Brewery #3 - Ferguson Brewing Company

This week I tackled another brewery: Ferguson Brewing Company. I was lucky enough to get a sitter (my parents live near there) so Nick could come too. We got a small group of people to go and had a blast!

I hadn't eaten much that day so I made sure to eat a good meal while we were there too. I highly recommend their beer cheese soup. Their crawfish Po' Boy, not so much. Just being honest.

But the beer was pretty good! I think this whole brewery quest with me grading the breweries etc is a bad idea. I'm not gonna lie, I like beer. So automatically everyone basically gets at least a C+. Give me a decent beer and you're an automatic B. But this is part of a quest, so grade I will.

I did two beer flights while there. The first one had the following beers:

Oatmeal Stout: I'm a fan of stouts. I like coffee stout, oatmeal stout, whatever stout! This was a pretty good one. Not my favorite, but definitely good.

Pale Ale: Like I just said, these can be boring and I had to say it, but this one kind of was. I'd much rather have a Schlafly Pale Ale than this one.

Pecan Brown Ale: I like pecan ales. They are just different enough. Pale ales can be boring, so this adds a little something.

Belgian Wit: This was a good beer. I really liked this one. It had a slightly fruity flavor, like most wheats and I liked it. One of my favorites.

The second flight I did had the following:

Seasonal: Pumpkin Ale: ordinarily I love anything pumpkin. Not kidding. ANYTHING pumpkin. Lattes, candy, and especially beer. But this beer disappointed me. Not a fan of this. :(

Golden Blonde: A VERY light beer. Too light for me. I like a little more flavor to my beer. It was a hit at the table I think but not for me. 

Seasonal: Octoberfest: Now this was a hit. I like Sam Adams Octoberfest and I wasn't sure if this one would hold up but it did for me. I liked it. Another one of my favorites.

Hefeweisen: The last beer and the last of my favorites. I love Hefeweisen beers. From anywhere really and this one also didn't disappoint.

You can see on this one that there are two flights. Jim copied me (or I copied him, I really don't remember who ordered first) but it was completely unintentional. We just happened to order the exact same thing.

Overall I had a great time with the people and the location but it wasn't that fantastic for me. The beers were good but not great and while I loved my soup, the rest of my meal was sub par and took forever to come to the table.

Me and two of my favorite girls being goofy.

I give the Ferguson Brewing Company a B-. I'd go back but I'm not in any hurry.

Wedding Weekend!

We had a wedding week/end!

We went to a rehearsal dinner on Thursday night and then we celebrated our wedding anniversary on Friday night (by doing nothing really!) and participated in a wedding on Saturday!

One of my besties married another of my besties! :) I was honored to be in the wedding and had a blast all day Saturday.

We got up early on Saturday morning to go get our hair done, then we went back to the bride's house to do makeup (well I paid to have mine done because I DON'T know how to do my own!) and then off to the church. The ceremony was beautiful. Even Annabelle thought so, as I could hear her "talking" the whole ceremony long! Sorry Jim and Les!!! She doesn't cry much but she LOVES the sound of her own voice.

Afterwards it was time for some pictures and then out and about to take more pictures around the Lou.

Finally it was time to go to the reception. Drinks were awesome. Food was fantastic. Speeches were hilarious. Dancing was amazing. And we got glow necklaces at the end.

What's not to love?!?!

Thanks Jim and Les for letting me be a part of your amazing day. I can't wait to see pictures!!!

Here are a few pictures I stole from facebook just so you can see a few!

Jim and Les after the wedding

Me, Julia and Ash in the limo on the way to the church

Jim and Les kissing after the ceremony

Congrats Jim and Les! You were both gorgeous and it was maybe the best reception I've ever been to (minus my own of course!). ;-)

New Friends

I have been extremely blessed since going back to school. I have met two amazing girls (Bridget and Ann) who live close to me and are taking the same classes that I am. It's been great to have someone to talk to while studying, doing homework, or trying to forget that last class. I met them both last semester in Anatomy and Physiology I. We formed a little study group and got to be really close. This semester has been a little different because one of us is in a different class (Bridget). :(

Ann and I miss Bridget a lot but we still meet up with her sometimes and we still talk about class. We're all taking the same class (Anatomy and Physiology II) but Ann and I go on Tuesday nights and Bridget goes Tuesday and Thursday days.

Not only do I have great new friends to talk about school stuff with, but they are also great new friends to do anything with!

This past weekend shows how great they both are.

We started off by going to see Bridget's new apartment. She just moved to the U-City area and we went over to see her place. After hanging out there for a bit, we headed to the Loop. We had a great lunch at Cicero's and then Bridget wanted to show me a store she likes, called City Sprouts. It's a kid store with clothes and games and neat things for kids. It has a LOT of cool stuff...but it's expensive...

We went in and Bridget told me to pick out something that I liked and she wanted to get it for the baby. At first I was just looking around. I saw a really cute swimsuit and checked the price tag...$42.00...um no thanks! Then I found an ADORABLE dress and checked that price tag...$58.00. I don't usually spend $58.00 on a dress! :)

So I told Bridget not to get me anything, but that didn't fly. So we picked out a few smaller items. She got me a silly onesie that Nick FREAKED out over. ;-) It says, "Someday I'll get TRASHED at Prom". Not gonna lie, that one made me freak out a little too.



She also got me a pack of "trumpet socks". They are little socks that Bridget told me will STAY ON, since most baby socks don't. And they have the sticky pads on the bottom for added traction when she needs it. They are sized 0-12 month so we'll see how long they last. And they are ADORABLE and look like little Mary Jane shoes!


Of course I was thrilled to get these things and love them but I feel so bad that a onesie and some socks cost her over $55.00!! Also, Bridget is going through a divorce and doesn't even have a BED! She sleeps on a couch and spent $55 on me and Baby A. She is so thoughtful and sweet and didn't even hesitate. She's a great friend.

While Bridget was looking at those things, I wandered over and looked at some stuff for Dom. I wanted to have a bag of goodies for Dom when he comes to the hospital so he has some fun things to do and have and it's not just about the baby. I found a neat puzzle that says it's for kids 3+ but I think Dom can handle it! :) It's a matching puzzle that matches colors with animals. I think Dom will be good at it. He's very good at colors already and he loves animals, thanks to Diego. And I found him a book. It's pretty cool. It's a flip book. One way is a book called, "What Brothers Do Best". Then you flip it over and the other way is a book called, "What Sisters Do Best". I think it will be good for him. :)

So after I found these two items, I went to check out and Ann was in line buying me a onesie!!



It's so cute! And it's one of those side wrap onesies so I don't have to worry about her belly button or anything.

I need to mention here that Ann recently lost her job. She's selling her house and going to school. And she bought me a $25.00 onesie for Annabelle.

She didn't have to do that. Neither of them had to do that! But I'm extremely thankful for the beautiful gifts and their friendship.

Annabelle might be even more spoiled than Dominick! I walked out of that store with 2 onesies, 1 package of socks, 1 book and 1 puzzle and it was more than $100.00 worth of stuff!

I'm one lucky girl. I have so many great friends in my life. Through Fontbonne, through school now, through Nick, through work. And my family is the best family ever. I can't wait for Annabelle to get here and meet all of these wonderful people as well.

Christmas Game Night

My friends and I try to get together once a month for a game night. We have appetizers and drinks and we play Catch Phrase, Cranium, Apples to Apples, etc. Once we did a Wii tournament. We all have a blast. We've been bad lately and haven't gotten together in awhile, but we made time for Christmas game night. It's the best.

Christmas game night is always fun because we do Rob Your Neighbor. The last three years we've done White Elephant Rob Your Neighbor, but next year we might do "halfway nice present" Rob Your Neighbor. We'll see. :)

Everyone came over about 6 on Thursday night and we hung out in the kitchen and ate some food (on my new island - see picture below...).



After awhile, we went into the living room played Rob Your Neighbor. This year we decided to do TWO rounds of Rob Your Neighbor. Our gifts were BAD this year. One was "ok" but the other three were BAD. We put in a pink sequin purse, a creepy doll, a Christmas music box, and some glass coasters you put your own pictures into. I think the coasters were "ok"....

We played the first round of Rob Your Neighbor and Nick and I got ok gifts this year! The first year, we got a can of SPAM and a picture of Adam and Michelle in their PJ's. Not so great! This year we got a bottle of Country Bob's sauce and the movie Flightplan in the first round. We'll take 'em! The second round was worse for us. Nick got a strawberry cookie jar (ok) and I got a bag full of change and a diaper...not so great! :)

Luke got Creepy Carol, as we named her, and Winnie got the music box. Julia actually liked Creepy Carol and traded for her. Ashley got a coat rack (which she left at my house, and if she doesn't meet up and get it, I might put it together and use it!!) and Jim got the pink purse. I had told the boys that the pink purse was actually a good "boy" present and I had three guys fighting over it! Jim traded the pink purse to Brian who was going to give it to his little girl. What a nice Daddy! Jim also got a large creepy doll that Nicole put in. This was the year for creepy dolls...maybe we should do Themed Rob Your Neighbor next year...something to think about.






We had a blast. After Rob Your Neighbor, we did Secret Santa gifts. These were real presents. I got the Mark Bittman "How to Cook Everything" cookbook/encyclopedia and Nick got a giftcard to Wherenberg Movie Theaters. He also got a small gift for Baby A! He got two pink and white binkies! :)

When that was over, we headed downstairs to just relax for a bit. It was great to catch up and just hang out with everyone. The holidays seem so hectic and it was nice to just sit and be.

I think everyone had a good time. I HOPE everyone had a great time! I did. And I think Nick and I will watch Flightplan this week while eating something I make from my new cook book! :)

That's it for Christmas posts now, I swear! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Now I have just under 4 weeks to prepare for Dominick's 2nd birthday! Holy cow....crazy how time flies!!

Reminiscing

Let me preface this by saying I'm extremely bored at work right now. Winter is always our slowest time and I'm the only one in the office and finished all my work around noon...

So I've spent the last 20 minutes or so looking up old pictures on Facebook. I looked at a few pictures of me from way back and then clicked on my "Dominick" album from when he was born...Holy cow. I can't even remember him that tiny!!!

I looked at all the pictures of my family and friends holding him and wishing us well. Then I looked at another friend's album of him. Then I looked at some of when he's a few months old...

I just can't believe that he'll be two in a month. TWO. I'll have a TWO YEAR OLD. And shortly after that, I'll have TWO kids. Woah.

It's amazing how much our lives have changed in just a few short years.

Les, me, Ash, Win, and Michelle at the wineries for Ashley's birthday

I remember everyone thought I was crazy when I got engaged my junior year of college. They thought I was too young. I was 21 when I got engaged. But Nick was 25 when we got engaged and he was ready.

The next few years out of college are a blur. I got married, Ashley got married, I got pregnant, Winnie bought a house, Michelle and Lauren got married, Ashley got pregnant, Abbie bought a house, Jim and Leslie got engaged, Michelle got pregnant, I got pregnant again. And a million more things that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

So many things have been going on in our lives and it's strange to think about the past.

I remember when we used to call each other and meet at a bar and be out all night having a blast. Or decide to go to a baseball game. Or when we used to not even think twice about being out until 3 am on a work night or a school night. Things are so different.

I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. I am so thankful for all the memories I have with everyone. And I'm so thankful for my beautiful son and my absolutely amazing husband. I'm happy to say that those close girlfriends I gained freshman year of college (and Leslie - sophomore) are still my best friends in the world.

Les, Abbie, Win, Lauren, Ash W., Ash H., Me and Michelle at Ashley's baby shower

Thanks to Ashley, Leslie, Michelle, Winnie, Abbie, Lauren, and other Ashley for some of the greatest times, memories and experiences of my life. These last 8 years have been amazing. I'm looking forward to many, MANY more.