Dirty 30 Brewbash!!

 

 

Last weekend we celebrated my husbands 30th BIRTHDAY!

He is now officially "the OLD MAN" ;)

 

I had such a fun time planning this big day and have been dying to share the details with you guys!

 

So without further adieu, lets get to it!

 

The invites:

 

 

I purchased these from JacksMaster etsy shop and printed them off at home.

 

We asked each guest to bring one chilled 6-pack of their favorite unique brew- 2 beers from each 6 pack were entered into the beer tasting. Each guest voted on their favorite and the winner was awarded a giant beer mug filled with goodies/gift card.

 

The party décor:

 

 Most of the décor was handmade.... Thank goodness for the enormous amount of Pinterest inspiration!!!

 

 

To keep the categories simple we went with lights, ambers, and darks. I had planned to do IPA's, lagers... etc etc. but soon discovered that there are FAR tooooo many categories of beer.

 

 

These fans are so easy to make!! For the small fans I used scrapbook paper, and for the large, I used wrapping paper (postage paper would work well too). Tutorial can be found here.

 

 

Handmade Burlap Birthday Banner

 

The beer tasting sign was another pinterest inspired idea. This thing literately cost me a measly $5 bucks to make. I dug up a piece of plywood in the garage, cut it to the size I wanted, bought a can of chalkboard spray paint and went to town. Piece. of. cake.

 

And as for the pig head....  This guy was the life of the party. He was pretty darn tasty too!!!!!!

 

The Chow:

 

 

We ordered a 60lb. pig, and it fed roughly 30 people... it was aaaammazingly good.

Along with it my mother in law made her famous bacon baked beans, and scalloped potatoes.

 

 

Appetizers included stuff we like to eat with beer. Pretzels with cheddar, cheddar popcorn, peanuts... and for the healthy people: vegi platter/ fruit platter

 

 

 

And for dessert: cupcakes by CupKates. Katie is a good friend of mine and she makes the BEST cupcakes! If you live in the eastern NC area look her up on facebook. yummm.

 

The BIG Celebration:

 

Festivities began with a surprise visit from Mike's Momma and Poppa.

 

 

 

Mike was definitely surprised!!! Especially when this was presented to him shortly after their arrival.

 

 

A custom engraved Colt45 1911. He was in heaven.

 

Party Time:

 

 

 

 

 

The Beer Tasting:

 

 



 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hey y'all!! 

I hope you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving!! AND, I hope you all are counting your blessings and remembering the true meaning behind this holiday. :) I woke up this morning and made a mental list that seemed to last forever of all the things I am thankful for. It made me so happy... if only I would start every day off just this way.

Mike and I are spending Thanksgiving together here in Jacksonville. Its just the 2 of us this year... Well and the dog... and the cats, cant leave them out ;)

 Although we wish we could be with the fam on this holiday, just us has been VERY relaxing. We have spent the entire day in our p.j.'s = AUUUHHMAZING.

We slept in till about 10, and still managed to catch some of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Once that was over... it was turkey time. I have only made a turkey once before... and although I ended up cooking ours today with the gizzards still inside (my bad) lol... it still turned out great and really moist. (Another thing I was grateful for today)

Mike helped me prepare the turkey by injecting it with some yummy buttery spice mixture....

I did the rest... oiled up the top, s&p'd, pulled most of the stuff out of the turkey cavity, but like I said somehow I missed those DAMN gizzards... Hopefully the turkey was still okay to eat considering those darn things were still stuffed inside. I still feel okay now, so hopefully we're good.

After dinner...

My lil sister Chloe aka. my best friend, my therapist, my life coach -and my nephew River surprised me with a skype visit!!! I was so excited!! I miss Chloe so much and although I have yet to meet River in person, I miss him too! It HURTS not being able to be a bigger part of his life....  One of those negatives when you have to live far from close family. :(

Anyhow... Thank god for skype!! I at the very least get to interact a bit with him through the computer. Another thing to add to my "I am thankful for..." list.

Next month I will FINALLY get to meet the lil guy in person!! I might just have to kidnap him and take him back to North Carolina with me :) 

Today was so relaxing and definitely much needed!!

 Tomorrow... Ugh, back to my reality.

Yep, STUDYING like a mad person. 11 days till finals. YIKES!

OH, and I discovered yesterday that my 4.0 will no longer continue after this semester. I have a 91 in pre-clinic... and we are on a 7 point scale... with only one more assignment left, the highest I can make is a 92... a point shy from an A- so frustrating. But, I did my best... and I should be happy with that.

My study session will come to a screeching halt tomorrow at about 2:30 BECAUSE my HOGS (#3) Arkansas Razorbacks are playing their biggest game of the year- against the #1 team- LSU. It is going to be a TOUGH game. I'm not gonna lie, I am nervous! LSU is good (UGH, that hurts to type). To make this game even more interesting- I hate LSU with a passion. I have always hated LSU.... I have my reasons, I'll spare you because that rant could go on forever! To see them at #1 beats me up inside.

 PLLLLEEAASSEEE hogs, win tomorrow... please!!??

 Y'all have a goodnight... Oh, and for those of you that are insane aka. black Friday shoppers... good luck tomorrow and be careful! :)

It's 2011, New Year! New You?

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

With the new year upon us, its that time to look back on this past year and contemplate on what's transpired, aannnd maybe what you wish had transpired.

Time to put away those Christmas decorations.... AND time for those New Years Resolutions Baby!! :) 

The tradition of the New Years Resolution dates back to 2000 B.C. When it all came about, it was celebrated semi-annually. It was a time to pay off debts and return borrowed goods.

Although originally a Babylonian tradition, the Romans picked it up years after. Worshipers would offer resolutions to a double- faced Roman God by the name of Janus.

Janus is the God of beginnings and endings. The month January is named in the honor of Janus, and January 1st has since been the day of the beginnings.

According to a survey done by Women's Health... this years top 3 resolutions are:

1. get fit

2. eat better

3. save more $

sounds a lot like mine, but i'd like to add getting organized the the list!:)

According to a similar survey 38% of women break resolutions in a month or less.... :(

What is your New Years Resolution? How are you going to make 2011 an awesome year?

:)