beer tasting party

hey friends!  hope you have had as awesome of a long holiday weekend as i have!  we decided to welcome in fall with a beer tasting party with some friends on saturday - and it turned out awesome.  pi had the awesome idea to make it like a wine tasting.  he told a bit about each beer we drank, poured it for people in tasting glasses, and we all tasted together and rated our favorite beers.  it was a brilliant idea and it worked out great.

of course i just loved hanging out with friends, the long weekend, and getting ready for fall - our favorite season.  the prep was pretty easy, it was just difficult to narrow down the beer we wanted to try.  for food, we put out some classed-up versions of classic beer food.  fresh pretzel rolls, three mustards for dipping, roasted turkey and honey glazed ham slices, jalapeno kettle chips, malt and vinegar kettle chips, smoked cheddar and gouda cheeses, and grilled bratwurst with fresh sourdough.

table setup

wheat, oats and a vinage seltzer bottle

the sunflowers in a german beer mug were perfect

tasting in full swing

two of our favorite people ever to hang out with

looking stuff up on her phone between tastings

j & r

josh & pi

starburst taste testing - do they all taste the same?

even brew made an appearance!

love this face :)

yes, we drank a LOT.

just for kicks, here was the menu:

beer

paragon dry dock apricot blonde

fuller smith ESB

avery the kaiser octoberfest

o'dell levity amber ale

samuel smith's oatmeal stout

elysian avatar jasmine IPA

he'brew rye double IPA

rogue chocolate stout

my favorite was definitely the jasmine IPA - i am obsessed with both of those things and it tasted like a flower explosion in my mouth.  i picked the he'brew beer because i had been wanting to try it for a long time, and i was glad i finally did.  everyone brought their own picks too, so there was much more sampling long after our samplers were gone.  

yesterday we had w stay the night so we slept in and then went to see the bourne legacy.  jeremy renner movies are kind of a tradition with us, as w & i are both lusting over him currently.  and we saw him in the new mission impossible on new year's eve last year and decided we love him.

today it's all about going to the market and getting out fall clothes!  the 70s are finally in sight and i couldn't be more excited.  oh, and i guess some homework too :)

til next time! 

holiday update 2!

what a whirlwind weekend!  between buying and wrapping presents and planning (and having) our christmas party there has been zero time for blog updates!  but there’s always a bit of time to share photos ;)

after a week of running around like a crazy woman (well, moreso than usual at least), we had a wonderful christmas party saturday night!  the turnout was wonderful, the cocktails were perfect, the food wasn’t too bad (even my experimental spinach-artichoke dip was a hit!) and the company was perfect.  the highlight of the evening was a surprise guest – my brother AJ showed up, having just flown in from boston.  it was a great night with all the people i love around here :)

me & rach

my bestest girlfriends :)

SURPRISE! AJ showed up! 

my adorable husband, the bartender.

decorated tree - in the front yard :)

with the help of my awesome girlfriend W who showed up early, we got the house totally decked out.  we were even able to make sure of the christmas tree from hell, which now looks pretty cute.

so besides all the christmas trimming and shopping, i have spent a lot of time wasting my life away on pinterest (my sister bianca sent me an invite and i can’t stop pinning things!) and paperless post (thanks to the little things we do).  i am still trying to figure out exactly how pinterest works, so i don’t know if i can link to my boards or not but i’ll give it a shot here.  the best one are the baby shower ideas i have for my soon-to-be little niece!  i literally can’t wait until christmas when the cat’s out of the bag and i can blog 24/7 about how excited i am for baby to come :) anyone who knows me knows that i hate and am awful at keeping secrets!!! anyway, back to my holiday card.  last year i totally slacked and didn’t send out a holiday card.  when things started getting busy this year, i decided to do something easy and green by sending a fancy holiday card online.  sometimes online cards look really tacky – but i think the one philip picked out is super cute!  check it out:

the next few days are going to be just as busy – my mother-in-law and sister-in-law & her bf are coming in for christmas.  we are driving up to the mountains on thursday afternoon to spend the holiday snowed in, watching christmas movies and drinking.  now that’s what you call the perfect colorado christmas :)