The Lemon Life | online magazine offering a fresh perspective on post-grad life.

Words by: Sarah Stanley

Image by: pedrosimoes7

It’s usually around the 3:30 pm mark that I tend to see the workday as finally winding down. Yes, that may be two full hours before my actual time of departure, and taking on this mindset may be entirely delusional, irresponsible, or both; but with emails to read and to-do lists to be made, passing two hours is child’s play (just perform the tasks slowly, of course.) So, with the evening so close in reach, it’s a struggle to do much other than plot out its route to perfection. 3:30pm – 5:30pm question: What will be tonight’s mode of escape from the mundane? That is cheap? And requires little-to-no effort? 3:30pm – 5:30pm answer: I’m picking up a bottle of wine, my friend. To be enjoyed at home.

Alone.

To the hisses of “wino!” I say, no, brilliant! Because enjoying a tasteful amount of wine in the comfort of one’s own apartment is a pretty ideal way for those of us living so laughably above our means to turn the often-necessary Night In into a cozy sanctuary for some very thorough post-workday unwinding. Of course there is the alcohol factor, which of course blunts aforementioned stressors with its lovely chemical ways; but for me, it’s savoring the ritual, rich with its connotations of luxury and escape, that makes the after-work wine time such a treat. For what I’ve had no problem keeping in the ten-dollar range, you can gift yourself the experience of choosing a new bottle to try, the ceremonious opening and pop of a cork, the gurgly pour, and the slow inhale of a foreign land where people don’t spend 3:30 to 5:30 pretend-working but lounging languidly on their terraces contemplating romance and getting tan while doing so. And then, feeling just that much closer to the Good Life, it’s time to settle in and enjoy the escape – the degree of which is entirely in your hands. Or, in your pour. And, chin chin!

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