Tag Archives: travel

Flying the skies, and keeping it friendly…

August 17, 2016 Head BoozyWife In Charge Leave a comment

I’m going slightly off topic, here.

I’m not going to talk about wine (yet), or tattoos, or even how the two were a huge part of my trip to Lodi, California and the Wine Bloggers Conference 2016 (WBC Website) this past weekend. I reconnected, we networked, we drank, and it was a fantastic time. More about that soon.

This post is about air travel.

It has taken me three years to become what I would consider a decent traveler. I am a nervous flier (but better each trip), get motion sick in moving vehicles, boat sick on the water, and generally arrive in much worse shape than I started in. I am a walking advertisement for Sea Bands, Bonine, and Rescue Remedy….(feel free to sponsor me). Four years ago, flying cross country, alone, would have been an absolute, panic attack inducing no-go.

What happened?

I was tired of that debilitating, paralyzing fear being “my normal.” I wanted to see the world for myself. I went for hypnotherapy sessions. I tried different medications. I exist out of my comfort zone, being afraid and doing it anyway. I’m living life, and occasionally it makes me nauseous along the way! So what. Sick is uncomfortable, miserable…but do-able. Find the tricks that work for you. Eat the Pringles. Chew ginger candies. Valium and headphones work wonders.

So, here’s why I’m proud.

My journey to Sacramento airport from Syracuse, NY was supposed to be a relatively easy, two plane trip. Thanks to air traffic control and the airline I was on (United, not that it mattered, everything was a mess), it became apparent that this first time solo cross country jaunt was going to be a test to my mental fortitude as well. Delays led to missed connections and overnight groundings.

What did I do?

Not panic! I made the best of it, and planned ahead when I could. Always find outlets and chargers. Keep an empty water bottle handy.

I bought myself a fuzzy pillow and blanket set when it became apparent that I would be sleeping overnight on the Denver airport carpeted terminal floor. I amused myself at five am playing Pokemon Go (seriously). Buy the good headphones, you’ll be glad you had them. Nap when you can.

I MADE IT. FOURTEEN HOURS LATE.

Don’t freak out. Try to be cool to the other travelers surrounding you. I had some very lovely people give me tips and help me out in a couple of tough spots. Airline staff is also dealing with some major shit, so a little bit of nice can go a long way towards getting you rebooked. Don’t be THAT asshole. You know who I’m talking about.

My very first cross country solo flight? I would call it a “trial by fire,” successful escape from New York.

I promise, more about booze and tattoos soon!🍷✈️🍷

Tattoo Conventions

BoozyLife remote from Mondial 2016

March 5, 2016 Head BoozyWife In Charge Leave a comment

Mondial du Tatouage 2016 (photo Dawn Danroth)

One of our favorite international tattoo conventions is going on this weekend in Paris-Mondial du Tatouage is the greatest tattoo conventions on earth! The lines every day to get in to the show are incredibly long, some of the best tattoo artists in the world attend, contests are judged by tattoo legends such as Filip Leu…an incredible showing of talent and spectacle…

Sadly, this is the first year that the Molinas had to miss it in a few years…but I have asked a few lovely tattoo wives on the ground (or trapped in their husbands booths 🙂 ) to check in, and they are sending pics and enjoying the circus for us as the weekend goes on! BoozyLife will have a 2016 Paris write up, once the tattoo wives have survived the event and helped the men tear down their booths and pack it up tomorrow night. Enjoy Paris, ladies!!

Aaaand, a few shots from OUR Paris trip (last year 2015 ❤️🍷)

Tattoo Conventions

Made it to March!

March 1, 2016 Head BoozyWife In Charge Leave a comment

Welcome to March in the Finger Lakes! We have had an incredibly mild winter 2015-16 (so far, not one use of the snow blower), so it feels a bit presumptuous to embrace the upcoming return of spring. Last year on this date, we were sitting on a runway, delayed in snow at Newark, waiting to take off for Paris and the Mondial du Tatouage Paris Tattoo Convention. It was my first international flight, first major European Tattoo Convention…and I was beyond nervous…but did it anyway. No regrets. Get on the bus….right?

This year, European tattoo travel is on hold until summer, and my focus is on writing. I’ve had an entire world open to me in the last year; travel, tattoos, wine, all mingling in my experience and memory. A wine info book, peppered with tattoo life stories and on the road experiences….what would you want to read about? What are you intrigued with? Help a bitch out! Shoot me a message, I’m all over FB or tweet at me @boozylife 🍷

Tattoo Artists, Tattoo Conventions, Travel

BoozyLife is in Puerto Rico

December 9, 2015 Head BoozyWife In Charge Leave a comment

SENZALA TATTOO in Old San Juan, PR

A TASTE NY SPOT IN PR?!? Who knew?!

Lefty and I are in PR for about a week, while he does an artist guest spot at Senzala Tattoo in Old San Juan! Many talented tattoo artists travel extensively, working out of shops around the world.

Lefty has international clients, and when we met years ago, he was spending a lot of time on the island of Puerto Rico–enough to have a client base and following here. Still does!

It’s been roughly seven years since he’s been here (owning a shop will unintentionally tie you down for a bit), but I definitely foresee trips becoming more frequent. I love seeing the pirate Lefty in his native environment! This is my first time, so I’m getting the full tour from the entire gang of characters here–gracious group of artists, every one.

Molina working on Demian at Senzala Tattoo

I have a few boozy excursions planned, not to mention incredible foods, rainforests, and a bioluminescent bay to visit…stay tuned…

Follow along on my BoozyLife FaceBook page, on Twitter as @boozylife or on Instagram @missusmolina 🙂

Tattoo Artists, Travel

#BoozyLife is Bound for Puerto Rico and Senzala Tattoo

December 1, 2015 Head BoozyWife In Charge Leave a comment

Finally, after years of being the airport drop-off driver for this very commonly repeated trip, I’m tagging along to Puerto Rico with the husband! Early December, my man Lefty will be back at it, doing a guest spot at Senzala Tattoo in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico–one of the oldest existing cities in America. I’ll be blogging along the way, hanging out at the tattoo shop, trying local delicacies and boozy beverages galore–when I’m not touring rainforests and a bioluminescent bay…..and beaches, and hiking….

Have any recommendations for stops along the way that I absolutely shouldn’t miss? Leave a comment here, on my FB page, or tweet at me on Twitter @BoozyLife 🙂

Aaaand, if you’d like to schedule a tattoo appointment with Lefty while we’re in PR, get a hold of Senzala Tattoo for any tattoo availability and booking (follow the link above)!

Wine, Wine Makers

Awesome FLX Reblog: article from BinNotes: FLX Wine Region-Beyond ‘Crappy’ Hybrids

October 14, 2015 Head BoozyWife In Charge Leave a comment

FLX Wine Region-Beyond ‘Crappy’ Hybrids by L.M. Archer

A few weeks ago, I attended WBC15, a conference dedicated to wine writers and bloggers checking out the Finger Lakes wine region. It was incredible insight for me personally, as a Finger Lakes local, to hear what others had to say about our wine region. We are pretty isolated here in the FLX, and a group of wine writers from all over the world would only help to spread the word.

We were taken on ‘secret’ bus excursions one afternoon, and I ended up on a bus headed to Arkport, NY and Element Winery. Also on our bus was writer L.M. Archer, creator of the Red Thread, BinNotes blog, and several other wine and travel publications. She was also a LOT of fun, and we spent a lovely weekend enjoying and comparing notes, especially on Kelby Russell’s rosé. I believe a bottle was grabbed from table 15 at the dinner, but no proof remains….

Her article is a great overview of who was there, what we drank, and what she took away from the weekend in the FLX. I’m listed in her Thank You’s as a ‘partner in crime’ for the weekend, which makes me blush–it was my pleasure! Have a read, the link is embedded here~~~>FLX Wine Region — Beyond ‘Crappy’ Hybrids

Distilleries, Distilleries, I love NY, Keuka, Seneca Lake, Uncategorized, Wine Makers, Wineries, Wineries

Harvest in the Finger Lakes 2015

October 1, 2015 Head BoozyWife In Charge Leave a comment

I’ve been off the grid! Gentle readers, sometimes business takes it all out of you for a bit, and quite frankly being business owners was rough for a patch. I’m happy to report things are currently fantastic at our tattoo shop, and I’ve been able to once again turn my attentions towards the fields and this year’s harvest bounty.

It’s finally October first, which means lots of the grapes have already been harvested and pressed around the Finger Lakes, and one of the busiest times of year is here! Tasting rooms will be extremely lively on beautiful fall weekends, so if you’re visiting, be civil and expect crowds of other tasters. The good news is, the views are heading towards incredible – enjoy, and don’t be in a rush. The Finger Lakes are all about taking a breath and enjoying some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Pick some apples, peep the fall leaves, hike a waterfall, taste some locally made wines, ciders, beers, spirits…chocolates….cheese…

Harvest 2015 is in full swing, with lots of grape picking, pressing, and cellar happenings currently in the works, area wide. My Instagram feed is currently full of grapes being pressed, yeasts going in and fermentation starting, and lots of rain gear the last twenty four hours! It’s been dry and warm the last two weeks, so many growers got their grapes in before rains started in earnest. Our local weather called for over three inches of rain into today, with more over the weekend. Hopefully it dries out so that everyone gets their remaining crops in!

It’s also fun to see the apple farmers harvesting for their upcoming vintages of hard ciders. The movement is growing nationwide, and the Finger Lakes area is at the center of high quality, heirloom farmed fruits, classically made, dry to off-dry, sometimes fermented in bottle, hard apple and pear ciders. This coming weekend (October 3rd and 4th) is the Apple Festival in Ithaca, with FLX Cider Week also kicking off. I’ll be attending some local happenings on that front, so stay tuned! October is going to be fun, and fall is the best time of year to be in this area, in my humble BoozyWife opinion…that’s why we tend to stay local until the snow flies again….

I love NY, Travel, Wine, Wine Makers

Cider Maker’s Afternoon with Autumn of Eve’s Cidery — Finger Lakes Cider House

August 9, 2015 Head BoozyWife In Charge 1 Comment

Eve's Cidery flight — Eve’s Cidery flight at Finger Lakes Cider House

The Finger Lakes area is a special place, and a majority of that feeling comes from the people that live and work here, love the land and enjoy sharing their creations and joys. Artists come in many shapes and styles, from winemakers to painters and potters, and are often on hand to share their creations. Due to a love of sharing hand crafted beverages and information, local artisans often take time out of the creation of product to meet and pour for their public.

There is a movement towards farming, the ‘old ways’ of doing things, hand crafted goods, and knowing where things were grown and sourced. Heirloom fruit trees are the base for incredible ciders, and we were lucky enough to attend Cider Maker’s Afternoon with Eve’s Cidery at Finger Lakes Cider House. The beautiful new tasting room area (located near Ithaca in Interlaken) is located at Good Life Farm and is definitely worth checking out if you have the chance. Orchard ciders, along with a gorgeous view (and yummy food pairings) made for a beautiful excursion up the lake on a Sunday afternoon. Awesome cider craftswoman extraordinaire Autumn, of Eve’s Cidery (checkout their website for notes and purchases–they ship!) took a day away from the orchard and tanks to pour a selection of their still, sparkling, and ice ciders. Served with each step of the flight was a special local tasting spread–check out the ciders and pairings we tried! The menu really illustrated the food friendliness and drinkability of dry, champagne style ciders…

Eve’s Cidery Tasting Menu w. Pairings

Summer Blend. Still and Dry. Lemon-lime nose. The mid-palette is airy, tart and juicy, Kumquat, bitter orange peel and chalk. (7.5% ABV, <1% RS) Paired w. Smokey Baba Ganouj, housemade

Scatterseed. Estate grown. Dry. Champagne Style. ML fermentation vintage ’12 blended with ‘13 and bottled with a tirage. Dry, chewy, sparkling cider with aromatic layers of rich earth and ripe fruit. (8.1% ABV, 0.06% RS) Paired w. Peach Salsa, housemade

Darling Creek. Estate grown. Semi-dry. Champagne style. A blend of English and French bittersweets and bittersharps, fruity American cider apples and seedling varieties. The aroma is a play between sweet- honeysuckle, apple blossom and red apple; herbal gin, licorice, and allspice; and green tomato and sapling. The mouthfeel is big and thick with a soft but dry, velvety texture. The finish is full and balanced with lingering notes of sweet sour apricot. (8% ABV, 1.5% RS) Paired w. Rye Bread w. Butter, Wide Awake Bakery, Kriemhild Dairy

Essence. Estate grown. Ice Cider. Aromas of caramel, baked apple, and all spice. A heavy bodied and viscous mouth feel are balanced by a succulent acidity. Sugar and acid find equilibrium in the finish. (10 % ABV, 15.5% RS) Paired w. Ginger Ice Cream, Good Life Farm and housemade.

The Summer Blend was a delicious thirst quencher, aptly named for afternoons at the lake or on the deck. The acidity cut through the richness of the baba ganoush and added to the tanginess. Tough pairing, eggplant can be, but it was quite lovely and bright. I went home with a bottle of the Champagne style Scatterseed, a very dry and velvety sparkling cider with full tannins and a long finish.

Eve’s Ciders are served in NYC at Wassail on Orchard St. as well as scattered retailers in the know at the moment. Check out the website for a full list of shops that carry Eve’s in NYC as well as in the Finger Lakes! You’ll be glad you did, they truly are creating something special with every bottle. Eve’s Cidery Website

Tattoo Artists, Travel

Holiday Ink 5 OFFICIAL VIDEOS! Have A Look– Pertuis, France 2015

August 7, 2015 Head BoozyWife In Charge Leave a comment

The official videos from Holiday Ink 5 are starting to come out! Have a look at these YouTube links to see where we were, and what we were doing when we travel to distant lands! Cameos from Lefty and myself in both, but you’ve got to watch closely….and the knuckles being tattooed as the first video starts–you all know THAT artist and his fancy letters! Links below, have a watch and see what we do out on the road….see you out there!

VIDEOS —>

Holiday Ink video by Devid Munier

Holiday Ink 5 Pertuis Vidéo Officielle By Gregøry Duris

Tattoo Artists, Tattoo Conventions, Travel, Wine, Wine Makers

A BoozyLife Night in Paris at Chez Casimir 100th POST

July 27, 2015 Head BoozyWife In Charge Leave a comment

Side note–this is my 100th post on the BoozyLife! Thank you for reading and following the journey!

The first leg of our trip this month had us flying on a multiple city ticket–last minute flight purchases–and ended up with an overnight layover, to ourselves, in Paris. Terrible, right? What to do…we wanted to stay near the Gare du Nord train station in order to stay close to the morning train commute to the airport…cheap night in an Ibis hotel nearby…research! My husband found a spot called Chez Casimir about 100 meters from us–it’s the sister restaurant to the famous Chez Michel bistro, and actually SHARES A KITCHEN with them. DONE! We walked over and took an outdoor table overlooking the evening Paris streets. Google them if you want to see more articles, they’ve been written up in CNN travel amongst many others….

There is either an ala carte menu or the standard four course pairing (appetizer, entrée, world-famous cheese tray, desert), so we went traditional and ordered off the prix fix menu. At less than forty euros each, the price was more than a casual dinner, but presented to be a more upscale bistro fare. I chose a portion of beef with mushrooms and a pepper sauce as my entré…and then, I got to pick our wine! Best part!

French Beaujolais from Bordeaux Region Séléné

I ordered a French Beaujolais wine (young and fruity red, easy drinking and good with a bistro meal like this) from the menu, and was invited to go grab MY bottle!! The wines were stored in the Cava de Vino (wine cave…in this case, a climate controlled side room/closet area) and you were asked to grab the bottle you want yourself, and a server will open your selection(s) and add them to the bill at the end of the meal. OK. YES. Several of the bottles were small batch, organic, or from harder to find producers! HOW TO CHOOSE? After a good amount of standing still with my mouth open in a happy place, I grabbed a bottle of GAEC de La Tallebarde – Séléné Beaujolais Gamay, a very young red wine, lightly aged and traditionally made in the Burgundy region of France. It also happily had an artsy label, plastered with a painting of Frida Kahlo-which was a nice marketing surprise for me and appropriate as well I suppose!

The young red wine -once popped -was fruity, funky, and complex, without being heavy–a fun pairing for casual outdoor dining. The acidity cut through all of the rich flavor of the meal, from my beef and mushrooms, all the way to the incredible treat of the Chez Michel style local cheese platter course.

Really, no words–the cheese tray comes after entirely too much food, so plan accordingly! Desert was an incredible raspberry chocolate concoction that melted in my mouth with silky perfection…lovely sweet ending to a delightful night in Paris. Check out Chez Casimir next time you are in town–BoozyLife approved and recommended! See you on the road….

<img src="http://boozylife.com/images/brush/Travel%2C+wine%2C+women%2C+%26amp%3B+tattoos.png" title="Travel, wine, women, & tattoos" alt="Travel, wine, women, & tattoos" style="border: 0 none ;"/>