I have been sticking with my vow this week:  no drinking calories.  Why should I spend calories on liquids when there are so many refreshing alternatives out there?  I love a good cold glass of water.  I have two Diet Cokes a day.  Unsweetened tea?  Absolutely!

But when a long week is over and I’m looking into the golden glow of the weekend, nothing tastes better than my traditional Friday Night Glass’o’wine.  This tradition is over a decade long.  I pour myself a glass of wine, then I make a silent toast that has some meaning for that week.  Maybe it’s “Well, that’s over,” or “Here’s to my first week on the new job,” or “Here’s to adventure.”  Always a nice glass, always a toast.

Now, those of you who know me know me are asking, “What makes the Friday Night Glass’o’wine different from the Monday Night Slug of Pinot, the Tuesday Can of Yuengling, the Wednesday Slurp of Shiraz or the Thursday Smidgen of Moscato?”  Good question.

The Friday Night Glass’o’wine reminds me of who I’ve been throughout all the phases of my adult life.  Back in the dark ages before I had children, I enjoyed the Friday Night Glass’o’wine.  In the 80’s, it was a plastic cup of white zinfandel at a party.  My palate broadened in the 90’s into chablis and chardonnay and the occassional red with a steak.  Then I stumbled into the wine boutiques in the 00’s and tumbled headlong into the glories of French chardonnay, white burgundy, Viognier, prosecco…oh, there is nothing like a chilled and sweaty white on a Friday night.  (Insert Paula Deen joke here)  I learned more about reds, too.  Everyone drank Merlot for a while there, until we discovered Shiraz or Pinot Noir.  An old vine grenache or a tempranillo out on the patio.  Maybe even port with dessert.  I’ve had them all on a Friday night.

Open a bottle to celebrate the end of the week, have a couple glasses on Friday, a couple of Saturday.  Then not do it again until the NEXT Friday.  One bottle a week.  One.  A Week.  Not even a magnum, just A Bottle.  Then the kids came along and I didn’t have an hour to spend in the wine shop, picking out a couple of rare beauties.  I grabbed a bottle where I could:  Target offers sauvignon blanc in a cardboard box, Kroger sells Yellow Tail already cold, Trader Joe’s has a two buck Chuck that ain’t all that bad.   As my need for wine increased, my time to explore it decreased, so now my cellar has been reduced to three bottles of Two Buck Chuck Pinot Grigio, some sake I never have opened, an Amarone I bought for last Thanksgiving, and a single serve plastic bottle of Moscato left over from the time I smuggled some in to The Great Gatsby.

I guess my point is:  kids make you want to drink, but they also kill your ability to drink WELL.  It all came clear for me when I saw this today:

Well, it’s Friday night and I am a stickler for tradition.  I had a salad for lunch to save up some extra calories for a nice sweaty glass of ice cold Trader Joe’s pinot grigio.   Bottoms up!

What will your toast be tonight?