I Do Stuff…

Paradise Springs Winery

It was Nancy’s birthday the other day and we had a busy day planned to celebrate it.  The party started at a brand new winery in Fairfax, the first in the county in fact.  Paradise Springs Winery had their grand opening the same day as her birthday and what a perfect way to kick off a full day of celebrations.  Nancy and I arrived just after noon with few people there.  Because the place was hard to find and in the middle of no where, I thought the crowds would be pretty small.  Parking was easy and getting a tasting took only a few minutes.  However as the day progressed, more and more people showed up, literally bus loads at times.  By this time reinforcements arrived with food, my Dad and Pat.

We spent hours around this wine barrel we commandeered for the afternoon.  It allowed us a place to put all the food my Dad brought with him.  Fortunately Nancy, Tracy, Rob and myself arrived early enough we were able to get a tasting in before the hordes came.  It was to late for them to get a tasting because of the lines.  They trusted our judgment and got a bottle of Chardonnay and a Norton we all agreed was drinkable.  To be honest none of us were to thrilled with the offerings.  The wine was simply, ok.  Nothing spectacular and certainly nothing that blew our minds.  A pretty decent view more than made up for the mediocre wine.

Alto Plaza Centreville, VA

Late in the afternoon after killing several soldiers we parted ways, Nancy and I continued our adventure in birthday fun and everyone else went home.  We headed back to her apartment with Doug who arrived supper late to the winery for about an hour before dinner at Alto Plaza.  This allowed us to change into appropriate attire for dinner, but more importantly, get some football in.  Doug and I couldn’t see the whole game, but we saw enough to know New Orleans was going to win against the Cardinals.

Around 6 we finally left for the short drive to Alto Plaza where we had reservations.  We arrived right on time, but like usually we where the first to arrive.  When we got to the third floor they had a large table setup for us right next to a large bay window looking towards the mountains.  If the sun was setting it would have been a great view.  Being the first to arrive we decided to belly up to the bar in the lounge for a quick drink and to relax before things got crazy.  By about 7pm everyone else arrived; Jeremy, Nichole and Jeffrey with Rob coming from the winery like we did.  Dinner was fantastic.  The food was great and the service was impeccable.  The only issue we had was when we tried to pay the bill.  I had $225 in gift cards that I wanted to use, this would cut the total bill in half for everyone else.  Unfortunately the waitress said the gift cards where for the old restaurant and they wouldn’t’ accept it.  I was pissed.  Thankfully, she went to bat for us and they used all the gift cards.  If they wanted to get our business again this was what they needed to do.

Lulu Cafe (karaoke) Centreville, VA

After a wonderful meal our group again parted ways with some of our dinner guest headed over to Lulu Cafe for some karaoke.  Here we meet backup with Tracy and Bobby, Matt showed up as well for a loooooong night of singing.  We got there just before 10pm and snagged a private room in the back.  The guy showed us how to use the equipment and it was on after that.  The machine was in constant use till well after 2am when we finally left.  Everyone, including Matt, sang songs for hours.  By about midnight I wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep.  In fact several times I almost passed out in the back corner which was amazing considering how loud the music was.

Close to 3am is when we finally got Nancy back to her house.  It felt so good to finally go to sleep in a comfortable bed.  The whole day was great and a lot of fun, even if it did go to the wee hours of the morning.  Not only did Nancy say she had a great time, I could also tell because all day Sunday she was hung over and didn’t want to leave the house.  I was grateful to everyone that made it out for all or part of the day, it really made Nancy feel special having so many people show up.  Next years is a milestone year for her, she has kicked around a few ideas on how to celebrate it already.  It certainly a good idea to start planning 12 months in advance for some of these.

The cigar shop I work for, Old Virginia Tobacco, has been around for 37 years at this point.  In that time we have built a very good relationship with many of the top manufactures in the industry.  One of those is Ernesto Perez-Carrillo from La Gloria Cubana.  This guy is a legend and everything he makes is a real winner.  Rarely does he do public events.  He is a cigar maker, not an entertainer.  So when we talked to him about doing a release party for his new cigar we were shocked when he said he said yes.

I saw Ernie at this years trade show in Las Vegas and I spoke to him about his new line, the Artesanos de Miami.  We spoke further during the General Cigar dinner at Aureole in the Mandalay Bay Hotel.  He loves to talk about cigars and was telling me about why he came up with it, how different the tobacco is in this cigar, and how exclusive the line would be.  Come to find out only 100 retailers in the country will get it and there will only be 125,000 sticks made.  We were one of two shops to get it first, weeks before it would be released to everyone else.

a serious LGC fan

When the BBQ finally came on Saturday, September 20th everyone was excited.  The customers had been looking forward to the event for weeks and they were not disappointed.  We blocked off a large portion of the lot in front of the store for the event.  Not only so people could sit and mingle, but for the large BBQ grill used to cook the food and enough space for DJ Randy to setup his rig.  The weather that day could not have been better and everyone enjoyed the event immensely.

Ernie holding court

Finally about 4pm the BBQ ended and I had to run.  I needed to get home, shower, and be at Alto Plaza by 6pm when cocktail hour started.  It was a bit of a stretch but me and Nancy arrived right on time.  In fact the only other person there was a long time customer Scott.  Slowly other guests started to arrive and we all just mingled at the bar.  Unfortunately the guest of honor got delayed so everything got pushed back.  Finally about 7:30pm we were seated.  Scott, me, Nancy, Mark, Randy, Mike, Barbara, and one other guy took a table in the back.  Just like in high school all the cool kids went right for the back.

very fashionable

The dinner was fantastic.  Our table had spent most of cocktail hour talking and drinking so all we did was move the whole affair to a table and continued the fun.  Before any course was served Scott had ordered three bottles of wine for the table.  After that it was on like Donkey Kong.

Even after dinner our group didn’t leave.  We must have stuck around for another hour or so while everyone else left out.  Eventually those of us left (me, Nancy, Scott, Mark, Bob, Gary, and Ernie) moved to the head table and continued to talk till almost midnight.  What a wonderful evening.  Not only did I get to enjoy some great food and drink, I got to enjoy it with some very good friends.  What more could you ask for?

As a whole the BBQ and dinner were a smashing success.  Ernie told me it was great to see so many people attend the event and smoking his cigars.  Not smoking his cigars because he was the guest of honor, but smoking them because they actually enjoy them.  We didn’t become the number one La Gloria retailer in the country for nothing.

I would like to thank Ernie for spending the day with us and I look forward to future events with him.  I will see you at IPCPR next year in New Orleans.