BottlesUp

Today is the shop’s five-year anniversary, and in serendipitous fashion I came across this book my father had jokingly but motivating-ly given me in 2019.

First of all, correct, that says “Includes CD-ROM.” The copyright on this thing is 2009. And if you don’t know what a CD-ROM is, please put down your phone and find a Millennial/Gen Xer for a nice little chat. Don’t be surprised if we start explaining dial-up internet too.

Second of all, I must confess that I’ve only ever read two lines from this book: The first and the last. It’s not that I thought there wouldn’t be valuable advice. It’s just that the first sentence resonated so deeply, I decided it was pretty much all I needed.

It simply said: “Wine is fun.”

The past five years have proven that to be very true. The idea that you can drink seriously good bottles without taking things too seriously has been a guiding principle for us. Of course that doesn’t mean we don’t care deeply about people (/life), and it also doesn’t mean that there haven’t been great challenges. But there’s a difference between and flippancy, and it’s much easier to get through dark times (/life) by creating light.

Thank you for allowing us to create light via events/bottles that bring people together…and for being OUR light in return. You are the reason we do what we do. And you quite literally have made my day now for 1,825 days in a row.

As for the last line in the book…

“All you need to do is take a sip of for added !”

So now you know the REAL reason it’s my drink of choice.

Thank you. To everyone. Let’s have some more fun.

❤️M

Wine this way. ➡️ And good drinks in general. ➡️ And fun. ➡️ And community. ➡️ And $1,600 (NOW $3,600!!)** to a female-entrepreneur-in-need.

You betcha - it’s time once again to start accepting applications for the 2024 BeyoU Fund, an annual grant we created as a way to support women in business! Why? Because quite simply: They’re important. 👊

Interested applicants should email [email protected] for the questionnaire and send it back by July 31. All submissions will then be reviewed by our “Boss Lady Business Panel” (Birch Road Club, Ama La Vida Coaching, Anderson Ganne Wines, United Women in Business Foundation 🫶) and the recipient will be announced at our BeyoU Summer Bash on August 15! If you think there won’t be Champagne, do you even know us at all? 🤸‍♀️🍾

For more details on all of the above, just visit www.bottlesupchicago.com/the-beyou-fund. And for more wine, good drinks in general, fun, and community, just follow the arrow.

➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️

*Big love to the mega-talented muralist/human, Lisa Wronski. Never thought we’d enjoy being next to a construction site. 🙌

**The Fund total has increased thanks to incredibly generous customer donations! 😭🥰

Unbelievable. We have zero words except thank you. Thank YOU. THANK YOU.

And holy sh*t.