all! I would say a perfectly productive and getting loads of things done and all of them feed into fulfiling my vision! Simplification is Sweet!

Few days back (Friday to be exact), after successfully simplifying the desk at work, I turned my attention to the 50 hours planned marathon for simplifying the environment at home. Here is a little update on the same.

On Saturday, I received two books that made me take a step back and rethink the vision and goals. The first book "The 25 best time management tools and techniques" and "Getting things Done". Both incredible books! I had a choice to make, either continue down the path of marathon cleansing or take the time and figure out what these books are saying. Learning something new took precedence.

So, this Monday, I find myself abstracted away from the home into the wonderful starbucks cafe in my town. Fortified with a Grande Gautemalan slow roast coffee with skim milk, I studied the 25 best time management tools and techniques.  As I read and did all the exercises, what struck me immensely is that, this in not the book for "do this- and -you will better manage x time". It would be indeed comical, if the book said that! As I read, I found myself really asking myself what is my vision for life and work? what do I want to achieve? what are the essential focus items for me? This is not a to-do list, but a living breathing statement, that will evolve and mature (as I hope to too!).

Great! So, I have a vision and mission statement! The 25 tools and tips talks about distilling a focus (inline with my values and vision) and then setting goals, planning, organizing, taking action, reviewing the goals and then redo the cycle. All this is really good read! Now what! here is when I think Getting Things Done is an awesome book. I just started to read the book and it talks about the five stages to go about getting it really done! Not just talking about do this and don't do that! More about this when I get down to it.

Altos de la Hoya Jumilla, 2006 (Jumila, Spain)
Pic soon!		Notes from Menotomy: This super-affordable Jumilla is a blend of  92% Monastrell (Mourvedre) and 8% Garnacha (Grenache) and received 90 points from Robert Parker in his February online issue. Jumilla was one of the few places in Europe spared during the Phylloxera epidemic of the late 1800's. Virtually everywhere on the continent, vineyards were devastated and, to this day, can only be planted on grafted hybrid-American rootstock. For Jumilla, the key to its vineyards' survival was their sandy soil - which is anathema to the Phylloxera insect. And as a consequence, today Jumilla not only has some of the oldest vines in Spain, but certainly the largest number of ungrafted vines. Bodegas Olivares's vineyards are in the northernmost zone of La Hoya de Santa Ana. This is the coolest subzone of Jumilla, with sandy, lime-rich soils that produce intensely aromatic wines Grape composition: 92% Monastrell (Mourvedre) and 8% Garnacha (Grenache). My notes: Ok! I admit I went to taste the Cotes de Castillon (which was shown along with this wine) and this one simply blew me away! Cotes de Castillon was awesome, but this was beyond awesome. Perfectly deep red (almost black), with beautiful deep garnet edge. Plums, cheery sweet, with a very yummy grenache notes. Pair this with what? Too 'complete' to share with anything else on the table. Buy Factor: Oh! Yeah! At $13.99, a definite buy. Cost: $13.99 a bottle.

Antinori Santa Cristina Campogrande Orvieto Classico, 2006 (Umbria, Orvieto, Italy)
		Notes from Menotomy: The Orvieto Classico is an ancient wine, known in antiquity as a favorite among popes and princes, and is obtained from a combination of 40% Procanico, 40% Grechetto, 15% Verdello and 5% each Drupeggio & Malvasia. The straw yellow coloring of this wine gives way to a delicate bouquet that reveals an intense body, with a slightly bitter aftertaste. Antinori has produced Orvieto since 1922, and Orvieto Classico since 1932 Grape composition: 40% Procanico, 40% Grechetto, 15% Verdello and 5% each Drupeggio & Malvasia. My notes: This wine simply shines! Yes, that is correct, very pale yellow, brilliant and almost tranluscent. Perfect summer wine! Limes and pears, with a little nutty flavor, clean finish. Incredible, cannot wait to pair this on a hot summer day with cold tomato-basil-mozzerella salad with olive oil. Buy Factor: Was (and am) quite impressed with this one. Cost: $14.99 a bottle.

Away from the maddening crowd and into the home clutter. That is exactly what I will be doing for the next 96 hours. Er... no. considering that it is four days, and I need to catch up on sleep, so minus 32 hours. Also I have my weekend 6-8 hour second job, so minus 8 hours. I have the weekly wine education and tasting to attend, so minus 4-6 hours (roughly). So really I have 96 hrs - 46 hrs = 50 hours.

I have 50 hours (Sat-Tue) to get my house spring cleaned and contribute to the life simplified- home blog archive. I have a plan and the challenge is to keep to the plan. I think it is doable, but four days from now we will know.

The focused zones for the four days:

1. Work Room and Filing sections.
2. One (of the many) bedrooms.
3. Kitchen...... ah! ouch! don't know about this one.... may be I need two days just for this. I think it is relatively organized. But, I think it needs a little more TLC.
4. Living and Dining rooms.... piece of cake! There is very little and very Zen already. Now, what do i do with all those TV and electronic wires! Everything should be wireless! Godsake we are in year 2008!
5. Porch and bookshelves... another simple task! Not much attention needed. Loads of spring work from caulking, painting and finishing to do here, but is already in Zen space.

I will blog as I go! But for now, a fantastic red wine, and the movie hitman with incredibly gorgeous Tim (Give me a break! Its Friday!). ;)

Only a week late! But it is Friday, and it was a perfect day (with the weather being all messy and raw), to complete the spring clean that was started eight days ago.

Several accomplishments (and I highly recommend this too all) to report from the clean up:

1. Like I said previously, orchids stay where they are. And they are with simple rearrangment and all is well. Also, Sunday, I am going to drive back to work to transport all personal items (all those that managed to sneak into the office and make themselves home there), and some of the orchids are coming home too.
2. Next tackled the three drawers full of stuff.
   1. No idea, what stuff, so I took the opportunity to re-acquaint myself with the stuff hiding in there. This needed the recycling bin next to me. Whatever I have not used, read, written over or required to refer got tossed into the recycling bin. Felt really relieved to get rid of items that were printed and outdated.
   2. I found two scotch tapes, two staple pin removers, old business cards, paper clips about a 100, 15 cents in change, a pair of warm socks (there they are!), wonderful black sandles (oh! there they are!), four spoons (clean, for heavens sake!), old rotting-instant-coffee granule pack (yuk!), old tea packs, clean (thankfully) plastic containers, file holders, plastic folders empty, employee manuals, travel (outdated) manuals, expense reports (old and all paid out), budgets for contractors and zillion little nick-nacks. Each of the items got 10-15 second consideration and it landed one of the four piles:
      1. Keep
      2. Take Home
      3. Send back to Mail room
      4. Toss in trash.
   3. Funnily... actually not funnily, interestingly and happily most of them were in either 3 or 4. :) I am  glad that the trash is not simply being moved from one place to another (namely work to home).
3. Stuff that stayed on the table are of course, laptop, monitor (actually two of them), mouse, keyboard, stapler, three-punch hole machine, and hmmm.. orchids! :) I am pleased with the outcome.
4. Additionally, happy to report that the stuff I thought I was going to move into the drawer space to keep the desktop clean, either made it to a mail room or the trash.

Habits learned (or rather plan to work on):

1. Clean desk before leaving for the day.
2. Store items back and clean up for the day before leaving.
3. ah!... don't collect crap and don't bring stuff from home. If stuff-gathering is unavoidable, then keep in transient file. So, toss out when done. :)

Lofty habits, but worth trying them. :)

Duh! No camera, will take a picture on Sunday when I swing by.

Totally mindless, great heart thumping music, couple of hits, swordplay, one hot lead actor (Timothy Olyphant)..... just what the doctor ordered. Sometimes I wonder why I am watching this mindless crapshoot! Sometimes it is just what the mind needs.

Pst: I watched this three times.... er... for the music and one hot bald guy! tsk! tsk! Pathetic.