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Tonight’s blog was fueled by a glass of Bruno’s Blend IV from Va Piano Vineyards in Columbia Valley, Washington. It’s a yummy blend of syrah, malbec, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and cabernet franc with an elevated alcohol content of 14.2%. I discovered this excellent wine at a recent tasting party at Season’s Bistro. I must have really liked it because I bought a case for holiday giving to the 12 top-tier friends worth a $27 bottle.

Last week I ran into a community cafe to share a pot of tea and scones with a business associate. I stopped at a Christmas tree in the entryway and noticed the tags that listed gifts to be donated. An 8-year-old girl wanted a doll, a 10-year-old boy wanted some paints, a senior male wanted size 10 slippers. Three tags brought tears to my eyes: senior female…any gift. Somewhere near me lived some older women who only wanted a gift for Christmas, and it didn’t matter what it was. I returned later with three gifts, left them under the tree and whispered a blessing to the women. For my New Year’s Resolution, I’ve decided that I will think about these women throughout the year and try to be kinder, more loving, and less hectic. And I wish I could share some tea and scones with them.

Tonight’s blog was fueled by a cheerful glass of 2006 Columbia Valley Buty, a rich blend of merlot and cabernet franc. It’s very difficult to stop with one glass, and it is the holidays, and I am leaving for a week, so I better just have another glass. It’s $38 a bottle, and I don’t want it to go bad while I’m away. Besides, if there is too much left over some greedy gremlins might sneak into the house and steal the wine, or the cold weather outside might make it evaporate, so there really is no excuse not to have some more. Cheers!

For the perfect way to celebrate a fresh year with unlimited potential and nowhere to go but up, try 2006 Cakebread Cellars Rubaiyat red wine from Napa Valley. Cakebread is one of my favorite wineries and the wine is worth donating a sliver of kidney to get. It’s about $32 a bottle and will make you want to get a second job to have the $100 bottle of Cakebread Cabernet. Rubaiyat was named for a verse from Omar Khayyam’s poem: A book of verses underneath the bough,A jug of wine, a loaf of bread -and thou beside meSinging in the wilderness -Oh, wilderness were paradise, enough!

Today your heart will beat 100,000 times. There’s a good chance it will do the same thing tomorrow, unless you suddenly get chased by a rabid tiger after having a triple-shot of espresso. The fear and caffeine will fuel your adrenalin and increase your heart rate so you can flee from the tiger, leap a few fences, and return to work before the caffeine buzz wears off.Midlife is the right time to start loving your heart. One in two women will eventually die from heart disease or stroke, and eleven times more women die of heart disease than from breast cancer. If your midlife schedule is making you too busy to focus on this important ten-ounce organ, here is a list of ways to continue to damage your precious heart. 1. Smoke like a chimney. Odds are you won’t have to worry about old age.2. Worry in silence. The internal stress will put a strangle-hold on your arteries and consequently you’ll soon need to worry if your pacemaker will continue to work. 3. Ignore your high blood pressure. So you think it’s cheap and easy to get a heart transplant?4. Gobble tons of refined carbohydrates and fried food. You’ll have plenty of time to learn to spell arteriosclerosis while you’re lying in a hospital bed,5. You have a body mass index great than 25 and your waist measures more than 34 inches around. Face it, your heart is only the size of your fist and was not designed to support the weight of a young buffalo.6. You believe that exercise is for sissies and never run, walk, or do any exercise that keeps your heart rate above 120 beats per minute for any length of time. Keep in mind that being tethered to an oxygen tank and grasping heart medication doesn’t make you brave or smart.It’s time to protect your heart for the future, so walk every day, maintain a healthy weight, improve your diet, stop smoking, and reduce your stress. Your heart is programmed to beat 3.5 billion times throughout your life. Don’t stop the rhythm.

Today’s blog was fueled by a glass of 2006 Terra Alta “Sexto” from Spain. The wine was introduced at a “Women, Wine and Money” event in Boise last week. It’s $26 a bottle and is called “Sexto” not for the carnal flirt but for the word “sixth” in Spanish. The wine maker added a sixth grape to the blend so decided to call it “Sexto.” The six grapes include garnacha, carignan, tempranillo, lledoner pelut noir, cabernet sauvignon, and syrah. I’m a fan of Italian and California wines, but this Spanish blend is absolutely yummy.