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Today we headed south along the coast to see some cute beach villages. Along the way, we saw a sign for Chateau de Rey for wine tasting. I mean, someone has to stop in to taste the wine right? Wouldn’t it be rude to just drive past without a little taste? We walked into a little wine shop where barrels were set throughout the room being used as tables for wine tasting. In the back were huge wine barrels…the largest we’ve ever seen. You could walk into these barrels and sit on one of the couches or chairs and sip on your vino. Phillipe the wine owner (his name was on the wall as 3rd generation family member) served us various whites and reds. He even went into the back and took some wine that was not ready yet…it was still in the barrel and gave us a taste. It was 100% carignan-a local grape. It was their first time making a 100% of that grape varietal without blending it. We asked if we could buy it because it was so delicious…but he said it was not possible…it wasn’t even bottled yet.
Our next stop was a town on the coast called Collioure. So far, this is one of our favorite towns. It has a huge fortress wall facing the edge of the water, you could walk along the outside and then as it curved around you were behind the walls of the old city. We could see where the moat was back in the day, surrounding the town to help keep the enemy on the other side. We were walking through the little cobblestone streets when we came across a tiny little itty bitty pizzeria. This place had about five tables. The guy spoke no English…we walked in and ordered two pizzas (in France, you order your own small pizza…they don’t slice it for you, they bring it out whole and you cut it with a knife and fork). We really didn’t know what we were ordering but opted for the pizza of the day. It ended up being very good. Two types of cheeses, thin ham and potatoes. I know, it doesn’t exactly sound like something you would order but it actually was pretty good (minus the fact that I saw the chef cough and sneeze on his hand and then serve our pizza-ick).
We finished our pizzas and hopped in the car. Next stop was Banyuls Ser Mer. The town was pretty quiet. Everything seemed to be closed but we got out and walked through the back part of the town in the residential area. The houses were stacked on top of each other with different colored shutters and we had to climb about 150 steps to get to each set of houses which made it unique. We were heading back to our car when we saw a “wine cave”-we had specifically come to this town because one of the wine makers told us there was good wine in this appellation. We walked in and tasted but learned this area was also more known for their sweet wines. We thanked them for the taste and got back in the car.
We had two more stops at tasting rooms before we arrived at a little town called Ceret. It was the village that Vincent Van Gogh supposedly gained inspiration from in his paintings. The first thing we saw was an iconic bridge connecting 2 parts of the town. We got out took some pics and then strolled through the village on the search for some chocolates since it was Valentines Day. Mission accomplished, we purchased some chocolate and headed back to our timeshare where we made dinner, ate chocolates and watched Top Chef-France which was not in English but still fun to watch.
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Published by Brandey Kabat
What I like: Dark chocolate, yoga, fresh squeezed juice, laughing, hiking, wine, travel, food, lush products, being warm, having long hair, the ritual of drinking something hot first thing in the morning…
What I don’t like: When people smell their fingers, pushing elevator buttons, confrontational situations, not being able to fall asleep quickly at bedtime…
Most random job ever: Plastic surgery consultant
As for my love life: I met my husband mid way through my junior year in college, as soon as I laid my eyes on him I was attracted to him. In fact, I made the first move which was a bit out of character but there was something about him…probably the fact that he was smokin’ hot!!
Where from and where to: I grew up in NY, went to college at The Ohio State University and then headed to CA after graduation. My boyfriend (Giff) and I had a map, a borrowed van and used stuff from his mom’s basement aka a vacuum, silverware, old Christmas ornaments etc., and about $1000 each. We thought it would be a good idea to head straight to CA since neither of us had been. Being we didn’t know anyone there nor did we have a job or job interviews set up or a place to live…I would say we did it the hard way! However with a bit of help from Giff’s mom who flew out to put us up in a hotel, bought me a suit for interviewing and co-signed a lease to get us a place to live we eventually found jobs and an apartment and have been in CA for 10 years.
Our story: After moving out to CA and living together for about 3 years we got engaged. He popped the question while down on one knee on the beach at sunset after we finished our picnic he had packed of bread, cheese, shrimp cocktail and wine. He even had the ring in a box that had a light shining down on it when opened so as it was getting dark, this amazing man was asking me to be his wife as he handed me a huge rock…Yes! Yes! Yes!
In 2005 we were married (I am biased but our wedding was absolutely amazing). By the end of 2005 we were new home owners. 2006-2009- we were both happily married, attached to our 3 cats and were focused on building our careers.
Giff and I got pregnant mid year 2009 with our first baby but what should have been one of the highlights of our life was soon distracted by the news I received at the doctor’s office.
The lump in my breast that had been dismissed the year before as nothing was now being diagnosed by a different doctor as breast cancer. Thankfully Giff is a persistent person and when we went in for our ultrasound (to hear our baby’s heartbeat) he brought up the request for testing to be done on the lump rather than dismissing it based on feeling it.
The going gets rough: Things began to move so quickly at that point, it was hard to breathe. I was 30, pregnant with my first child and going into surgery to remove breast cancer. I was about to go through what would be the worst year of my life. The plan had been discussed, we were going with the most aggressive regimen possible- double mastectomy, port surgically placed in my chest, chemotherapy, drug therapy and radiation. We also had to terminate the pregnancy. This cancer was estrogen positive and the hormones were actually feeding the cancer. That little angel whom was the cause of our going into the doctor saved my life.
Giff was my rock through every step…interviewing a team of the best doctors, memorizing which medicines I needed to take and when, driving me to chemotherapy and sitting next to me while I was so scared, telling me I was beautiful when I was bald, and so many other things…words cannot express. When you say your vows, in sickness and in health…you would never guess sickness of this magnitude at this age would be in the near future. In addition to this hardship, Giff’s dad died of a complicated prostate cancer the day we came home from my surgery. I could not hold my husband as he mourned for his dad because of the pain I was in from the mastectomy. How did Giff handle all of this pain at one time? How was he so strong for me? He is amazing. Giff’s dad was one of those people whom you naturally wanted to be around…his smile was contagious, his love for life was invigorating and he listened so intently when you talked in a conversation with him. He made you feel special. We think about him often and will miss him so much.
My family and friends were also by my side…my mom flying out from NY several times to help us with cooking and cleaning and holding my hand. It must be one of the most awful things in the world to watch your baby girl be diagnosed with breast cancer. My girlfriends also flew out to take care of me and help with anything they could. Other friends living closer would come by just to sit and talk or watch movies. There were so many cards, letters, flowers, cookies, and other gifts that came from all over the country. It’s amazing to have such great people in my life. In addition to my amazing circle of friends and family, there were the strangers with whom crossed our path. Whether it was a letter in the mail from a breast cancer survivor, the anesthesiologist who called Giff during my surgery crying happy tears that the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes, or our fertility doctor who promised to watch over our frozen embryos as if they were her own. There were so many small gestures that made such a big impact on our lives.
Looking at the bright side: Thankfully this was caught in stage 1, had it been caught a year prior by the first doctor I had gone into about the lump, it may have been caught at stage 0. Please learn from my lesson…insist the lump be tested – a lump cannot be diagnosed by touch. They were able to cut all the cancer out and after I finish the entire regimen including a pill I take over the next 5 years, they said there is a 95% chance the cancer will never come back.
Our exciting future: We’ve decided to re-prioritize, we are taking 400 days starting February 7th of 2011 to travel the world! We will travel to new places, eat new foods, taste new wines and meet new people. We will focus on healing ourselves both physically and mentally. This will be one of the best years of our lives.
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