SMART Women wine it up

Published 9:34 pm Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Break out the chardonnays, pinot grigios and merlots: the SMART Women are in town.

The group (Successful, Motivated And Really Tired Women) held its quarterly luncheon Tuesday at the Hilton Garden Inn and Suffolk Conference Center, and the topic of the day was wine.

“You all are masters of multi-taskers,” Brenda Gillihan, owner of the Bon Vivant in North Suffolk. “You can do it all and look so good doing it. But, though we juggle a lot of things, I think sometimes we forget it’s the balance of those things that matters.”

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Gillihan went on to explain that knowing how to select the correct wine is important as people entertain company over the holiday season or just need to unwind with a drink at night.

“It’s getting that balance,” she said.

Following a brief tutorial on the benefits of wine drinking, including increasing the HDL, or good cholesterol, in the body, Gillihan spoke on how to serve wine.

“For women, one to two glasses a day is good,” Gillihan said. “Now…what is a glass?”

The more than 75 women in the dining room laughed as Gillihan showed the levels five ounces of wine fills on different sized glasses.

Throughout her presentation, Gillihan gave drinking tips, including to make sure to drink plenty of water to help keep headaches away, and she gave some tips on pairing foods with wine.

Ultimately, though, her message was simple: make sure to make time for yourself.

“Wine slows you down,” Gillihan said. “It slows you down so you can savor it. You’ve got to keep that balance.”

The SMART Women luncheons were created to give area women a place where they could acquire valuable business skills and life lessons, while networking and enjoying lunch with their peers.

Six Suffolk businesswomen — Diana Eaves of BB&T, Lydia Duke of Duke Automotive, Laura Lyon of the Hilton Garden Inn, Ashley Greene of Marketing Mojo, Tracie Thorndike of Nansemond-Suffolk Academy and Barbara Kayes of RE/MAX Across town — established the SMART (Successful, Motivated … and Really Tired) club almost three years ago.

The next luncheon will be held April 20.