Wine Cellar
My dreams of turning our long back storage room into a bricked wine cellar have revived again with a vengance. When Eric built our current wine holder, I remember thinking "I'll probably never have that much wine" (holds around 55 bottles). Now, almost 100 bottles later, I have them stacked double deep in the side storage compartments of the wine rack, with still a case and a half in the basement ready for my big Christmas party. A problem? Yes, but only in the most glorious way. I have them organised in a manner that always allows me to buy more...with 8 sections in my wine holder, this is my new inventory system:

1. Section 1: all whites from wineries visited
   (The best line I heard while in Niagara-on-the-Lake last week: "yes, it's good to taste the whites before we move on to the wine".) I agree, thus only have one section for whites.
2. Section 2: all fruit wines (sweet and dry) from wineries visited
3. Section 3: all basic reds (various Cabs, Merlots) from wineries visited
4. Section 4: all red varieties (Gamay Noirs, Norton, etc.) from wineries visited

You'll notice that the first four sections are strictly from wineries visited, where I've been able to create a good bias for specific wines and the winery in general :)

1. Section 5: All storebought reds
2. Section 6: All wines from our travels, but not necessarily from the winery, ie Maltese wines
3. Section 7: All icewines - these are all from wineries we've visited currently, but I'm sure we'll eventually get other icewines too
4. Section 8: Aging wine - also currently from just wineries we've visited - these wines we know are currently tasting wonderful, but we know they will get better over the years - they are tagged with their peak years

So two of these lower sections are not necessarily from the actual winery, but a wine cellar will allow me to invest more in this area. For now, space is only letting me pick and choose favourites.

The two side compartments are bulk wines that I've gathered over time and treat as house wines.

Definitely need my wine cellar. I'm starting to fret about the aging wine's exposure to varying temperatures.

Spa-ing
Another reason for travelling is the enjoyment of spas. Now, if you live in a spa infested area, that's awesome. However, Indianapolis, Indiana is not exactly the region that people flock to get full service spa treatment. Granted there's good spa service in Indy, but it's not providing the Mediterranean view either :)

Anyway, I always ensure that I take advantage of the spas in places that specialize in it. Malta is such a place. The massages, exfoiliation and algae treatments have been phenomenal. In a way, I'm glad to live in a place that doesn't necessary lend instataneous thought of "spoiling spas" so I can enjoy the splurging on one's self even more on occasion. I'm learning that it's easy to take something for granted that is commonly around me, so I am trying to learn to especially enjoy the services or environment around me more in other locations.

It is nice to live in a low cost of living area so I can spend more in the places that I would never be able to afford or have access to live!

Maltese Living
The lovely aspect of travelling is to immerse yourself into whatever culture you're entering. The Maltese culture is no exception. Once I got back my clutch timing, and left-side senses, and "I know we're on a road 10ft wide, but there's no reason to slow down" mode, I could enjoy the flavour of such insane driving. People at home think I'm a bad driver. Ha! I would suggest driving under Rome, London, or Maltese conditions (although Boston and DC is about the same too). I've never driven in Mexico, but the taxi cab trip there made me realise not to bother trying. The food here is glorious as well. I've long learned the valued tip to eat what the natives eat. If they are avoiding a type of food, there is a very good reason for it. The problem is that I fall in love with cultural food in whatever land I'm in, and then go home and expect a restaurant named something ridiculous like "The Parthenon" to be even close, let alone perhaps the same :) This just means to savour every little bite you eat and stick to indigenous food.

Wine! Ah, wonderful wine. The sole glory of Europe has to be their appropriate focus on wine. Water? Yes, that will be $5. Wine? Oh, that's free with the meal. I am probably totally dehydrated, but feel really good. There was a focused search on the Internet to determine just how much locally made wine I could lug back. I can't even begin to explain the value of having parents alone that are tea-totallers. You get their alcoholic welcome vouchers and their alcoholic travel allowance. There was some trauma involved with my father's recent interest in fine whiskey's, thus a minor reduction to my selfish wine space.