SAVOR: A Craft Beer Experience

On Friday afternoon my boss came up to me at work and offered me two free tickets to go to SAVOR, a craft beer & food festival at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC! Due to the fact that the tickets were $120 a pop, I had to pay nothing & Brian loves beer, I felt "obligated" to say yes. Tough life I live... the perks of my industry :)

And let me tell you... SAVOR was AWESOME! Sixty craft breweries from across the country came and were offering tasting of two beers produced at their brewery, (that's 120 beers, readers!)... In addition, each beer was cleverly paired with a delicious food offering. And all the food was fabulous.

My favorite beer?
Ithaca's Apricot Wheat Ale... (Surprisingly it's a year-round offering!)

My favorite food?  
Butterscotch Cheesecake... or maybe the Chocolate-Covered Red Velvet Cake-pops

My favorite pairing?
Saranac's Blueberry Blonde Ale paired with Creamy Coconut Macaroons

I guess I have a LITTLE bit of a sweet tooth :) .... Oh well, it was great! I would definitely go again next year.

RUN, RUN, RUN!

This Spring has been FULL of races. And I'm not talking about those horrible circles where the little men hit horses with sticks. I'm talking about ME, running my butt off around DC!

On March 17th I ran my first half-marathon. IT-WAS-AWESOME! Because it was St. Patrick's Day, there was a lot of spirit along the course. Spectators were even offering runners cups of beer! (Which I kindly declined). I did, however, accept Gatorade from a stranger. It only occurred to me after that I could have been drugged by runner-haters... OOPS! I finished in 2hr 15 min averaging 10 min 20 seconds per mile. Here are a few pics of me strutting my stuff around DC...

Here's me at mine 12 during the 1/2! I'm sorry the photo quality is crap. I won't even tell you how I uploaded it to my computer because you will laugh at me.

 Here's a picture my friend Laura took at mile 5 of the 1/2! I still look pretty happy in this one. The exhaustion didn't start until mile 9 or so.

AND here's me after the race with my shiny new medal! I'm sorry again for the crappy picture quality. I love how I'm holding a banana. I wasn't hungry at all. I was actually nauseous because of how hot it was. But everyone else was eating them so I thought I should too. PEER PRESSURE!

Yesterday I decided to take things down a notch and run a 5k at Wolf Trap, a popular theater/park near my house. I was joined by my friend Traci & Aunt Aimee. Somehow I busted my butt and ended up finishing in 27 min 24 seconds, (averaging about 8 min 46 seconds per mile). WOOHOO!

Because of my awesomeness, I also signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon this October! I'm looking forward to a dreadfully hot summer full of long-distance training. Should be a blast!

Happy Valentine's Day!

For Valentine's Day, Brian and I got together to cook a wonderful meal. We busted out the big guns this year and cooked homemade sushi! Here's a wonderful picture of me after rolling our vegan California Roll, (so much avocado!)

Here's another picture of me "testing" our food before dinner. It would be such a shame to be poisoned on Valentine's Day. Do you like my beautiful roses in the background?

And here, dear readers, is our finished product! We made 3 different kinds of rolls...
1) The Elephant Roll- (avocado & peanuts)
2) The Vegan California Roll- (tofu, avocado, carrots, cucumbers)
3) The Mock Unagi Roll- (mushrooms & crumbled tofu cooked in tangy orange sauce)

NOM, NOM, NOM! Happy Valentine's Day!

Who You Gonna Call!?

Hello, readers! I'm sorry for the blogging recess. But I'm back now and excited to share with you a picture of my new best friend...

It's Dan Akroyd! My company sells a vodka that Dan, (we're totally on a first name basis), co-owns and he came to our office a few weeks ago. I got to meet him, take this snazzy picture with him and get his autograph. He's a really cool dude! We're making plans to get together next week for tea. I'm hoping to get his opinions on the most recent Twilight movie!

Yet Another Maryellen Moment...

For those of you who've been following Life's A Musical for some time, you know that I've written a handful of posts about my mother's occasional nonsensical outbursts. Every once in awhile, we'll have a conversation that makes me fear the state of my mind in 30 years. Here's a "fun" little conversation that took place today...

Me: "Hey, Mom. Guess who just got engaged? It's someone we know pretty well."

Mom: "Oh my God, YOU!?"

Me: ".................... Are you for real?"

Mom: "Ok, let me guess.... (Insert name of random boy I dated briefly in high school)"

Me: "..................... Again, are you for real? Out of all the people it could be, you guess (Insert name of random boy I dated briefly in high school)"

Mom: "Oh, I know!..... (Insert name of cousin who isn't currently dating anyone)"

Me: "Mom, come on. Give me a serious guess here."

Mom: "Oh, is it (Insert name of random friend I haven't talked to in about 7 years)?"

Me: "Wow, you are really bad at this game."

Mom: "Is it your brother!?"

Me: "UGH! Mom, NO! It's Antonio & Hannah!"

Congratulations, guys!

Happy 2012!

Did everyone have a fun New Years?... Oh, you didn't? Well, that's no real surprise. New Years may just be the most over-rated Holiday in existence. I think Groundhog's Day might have a better track record of being a fun, joyous holiday. I have not had many successful New Years celebrations. HOWEVER... My New Year's celebrations last night were surprisingly QUITE enjoyable! Here's a run-down of the night's events...

6:00- Went over to Brian's house.
6:10- Began cooking home-made Chinese food with Brian!
6:25- Burnt some garlic, making Brian's house smell like burnt popcorn. Opened several windows.
7:00- Sat down to eat and drink w/ Brian and two of our friends, Gwen & Jeff.
7:45- Scratched off some lottery tickets! Gwen won $2.00.
8:05- Brian demanded we buy MORE lottery tickets, so we drunkenly walked to 7-11.
8:30- Took an AWESOME picture with a polar bear! (See image above)
8:40- Won $10.00 on a lottery ticket!
9:45- Began watching Revenge of the Nerds
10:30- Took a brake from movie to scratch off more lottery tickets! Jeff won $2.00
11:45- Finished Revenge of the Nerds
12:00- Ran a lap around Brian's house banging pots w/ wooden spoons to celebrate 2012!
12:01- Brian ran into a tree stump during the lap & hurt his leg.
12:35- Very drunk Brian started talking about the Soviets.
12:58- Very drunk Brian and I went to bed.

What a great New Years Eve! Happy 2012!

Things I want for Christmas but forgot to ask for!

Hello, Readers! One thing you may not know about me is that I'm spoiled. Like really, I'm SPOILED! Like... "I'm 24 and still hand my parents (and Brian) a Christmas list" spoiled. My list this year was a carefully constructed mix of giftcards, money, computer toys, & a donation to the ASPCA... something I tacked on at the end so I would feel less spoiled.

Shamefully, there are still things I want that I forgot to put on my Christmas list. (I know, right!? What a disaster!)... I am therefore mentioning those items in this post hoping that Santa reads Life's A Musical and might hire another seasonal "elf-ployee" to fulfill this deprived girl's wishes!

Things I want for Christmas but forgot to ask for:

1) Helium Four-Bottle Fuel Belt: Have I mentioned on this blog that I plan to run the Marine Corps Marathon next year? No? WELL... here is my official pronouncement: I plan to run the Marine Corps Marathon next year! This fuel-belt would definitely keep me hydrated during hot summer training months. (It's also pink!)

 

See this belt on Amazon.com! 

2) A subscription to Runner's World Magazine: For the last four or five months, I have sneakily sat in Barnes & Noble reading every issue of this magazine. They have great tips for runners & make me feel so knowledgeable! But I'm scared the B&N employees are catching-on to my scheme. I have a memorable face!

3) A Basket of Dachshund Puppies: Why hello, little puppies! Would you like to cuddle & keep my feet toasty warm and I will love you forever? AWW, you're so cute & awkwardly long and I want to put little hot-dog costumes on you!

Unfortunately for this spoiled little Princess, Brian has already threatened told me he's getting me this for Christmas...

Yes, that is what you think it is. A squid hat. A hat shaped like a squid. I told him I'd buy him a matching one and we could be the "Squid Couple"... Joy.

Happy Shopping!!