Wine with Me!

Over Christmas break, I was carefully examining every facet of my life and deciding what I needed to improve over the coming year. I know, I know...you're all thinking, "How could anything be improved? Kaitlin is perhaps the most awesome, well-read, talented person that I know. I wish I could be like her." Or maybe you are thinking something else...like, "Thank goodness! What a mess...I could give her a humongous list of improvements to make." Because, if you haven't figured it out yet, everybody in the world thinks in two, very opposite ways, and only those two ways. Or at least they do in my brain.

Anyway, one of the things I focused on was my blog here. Now, I don't want to brag, but since it's my blog, I can do whatever I want, and you just have to read it. Or don't read it. Please read my blog...as I was saying, I don't want to brag, but I feel like I've been doing a good job for these past two weeks of posting frequently (not too frequently...don't want to blow up anyone's Facebook feed) and on topics that are random enough for a lot of people to find them mildly intriguing (at least enough to click on the link). I came up with some great new ideas for posts, revisited some old ones, and tried to streamline the appearance of the blog.

One of the new categories I came up with really excited me. I kind of borrowed the idea from a Youtuber, but this is different because I don't make videos, and I'm calling it something different. And I can pretty much guarantee there won't be a log of overlap in our topics. So here goes...

Welcome to the very first edition of...

Wine with Me

Here is the premise...I am going to drink wine and rant/complain/whine about something, and you are welcome to join me! Get it? Doesn't this sound like fun? Huh? 

Today, while I'm wining, I am enjoying a glass of Rhubarb Wine from Cooper's Hawk. The bottle is my sister's, but she was kind enough to share with me. 

Now, here is the only problem. When I sat down at my computer after a long day at professional development (for future reference, administrators:  adding wine to our institute days would liven things up a lot...just a thought), all I knew was that I wanted to write a blog post. There's that old adage, If a tree falls in the woods and there's nobody there, does it make a sound? Well, if you call yourself a writer and you aren't writing anything, then are you a writer? That question haunts my nightmares...and daydreams, too. Here's the problem, though. Sometimes you can't think of anything to write about. I had planned on wining about teacher evaluations, but I'm tired of talking about them, so I threw that idea out. I turned to my very handy social media-blogging calendar, which tells me each day's special holiday...and January 15 is not anything, except for my Grandpa Rowe's birthday (Happy 90th Birthday in Heaven, Grandpa. I miss you!).

Nothing. I could think of nothing to write. Not a diddly-darn topic sounded any good. I just posted about some Wise Words from my friend, Jane Austen. I posted about knitting, and I'll wait to post on that for a while. I could write on and on about Downton or other shows, but I'm saving that for another day. I haven't read any books of any particular note (the book I just finished was one of those romance novels with a Fabio-esque shirtless guy possessively holding a gorgeous woman whose dress just seems to be unable to stay on her shoulders...it was good, but not really worth posting about...it was Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas, alright? Happy now? Geez!). 

I was 100% completely blocked. 

And then I realized what I could whine about. Writer's block. It's awful. Everybody's felt it at some point. Maybe you were writing an essay for high school English. Maybe you were writing a Facebook post. Maybe you were penning your 1000 page epic. Whatever the case, the words just wouldn't come when you needed them. Isn't that just the worst? It might be one of the most frustrating first-world problems that exists. 

But a block doesn't just have to be with writing. Maybe you are/were an athlete, and you had one of those days where nothing went your way--your shots missed, you swung and struck out, your serve didn't clear the net, you just couldn't get into a good rhythm with your run. Maybe you are/were a performer, and you had one of those moments where your notes didn't come out right, your emotion was all off, or you couldn't remember your lines. MAYBE YOU'RE A TEACHER...and you have one of those days where your lesson just doesn't jive with what the energy from the kids. Or you don't know what to do to make your class more engaging. Or you just can't find a way to make POV exciting. It happens to all of us--we all get blocked. And it sucks. 

I will tell you, though, wine definitely makes it better. Not that I'm recommending you fill your water bottle with wine on your next run or that you keep a bottle in your desk drawer. Although a good swig would be helpful sometimes when you're on-stage...clear up all those nerves in one fell swoop.

And would you look at that...I wrote a blog post. Thanks, wine. You're the best.

And just because this is my favorite wine-related photoy-memey thing ever...

~Stay gold!