Cold Enough for a Fire

Finally!  We tried using the fire pit a few times this summer but something just didn't feel right.  Perhaps it was the 100º heat.  Or maybe it was all the rain.  Either way, Friday evening had the perfect chill in the air to relax around a fire and roast some marshmallows.

Alex got the fire going for us, and then once it went out a few minutes later, I got it going for the rest of the evening.  It was my first time lighting a fire but it turns out I'm a fire genius.  The second picture is my roaring fire!

We had chilled a bottle of Chateau Jiahu that we picked up at the Dogfish Head brewery a few weekends ago and settled in for the night.  On a side note, not one of my most favorite beers.  I love Dogfish Head, but it tastes a bit like a beer and wine mix.  Or wine that someone barfed.  I guess that's what you get when you buy a beer that's finished with grapes.

A fire pit wouldn't be complete without a bit of old fashioned marshmallow roasting.  And let me tell you, marshmallows that may or may not be a little hard and old roast just as well as fresh ones.  I can't always keep on top of our marshmallow supply you guys!

So please, everyone make a little time this fall to relax, burn a few things, and roast up some junk food.  Because things like this are good for the soul.

(Excuse the paint splattered sweatpants, they just happen to be my warmest pair and have been with me through the painting of this entire house.  You can't just get rid of such a good friend.)

Ready for Halloween!

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday and this year we made sure we were ready WAY in advance.  We hit the local BJ's for a few enormous bags of candy (some sugar, some chocolate.. gotta have a good mix of both) and I found some cute bags and spooky erasers in the dollar bin at Target.

Now we're just hoping we get a kid or two to show up this year.  Halloween fell over the weekend the past two years but I was really disappointed at the turn out.  And we live in a community with a lot of homes and tons of kids!  Seriously, the school bus fills up in one stop right by our house.  This year Halloween falls on a Monday so there will be even less trick-or-treaters.

PLEASE COME TO OUR HOUSE THIS YEAR.  WE HAVE THIS CANDY FOR YOU.  We will also have some expertly carved pumpkins and some nicely potted dead chrysanthemums (oops.)  Really, I don't want to eat all the leftover candy myself...

All Good Oktoberfests End With Polka Dancing

Last weekend, Alex and I celebrated Oktoberfest with some friends, some beers, and some polka dancing! We met up with everyone at a nearby German restaurant and had an (unexpectedly) good time!  It turns out, the reality of Oktoberfest doesn't really match the pictures.

We started off with a German feast of sausages and more sausages!  There was a buffet available but we passed it by in favor of more meat and less cabbage of various preparations.  Ordering off the menu was a bit tricky though, since most of the crossed out items were actually available, including the ones that said "no," but some were actually not available still.  What?

There was a dancer floor, ohhh boy was there a dance floor, and an awesome polka band that got the "young" crowd up and on the floor!

The band had not yet named themselves and included a naming contest as part of the night.  We put a lot of thought into our ideas and provided them with some killer names.  I really hope they appreciate all our hard work.  We're still waiting for the announcement that one of our names was selected as the winner!

Personally, my votes goes to Chris' "Polka 'n my pants."  The band was selling copies of their most recent hits CD and... a... Christmas version!  Clearly this needed to be purchased.  Thankfully, Pammy was up for the challenge (and I'm pretty jealous that their car was able to rock out to that all the way home.)

Now on to the worst (best?!) part of the night.  The dancing!  The polka dancers were a tad older than expected but they still had the moves.

AND THEN! Ashley, Pammy and I were swept off our feet by the most amazing dancer.  Sure, he had a few years on us, but it was the best 3 minutes of my life.  I am wearing the gray and white striped sweater in the pictures below.

Oh, what a dance.  And what a night!  Thanks guys!

Dogfish Head 5k

Yes, that is me triumphantly crossing the finish line at the end of the Dogfish Head 5k!  It doesn't look like i'm running because I wasn't.  This actually wasn't the finish line; it is to the right of the picture.  I had already crossed it and stopped running but Alex was a bit late with the picture.  And here's my time:

Phew, cut off about 10 minutes from my previous best. Just kidding!  I took that picture later in the day.  There were people also running a 10k that morning and some took a little longer than expected.  We watched some roll in way after the hour and a half mark.

I was happy because I only did a little worse than Alex, which was way better than I hoped to run.  I didn't really care how long it took me though.  I wasn't there to race, just to have fun.

The beer started flowing at 9am sharp and I felt like I was back in college.  When else would you:
     1) run a race and then immediately drink some beers
     2) start drinking at 9am... drink some beers while eating breakfast cereal (milk? riiight)
     3) use beer as motivation to do something
Well, maybe some people still do that.

There were a lot of good beers on tap: 60 minute, punkin ale, indian brown ale, my antonia, and lawnmower.  The beer never ran out even though there were nearly 3,000 people in attendance.  That's a well planned event!

A local Bethany Beach band, Reedo and the Front Porch Offering, played the after party and they were cool guys.  Alex and I didn't win any awards for our times, but those who did got some cool stuff!

However, there was a raffle and even though we didn't win that either, a bunch of the winners had either left already or did not hear the raffle winners being announced.  They started picking random numbers and people from the crowd to take the prizes.  Alex had removed his race number and held it up in the air as a joke, but Sam, the Dogfish Head owner, saw it and gave him a wink.  Then surprise! A few raffle winners later, they called Alex's number.  Alex went up and got a nice man-hug from Sam (I hear he has a tight grip) and won a vintage bottle of Fort beer, which is brewed with raspberries and is the most expensive large bottle they sell.  I didn't get a picture of Alex and Sam, but the event photographer took one so hopefully it will be online eventually!

While everyone else was waiting in the long beer lines, we decided to walk up to the brewery to check out the store.  I had asked a volunteer earlier about the brewery tours, and she essentially told me that the tours had been booked months in advance.  I was disappointed but what can you do?

The people in the store were a bit more knowledgable though.  Actually, they were the people who gave the tours and I asked the right one!  He said the first tour was about to go out so we hopped to the front of the line and away we went.  We were lucky because the other 3 tours were packed once people found out what was going on.  We saw the boiling room, the fermenting room, and got a history of the brewery.  We both really loved the show Brewmasters so it was cool to see everything in person.  However, like most things, it is very different than on tv.  For instance, the brewery is in the middle of a neighborhood in a tiny town.  And if you ask about what happened to the show, they aren't very pleased (they say it was forced off the air by "big beer" advertisers, which I believe.)

My favorite part of the tour was the fermentation room.  Several beers are aged in wooden barrels, like Palo Santo.  Most are aged in oak, but the Palo Santo is aged in Palo Santo wood shipped in from South America and the barrel cost $150,000!  No, they do not ever replace the barrels.  "They're not making wine here!"

At the end of the tour, we bought some hard to find beers at prices that were slightly lower than retail.  I highly recommend this race!  It was a ton of fun and a great event to make a weekend out of.  We plan to attend next year, and Alex has hopes to run the 10k.  I think I'll just stick with the 5er for now.

**Fun fact from the tour: the more flavor a beer has, the more calories.  DFH World Wide Stout has 666 calories per bottle!! (Oh yeah, it's also $30 for a 4 pack)**