a lovely colorado weekend

hey all!  hope it was a festive (& safe!) independence day weekend for you.  it was a hot and eventful one here - my awesome mother-in-law was visiting from california.  it's shaping up to be almost like a tradition; she drove out last year for the same holiday weekend.  it was a good time for me to reflect on some serious before-and-after since she hadn't seen the house for a year.  we had no backyard, nothing hung on the walls, a disaster area of an office, an old doodie shower with moldy tile and a library that was never used.  what progress we've made.  it was the perfect time to not work on the house but finally enjoy it :)

but let's get to it.  i want to fill you all in on our weekend!  it was a celebration of the great state of colorado, i tell you!  friday night we started with some good friday-night-mexican, a tradition around our parts.  margaritas, guacamole and crab enchiladas... mmm!  saturday morning we slept in as late as my non-air-conditioned house would let us and set off on some brewery tours!

first stop: oskar blues, where we had some good southern food and a tasting of their brews.  i've never been a huge fan, so i was pleasantly surprised to love four out of the five microbrews i tasted.

the original taster

southern food and good beer - what could be better on the 4th?

 next stop: new belgium.  unfortunately, this was not my favorite part of the day.  on a day-to-day basis new belgium isn't even my favorite - enough with the fat tire!  there are better local ambers out there.  i mean, we were still at a brewery drinking FREE beer, so still not a bad stop.  but it was too hot, too crowded, nowhere to sit and the selection was a bit disappointing.  usually when you go to these breweries you are treated with beer that you can't buy in the stores - but not at new belgium.  we had free glasses of ranger IPA, somersault, abbey and headed to our next stop.

half the taps at new belgium

i so want one of these!

 last stop on the brewery tour: o'dell.  definitely, without doubt, the best part of the day.  o'dell is one of my favorite beers and they did not disappoint.  first of all, their building is awesome looking.  and when we walked in we were greeted with lots of table room, air conditioning and speakers playing iron & wine.  i quite literally never wanted to leave.  my mother-in-law had a sampler while philip and i opted for some fancier brews - myrcenary, st lupulin, double pilsner, wooden elephant and helles bock.  it was awesome and i can't wait to go back - so take note, whoever visits me next!

classic sampler (levity, the 2nd on the left, is the best one!)

perfection.

patrizia and philip enjoying cold brews

me in front of o'dell - my mother's maiden name! 

 after our day long drinking extravaganza, we made our dinner reservations at the highlands coral room, followed by cocktails at a cote - where i found yet ANOTHER fantastic grapefruit concoction!  rose champagne, vodka and grapefruit juice.  two of those and it was the perfect icing on my cake. for those who haven't been to a cote but love this type of ambiance - GO!  now!  sunday we rode bikes around sloan's lake and highlands, shopped around highlands and stopped for fish & chips.  and for yet another perfect evening, we headed to city park for city park jazz.  three and a half hours of total relaxation.

busy scene @ CPJ!

my love :)

the three weekenders (and my fave organic ale in the front!)

 but the weekend wouldn't be complete without a stop at LITTLE MAN ice cream, which we all love for it's namesake our little man :)

all in all, a pretty perfect long weekend :)