Wine makes you feel warm inside when you have that first sip, the luscious berry taste, the velvet tannins … but that really is just a superficial immediate feeling. With this one … you get that nice warm feeling the instant you buy it without even opening or seeing the bottle. I know. It’s almost like a teaser for “The Secret”!

Enter
One Hope Wine
Pinot Noir
2009

This wine is special — and actually I got it on a special. I was introduced to this wine thru a Klout Perk. If you aren’t on Klout and you don’t know what a Klout perk is, I can help! You can click here to learn all about Klout and sign up. My Klout perk came about with wine. One Hope wine gave me $25 toward their site to check out their wine selection. When I got to their site … I was pleasantly surprised!

It’s wine with a cause. It’s wine that gives a portion of the sale price to charities! In my case, I picked up the 2009 ONEHOPE Arroyo Seco Reserve Pinot Noir. This wine comes from Rob Mondavi Jr. and comes from Force Canyon Vineyard in the prestigious Arroyo Seco AVA in Monterey County. The great thing is that 50% of the profits go to support Children’s hospitals. So basically … you are drinking to help children. I hope no one ever takes that last sentence out of context.

Think that’s it? 50% of proceeds to support Children’s charity? Nope, it’s not .. in fact, you get to then select your other option for even more to go to another charity. A smaller select portion goes to a charity within their partnerships. You can additionally designate money from the original purchase price to one of the following charities: National Breast Cancer Foundation, National MS Society, Texas Wildfire Relief Fund, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, ASPCA, charity: water, Room to Read, World Food Programme, Wounded Warrior Project or ONEHOPE Foundation. I decided to give the extra money to Wounded Warrior Project. (I hope you’ll click that link to learn more!) I love having control of which charity to give to! It’s the perfect gift for any control freak!

How did the wine taste? I will start off by saying you need to let this breathe overnight. I used an aerator and found that this wine was so much better the next night. It has a nice blackberry / raspberry note to it and a bit of oak (hint) which might be because it’s aged in American and French oak barrels. I even got a hint of truffle in there … yep, I tasted it!

So if you want to have a great wine and know that you are also helping to support charities, check out ONEHope wines — be a control freak and make your own donation!

Cheers!
P.S. — I had my wine with a blueberry fayre and a mango ginger stilton … all on a Triscuit!

It’s true. There is so much stuff everywhere. And we could probably go the rest of our lives without having to manufacture anything from scratch save for underwear and toothbrushes (and maybe a couple other items). With tons of materials available for repurposing, recycling and reusing, there are endless possibilities for creativity.

These 5 UpCycled Wine Must-Haves are made from wine-related castoffs or are recycled materials fashioned into wine-time enhancers.

1. Serving Slabs – repurposed granite slabs for serving cheeses
Everything they make is from reclaimed stone and is proudly hand crafted in Salida Colorado. All that’s reclaimed is repurpose into beautiful utility pieces for your home, business or gift for that person that has everything. “organic ~ reclaimed ~ repurposed”
Owner: Derrick Neikam

2. Green Glass Designs – drinking glasses made from repurposed wine bottles
Eco-conscious artisans rediscovering & redefining uses for bottles that might otherwise end up in a landfill.
Owners: Ginny McCormick-Levack & Doug Levack Etsy Store

3. All Strung Out Jewelry – wine glass charms made from antique typewriter keys
These charms are keys from Underwood, Smith Corona, Royal, and Remington typewriters from the early 1900’s. The keys are set in vintage style scalloped bezels.
Owner: Laureen Trent Etsy Shop

4. Life on the Balcony – Wine Box Turned Balcony-Sized Raised Bed Garden
First drill a few holes in the bottom of the box for proper drainage and seal the box with eco-friendly sealer. Once the box is completely dry, start planting!
Owner: Fern Richardson

5. Malia Designs – wine bags made from recycled rice bags
Malia Designs was formed to increase economic opportunity for women in developing countries, and to support local and international non-profit organizations that fight human trafficking in Southeast Asia.
Owner: Lia Valerio

What do you think about these wine related upcycled pieces? Great ideas? Are they on your gift list?

It’s always fun to know all the right people! Sometimes I get lucky and get asked to come out of my house … step away from my computer and actually engage with people in real life. It’s fun! It’s even more fun when you tell me I get to judge a food contest, arrive at a new location in Milwaukee AND have wine. Is there anything better?

Enter
Thief Wine
Inside Milwaukee Public Market
… in Milwaukee!

I started my day off exploring the Milwaukee Public Market and realized I was missing out never being there before! Coffee, breads, seafoods, spices and … wine! love it. Great place to hold a food competition. Art Milwaukee does this whole “Best of …” catagory thing and they asked me to come down and be a judge. I still have a post to do on that… if you see a link here, I did it. If you don’t … I’m working on it! Cheers to bad bloggers!

Thief Wine is owned by Phil Bilodeau and Aimee Murphy, who relocated here from the California Wine Country. Yes, it’s true … people from California can survive here in Wisconsin! They realized their dream of opening their own wine shop and bar right here in Milwaukee. They actually have two locations – not bad for wine dreams!

After the food tasting, I went to the Thief Wine Shop and Bar. That’s right, you can sip and shop! So after looking over their selection, I cozied up to the bar to try one of their wine flights. It was a nice selection of wines, which as I understand it, may change from time to time. Which means you should go there more then once.

During my time at Thief Wine, I had the “It’s all in a name” wine flight…. given the wines I review on this blog, was that not appropriate? The flight consisted of 3 wines; Hidden Horse by Two Mountain Winery, The Grinder Pinotage and Alpha Box & Dice Tarot Grenache.

The Hidden Horse Wine was a 39% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 6% Syrah, and 3% Malbec. It has a dry oak flavor to it with tastes of plum, spice and some tobacco flavors! Very unique and great right out of the bottle!

The Grinder Pinotage is sharp, airy and dry. Has definite tastes of chocolate in it along with a berry taste. I wrote down cranberry notes … but the sites indicate blueberry notes … guess I should work on my tastes huh? Apparently Pinotage is becoming very popular in European Bistros and in South Africa as it’s really a new wine. (past 7 years) … so cheers to new and different wines with this one!

Alpha Box & Dice “Tarot” Grenache. Juicy flavor and I wrote down notes of honey and chocolate (I must have been craving that). I also wrote down “candy” although I can’t explain that one. This was a spicy exotic red wine though.

All in all, I think this flight is perfect for the beginning wine drinker. It really showcased different wines from different regions but also showcased each unique taste of the area! Very special and I really enjoy wine flights that bring out such differences.

There you go … my wines of the night! Cheers to Thief Wines!

So, here I am at the end of the day sitting in yet another coffee shop waiting for my client. It’s the full day of coffee meetings. Why do we do coffee meetings? Because coffee is cheap to buy for a client and it gets you to a table to talk. It’s also really good to drink coffee vs. eating food because of the obvious .. things in your teeth, spitting food while talking, dropping food on your shirt/pants/tie or talking with your mouth full.

There are some bad things to taking on too many coffee meetings in a day. Today is one of those days for me. Here is my list:

1. The first meeting is great, you’re fresh and it usually goes well. The only thing here is that the coffee house staff knows when you got there and they are making mental calculations of coffee bought, time spent in the shop vs. the tip you left in the tip jar. My advice .. tip well.

2. The second meeting is always a bit nerving if the first meeting runs over. Having 2 clients meet is almost like double dating … sort of. Meeting 2 and coffee 2, you might find yourself talking a little faster than usually. This is still usually ok as the client may perceive this as extra enthusiasm.

3. The 3rd meeting … if you tipped well … can still be held at the same location. Me however … I feel a tad guilty and change coffee shops. I usually like to find a place that has free Wifi …. this is usually when you’ll look your smartest. You’ll be typing a bit faster and a bit whittier… thus leaving odd Facebook status’ like: “woot! that’s coffee number 4 …. bring it!” or “Feeling sassy …. gonna make the sales call, I’m the sales-anator” Yes, I’ve seen those….

4. The 4th meeting will have you crashing a bit. This is a good time to take in some food if you haven’t already, I would suggest switching to the no caffiene potion of anything or your head may explode. Completely up to you … either way, meeting 4 will need some serious concentration from you. A good rule of advice is to repeat mentally EVERY word your client is saying to you. This way repeating a question your client asked, will also allow you thinking time…..

5. The 5th meeting is the hardest … this is when you open up Instant Messaging on Facebook or any other social site you have. Let’s face it, there are always those people you hope NEVER IM you …. today, I can guarantee you they will. By now you’ll be cranky and whitty and it probably isn’t a good time to IM … but let it roll. Your head will hurting, you’ll have to run to the bathroom and you’ll go home more tired then you were the night before a drinking binge.

There you have it … 5 things that happen to you when you have too many coffee meetings in one day.

I’m going home to sleep this off now …

Cheers!

JenniferReviews @gmail.com
@JenniferReviews

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Well this has been a fun week. Full of fun and a little video taping for my new video series. I haven’t seen the final results yet, but I’m already feeling like a spokesperson that graduated last in class….. I now give major “kudos” to all those people on YouTube …. you are all my idols…. I don’t know how you do it. If it weren’t for the great people at Sinnott Productions …. I’d have cried in my car after the whole shooting.

So here are some fun photos from my video shoot yesterday with Sinnott Productions:

If you are gonna "roll" with me ... you must respect the Franzia!

and this is the view from where I was sitting…..

yea, they are smiling now ... wait until they have to edit

I also learned some new “lingo” ….

This is a Mark ... not a Man NAMED Mark, but a spot on the floor to stand for filming. You're welcome!

and this is “B-Roll” …. I think:

Huh, wonder what my first wine review on video will be ...

Also this week, I completely scared off a poor Cruise consultant from NCL …. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ll need to click that last link to catch up with the rest of us).

Franco didn’t call me yesterday …. his co-worker Ryan did. I’m sure Ryan is a nice guy, but on day 4 of being reminded that I can’t afford an NCL cruise … I really needed a familiar voice for support.

That’s okay Franco …. I now have a new mission …. inspired by my desire to go on an NCL Cruise but doing it by earning extra money, I’m going to start my own line of underwear. Yes, after using social media to LISTEN to my readers who emailed me and left me comments on my NCL / Franco post yesterday … I’ve been inspired to create the following line of under garments. Here is the first draft:

It's my own line of resort underwear .... stay tuned!

It’s kindof a play on words, because if you don’t know the whole background story, you might think these are Panties to wear ON a Cruise. But for those hundreds of people that came to my blog yesterday, we’ll all know it’s actually Panties FOR a Cruise vacation …. gotta get my cash money!!! I’ll have my clothing shop up and running soon ….. Keep y’all posted! Don’t worry Franco … I’ll have a sample pair reserved for you!

Cheers to my new video series and underwear!

JenniferReviews @gmail.com
@JenniferReviews

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Photo Credit: (video day) My Mad Phone Camera Skills

I’ve joined bloggersUnite, which is a group of bloggers dedicated to talking about different political issues, human rights issues and environmental issues…. just to name a few. It’s design is to get bloggers talking and spreading the word to help make our world better.

In the past, I’ve seen the requests and not taken action. BP changed that. Thank you BP and Tony Hayward for being incredibly irresponsible – not only with human life, but for messing up our eco system. Not only that, but BP was not only still ABLE to pay dividends to stockholders in light of this disaster … but still DID pay out dividends to stockholders until President Obama forced them to set up a fund for victims of the Gulf Oil Spill. You can read about this from The Wall Street Journal’s account.

Never mind the fact that they STILL HAVE NOT STOPPED THE OIL LEAK. They’ve also lost 11 lives and injured 17 others in this disaster within their own company. I guess this isn’t all that big of a deal to BP CEO Tony Hayward since he was taking some time off to attend the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race to watch his yacht “bob” race according to federalnewsradio.com and the London AP. I’m really glad Tony Hayward’s yacht can sail on nice clean water. At this point, I’m pretty disgusted by BP and their CEO Tony Hayward.

I hope that anyone who can volunteer will … I’ve embedded a widget below to help people search for ways they can help.

Also .. I was shocked to see how the spill is spreading. This past week with the help of NOAA a new website with an interactive map has been established called Geoplatform. This map allows you to select a visual of the spill daily. Want to see how the oil has spread from June 16th to today? You’ll be surprised.

If there ever was a time to think more about greener solutions … now is that time. I’m happy Kevin Costner’s company could help with the oil clean up and that he’s profiting from this … but I would LOVE to hear more people supporting and finding greener solutions to avoid these issues in the future.

The only way to get rid of these disasters is to delete our dependence on oil. That means cutting oil out of our consumption.

What cleaner energy sources have you heard of? What suggestions do you have for personal ways to stop using or limiting oil consumption? Link to them below — tell me about them! Done a post about it … link it in the comments so we can read it!

FREE Featured Ads from OLX.com today!!!! (US Resident’s only)

Love contests??? Do ya?!?! Actually, I’m not a big fan of those contest that make you think.

So ….. for this contest…….. NO THINKING!!! How much are ya liking me now!?

5 lucky US people will get a free featured ad on OLX.com! … by doing the following. I KNOW…rules, rules…. don’t worry, I won’t make you dress up in a tutu or dye your hair pink. unless you really want to … in that case … go for it!

RULES:
1. Become a fan of Jennifer’s Review on Facebook. (here is the Jennifer’s Fanpage link …. easy, easy)

2. List your product, item, service, job or create your personal ad on OLX.com

3. Come back here … leave a comment with your information and leave the link to what you are selling or showcasing! The first 5 people who leave comments with their links are the winners! Transparency folks …. if you are #6 … sorry…. it’s all in the comments – first come, first serve!

4. I will email your info / link to OLX.com so you can be featured! plus …. we wanna see what your selling!! more exposure!

See ya back here!!!
Good Luck!!!

ohhh…. and if you think OLX.com is just a faceless site … watch the employee video … how could you NOT want to work there?! Also … I don’t know what they are saying … but anytime someone says “mucho, mucho, opportunity and optimistic” (I think!) you HAVE to listen / watch!

Cheers to free featured ads!
Jennifer
@ThingsAll2Good

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No, I’m not talking about the next SNL/Sci-Fi movie that’s coming out this summer; I’m talking about a site that is changing the online free ad landscape. While that sentence may seem like a hokey pay to post sentence – please bear with me. (and no – I’m not being paid for this) OLX.com is a site that is taking on Craigslist and going a few steps further. Well… maybe even a few strides further.

OLX.com is a free online classified site much like Craigslist. What makes this site “next generation” is that it integrates Social Networking capabilities. On OLX.com when you have something to sell — like that car, collectable, home, etc. You can share that listing on your social networking sites. Sound like it’s “not that big of a deal” idea? Well, it is – especially when it comes to real estate.

Right now, the only way to promote your craigslist real estate post is by copying and taking your listing link over to sites to post your listing manually. Not here. OLX.com allows for all types of social site sharing – making it easier to gain more exposure for your listing. Not only that .. it allows the ability to upload video! (I’ll wait for you to catch up…) yes, video!! Fabulous!

It’s not just for you to share YOUR listing – it’s there for others to share something they like! Everyone who has bought a home or thinking of viewing a home has been excited to share that home’s stats with family or friends. Even when I purchased my home… I was so excited, I was faxing and emailing (facebook wasn’t around then) my family/friends the home I was thinking of placing an offer on hoping for their opinions. OLX.com gets this sharing concept …. They allow the ability to share your listings. Kudos!

OLX.com was started by the same guy that brought us Zingy, Inc. – OLX.com is his next project and what a great concept. You can read my interview with him over on my site Jennifer Stinnett on Wednesday. Are you an entrepreneur? – it’s a good interview, I suggest the read!

OLX.com has also graciously offered my readers some free featured listings… since most of my readers read my blog at home … this is your advance notice! Stop over Thursday morning for contest rules to win free featured ads! (only 5 US Resident’s will win!) In the meantime – check out OLX.com… look at the category you want to use your free featured ad on …. and come back Thursday morning to win!

Cheers to sharing ads!
Jennifer
@JenniferReviews

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This is going to be a busy week here on Jennifer’s Review. Be sure to stop back on Thursday … It’s my first contest!

In the meantime, to break the Monday blues — here is a fun, addicting thing to do. It’s g-rated fun and safe for work.

FAO Schwartz has a make your own WhatNot Muppet. Seriously, for $130 you can have your own puppet made! That is so COOL! I haven’t yet decided what’s working for me … what do you think?

I love the outfit!

or maybe I’ll go more the Princess route … it’s kindof ME don’t you think?

I am digging the hair on this one...

– fell free to leave a picture of your work below … or email me your work. If I get enough — I’ll do a separate post and link to your site or blog.

Now go play!

Cheers to puppets!
Jennifer
@ThingsAll2Good

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All of you, my reader’s, know what a Seth Godin fan I am. I read his blog post everyday. I mull over his thoughts and I always end up with a “you are SO right!” thought by the end of my reading.

You can imagine my excitement when Seth and his marketing genius-ness…es strategically told all his blog followers that if they donated to his charity the Acumen Fund (limited to a certain number of people) that you would recieve the book before it was released. He also encouraged us to give a review.

HELLOOOO….. my blog name has REVIEW in it! I love Seth’s thoughts …. was THIS not a calling for me!!?!?! I couldn’t click fast enough to donate. In fact, I went so fast that I didn’t have my credit card available when I went to Paypal.

Paypal.

When I realized my credit card was WAY OVER on the other side of the room which would involve movement on my part to get the card, which would mean I may not make it in the allotted amount of people who could donate to get the pre-pre-preview of his book to REVIEW (my blog name). I skipped to the transfer bank funds part of paypal.

Paypal.

I went through all the fab are you SURE you don’t want to use your credit card pop-ups designed to MAKE you use your credit card including the fact that they scare you into the thought that if you DON’T use your credit card, the world of your purchase may fall into a black hole and you’ll be left with a paypal debit and nothing to show for it. …. (big sigh) …. I clicked “yes use my bank account”. It’s a good time to tell you that I’ve had this paypal account since, like, when they were x.com and ebay was this little site no one heard of and still had a “I’m looking for..” free section on their site. My use of the bank transfer function is probably about that old too. Apparently it has an old, old, old, address of a former employer on it.

Paypal.

In January when I got a letter from Seth Godin indicating that I MADE IT in the limited number of people to get the book…… I almost FLEW out of my office window! I did my “I got the book, I got the book, I got the bboooo….oooooo……kkk….” dance! Delivery scheduled for January.

It’s February. People are reviewing, the book is out. I got no book.

Paypal.

Going back to check my paypal receipt I was horrified to see that the book was sent to an ancient address that has been deleted from my account entirely …. yet somehow it’s still attached to my bank transfer selection. There is no place to change it. I even read all the “help” stuff, watched the tutorials. nothing. so I called. After waiting on the phone ….. I was told they see the address and they don’t know how to delete it from the bank transfer section. WHAT?!?!?!?!? Do you NOT know what a calling this was for me PAYPAL!?!? REVIEW. is. in. my. blog. name!

Paypal.

So, I sent an email to the head of the department I used to work with. No one claims to have anything, even though the department name is written on the phantom paypal address.

I’m so dissappointed. This is not just my loss …. but you, the reader as well. So, I’m sure that the book is awesome … it’s already #55 on the Amazon book list according to my affiliate link below. You can read the reviews of the people that got the book here on Squidoo and purchase a book there as well.

Here’s the thing, if you are thinking of buying the book, I would appreciate the purchase through my affiliate link below … then I can buy the book myself. I can’t however use my OWN Amazon link to purchase because I think that’s an agreement no-no. So, whatever. Someone at my old office is reading the book I should have gotten. They better appreciate it. I bet they don’t have REVIEW in THEIR blog name!

I’ll be the bigger person, sip my wine and order from Amazon. Not my link of course. (big sigh) I think I also just got a Seth Godin “F” for failure to watch the details.

Paypal.

Cheers to the Acumen Fund!
Jennifer
@ThingsAll2Good

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