Kevin and Shel

2008 Holiday Letter

Dear Friends:

What a strange year 2008 has been! A lot of good and a lot of healing. So much of 2007 was so sad and it took most of 2008 to recover. I had no idea, until this year, that grief could so permeate your life. Even when you think you're fine, well, you're really not.

My family is still recovering from the unexpected death of my little sister in 2007. It took a good 6 months for me, personally, to sort of emerge from a fog. Since then, I've been trying to find the joy in life that I previously had. We've launched a scholarship fund in her memory, which helps a lot. Kevin's family has also been coping with the loss of his father, George, last year. There are times when we feel his loss quite keenly.

Kevin and I have certainly kept busy this year, as you can see from our year in photos. Looking at the pictures, I was surprised we'd done so much. Of course, it's not all about travel either. As you'll see in our photos, we also did a lot close to home.

We started the year with a birthday trip: we went to Memphis. Our theory was that by heading south it wouldn't be as cold. We were wrong!  But we did get to see Sun Records and Graceland, which was amazing and strange. Graceland is one of those American oddities that everyone should experience once. On the way home, we visited with Kevin's friends Michael and Maggie in Nashville. I was thrilled to meet them, and it had been ages since they had seen Kevin.

February was fantastic. Kevin & I both presented at the ASTD TechKnowledge conference in lovely San Antonio. Because one of Kevin's best friends lives in Texas, we turned the business trip into an extended vacation. We drove to nearby Austin to visit with Paul and his family.  With the Hanleys, we visited wineries and their family ranch, where we met the fun and friendly Willie the Horse. In San Antonio we explored the Riverwalk and of course, we saw the Alamo. It's tiny, by the way.

Our next big trip wasn't until October, when we hit the West coast. I moderated an unconference at the Wine Blogger's Conference in Santa Rosa. We turned this into another vacation and spent time in the nearby wine country of Russian River and Dry Creek Valley, as well as a day poking around my favorite city, San Francisco. I followed this trip with a journey to San Jose, where I presented at the DevLearn conference.

We've had a fantastic year in wine. The wine blog is gaining in popularity. We've been written up in Cincinnati Magazine and Cincy Chic. We helped harvest at a local vineyard and judged several wine competitions. Judging is fun: they put you up in a nice hotel room and then pay you to taste around 100 wines. Kevin & I have really gotten to know a lot of the local wine folks and love the new friends we've acquired through this hobby. Now we just need to start taking advertising on the blog! An off-shoot of this is that I've started offering in-home tastings. I'll basically conduct a wine seminar in your home. I hope to get my Wine Educator certification in 2009. Check back with me then. I'm scared of tests.

Kevin loves his job at Bridge Worldwide, an Internet marketing firm here in Cincinnati. He has a fancy title that tells you nothing: Senior Systems Analyst. What I see him doing is translating things between sales folks and tech folks, and managing the technical side of projects and the related people. He gets to be creative and technical, so you can see how the job is a nice fit. This year he got to participate in the 48-Hour Film Festival, where he helped make a movie in a weekend. Kevin also had a photo of his head plastered in his building window. You'll have to ask him about that one.

My business is doing all right and I'm presenting at a lot of national conferences. I'm also starting to dip my toe in the water and see if there are any "real" jobs out there for me. I'm hoping to find something in social media or wine. Additionally, I hope to increase my freelance writing, as I've finally managed to build a portfolio. This year I was published in Thomas More's MoreOver, Northern Kentucky's YouNique, and was promoted to regular columnist at Taste Magazine. I write "The Wine Academy" column.

Are we moving? Well, we're working on getting our current house ready to sell and hope to move into the Ft Thomas house sometime in 2009. Since the market is so awful right now, we're not entirely sure when it will all work out, but we'll get there eventually. In the meantime, the Ft Thomas house is being rented.

So, as you can see, we're slogging through. I have high hopes for 2009. I'm presenting at the ASTD TechKnowledge conference in January, this time in Las Vegas. There is also talk of a family cruise, with Kevin's extended family, to Alaska in July. That would be absolutely fantastic! After a year of recovery, I look forward to putting a lot of sadness behind us and moving ahead.

We wish you and your families all the best in 2009 and onward!

Have the merriest of holidays!

Cheers,

Kevin & Michelle

Our Year in Photos

Contact us:
Kevin: Facebook, email
Michelle: Facebook, Friendfeed, Twitter, email

Wine Blog: My Wine Education

More New Photos!

Kevin & I have had a busy fall. I'm so glad it's slowing down for the holidays. Personally, I've been on the road more than home in the last two months!    

• I presented at a conference in San Jose (DevLearn) and visited with some West Coast friends while there. Photos    
• Kevin & I judged a wine competition in Knoxville, TN. Photos  
• We saw the Rockettes and the Lippazzaner Stallions (separate shows) the weekend after Thanksgiving. Photos 

Kevin @ the SunSphere
Originally uploaded by writegirl

Now it's time to get the Christmas decorations out, bake cookies, and get ready for the holidays!  

California Photos

We took a trip to Northern California for a Wine Bloggers Conference at the end of October, over Kevin's birthday.

We spent a day in San Francisco, followed by the conference that took place in Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa is at the edge of the Sonoma Valley and the wine appellations of Dry Creek and Russian River Valleys. We got to spend a little bit of time in each of those places.

I love the western part of the United States and when pressed, it would be hard for me to choose between Arizona and San Francisco as my favorite place.

View our photos on Flickr.

Come have a taste with us this weekend!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm hosting a wine tasting this weekend at Liquor Direct. Kevin & I will be at the Covington location (670 W 3rd Street) on Friday 9/26 from 4-8 pm and at the Ft Thomas location (90 Alexandria Pike in the shopping center) on Saturday 9/27 from 2-6 pm. Tastings are free in Kentucky (yay!) and you can come anytime in the 4 hour period, as the tastings are also really low-key.

I was thrilled to be asked to do this (I think it means I might actually know something about wine), so it would also mean a lot to me if you dropped by. Liquor Direct also has the lowest prices on wine in the city (seriously) and Kevin also picks up some great close-outs on beer on a regular basis. The Covington location is a complete dive on the outside, so don't be alarmed. The people inside are all classy. The Ft Thomas is location is, well, it's Ft Thomas. It's definitely not a dive. If you want to learn more, visit http://www.liquordirect.net/.

My latest blog post at wine-girl.net lists the wines I'll be presenting. They run the gamut from California to Oregon to Spain and France.

I'd love to see you there. Did I mention it's free? You don't have to donate money to a cause or even feel obligated to buy a bottle of anything. It's that low-key.

You Know You Want to Join Us

Come join us!

This is another benefit for the scholarship fund in memory of my sister. But this one might be a little more to your liking, seeing as how it's a wine class.

Party Source has generously donated one of their excellent EQ sessions, including the wine, the appetizers, and the expansive knowledge of Jay Erisman. Come join us on Thurs, Sept 11, from 6-8 pm at the EQ Center at The Party Source for a night learning about Up & Coming French Winemakers and Wine Regions, with a focus on red wines.

Cost for the event is $40 per person and 100% of your donation goes to the scholarship fund. Isn't that cool? There are only 28 seats still available for this before we have to mark it as Sold Out. It's a great chance to learn more about French wine and help out a good cause as well. Win/win - or perhaps, win/wine!

Tickets must be purchased online and it goes without saying (but I should say it anyway), you must be 21.

If you have any questions let me know. You can learn more about the Scholarship Fund at the official website, which is also where you can register for the tasting.

Cheers!

Photos from Texas

We recently visited Texas - our first time each to the Lone Star state. We visited Austin and San Antonio. I fell in love with it and decided I need a horse, a ranch, and some vineyards.

You can view our photos on Flickr here.

Steven & the Fryberger Greek Sing

Yesterday, Steven's fraternity (Pikes) participated in the University of Louisville's Fryberger Greek Sing. Steven was the coordinator for his frat's entry: Mad About the Mouse. I've embedded the video below and you can view the photos here. (There are also photos of Sigma Kappa - my old sorority and that of Steven's girlfriend. The Gerl guys choose well in their sorority women. *wink*)

Piano For Sale

**Featured Post**

$1000 or best offer. Pick up only. Cincinnati area.
Fantastic piano in great shape. Recently tuned. Piano tuner offered to provide a reference for the piano if needed. It's got a couple tiny nicks on the legs and side, but it plays beautifully.

The piano needs a good home We really only have room for one. I'm rather attached to the piano and I'm screening potential buyers.

So if you want one, or know anyone who wants one, let me know. No scammers or spammers please.

It's posted on pianomart.com, Cincinnati's Craigslist, Facebook's Marketplace, and ran in an over-priced ad in the Enquirer for 3 days back in June. Yet, still no takers other than scammers.

Photos and Videos! Memphis and More

We recently took a trip to Memphis. You can view our photos at our Flickr page right here. The night before we went to Memphis, we went to the Dancing with the Stars live show at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati. You can view those photos, also on Flickr, here.

We have video from both occasions, including various dance pieces and the Peabody Ducks. All of our videos are on our Video Channel on YouTube right here.

Holiday Letter 2007

My friends:

I have never found it so hard to write a holiday letter. Usually I have so many great things to share, but this year has been a bit difficult. I suppose we all have our difficult years, and so 2007 was for us.

Professionally, we both did quite well. I've had several presentation accepted to professional conferences. I spoke at my first in October and will be presenting two different sessions (one with Kevin) in February. My wine blog, My Wine Education, has really taken off. In August, it won a best of Cincinnati award, and I'm now working on acquiring advertisers. Look for mention of my blog, and possibly an interview with me in the January issue of Cincinnati magazine, which focuses on wine. I'm also doing some freelance writing on food and wine, and have had two articles published thus far in TASTE Cincinnati magazine. The food and wine writing help make the day-to-day technical writing more bearable. In 2008, I hope to continue with the wine and food writing and slightly re-focus the Write Technology business to include Web 2.0 consulting. Apparently I'm good at blogging and wikis, and there are other people who need to learn more.

Kevin switched jobs in March. He left 5/3 to work at Bridge Worldwide, a small internet marketing firm in downtown Cincinnati. He's a member of management and stands to be promoted at a much more rapid rate than he could ever have been at 5/3. It's just a smaller, more open company. They also throw great parties and seem to have a great time just being at work everyday. I wish all offices were like that. Kevin is really enjoying using his technical skills but also getting to flex his creative muscles as well.

Personally, the year wasn't as merry. Much of the year was spent dealing with George's illness and the fallout from that, including learning all about hospice, long-term care, and Medicare/Medicaid. I have a whole lot of emotions regarding the medical system in this country, but that's a different thing altogether. Are we buying Kevin's childhood home in Ft. Thomas? I don't know. That was an on-again, off-again roller coaster this year and we're still thinking about it. There are a whole lot of pros and cons to the purchase, and we're weighing them against each other. At the current moment, Kevin is probably learning towards buying the house and I'm not. That, of course, could flip at a moment's notice. That's how undecided we are.

We lost so many loved ones this year. In February, we lost Kevin's Grandpa Ed. That was also the month when Kevin's dad had his final break, and in a way, we lost him then. George actually passed away in September. Shortly after, in October, my little sister Krystal passed away unexpectedly at the age of 21. In my family, we're all still dealing with the aftermath of that shock. It's been a rough year.

On the up side, we flew to Arizona to visit Kevin's Uncle Greg in November. Greg was alone for Thanksgiving, so we fixed him dinner. We also visited the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Tucson, Nogales, Tupac, and Tombstone. While we were there, we dropped in on friends my parents had while I was growing up. Larry and Mary still live in a great house in Tucson with 3 incredible dogs. The trip to Arizona, while long planned, couldn't have happened at a better time. We both needed to get away and begin our emotional healing.

The holidays this year aren't going to be easy. The ramifications of this past autumn will continue to reverberate throughout 2008. But I hope that as time passes, our grief and pain will recede into the shadow of happier memories. And so I have high hopes for the coming year.

As always, you can keep up with us at http://www.kevinandshel.com, which includes this blog (http://blog.kevinandshel.com), and our Flickr photos.

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic 2008!

Much love,

Shel & Kevin