Wine Wednesday: Blah Edition

If the universe is trying to prove something by shitting on all the people I love (and a lot of people I only tolerate) in one week, I CALL UNCLE.

I know people who have fallen ill, transmissions have gone out on cars, work situations gone wrong.... and on and on and on. 

Clearly, as in the words of one of my very wise bridesmaids....

Wine.  It's always a good choice.

My wedding invitations came in yesterday, and just so happened to be bathing in a pile of sunlight... in which a tiny rainbow was refracted.  

I just used the word "refracted" in a blog post.  I'm 50/50 on whether or not I used it in the grammatically correct fashion.

Either way, +20 life points to me today. 

This has to mean that today is going to be a GENUINELY good day, right?

Either way, I should have at least ONE engagement photo in my hand this week. 

+99 life points to my photographer if I look beautiful.

I'll also give myself +50 for that.

Got it?  Good.

Cheers, classy & fabulous people. 

Wine AND Wedding Wednesday. A Perfect Marriage.

So, if there's anything that I enjoy blogging about as much as wedding planning, it's cheap wine.  You may think that's me being coy about my wine connoisseur ways, but it's not. 

Before I was ever engaged, I had seen a photo on Pinterest that really revved my want-to-be-a-bride heart.

You may have seen it 300 times before, if you run in the same pinterest circles as me.

Anyways, many people had traced the cup back to Spencer's but it was out of stock online.  The last time I was in a Spencer's was.... 8th grade, so I wasn't holding my breath there.

And lo and behold, my groom came through for me.  Have I mentioned lately how lucky I am to have him?  I don't think so.

I'm lucky.

I've had the cup for a couple of weeks now, but I just finally got wine into it this week.  GENIUS.
 

I think profanity is slightly vulgar (eh, not really, actually), especially on the blog... but I just had to share.  I only wish you could see me doing the happy dance in real life whenever I announce that "I'm getting married." 

As for the wine, it's a cheeeap bottle of red moscato, my new favorite.  Although it's been pointed out to me multiple times that I will need to ditch the red if I whiten my teeth before the wedding (shouldn't be a problem, I love white wine). 

Pretty sure it was less than $5 on sale at Meijer, which makes it a winner in my book.  Yes, I'm a cheap date (if we're talking only specifically about wine, not shopping).  Yes, Mr. RH is a lucky man.


Cheers!  Happy Wine Wednesday!

I'm getting married, bitches.  Cue the happy dance.

Wine Wednesday: Crafty

First of all, thanks for your sweet words on my red/white/blue wedding post yesterday.  Don't worry, I'm sure I'll keep you posted.

And apologies in advance for the ad-nausea wedding talk.   I know it's not the most exciting thing to everyone, but it's pretty much allll I do in my free time.  That and drink wine.

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So, remember when I started crafting cute initial-canvases for Mr. RH and I?  Yeah, it was January so I barely remember.

Anyways, TWO MONTHS ago I started a craft project.  Got a nice amount done in one day and then it literally sat on the kitchen table for the next two months.

Which would be a really great excuse for anyone who has to see my kitchen table to drink, now that I think about it.

However, I poured myself some wine the other night and decided to get it done.  Cause I need my kitchen table back to put other crap on it.  Duh.

It's not particularly sophisticated or fancy, but I really like almost every Barefoot brand of wine that I try. 

Traditional moscato is one of my fav wines, and I'm generally pretty cautious about red wines.  Cause they could stain your teeth, yo! 

Anyways, two thumbs up for red moscato.  I think it's a little less sweet than the traditional moscato - and I'm not sad about it.

Cheers, crafters (and non crafters).  Stay tuned because the final project will be complete this week!

Cheers, Wednesday.

Wine Wednesday: Wine, Tacos, and Sunshine

I had yesterday off, which was glorious and all too fast.  Where do the days go between laundry and grocery shopping and closet-cleaning?!... blah!

But, late in the afternoon, the sun peeked out for a glorious couple of hours.

I swear, it recharged my soul for days.  But please, since today is the first day of spring, don't let it be days before I see it again.

We've had too many gloomy days around here, hence... bring on the wine!  And an early bedtime.

And turkey tacos, which were on the menu.  Yumm.  Just like Mexico, here.  Or not.

Happy Wine Wednesday.

What are YOU drinking?

Wine Wednesday: Blah Edition

It has been a rough couple of days.  Woof.

I woke up Monday with a sore throat, and it's only gotten worse since then.  Last night, as I was walking out of work, I got that weird, nauseated feeling that signaled impending doom.

I woke up all through the night, positive that I was going to soon be dying the black death of puke.... but then, I finally woke up this morning and I feel alright.  Definitely not well, but fine.  No fever, which is unfortunate because I would love to call off work and spend the day on the couch watching TV.

Besides feeling sick, the weather is disgusting here.  Wind gusts of 40 miles per hour are the norm and it alternately snows then sleets.

This wine would be delicious if I weren't just wishing for a swift trip to bed instead.

The happy face is only doing minor things to cheer my mood though.

Hopefully everyone's feeling well where you are.  Pass the Gatorade and tissues.

Wine Wednesday: Throwback Edition

Happy Wine Wednesday, everybody!!

For real, is there a week that has EVER needed wine more?  It's funny, I can't think of anything particularly bad or challenging that's happened this week... it just feels like the never-ending week. 

So, I just browsed through some of my old Wine Wednesday posts... some of them were so fun!  Like me trying to ride a bike.  And gosh, flowers... do you even remember what those look like?  It's so gray outside I can't even remember there ever being color.... anywhere.

Anyways, I found this photo way back from October 5th... so obvs I am posting it in a timely fashion.

 

I actually made a pact with myself lately - no more wine purchasing.  I, at one time, had amassed quite the stash for any old occasion.  Impromptu bachelor soiree for an employee at work?  No sweat, just hit the closet.   

I've depleted most of my stash (I've got about 4 bottles left, but most of them are repeats of old "Wine Wednesday" posts so it hardly seems rational to post them AGAIN.)  I guess I could place them in new contextual wine settings.

(Oh dear God, please make this post stop.)

But I really like these Wine Wednesday posts, and I think it's funny to see the different places I've lived/been.  

So, I am on a SUPER budget (read: no Dom Perignon will be gracing my belly)... but I think I need to bring Wine Wednesday back.  Even if it's not on a Wednesday. 

Are you WITH ME?! 

Where's your favorite/cheap place to buy wine?  I'm going to be near a Trader Joe's, one of my personal faves, this weekend... but of course it's on Sunday and crazy Indiana law bans me from getting my drink on on Sunday.  LAME.

Moving along.

Blah for gloomy, rainy days.  Hope the sun is shining wherever you are.

Happy Wine Wednesday!!

Wine Wednesday: Fancy Cupcake Edition

Last week, Mr. RH was fairly insistent that the only cupcakes worth eating were lemon-raspberry cupcakes.  Apparently MY favorite, white on white cupcakes, are not delicious enough.  Clearly he's mentally ill.

Anyways, it stuck in my head long enough that I knew I had to at least give them a try.  But I was scared, because stuffing a raspberry inside of a cupcake seems like quite the task. 

So, I googled around and found no satisfactory recipes... so I decided to wing it.

I baked a box of white cupcakes, easy peasy.

Then came the task of making the raspberry "sauce" for the inside of the cupcake.  I saw several variations of this stuffing, but they all seemed a little weird.

Basically, I heated the raspberries and maybe 3 tablespoons of white sugar on the stove.  My raspberries were pretty fresh so they didn't want to mush up.... so I used a potato masher on them.  Problem solved.

 

Eventually, they bubbled up and got all gooey and perfect.  I added a little bit (less than a teaspoon) of cornstarch to a little water and threw that into the mix to ensure it wouldn't be too runny and ruin my cupcakes.

 Next up was cutting a little reservoir in the center of the cupcakes.  I used my smallest paring knife and just dug a little cone out of each cupcake.  I realized halfway through that I was digging too deep and started to make them shallower.  You want to make sure your filling has some cupcake to soak into without breaking open.  

I had seen several people fill their cupcakes using a pastry bag, but I really thought that would leave too much raspberry goo in each cupcake.  Plus, I didn't know if my raspberry mix was thin enough for even a hefty pastry bag.

Enter... my oldest and cheapest teaspoon.  I just scooped a little bit into the spoon and pushed it into the cupcake.  I also tried to push the raspberry up around the edge of my little reservoir, again so it wouldn't soak through the bottom of the cake.

After this step, I deserved the wine.  As I told (whined to) Mr. RH, this stuffed cupcake business is hard!  And by hard I mean slightly more labor intensive than a regular cupcake.  I just wanted to put my feet up and watch Real Housewives, is that so much to ask?!

 

 The frosting is actually my favorite kind of frosting - a instant lemon pudding mixed with 1 cup cold milk, .25 cups powdered sugar, and a small tub of cool whip.  It's just THE perfect frosting - and you can use any flavor of pudding mix for variety.  Even though vanilla is obviously the best.

 

I actually managed to hold off eating one until this morning.  I don't even know who I am anymore.

I have to say, it was worth the wait.  And the wine.

Happy Wine Wednesday!  What are YOU drinking?

Wine Thursday

So, BREAKING NEWS, in an update to yesterday's post, at around 4 pm yesterday, we got the venue we wanted!!

And by "we" I mean I.

Unfortunately, I had to work and then jet off to "Catholic class" with Mr. RH after work... so I got the news, had a party in my purse (mass texting the future bridesmaids), and then went to class and then straight to bed.

Big celebrations!

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Regardless, do you know what is cramping my style?  Wedding Wednesdays.  I like to talk about my wine on Wednesdays.  

So, today is bonus Wednesday.  On a Thursday.  Try to keep up, people.

I was at Kroger a couple of weeks ago and saw this wine sitting in the bakery... of course, it was Sunday so I had to come back another day to purchase it.  (Woohoo Indiana liquor laws.  Silly state.)

The last time I had a riesling I was really not a fan.... fortunately, the polka dots on the bottle clearly improved the flavor.  This wine was delicious!!

I actually have a little left in the bottle (how in the heck am I supposed to finish a whole bottle in one sitting?!) and I cannot wait for tomorrow so I can chug it in my sweatpants.

Now you know why this blog is called Classy & Fabulous.

Happy Wine Thursday!!  Hopefully you don't have to work tonight so you can enjoy a nice cocktail tonight.... cause I'll be at work.

xxo

Wine Wednesday: Holy Cow Edition

Today's Wine Wednesday is brought to you by my woefully exhausted self... I just (at 10 am) arrived home (today's my weekend!) from a 7 am holiday meeting.

Yes, today, August 1st, was our first official day of holiday planning.  As in, CHRISTMAS holiday.

I think I'll just drink the whole bottle, please.

This wine was... interesting.  It's Oliver Winery's (holla to Indiana wineries!) Honey Watermelon wine.  I've never had a honey wine.... and I'm not going to lie, not my favorite.  It was sweet - but also weird. 

Don't worry, I drank the bottle anyways.  Not the whole bottle though, that's crazy talk.  Took me a few days.

How cute is my grown-in planter, by the way??  Not a great pic... but I thought I'd show you the finished product.

Happy Wine Wednesday!

Wine Wednesday: Something Different

First of all, I'd just like to apologize right here and now because my wine Wednesday posts have gotten SOO lame.  For once, I actually have all kinds of different wine and such to drink... but I have run out of ideas for photographing it.

I swear, next time, I'm going to up my game.  PROMISE.  Probably.

This week's wine is probably not so much a wine as it is a wine product.  You can tell not only from the alcohol content but also from the screw top.  Which is why I was baffled when Mr. RH totally turned up his nose at it.  I'm not sure I'm ever going to get him on board with wine, but ladies, I WILL DIE TRYING.

Although probably it would be more of a murder-homicide situation. 

This weeks' "wine" was a pre-made sangria.  I've made sangria in the past, but I've never had one straight out of the bottle before.

It was good - sweet and light and refreshing - but now I'm wishing that I had taken 2 minutes to throw some fruit in there.  That probably would have been way yummy.

Regardless, it was a delicious little bottle and got my brain excited to make some homemade sangria coming up.  Is it peach season yet??  YUM.

Happy Wine Wednesday!!  What are YOU drinking?

Wine Wednesday: Much Deserved Edition

It's been a full week since I posted (and it was a lame post at best!)... but I swear I have a good reason.  This stupid man cold has been hanging on (and on and on). 

Every time I think I'm getting better (like Monday), I wake up feeling like I got punched in the face-parts again.  It's a never-ending cycle of fun, I tell you.  On the upside, I slept through the night for the first time in 2 weeks on Monday and it was glorious.

Congrats, I'm officially 3 months old.

Thanks to my never-ending sickness, I seem to be behind on everything. 

My plants are chilling on my porch in their plastic containers, begging to get put into the ground.  A laundry bomb went off in my bedroom and I can't find the source.  And disgustingly my bathroom vanity needs a good scrubdown.... but I'm just too lazy to follow through.

Luckily, I declared today no-shower Wednesday to buy myself some precious morning time back.  Because if I didn't post something I'm sure you'd all begin to wonder if I was dead.

Which, if this cold doesn't quit, I very might well be.

Wine time?

Yes please.

I'm pretty sure we picked this up at World Market.... but I know nothing other than that.  It's beyond sweet and moscato-y.  I didn't even drink all that much of it because Mr. RH was being a wet blanket and insisted on going for a jog after wine-time.  Lame.

And that's all you get, folks.  Unless you have remedies for the never-ending cold.  Because I can't even get to the dang doctor till Monday cause I'm so booked up... but of course if I make an appointment I will be healed immediately... so I'm not making an appointment.

Maybe if I just drink all the wine I will be miraculously healed?

AMEN.

Wine Wednesday: Non-Drinker Edition

You guys... I'm not sure I can drink alcohol anymore.  Any time I drink, even a very small amount, I toss and turn in bed alllllll night long.  At first I thought I was just waking up to pee or take a drink of water... but eventually I end up staring at the ceiling before I admit defeat in the wee hours of the morning and get up for the day.

Regardless, this has not dimmed my enthusiasm to continue buying wine.  Just drinking it.

This week's wine wasn't even purchased by me, it was purchased by my dad.  He saw it at Trader Joe's in Louisville and ended up making a trip to Indy just to pick it up because I had to have it.

Side note:  Black Tulips.

These sprouted up last spring and I have been dying to find more ever since.  Don't they look so badass?

And yes, I realize they are probably purple and not black.. but black seems way more intense.

So.... anyone know where I can buy black tulips?  I need to plant more in the fall so I can have them everywhere!

Please and thank you.

Happy Wine Wednesday!

What are YOU drinking?

Wine Wednesday: Belated NYE

This week's Wine Wednesday is courtesy of the NYE stomach flu (ahem, Mr. RH) and a lazy evening on the couch.

I know, you are shocked I am such a party animal.

We tasted some of this which has, I thought, a lot of  great recommendations going for it. But.....meh.

Maybe I was just exhausted, but it wasn't really all I had built it up to be.  It was just OK.

Mr. RH, who is more a fan of a friuty frozen margarita, was not impressed.

No worries, I grabbed at least 1 more bottle of champagne for aborted NYE plans.  I'll give you the full report later.

Happy Wine Wednesday!

What are YOU drinking?

Wine Wednesday: Happy New Year!

So far... the New Year has been... meh?  I've worked every day so far (THREE!) and Mr. RH had the stomach flu which was fun for no one involved.  I wasn't involved, but I did feel really bad and motherly and worried.

I know, hard life.

I'm going to squeeeeeeeze the last few minutes out of the Christmas season as best I can.  I haven't even blogged about anything Christmas-y yet.  Is it too late for that?

If you need something of substance to read... check out my 2011 Recap or my Classy Bookshelf 2011 posts.  Two of my favorites of the year, I think!

Cheers, 2012!  Let's hope it gets a little better with a couple days off...

Wine Wednesday: Trashy Edition

I snapped my Wine Wednesday pic last week in a rare moment of domesticity... but when I went back to look at it, I felt like it was a totally unrealistic depiction of my life right now.  I have eaten french fries no less than 8 times in 2 weeks which.... I don't think has ever happened before.  I crave junk food on the daily (hello stress hips!).

 

I was totally digging on this Barefood Sweet Red though - so much in fact that I couldn't even re-do the photos because I drank the whole bottle while considering alternate wine poses.

I know, hard life.

Therefore, I give you my 6:30 am on a Wednesday interpretation of my current feelings instead.

Taken with water because obviously I have a meeting in less than an hour.  And a full day of work.  I can't tell what my favorite part of this picture is... I think it might be my favorite bath robe.  It's a toss up.

Hope life is treating you well.... please drink a gallon of wine for me.  xx

Wine Wednesday: Sweet Times

I know, I swore I was not going to talk about Mr. RH daily. But apparently that was a lie.

It has come to my attention that we don't have any real wineglasses in my house. I have a bunch of "Sarah's house" stuff in a small storage unit and apparently all my family's wineglasses are in there. Go figure.

We do have some teeny-tiny Czechoslovakian crystal wineglasses that are at the house... and I was planning to serve up some Classy Wine to Mr. RH last week. (It's a good thing he's not a major drinker cause... oy vey. He might be appalled by my selections.)

Obviously, the ice was necessary.

This wine is "Sweet Times" Moscato, which is just named absolutely perfectly for my life right this very minute.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you if it's delicious or not because we actually didn't get around to drinking the wine.

I know, I must be ill. Lovesick. Or pregnant.

But probably definitely not that last one.

Happy Wine Wednesday!! What are you drinking today??

Wine Wednesday

This week's Wine Wednesday is pretty interesting. I must have been verry confused in the grocery store, because I bought red wine.

Which would be fine, except I don't really like red wine.

No worries, I am a champ and I soldiered on through.

I realize that this particular red wine is supposed to be served pretty warm, like 65 degrees warm, but I could only power through it with some crushed ice in my glass.

And maybe a splash (or 5) of simple syrup.

Judge away, but read wine is not for sissies. And I am most definitely a sissy.

And as I type this post on Tuesday night... it is giving my head a mighty pounding and I didn't even finish a whole large glass.

On the upside, I do give this Wine Wednesday photo an A+. Might be one of my favorites to date.

What are YOU drinking tonight?

Deliciously Wine Wednesday.

A week or so ago, I was just home from work, minding my own business when BAM the lovely Rachel from In No Simple Language hits me with this delicious blondie recipe.

I mean, I was already feeling a bit exhausted and worn down from a long week and I just didn't have it in me to resist.

Plus, the 2 glasses of wine I'd consumed took down the rest of my defenses.

I know, it's a horrible Wine Wednesday picture. But this is real life, friends. I copy and paste recipes into word documents and sometimes highlight the ingredients as I go because I have been known to accidentally double ingredients.

I had to have them, immediately. Thank GOODNESS the ingredients were all in my cupboard.


The blondies were gone within 24 hours. HEAVENLY!

Also, I now know why all the dieters out there write that they HATE ME every time I post about food. I get it, friends. I get it.

Wine Wednesday

Time for another fan favorite - Wine Wednesday!

I took a little hiatus from the booze so I didn't have any of these posts for a long while... but I'm back!

This week's wine was cheap and delicious. Excellent!

Of course, I like my wine sweet like candy so if that's not your style - you should probably skip the Barefoot Moscato.

What are YOU drinking today? (Hopefully tonight. Not today. But if you are, more power to yah!)

Wine Wednesady

It's been well over six months since my last Wine Wednesday post... but lucky for you, it's baack!

Unfortunately I don't have any overly delicious new wine to share with you... but this thing has been gathering dust probably since my last Wine Wednesday post and last week's snowpocalypse was definitely enough to drive me to drinking.

Kidding.

Despite all my best efforts... this photo kinda sucked. I took a gazillion more but they were just bad. It was too sunny and snowy. Blinding.

Also, back at my last wine post I wasn't living in this post - I was in a house with very few neighbors and none that could see the back of my house... here, I had at least 15 houses in full view of my antics. Me slipping around my iced-over yard with a half drunk bottle of wine.

Oh dear, what WILL the neighbors think?!