I feel refreshed after taking a little break from blogging (although I didn't mean for it to be an almost three-month break). I stopped because I was tired of feeling stressed about posting. Quite honestly, it was nice not blogging. I'll still be updating here, and more regularly than once every three months, but my food blogging site will remain inactive for a bit longer.
Primarily, it's because my focus has started to shift to wine. While on hiatus, I took the Level 1 sommelier exam (and passed, thanks!). Now I'm studying for the Level 2; after passing that, I can officially call myself a sommelier. But then there's still the Advanced and Master level exams, which are notoriously difficult. In fact, there are only about 220 Master Sommeliers in the entire world. One step at a time, of course. My next focus is passing the Level 2, and learning more than passing familiarity with all the wines on the wine list at work.
(But that's the fun part about learning about wine; it involves two of my favorite things! 1. Reading, and 2. Drinking.)
So my home cooking efforts have fallen to the utilitarian while I work and study. Which is fine with me, frankly. I have a large recipe repertoire to pull from, and my money goes more to wine these days. I've updated my Twitter handle--@brokefoodie--to reflect my wine tasting notes and general wine shizz.
Other news? We had our own healthcare debacle. As soon as I was eligible for insurance through work, I promptly enrolled DH and myself. Only to discover, after about six weeks of coverage and a few general check-ups, that my premiums would be $216 a month, and DH's would be--wait for it--$520 a month additional. Not including dental. Which meant we'd be paying close to $1000 a month, IN PREMIUMS. I'd be better off putting that money in a savings account every month, and declaring bankruptcy in the event of cancer. I mean, $1000 a month for insurance? That's just silly.
The upshot is that I had to drop DH (I kept him on dental). The good news is that the premiums are going down next year, so my own insurance will become more affordable.
Speaking of DH, his part-time freelance writing job should go full-time between now and March. I don't think it will involve salary or benefits, but it will be a much-needed boost of income and ego.
My own work is going well. We're in the busy season now, but I'm happy to make the money. This time last year DH and I were in different states, and I was working my butt off alone in a very cold Boston. It's much nicer working my butt off with him here. We're excited about hosting my stepson and father-in-law for Christmas (I've already planned a fancy evening out for everyone at my restaurant), and we're also planning to take the boy on a post-New Year's road trip down through northern California into San Francisco for a few days. He'll fly home from San Fran, and we'll drive back through wine country. I've got a reservation for The French Laundry; I'm excited about it, but still not sure if I want to pay that much money for dinner. I may yet decide to cancel the reservation and keep the money. More on that as it develops. (But, of course, there'll be pictures and travel notes here!) The restaurant is closed for a week after New Year's Eve, and I'm very much looking forward to extended time off/another road trip.
We may be moving to a new apartment upon our return. The lease is up at the end of January (hard to believe it's been almost a year since we moved here!), and I'd like to be closer to work. If we move to a place where I can walk to work, we'll save a few hundred dollars a month in rent in addition to vastly decreased gas (and car insurance) costs. DH will continue working from home, so that's no problem. I like my current vicinity to downtown Seattle, but not enough to keep paying the increased rent (and driving a half-hour each way to work). I'm starting to look at apartments now. It makes my head hurt, to think about packing and moving again, but at least this time it would be just across town.
And that's really about it. It's nice to be in a position to have an actual Christmas this year. We can afford presents for loved ones, we're together (it's not frigid and icy outside, like Boston was), and I feel like I'm placing myself on an upward career trajectory. We're both healthy, and caught up on dental work. I can get my hair done once in a while, and get a new pair of shoes for the work holiday party, without worrying about dire financial repercussions. People are traveling to visit us for the holidays, instead of the other way around. We're about to go driving off into the wild blue yonder again. So life is good, for now. And thank goodness for that.
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