Elitists: Day Two of Brewmasters International Beer Festival

Yesterday, I caught you guys up on Day 1 of the Brewmasters International Beer Festival that SKing and I attended last September.

Today, I'm bringing you Day Two - also known as VIP Day.

If you guys don't remember, I entered a Twitter Contest for VIP Tickets to the Brewlicious Beer & Food Tasting event.

My contest entry

Wellllllll... I won!

SKing and I loaded up the Audi once again and headed back down to Galveston.

We first met up with @JoshInHouston for our VIP Passes and some free Nikita Swag!

We headed into the Moody Gardens Ballroom, a little nervous and shy -until we saw the Applewood Bacon Wrapped Quail with a Pomegranate Glaze made by the chefs at Bernardo's. We. Love. All. Things. Quail. We washed it down with a sampling of New Belgium Mother Ship Wit, an organic wheat beer.

Next was Hofbrau Dunkel paired with Baby Short Ribs, Polenta, and Micro Greens by the folks at South Shore Harbor Resort

Comfort food done bougie in all the right ways!

Nikita Table Cards & a Beer App?!

What photos are missing here? The gorgeous guy pushing Harpoon Cider Beer.

As we have a special place in our hearts for cider beer (our friendship truly began over pints of Wood Chuck Amber) we saw the Harpoon Hottie and thought it was a match made in heaven. Once we made our way over to the booth, we learned a few important lessons. Mainly, all cider beers were not created equal and the booth with the hottest rep usually has the worst beer. I believe our review was along the lines of "dirty dish water." Yech!

Green Eyed Susan Macaroons - a Houston company that hand-makes gluten / preservative free macaroons.

ESB Cheese Soup with Citruc Creme Fraiche paired with Redhook ESB by Stone Kitchen

We'll cam-whore in a crowded room, no worries.

There were seminars throughout the day, hilarious booth workers, and of course our beloved Woodchuck paired with eclairs and other sweets from Moody Gardens.

We circled around a bit before we found this booth, but finally we found the Citrus Pork Belly Lollipop on a Sugar Cane Stick from Voice Restaurant & Lounge. I read about it online beforehand and couldn't wait to try it. This was hands-down our favorite dish. It was paired with St. Arnold's Elissa IPA which is made right in Houston.

We also got to try some sliders and empanadas!

We also spotted Abita's SOS: Save Our Shore as we made a few new friends.

All in all, it was the perfect laid back follow up to Brewmasters International Beer Festival Day 1. SKing and I not only enjoyed all the yummy beer and food pairings, but thanks to my contest winning entry, we also got to enjoy VIP treatment that included larger tasting glasses, a special VIP seating area, and early entry.

With September drawing closer, you can bet we're already making plans to attend this year's festival.

Brewmasters International Beer Festival

Lushes: Day One of Brewmasters International Beer Festival

Since SKing and LMac spent the weekend relaxing away in Galveston, TX , I thought one of my first catch up (read: I have 10 months of happenings to fill you in on) posts should be about SKing & I's trip to the First Annual Brewmasters International Beer Festival in Galveston back in September.

For some added company, we had Nate and Ninja meet us at Moody Gardens for the event. Once the boys arrived, we walked through the event doors and were given a sampling mug and a punch card.

The room was filled wall to wall with sampling booths - arranged by brewing company. Each brewing company brought a few of their favorite beers for us to sample, which was a little overwhelming at first since there were literally HUNDREDS of beers. Eventually, we just started asking the brewery representatives to serve us up a sample of their favorite.

The entire day was a blur - both in the sense that it flew by and we drank quite a bit. hahah

That being said, I'll leave you guys with photos from the day....

Post Brewmasters, we had dinner at Gaidos - yeah I'm really not sure how it's pronounced - where I somehow lost a contact in the sink.

Since I wear circle lenses it was a total "Hello Hot Mess" moment...

Notice my contact-less wonky eye. *Le Sigh*

Anyhooooo - Tune in tomorrow for Day 2 of Brewmasters International Beer Festival

Brewmasters International Beer Festival

Gaido's
3828 Seawall Boulevard
Galveston, TX 77550
(409) 762-9625

Ye Olde Renaissance Faire

Last year, a dear friend of mine from high school, Miss Ashley B, went to the Texas Renaissance Festival and wrote me up a lovely guest post on the experience complete with tons of photos. But since I never got a chance to post it up for you guys and I'll be having my own Texas Renaissance Festival outing this Saturday, I thought now would be a perfect time to post it up - Hope you guys enjoy!! xo KB

((dont forget to enter the give-away from Fine Thread Art))

I have always wanted to go to the Renaissance Festival ever since high school. The honors classes always scheduled a trip to Plantersville, Texas, where the nation’s biggest Ren Fest is held annually- eight weekends out of the year. Unfortunately, my dad never let me go because it was “too expensive.” For some reason, I find it hard to believe 40 dollars is a hefty sum. But I digress.

A few months ago my husband, Tyler, picked up a Renaissance brochure from Albertsons just to do it. I guess because he knows I’m obsessed with medieval times and anything before the eighteenth century. As soon as I saw it I thought, “Holy Sh*t! I forgot about this thing!” and looked at all of the dates. One of the weekends just so happened to fall the day after my birthday – October 17th, and 18th- the Fairy and Elves themed weekend. Close enough.

We decided to only go the Saturday just to see if we would like it (could handle it). We drove up to Lake Charles, Louisiana from Baton Rouge the night of my birthday – the 16th. In doing this, we broke up the trip almost in half just to cut up the five and a half hour drive. We ate sushi with his family and had cake…and blah blah blah – now the Renaissance Festival. ** angels break into chorus**

My husband decided that night along with friend Mike and little brother Paul, to dress up. They hadn’t previously planned this, but since my costume was so epic they would have looked like idiots. The costumes they made didn’t exactly change that, but they tried, and it was a cute effort – kind of. Just kidding.

They stayed up until 2:30 am sewing their own crests onto Wal-Mart shirts (heyo!). I went to bed at 1:30 just watching this spectacle. That was a bad idea considering I had to wake up at 5am to braid my hair and do my makeup. They woke up at 6am. So basically we got the same amount of sleep. Yippee. We left at 7am, an hour later than we wanted to. It all turned out okay; we got there just a little later than expected.

When we arrived at the gate – we arrived at pure awesomeness. Turns out the people who don’t dress up look like the uninterested stand-outers. The moment we walked in, “Ann Boleyn” got up in our grills and we looked like deer in the headlights. I guess we weren’t expecting the old English accent right off the bat and it caught us off guard. She asked, “ Are ye lookin’ fuh me?” First I said to myself, “ I thought Ann Boleyn spoke more elegantly than this?” Then Tyler, Mike and Paul all just nodded. Assholes. She went on to tell us about the jousting match and what section of the crowd she will be sitting in. We didn’t go to the jousting until 3pm.

There were a lot of awesome characters walking around. I have given Kora a few of the ones I took pictures with, and some that I snuck photos of. You can tell in some of them because they have a look on their face (helmet) like they just caught a small medieval castle peasant stealing an apple. One looked as though I stole his soul. Oh well, I got the picture.

The first thing on my agenda was to buy a turkey leg. Of course we went to the place that was the only shop that didn’t carry turkey legs. Now, I’ve heard from everyone that has went, to get a darned turkey leg and I’ll be damned if I didn’t get one. The bartender wench said that most of the food stores have them and just to look around. Well I guess we were blind because soon after we turned the corner all we saw were giant wooden turkey leg signs. DOH! Tyler bought us each a turkey leg, and it was glorious. I also supplied Kora with these sweet pics.

We mainly walked around the entire day because there was so much to see (and buy). They had rows upon rows of costume shops. Since there are different themed weekends, such as pirates, gypsies, Scottish clans, elves and fairies, Halloween and Christmas, each shop had different types of clothes. They had a store for wooden mugs, silver mugs and you –name-it-they-had-it mugs. They sold colorful hand carved staves, wooden chairs, authentic micro-suede capes, scarves, candles… I mean anything, and that was just the “trade district.” That’s what I’ll call it for now. In the Mage Quarter, and that’s what it’s actually called, they had “Drench a Wench.” This was the medieval style dunking booth. She said typical trash talking things and so on. They also had a guy locked in the stocks that you could throw tomatoes at. He said some pretty nasty things such as “hey honey if I had a face like that I’d paint it too.” Below the belt, but funny. The Mage Quarter was pretty much an entire section of games and crafts. You could also shoot bows and arrows, throw ninja stars, toss maces and axes, and fish in ponds.

The chapel section of the 56 acre theme festival was very pretty. They are totally legit chapels and there was actually a wedding held that day. We saw the procession of the bride and groom coming from the Trade District. The chapels had vines growing all around them and they were also near a courtyard with a fountain. Very cool.

One of the shows we saw was the “Ded Bob Show”. He was like Jeff Dunham the ventriloquist comic on Comedy Central except the man had a mask over his face. That definitely defeats the purpose, but his comedic improve more than made up for it. He called on members of the audience to embarrass them and thank God he didn’t call on me. PHEW. Sorry guys, no pics, I was too nervous he would get me on stage. The jousting show was “different”. I was expecting some spectacular reenactments, but I guess these guys were retirees of the Medieval Times restaurant because they kind of sucked. They completely whiffed when going to lance the other knight and purposefully threw themselves off of their horses. It was almost comical, so I let it slide. I wasn’t going to let it ruin my awesome adventure.

One of the last places we went to was the cape store because it looked like capes from Lord of the Rings of course. They even had little leaf brooches. Shut up- it’s cool. The guy working the counter inquired about Tyler and his friend’s crest and asked if they were “part of a thing”. I laughed. On the inside. Mike followed with, “Oh no man, we made these.” He pointed to each of them as he said, “I made mine, he (Tyler) made his, oh and (Paul) his mom sewed his.” THEN, I laughed. Poor kid. The guy seemed a little too amazed for comfort, and then proceeded to tell us how he wears his cape every day. Awkward.

That about sums up my day at the Renaissance Festival. We’ll probably go every year now because I had that much fun. I also got a Renaissance Festival 2009 ceramic mug out of it, so it’s all good. The next one on our list is probably the Christmas one because they apparently deck the town out in lights and stuff. The town stays up all year; they just maintain it in the off season I guess. We didn’t get a chance to see the rest of the craft stores such as the candle making and glass blowing stands. We also didn’t get to explore the Magic Gardens section. Now I know what’s first on the list next year! OH, and they had an armory museum, it was cool. The end.

Oh I wish...

Let's just start out this week's posting with the most amazing part of my weekend....




It was glorrrrrrious!

Thanks to the 610 S for a chance to rendezvous with this beauty!

And We're Off...

...Well we will be in a few hours, anyways.



((via))

With 2 duffel bags, a train case, a lap top bag, a purse and the game Apples to Apples I think I may be equipped to handle my 3 day jaunt to Houston. Hah!

Lint roller? Check. 3 sticks of deodorant? Check. Enough clothes to last me a month just incase I decide to move to Houston tomorrow? Checkity Check Check.

So I may be a teensie bit over packed for SKing & I's rendezvous with our new favorite city but its in direct correlation with my excitement level.

We've got some lovely happenings planned, including the BrewMasters International Beer Festival (& YES I won the VIP Tickets!) down in Galveston, TX.

If anyone will be down there this weekend, definitely let me know via Twitter or EMail and we'll share a beer and toast the good life.

To everyone else,

I hope you have a lovely and safe Labor Day weekend!

Laissez les bon temps roulez!

& Remember... pas sur les meubles!

((via))

Wordless Wednesday: Make Me a VIP

My entry to win these VIP Tickets to the Brewmasters International Beer Fest!

I'm So Vain...

Also find this post under:

"Photoshop Can Only Do So Much"


Ninja & I photoshopped into submission.

Seriously... who stole my neck?

{five minutes ago}

{receive FB notice that SKing has finallllly posted up some Houston pho-toes!}

...

{realize that I'm a hot stinkin' mess in half of le pho-toes!}

((via text))

Me: OMG! Photoshop sil vous plait!

SKing: Aww! I'm at work and we don't have photoshop. I thought you looked cute.

Me: I joke. I kid. But I need to work on my poses for Boca!

SKing: We both do, although we have come a long way since NOLA

Me: Touche!

Let's all raise a lil' glass of vani-tea (Oy Vey! I litearlly cracked myself up wth that one...) and toast to an onward progression of photo fabulosity and bow our heads and ask for less wheres-my-neck-and-who-is-that-sweaty-gay-man-awkwardness in the Boca photos.

Claw & Hiss...Houston...The Trip: Last Will and Testament

((VIA ME))

To SKing, I leave you a bottle of Nair and a timer.

To MTher, I leave you a handkerchief in any color other than purple.

To Myself, I leave a weave-touching intervention slip.

To the (wo)man at the Texas state line, I leave you a key for those handcuffs (but only in exchange for an explanation)

To Ninja, Tre Von, & AGriff, I leave you a Secret Society pocket dictionary for decoding conversation.

To the Porsche Cayman, I leave you a third seat.

To the male "entertainment" at JR's, I leave you booty poppin' moves.

To the "gayborhood," I leave you streets on a grid system.

To SKing, I leave you a .75" ceramic spiral-coiled barrel curling iron and a bottle of face wash.

To the future guests of room 904, I leave you a bottle of Febreze to deal with ass-smelling couch.

To my credit card, I leave you locked up in-room goodies and a mini bar key that doesn't work.

To my future hungover self, I leave you a can of Grabeez Gummi Bears and two Advil.

To everyone who listened to us, I leave you a (few) grain(s) of salt.

To Alexan Post, I leave you a slightly less confusing maze of hallways, elevators, and parking garages.

To Ninja & SKing, I return your foreign accents with the added bonus of a sound proof room.

To Ninja, I leave you Woodchuck on tap. Trust us...it's better.

To the Bartender at JR's, I leave you an adderall and some manners.

To Tre Von, I leave you a tiara ... we're so confused by drama queens.

To man in the Galleria Starbucks, I leave you anger management courses.

To the mannequins at Chanel, I leave you new wigs... and less creepy eyes.

To the sales people at Chanel, I leave you an eye roll and perhaps a gps locating device for each customer.

To Sanrio store, I leave you half my paycheck and my mailing address.

To Crave Cupcakes, I leave you the other half of my paycheck and the mailing address as well.

To Hotel Derek Housekeeping, I leave you a bottle of fingernail polish remover.

To Myself, I leave a year supply of shower caps.

To SKing, I leave a Tangueray and Tonic.

To Ikea, I leave you an hour and ten minutes - because despite what people say, that's all the time we need with you.

To Wicked, I leave you a standing ovation.

To Ninja, I leave you just onnnnne more pair of chopsticks and 2 fortune cookies.

To SKing, I leave a redbull and some sour skittles.

To MTher, I leave you an explanation to all this confusion.

To Ninja, I leave you early morning Snyder's Pretzels and blood sugar testing.

To Aladdin, we leave you the obvious Magic Carpet.

To Sang-Mi, we leave you a bee.

To Houston Restaurants, I leave you the Louisiana custom of splitting checks.

To the Bartender at Sherlocks, I leave you a season dvd of Tosh.0

To the mini fridge of 904, Ninja and I leave you Grotto's half salmon and half ravioli.

To Houston Weather, I leave you my eternal gratefulness for not raining.

To a random unknown location in Houston, I leave you two Hotel Derek Room keys.

To Ninja's car seats, I leave you my dignity and whatever smidge of grace I had left.

To Hotel Derek valet, I leave you way too much money and Ninja's time...oh and his car keys too.

To the streets of Houston, Ninja requests that I leave you a notice to fix the streets in the supposedly swanky part of town.

To the Nitro, I leave you new windshield wipers.

To Ninja's driving skills, I leave my surprise and wonder.

To the view of downtown Houston from the Hobby Center balcony, I leave you warm-fuzzy feelings.

To Final Fantasy VII, I leave you the promise that I'll get back to you when I'm less delirious and "Dilly-Dally Shilly-Shally."

To the Map left for me at the front desk of the hotel, I leave you warm fuzzy feelings a chorus of "awwwws."

To MTher, I leave you "Me Likey Mad Libs" on the drive home.

To Sking, I leave you 30 minute flights that dont cost $400 or a $35 train ride that doesn't take 5 & 1/2 hours.

To Ninja & Tre Von, we leave you our love and thanks for showing us your city and invitation to see ours.

To Houston, we leave you our love and a promise that we will be back, maybe even permanently.

I CRAVE You...

CRAVE CUPCAKES
1151-06 UPTOWN PARK BLVD.
HOUSTON, TX 77056
PHONE 1-713-62-CRAVE (27283)
FAX 1-713-622-7285
EMAIL EAT@CRAVECUPCAKES.COM

At Least She's Pretty...

...Because SKing can't flipcam to save her life.
Her two attempts from Saturday night at Sherlocks as follows:






Yeahhh.
Your in-blog sickness bag is located directly below your keyboard tray.



Note to Self:Keep SKing away from the flipcam while rendezvousing in Boca.

On the Brighter Side...

Today is:

BUT I keep reminding myself that in 16 Days....

I'll be....

On my way to...

To have...

As I scream...

All I can say is.... HELLSYEAH.

((all images via))

FITBF: Hey Y'alllll HEY!

Ello babies! (I've been watching Love & Other Disasters on repeat. Anyone else adore the movie like I do?) I know I've been gone - but I can't wait to share all the thrilling bits that I've been up to. While I'm working on those posts, why not jump back into it with one of my favorites - Fill in the Blank Friday?!

1. My dream vacation would be a South African safari or India during the festival of Holi. Give me color and culture and I'm a happy girl.

((via))

2. The best trip I've ever taken was to 12 or so cities in Italy when I was 15. I went wit LyLa and our friend Brooke. While the trip was one of those life changing experiences, my sense of style was anything but... I scraped up some photos for your enjoyment. Capris in Capri? Check. Old Navy fanny pack? Mhmmm. Inability to smile stemming from fear of something stuck in my braces? Ohhh yes.



3. The most important items to take on a road trip are Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis. Duh.

((via))


4. The next trip I'm looking forward to is

I.

Where: Houston, Texas
When: July 9th & 10th
Who: Me, Mther, SKing, & ASal
What: Using my impending 25th birthday as excuse for a weekend in le city!

II.

Where: Boca Raton, FL
When: July 22nd - 28th
Who: Me & SKing
What: The Ultimate girls road trip!!


5. If I had to pick one CD to listen to for a long road trip it would be OAR's Any Time Now, Disc 2. The entire CD makes me want to put my feet on the dash, roll down the windows, and scream at the top of my lungs as I shake my hair free. It's instant feel good - and isn't that what road trips are all about?


((via))

6. The biggest disaster I've ever encountered while traveling was my first time traveling alone. I was on my way home after my first summer in Maine. My flight was delayed 8 hours before they decided to bus us to a New Hampshire airport and reroute me. That flight to Detroit was delayed, and I showed up to my connecting flight to New Orleans just as they were closing the cabin doors. I was denied entry onto the plane and had to spend the night alone in Detroit with no luggage. The next morning as I waited for my flight to New Orleans, I lost my license while shopping for Motown souvenirs. I had to wait for it to be found before I could get on my flight home.

((via))


7. My favorite traveling memory is my flight home from Italy. It was just a sense of returning home a little bit more mature, forever changed, and thirsting for more of the unknown.


((via))