#my41.net

Let’s be honest, it doesn’t have to be the weekend to drink, having our beautiful children entitles us to this magnificence any time we wish. A little wine, a lot of vodka, a beer or two- it doesn’t matter- it just makes you happy and really is the best invention ever. Thank you ancient Egypt for figuring out how to ferment and thus give us alcohol. Props to you. To save face with the all the haters, let’s call it our “start the weekend drink”, even though we all know better.

Normally my first post about alcohol would be paying homage to Patron the amazing, feel good, no inhibitions superness (yes, I make up words) of a tequila that I adore. I promise there will be plenty of posts about tequila, both good and bad, but through the summer I came to love the Mojito, drank quite a few and became a big fan. I especially love a twist, like adding any kind of fruit and revamping for fall like with this cranberry recipe. I also like drinks that aren’t too sweet, so if you are a tropical fruit, grenadine, hang-over juice drink lover, this probably isn’t for you.  

I will tell you what to do but keep in mind this isn't writing class and I'm not a bartender so I may skip a step. At some point, you just have to use your imagination. It’s got alcohol in it so how bad can it be?

The ingredients for 1 perfect drink:

1 ghetto muddler (above is technically an avocado masher) Don’t judge me- I do own a real muddler. The whereabouts are unknown at the present time. I have used a wooden spindle bought from home depot as well. The point being: find and use what you can to crush/muddle these ingredients!

12 fresh mint leaves 1/2 tbsp brown sugar juice from 1 lime (I like a lot of lime) 1/3 cup cranberries

Put above ingredients in the bottom of a glass and gently muddle. You just want to mix the mint, cranberries and sugar- not make juice.

Add this to a glass filled with ice and 2 oz of Rum (whatever brand and obvs i use more than 2 oz but we have to stick to a recipe.)   Top off glass with club soda If you want to make it pretty, add lime or mint garnish as desired. Normally I would leave these off... but we have to take a pretty picture.

Like many of us, I’ve often been told that my life would make a great reality show. I'm a 41 year old woman, mother of three crazy kids and left an 18 year marriage that was full of money and mostly happy times. Add to that my love of tennis, food, alcohol, often tumultuous friendships, crafting, interesting dating experiences, holiday psychosis, clothes (mostly shoes) and a crack ass crazy family and yes, you could fill many hours of TV. My life is a certified "shit show" (this is my favorite word so get used to it), but only in the most fantastic way. A mixture of calm and chaotic, sad and happy, serious and fun all spinning around each other in this perfect storm that is "Greta".

Calm in the moments  when my 12 year-old, Luca still reaches out to hold my hand while I'm driving him to soccer practice, or my daughter, Devon calls me from college just because or the dogs actually pee outside in the grass instead of on my beautiful gray throw rug. Chaotic in the mornings when I like to challenge myself with 30 minutes to: get 3 dogs walked and fed, make lunches, make breakfast, throw in "iron this shirt mom" and "i still have math homework mom" and "don't forget I need a check for school pictures today mom". WAIT- seriously there are freaking school pictures today and your hair is a mess and your teeth aren't brushed and you are wearing stinky athletic clothes? Awesome.  Early mornings are seriously the work of the devil, I swear. Throw them out the door for school and then get myself dressed and gone. Somehow I do it- I think I must like stress.

Sad when I realize there are 2 of everything in my children's lives now: 2 places to lay their heads, 2 Christmases, 2 sets of clothes and you just hope that you are loving them enough so that they are happy, adjusted, and productive people.  Happy when I get to listen to my 16 year-old, Colton play his latest and greatest on the piano or I somehow get all the ingredients I need for dinner and it gets on the table and we are all sitting around it with me asking (interrogating) everyone about their life and their day and their loves and I see their beautiful faces and smiles and know that life is okay.

Serious when I have to listen to my son tell me about the girl that he liked making out with another boy in front of him and seeing that he is hurt and controlling myself not to go punch this girl in the face or when I realize that I birthed Devon my senior year in college (which I would never change because she holds so much of my heart she can’t possibly imagine) but now have no real work experience but still have to figure out a way to earn a living sometime soon. Fun when I'm winning my tennis match and I get to hit the bitchy woman across from me with the ball (I'm very competitive and aggressive but only in the best, most fantastic way) or when I see a great outfit on the mannequin at one of my favorite stores and I put it on and it looks awesome and isn't a foot too long and my giant ass looks great, which let's face it, (thank you Kim Kardashian for the big ass trend) it always does.