Cure for a cold winter night.

January 7, 2016September 22, 2016 ~ Meg ~ 29 Comments

Week 1 in The Year of Drinking Adventurously. Scots Whiskey. (Find all 52 weeks here.)

While the rest of you all are hitting the gym, drinking barley grass smoothies for breakfast and giving up refined flour and sugar, I am starting the new year by flying in the face of convention. This is the year of drinking adventurously! (All things in moderation, dear friends. I am not advocating overindulgence.)

Based on Jeff Cioletti’s book of the same title, my adventure will take me (figuratively) around the globe to sample the potent potables of the world. (And possibly go broke – life’s too short to drink cheap booze, after all.) Each week, I’ll let you know how I enjoyed the beverage of choice and hopefully find a way to tie it into writing. This is a writing blog, remember?

I’m joining my friend Lula on this tour. You can see how she traveled the globe here. And follow Jeff’s blog, here.

Week one: Scots whiskey

I do enjoy my whiskey. Especially in the winter when comforting heat can be had in a glass. I’m not above drinking a blended whiskey but prefer the single malt.

irish-whisky-map-225x300 — Image thanks to Pinterest

There are differences among the regional varieties that I won’t go into here. If you want to know, Jeff’s book has a nice overview.

My liquor cabinet currently holds Dalwhinnie Highland Malt Scotch Whiskey.

A decent bottle, medium priced and smooth.

laphroaig-18 — Seawater filtered through dirty ashtrays, pricey, exquisite

The Laphroaig is one of my favorites but I know it’s not for everyone. I grimaced at my first sip of Laphroaig. But I fell in love after the second. Jeff’s book compares it to “kissing a supermodel who smokes.”

Or if you prefer, kissing Aidan Turner:

Sorry, I’ve been looking for an excuse to post a photo of Aidan Turner. Anyway… I take my Scotch neat or with just one ice cube. I’ve never had a Scotch cocktail; not even the classic Rob Roy or Rusty Nail. Why mess with a good thing?

At the end of the day, whether it be a day I spent in practice or a day spent writing and editing, it is a joy to savor that glass of liquid smoke. Sometimes there is a flash of inspiration in that last sip – one that has me pulling out my notebook and pen, scribbling furiously while the words roll off the tongue of the invisible narrator. So fill your glass with a dram of good Scots whiskey. And find a beautiful companion to share it with! (Here’s more Aidan. Sorry, couldn’t help myself. Wait. Why am I apologizing?!?)

MV5BMTc2MDM1MzE1Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjk2NjI4OA@@._V1_SX640_SY720_ — Photo of beautiful companion courtesy IMDB

2015 in review

December 30, 2015 ~ Meg ~ 12 Comments

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,200 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Leaving the past behind

December 30, 2015January 7, 2016 ~ Meg ~ 26 Comments

I wasn’t going to do a 2015 year in review post, but since my dear friend Arpita tagged me, I decided to give it a go. I promise to keep it short. It’s funny, I didn’t think that much had happened this year until I went back through the photos on my phone.

Yes, this was the year I completed and published two novels, but you’ve already heard that story. I started taking my blog seriously and met a whole lot of really great people. (This means you.) Besides the novels, I’ve written a slew of short stories. Now I have to think about what to do with them. But you guys know all this if you’ve been following along since August-ish. Instead, have a look at my personal 2015.

We only took one trip this year and that bums me out. I love to travel and didn’t get to wander nearly enough in 2015. The trip we did take was to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Southern Virginia and while beautiful, was not particularly exciting. Oh well, sometimes you just need to unplug.

This was the view from the deck. Photo doesn’t do it justice.

I also love concerts and seeing live music in other small venues. The only major concert I went to this year was ‘Imagine Dragons.’

This was at the Billboard Music Awards. My seats were not this good.

They were pretty awesome but that’s the only band I got to see this year. Boo.

I suppose 2015 could’ve been worse but it certainly could’ve been better. It was the year of medical drama for me. I was diagnosed with asthma, the chronic cough kind. Finally have it under control after battling my insurance company to find an effective medicine they’d actually cover. Greedy bastards.

I had a tooth extracted and dental implants drilled into my jaw. That was fun – see below.

Then there was the mammogram scare. You guessed it. They found something. You have no idea how that feels unless you’ve gone through it. The follow up for a suspicious mammogram is a breast ultrasound. That too, was suspicious. Next up: biopsy. Horrifying. Only bright side? The boob doctor was a babe. Biopsy results came back normal. Hooray, right? Not yet. Cute boob doctor is so stunned that the tissue is normal he can’t believe it. Since the ultrasound was so opaque, they want me to come back for another one to make sure they biopsied the right area. Come the hell on, already! Alright, enough keeping you in suspense. The tissue was normal. I just have really dense boobs. Which is probably why they’re holding up so well as I get older. Score! (If you can’t laugh about this crap… You know what I’m saying?)

So, huh. Now that I think about it, 2015 kinda sucked. So be gone, you! Bring on 2016. Maybe it will suck less.