Cherry Blossoms

The Cherry Blossoms have arrived! Spring is here, the tourists are in town & we can finally put away our winter jackets. It's time to pick some tulips, sit on your porch & stalk up on allergy meds. Happy Spring!

Etsy: Harry Potter Obsession

It's no secret that I have a "slight" obsession with everyone's favorite bespectacled British wizard. I therefore thoroughly enjoyed searching Etsy.com this morning & finding hundreds of links to Harry Potter themed gifts! Here were some of my favorites...

 A "Muggle Born" onesie. Only the coolest little bludgers deserve this one.

A Harry Potter themed refrigerator magnet set. Just THINK of the possible innuendos!

A Deathly Hallows car decal. Yes, I would proudly sport this on my Honda.

 

Pint glasses for all 4 Hogwarts houses! I would have to be drinking 4 beverages at once... at all times.

Laptop decal: "This Macbook Is A Portkey".... Transport me to Hogwarts!

A "Polyjuice Potion" flask. Too-freaking-cool! Forget vodka, I'd drink butterbeer out of it.

Harry Potter thongs! Because the "sexy" Hogwarts student Halloween costume wasn't enough.

There's only one things left I need.... Accio, Money!

Craft Brewer's Conference 2013

For those of you who don't know, I have a pretty cool job. I am a beer buyer for a large US alcohol retailer. Being a beer buyer is harder than it sounds, but there are certainly perks to the job :)

I spent this entire week meeting with different breweries from across the US at the Craft Brewers Conference in Washington, DC. My boss and I had a PACKED schedule Monday-Thursday holding meetings with almost 40 different breweries. We were given lots of free beer, made some exciting new relationships & had a great time making business deals with our brewery partners.

Here's a list of all the breweries we met with this week:

21st Amendment	Weyerbacher	Terrapin
The Bruery	RJ Rockers	Sierra Nevada
Flying Dog	Saranac	Laughing Dog
Ommegang	Barrel Trolley	Avery
Troegs	New Belgium	Great Lakes
Rogue	Dogfish Head	Sweetwater
Yards	Redhook	Abita
Pike	Widmer	Harpoon
Stone	Global Beer Network	Florida Beer Company
Brooklyn	Gambrinus	Wetten Importers
SKA	Left Hand	Ballast Point
Bells	Odell	Allagash
Lagunitas	Deschutes

It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it :)

And here is a picture of me from last night… finishing the week off at Galaxy Hut in Clarendon. Doing, what else? Drinking a brew!

Things that made me happy on Pinterest today...

 

 

 

2013: Another Year of Running!

The races I plan to run 2013 have been scheduled, paid for & confirmed! Last year I ran the Rock'N'Roll 1/2 marathon in March and the Marine Corps Marathon in October. This year, I am running the North Face Endurance Challenge 1/2 marathon in June and the Revenge of the Penguins 20-miler in September!

The North Face Endurance Challenge is a trail race in Sterling, VA at the Algonquian National Park. I'm going to be jumping over boulders, trudging up hills and hopefully running into some cute animal life! (AKA- bunnies & owls... HOOT!)

The Revenge of the Penguins 20-miler is a low-key race that most runners sign-up for as a final training run before their October marathon. I however, am running it as my main event! (It was only $40... I couldn't resist. Plus- the whole penguin theme hooked me). It's a relatively flat course along the C & O canal footpath in DC.

RUN, RUN, RUN!

The Oscars!

The OSCARS are this weekend! And I flipping LOVE the Oscars! This year I am throwing on my old prom dress & going to a friend's house for an all-out "Oscar Watching" party. Sure, I'll probably leave by 10:00 to come home and sleep & miss all the good awards. But the excitement & mystery behind the whole charade is exhilarating!

I haven't seen all of the nominated films, but still have strong opinions on who is going to win each award. Here are my predictions...

Best Picture:

Zero Dark Thirty... (I haven't seen it, but the Academy has too much American pride not to vote for it) OR... Les Miserables... (The emotion, the acting, the music! This is going to be a close call)

Actor in a Leading Role:

Daniel Day Lewis... (Again, haven't seen Lincoln. But I hear he was badass in the role! The other nominees all had great performances. But again, the whole American pride thing will have an edge with the Academy).

Actress in a Leading Role:

Jessica Chastain... (Jennifer Lawrence had a great performance in Silver Linings Playbook, but Jessica Chastain, who is- by the way- a vegan, is going to win for finding Osama Bin Laden)

Actor in a Supporting Role:

Alan Arkin...(He's old, and Argo might not win anything else. I'm pulling for this guy!)

Actress in a Supporting Role:

Anne Hathaway... (I think it's going to be a close call with Sally Field, but America loves Anne Hathaway too much not to give her a trophy for posing as a prostitute).


For all the other awards.... who really cares? I'll be drinking & munching on guacamole. Have a wonderful Oscar weekend!

Mr. Whiskers

There was once a rambunctious family of monkeys who lived in the treehouse of a nice family. Everyday, the little boy in the family went outside and fed bananas to all of the monkeys so they wouldn't break into the house and make a mess. The monkeys were very happy & lived satisfied, banana-ful lives.

One day, the little boy and his family decided to go on vacation. The little boy forgot to leave bananas for the monkeys, and the monkeys became very, very angry. They monkey family crept out of their treehouse and broke into the family's home. They searched and searched for bananas but couldn't find any in the house. They therefore decided to eat the family's cat.

When the little boy's family returned from vacation a week later, they looked for the cat all over the neighborhood but couldn't find him. "Mr Whiskers!" they called. "Mr Whiskers!" But Mr. Whiskers was nowhere to be found. The little boy went outside to visit the family of monkeys living in his treehouse and said, "Have any of you monkeys seen Mr. Whiskers?" The monkeys quickly answered, "No. Mr. Whiskers ran away. Now, where are our bananas?"

Lesson of the story: Tie up all your loose ends before going on vacation.