Life's A Musical

Sunday, February 9, 2014

FeBREWary: A Winter Beer Tasting

Being an educated beer-geek certainly has its perks. For example, friends may ask you to lead a beer tasting party and educate their guests on all things brew-related. To celebrate the birthday of my friend's husband, I lead a beer-tasting party last night filled with LOTs and LOTs of tasting craft beers!

Traci is the hostess with the most-est and bought 13 different beers for us to sample and critique, (per my expert recommendations). Each beer was served with a different food pairing, (which she cooked and served herself), and each guest received a Crate & Barrel flight sampler set as a favor. In our digital age of Facebook events, Traci took the time to create actual paper invitations and mailed them out to all their friends. She also created tasting sheets for guests to write notes & rankings based on which beers they liked the most.

Here are the tasty craft beer offerings we sampled...

Hefeweizen:
Hofbrau Hefe Weizen
Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier

Pilsner:
Dogfish Head Piercing Pils
Brooklyn Pilsner
Lost Rhino Chaser Pacific Pilsner
Martens Pilsener

IPA/Double IPA:
Redhook Longhammer IPA
Stone IPA
Flying Dog Double Dog IPA

American Porter:
Port City Porter

American Stout:
Samuel Smith's Chocolate Stout
Dominion Oak Barrel Stout

American Barley Wine: (That pretended to be a Brown Ale)
Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

I've decided that I should start a business and begin hosting these events for money. I'll charge a flat fee for my time, expertise and preparations + the cost of all the beer and supplies purchased. I am now accepting possible names for my company. Just a couple of names off the top of my head: "Brews w/ Hills"... "Beer Class w/ a Hot Lass"... "Beer Leister Brew Meister." This is going to be big.

The Queen's Tea Party

We can all celebrate now that January is finally over! The coldest month of the year w/ no special holidays and failed New Years attempts is behind us. February offers us a new sense of hope and happiness. Spring is on the horizon according to our Groundhog friend and love is in the air come Valentine's Day.

Some of my fondest memories as a child involve going to the birthday parties of friends w/ February birthdays. The party decorations always included lots of pinks, reds and purples and were a welcome celebration and escape from thinking about the cold weather. A tea party I attended yesterday reminded me of the happiness that February parties can bring.

In honor of my mom's big 6-0 my aunt Amie and cousins Kate & Emma through her a traditional English High Tea. (They lived in London for several years so they're experts when it comes to true British tea parties).

There were scones, petite fours, macarons, cucumber sandwiches, egg-salad sandwiches, fruit salad and lots of tea! We talked in British accents and made the birthday queen wear a crown the whole afternoon. (She actually forgot to take it off afterward and ended up wearing it until dinner).

I told Amie that she had to throw another tea party for my birthday this year. (I want that crown. It's MINE. MUAHAHA!) It was a tea-rrific celebration :)

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Mama Leister's 60th Birthday

My mom is turning 60 on February 6th. She is very proud of this because she was born the same week as Oprah and is 7 days younger than the talk-show queen herself. We figured there should be some sort of party to celebrate Mama's big 6-0 so we took her out to dinner last night at a classy little chain called Maggiano's. (If we through her a surprise party she said she'd break our necks. We therefore opted for a dinner).

We stuffed our faces until our faces couldn't be stuffed anymore. In true American fashion, it was an enormous 3-course dinner that felt like 9 courses. Yay, America! Here are some photos from the evening's festivities. Granny Smith & Aunt Vicky made the treck down from Jersey to attend.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Books, Glorious BOOKS!

The weather outside has been absolutely FRIGID lately. (The high this upcoming Tuesday is 18 degrees. THE HIGH!)

Side Note: I have a disease called Raynaud's, a circulation disorder that causes restricted blood flow to my fingers & toes in cold temperatures. My poor digits literally turn white when I go outside in the winter. My ex-military co-worker said the army considers Raynaud's a serious disorder and doesn't allow soldiers w/ the disease to be stationed in cold climates. THIS IS SERIOUS, PEOPLE!

The point of the story above is that I've been restricted to indulging in indoor activities for several weeks. My vitamin D levels are plummeting like a skydiver but the amount of reading I'm doing is at an all-time high! One of my New Years Resolutions for 2014 is to read as many books as possible and then write a blog post at the end of 2014 listing them, critiquing them, bragging about them, etc.

Here are some of the books I hope to read in 2014:

-Game of Thrones Series (Books 3, 4, & 5. Books 1 & 2... check!)
-Allegiant (Books 1 & 2 of the Divergent Trilogy... check!)
-The "Legend" Trilogy (Legend, Prodigy, & Champion)
-Some book about a lobster than my mom gave me that's sitting on my book shelf, gathering dust.
-That new book written by The Kite Runner author

What else should I add to the list!?

And here's a cute owl photo. Just cause I felt like it...

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

What to do with an empty vodka bottle?

I sit next to the spirits team at work. (For those of you born in the last 70 years, "spirits" is another word for "liquor"). One of their suppliers sent them 40 empty bottles of vodka last week. Yes, EMPTY bottles. (Pointless. Complete waste of postage. Utter waste of money). The spirits buyers were therefore giving away their empty bottles. I took one of the empty (shutter) bottles and challenged myself to use it for a kick-ass arts & crafts project!

I therefore give you... The Valentine's Day Advent Calendar! (Forgive me, Lord, for I have sinned). This beautiful bottle is filled with EXACTLY enough Valentine's-themed M&M candies for me & Mr. Handsome to each have one each morning until Valentine's Day. Let the official countdown for the next exciting holiday BEGIN!

Thursday, December 26, 2013

How to Not Become a "Burrito of Sadness" After Christmas

WELL.. It's over. It's officially Boxing Day. Christmas came and it was AWESOME but now it's gone. No more presents to open, no more carols to sing, no more cookies to bake. (Sniff, Sniff).

Every year it's a struggle to not become utterly depressed after the Christmas season ends. After all, we still have at least 3 months of freezing weather before the tulips start to bloom. How do I plan on fighting the post-Christmas blues? Here's how...

1) Keep the Lights Up! Christmas light are beautiful, sparkly bulbs of brightness that bring hope, wonder & joy to all. Don't feel pressured to take them down on January 1st. Fight the neighbors' protests and keep them up until the end of February, at least!

2) Binge on new seasons of your favorite TV shows! January means fresh episodes of your favorite TV shows. Get ready to binge in 2014 on new episodes of "Orange is the New Black," "House of Cards," "Downton Abbey," "Pretty Little Liars," & "Game of Thrones." Start microwaving the popcorn!

3) Remember: The days only get brighter from here! December 20-something was the shortest day of the year. From here on, the days will get longer and brighter until finally the sun stays out past dinner time. WOO!

4) You have Christmas cash. SPEND IT! Whoever said "retail therapy" is an unhealthy habit is a moron. It makes you feel AWESOME! Go out and spend your Christmas cash from parents & grandparents on new clothes, books, earrings, shoes, etc. After all, you're supporting the economy! And there are lots of post-Christmas sales.

5) Workout! It has been scientifically proven that working out gives you endorphins, which in turn make you happy as a clam. So get off your butt and move it! Set a reasonable workout goal for yourself and then buy a special treat if you reach your goal. (Experts say you shouldn't treat yourself with food. Screw them! Buy an effing cupcake).

6) Listen to Music! Go to the iTunes store and download some upbeat tunes for yourself. (Robin Thicke, One Direction, etc). Then wait until your roommates leave the house (or not) and dance until you're happy. DANCE!

7) Set achievable New Year's Resolutions! Don't set yourself up for failure. Ex. "I will cook dinner for my family every night this year"... No sane person has time for that shit. Instead, set achievable goals! Ex. "I will take the stairs instead of using the elevator at work"... or... "I will eat more cookies"... COOKIES!

8) Set UNachievable New Year's Resolutions! Ok, we ALL need to have at least one goal we're never actually going to accomplish. My personal goal is to read the 3rd, 4th, & 5th Game of Thrones books before the new TV season premieres in April. The first 2 books took me over a year to read. (HA! GOOD LUCK, HILDAWG). At least I have dreams.

9) Find Joy in the Little Things! In other words, find small ounces of happiness wherever you possibly freaking can. The winter offers little comfort & joy, so don't overlook opportunities to smile whenever they offer themselves to you. For example, this cute little owl...