Stormy Weather

3 parts Fernet Branca Bitters
3 parts dry vermouth
1 part white creme de menthe

Pour over ice cubes in a small highboy glass, stir, and serve. Then contemplate where you can take this post.

Two things.

Thing number one: Did you know that when you type "w" into Google, the first word it auto-populates for you is "weather"?

Thing number two: When you're stuck, contemplating topics, with nothing to write, typing a random letter of the alphabet into Google suddenly gives you inspiration...

Now, take said aforementioned drink.

Suddenly, I can relate this drink to the girl I went to high school with who wrote a song by the same name. God...she. was. annoying. I can still hear the tagline of the song - "In your eyes, there's stormy weather...". Either the song was ridiculously catchy, or I heard it six times a day in the choir room and therefore didn't have the pleasure of forgetting it.

Go with the latter.

I can also relate this to the mood I'm currently in while waiting for a funk to pass. I am a strong, independent woman. I am a strong, independent woman. I am a strong, independent woman.

Although I would like to say that I can actually relate it to the weather outside, let's be real. We're in the middle of summer in 80 degree heat and our A/C has been blasting since about 10am. What I wouldn't give to hear the sound of thunder, lightning and rain. The pitter patter of the drops against the pavement while snuggled in a blanket, sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows. I've never experienced seasons. I feel like I can count on one hand the times in the past year that I have really heard a storm.

Good thing writing can take me to a cozy fireplace with a snuggle buddy and a mug. ;)

Funny how a simple letter can inspire so much. I feel like I'm 3 years old again watching "Sessee seed" (my small person [wait...who am I kidding...I was never a "small person."] name for that one show with the big yellow bird) listening to Grover and Oscar help me learn that "A is for apple".

With "w"eather, "w"ords and "w"istful thoughts,

Kristen

P.S. I Love You

1/2 shot Bailey's

1/2 shot Grand Marnier

1 splash Creme De Menthe

Nutmeg

3/4 shot creme

ice

Mix the Bailey's, Grand Marnier, and creme together in a shaker with ice. Pour into a highball glass, add the splash of Creme de Menth and sprinkle some Nutmeg on top. Then sip slowly, sit lost in thought for hours, and realize just how blessed you are.

We all have...moments.

Moments define who we are as human beings.

Some exist as moments we want to forget. Even though they have wholly shaped the persons we’ve become.

Then there are the moments we live over and over again. The happiest and most vibrant moments our lives will ever know:

- Discovering your mom is bald when you come home from school because her chemo and breast cancer have won the fight.

- Your first kiss and the many kisses thereafter.

- Walking up to a podium in front of 2500 of your peers and family members to sing the national anthem at your college graduation.

My defining moments take shape in the form of successes:

- My mom, ultimately won the cancer fight 10 years ago. Her hair, although a consolation prize to her loss of lymph nodes, skin and tissue, grew back.

- My first kiss was awkward/shite/rushed, even. The fireworks kisses I've experienced thereafter...well...let's just say they're not all that way. :)

- My college graduation...knowing I was not only talented enough to sing one of the hardest songs in the world in front of my peers, but knowing I was singing because I had completed a double major and was graduating college at the age of 22.

This morning, Albert's great grandmother passed away.

Earlier this month, this: (http://www.inthiswonderfullife.com) amazing woman and her husband lost their child, Cohen, who was a mere 12 days old.

In March, my best friend Melissa's father had a stroke and was gone less than two weeks later.

These three moments of loss will forever define, in some small or HUGE way, Albert, Megan and her husband, and Melissa and her sisters. It took moments like these to make me realize that often, the positive moments I am so blessed with, get lost in the grunge and negative moments I let consume me. This muck overthrows the oodles (as my great grandmother used to say) I should be grateful for.

This is a reaffirmation to myself that I need to live in the moments and not only let them define who I am, but enjoy the path they force me to take.

With love and allegro,

Kristen