On North Carolina

I find myself feeling a little stir-crazy lately. 

I love my city and my state, but I'm itching to try something new for a bit.

I'll always adore North Carolina, so I rounded up a few beauties. 

To remind me of home, wherever I go..

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<3

Finally saying "Peace!" to 2011

Oh, 2011. 

January: 

We drove to Charlottesville to NYE, 

we ate chicken wings

we got the plague

and won tickets to the NHL All-Star game

RBC Center

February 

we threw our First Annual Superbowl Party
we had an excellent trip to NYC
and we went the Science of Wine

Times Square

March

we had a little house guest

went to a parade

went to another Hurricanes game

we hit up HotLanta for a few days

and celebrated the 1yr anniversary of our first date.

St. Patty's day, ATL

April
we had our 6 month "for real?" anniversary
went to Raleigh Beer Fest
and tried out some of Raleigh's best food
and survived a tornado

the crew, under a rainy nasty tent

May

we introduced Mike to the cats

i had an excellent birthday

we went to Artsplosure
oh, and yeah WE WENT TO HARRY POTTER WORLD. 

what do YOU look like during Tornados?

June
we went to a Paul McCartney tribute show
plenty of brewery tours with friends
and visits to the Durham Bulls

Summer Lovin

July

i tore my knee. 

but we brewed

i painted. a lot. 
we saw Harry Potter. I died a little inside. 

and went to Cirque du Soleil

it ended



August

we went to Beer, Bourbon and BBQ
we brewed
and  started to put the house together

even on crutches, we were happy. 

September

we packed. 

we cleaned. 

we went to NY for 9/11

we saw the Jets

we moved kittens

I apparently forgot to blog. 

we managed to make it to the Science of beer

October

truth be told. this month was horrid. seeing as I never posted most of the posts I had written or even any photos, it feels like I owe it to you. (me?)

mom and dad came to the state fair

we moved all my stuff in from my old apartment.

we carved pumpkins with old friends

we ordered pumpkin lattes and raked leaves

then. 

it happened. 

I came home from work one perfectly normal Tuesday, to this:  

devastating. 

 Our front door was kicked in. Electronics, jewelry, luggage and other random things were gone. My biggest fear was realized. I fell into a deep hole that lasted most of November, with random spurts of Normalcy. One of those being our week long vacay (that I never blogged about -see deep hole-) to Vegas, Zion, and the Grand Canyon. It was nice to leave my broken home 4 days after it happened. I didn't realize how much  it to take to come back. I am back now. The house is back. The things are back. The alarm is good. All is well. 

Zion National Park

November 

we cleaned. 

we went up to NY for Mike's Family Thanksgiving. (I adore them, they're all so nice) 

we went to Charlotte (again posts lost in the deep hole)

checked out a Panthers game 

December

we celebrated the holidays

enjoyed our weekends. 

and headed out to Asheville for the New Year 

-----

Thanks 2011. You were rough, but you made me stronger. You made me appreciate who I had in my life, and grateful that the ones I didn't have anymore were finally gone. You showed me how strong I was and how weak.  You gave me adventures I'm grateful for. But, honestly? 2012? You don't have to teach me so much. We can just hang out and have fun. I'd like that.  :)

The Really Long Christmas Post

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas (Christmakkah), 

SOON Mama and Daddy would come! 

So we put up the tree, weighed it down with weights 

and hung up all the stockings in a row! 

and BOY did they come. The tree was stuffed full of little presents and I think my mom got a kick out of looking at all the ornaments on our tree. (I still have my "baby's first ornament" up). 

We started a new tradition, of buying a new Hanukkah ornament every year for the tree, and topped it with a Star of David  

My mom also still collects my presents from Santa for me every year. Since I dont have a chimney anymore, obviously.  

I decided to cook for my family for the two days that they were here. The food, and all the treats were a hit. My mom brought me some super cute cookie cutters that I used. 

And while I cooked, Dad and Mike hung out downstairs by the football games. It was pretty hilarious, however, that when it got cold, Dad just joined me upstairs. I turned around from setting the table to see:

gotta keep warm...

So, once everyone got toasty and full, we watched a Muppet Christmas Carol.

 I only quoted the first 15 minutes. 

pinkie swear

Christmas Morning came!  

SO CUTE. Seriously, I die. 

There were tons of presents. I got glitter, books, TOMS, a new scarf set  and more. Mike wracked up a new office chair, Roger Waters tickets, a Reevis jersey and a "Beer Brewing Kit of the Month" membership (with accompanying carboy)

Fun Times. :)

But, the super awesome present. Well, It needs a bit of back story. 

Two weeks before Christmas, I went with Mike to his company holiday party, where I preceded to lose my camera. 
I looked ALL OVER the car, I called the restaurant and hotel and I couldnt find it anywhere. 

I was devastated. 

I sobbed. 

I UGLY cried. 

I bawled. 

Mike tried to console me by letting me open one of my presents "For Hanukkah," he said so I picked the one his Mom sent. (Apparently, I was supposed to pick the big one..) 

Christmas morning, Mike kept handing me presents, leaving one big, heavy, box left. I'll let you look at the progression on the pictures below..be with you in a sec. 

yeah, i cried..what of it. 

 LOOK AT THE PRETTY BABY THAT I FOUND IN THAT BIG OL' BOX. 

now, if you look closely at the bottom of the picture, you'll notice my lil point and shoot. 

turns out, I had put it in a shoe. 

yeah, a shoe. 

then I put that shoe in the closet. 

and closed the door

I then FOUND my camera weeks later before the Nutcracker. 

(Guess Mike was glad I didn't open the big box then)

 After a wonderful day (and plenty more food) the three people I love most in the world were settled into my house, sipping and munching and stressless and laughing and

 feeling -good-

And THAT, my friends is why This Christmakkah was the start of many more wonderful Chrsitmakkahs to come, and absolutely a wonderful day. 

Cheers

Who said you can't relive the holidays? Not me. 

FINALLY- The Nutcracker

Y'all, I can not tell you how much I have wanted to go see the Nutcracker

 Seriously, for ~10 years (since I went that one time in HS) and thanks to the ever wonderful Mike,

 I FINALLY GOT TO. 

For the 4th night of Hanukkah, naturally. 

(I did a happy dance for at LEAST 3 days afterwards) 

Asheville NYE

For the ACTUAL NYE 2011, even though we got all gussied up and fancy, we decided to stay in and dance and celebrate.

We ended up having a blast.

It's super fun to dance without heels, and not worry about getting home. 

Eventually, like they do, things started to get silly. 

But it was a perfect way to ring in 2012. 

Asheville for the weekend

Some friends of ours invited us to their families house in Asheville to hangout for the weekend, and celebrate NYE.  I mean, the weather being ABSOLUTELY PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL (Seriously, 70 in December? )

Who can blame us?

So we drove late Friday night, and by Saturday morning we were hitting up 4 of Asheville's awesome breweries. 

First stop was Asheville Brewing and Pizza. I LOVED this place. MAYBE, it was because I was starving and the pie was amazing, but I think the Ninja Porter and the Shiva had something to do with it. We brought two bottles home because it was so good. 

Asheville Brewing and Pizza

Best way to taste beer: FLIGHTS :)

Cheers!

Mike and Han, BFFs, <3s, 

Then, twas off to the French Broad Brewery. I had the 13 Rebels and it was definitely tasty. We all had fun sitting in the sun, in December, and playing with the light. 

French Broad

world beer...Asheville flavor

We headed on down to the Wedge. This place was awesome. Well, anyplace with a beer named Gollem, that you can only drink 3 of, (that Mike will read the description of in a funny voice), that has peanuts and corn hole, is AWESOME. 

The Wedge

Flights. The Dark One was Russian Imperial: Raspberry Chocolatey heaven. DRINKIT

One final stop (that day) in at the LAB where we tried to figure out our night-time plans, and soak up one more round of craft brews. 

LAB

Asheville really is a lovely place, and I can't wait to go back to visit in the Spring/Summer months when we can (re)hit some breweries, eat at some more small cafe's and maybe go back to Biltmore  :)

First Brew Day of 2012

Monday was our first brewday of 2012. (we have a few coming up..haha)


Nightcap Cherry Stout to start the new year. Mike's all excited, after an excellent Christmas and New Years. I however, am quite sick-tastic today. So I've been assigned the "special helper/blogger post" which is totally different from my normal "assistant/blogger" post.

thin yeast packet. obvs

1:25 My first job as special helper involves pouring Chocolate Malt into the baggies so that Mike can roll it out. Apparently, it smells like hot cocoa and delicious, I cant smell a darn thing so I give up.

1:32 I take a quick picture of the skinny yeast and Mike smacks it. Oi responds by smacking the doors.

1:47pm

1:38 I have to muster up all of my strength to go hunt down the meat thermometer. The blog might have to go silent after this.

1:41 success. (it was right where I told him it would be) I need a nap.

1:47 "See! The duct tape is MUCH more elegant this time! Heats on, lessroll" :)

the last Polish Pumpkin Ale

1:55, Mike opened up his last bottle of homebrew and is threatening to not let me taste the Delirium Noturnum later unless I nose mace myself. (For the record, nose mace is this sinus buster product that you squirt up your nose. it's made of capsasin and it hurts like (-----). So, you dont get addicted like ya do with Afrin) The pre-wort has to cook for half an hour at 150 before it can boil, sooo we're waiting.

2:07 I have been maced. and we learn to only sanitize the caps as you need them. rust is not tasty.

2:15 As I'm talking in a weird voice  - "Do you hate me because I'm stupid?? Nope, I love you because you're cute"

Goop.

2:30 The spent grains are done steeping. They're great compost, but, seeing as we don't have a compost bin or any animals that would eat it (cause Olive and Oi would NOT be amused) they're also great trash. Now we're heating it up.

2:48 Time to add in the really bitter hops. I"M EXCITED CAUSE I CAN SMELL!!!!!

2:54 Goop has been poured into the wort and Mike is stirring it to make sure it doesn't scorch onto the bottom of the pot.

chilled, during thermo class

3:27 and we boil.

4:35 boil is done. and we start cooling. our advanced method of cutting open water bottles and spilling them all over the floor is in full swing!

4:49  Mike is quizzing me on thermodynamics.
4:50  I passed the the test. I'm so smart.  ;)

5:02 who would have thought that the last two degrees, much like the last 10 lbs, is the hardest to drop....

puffy yeast

5:05 Mike has taken the beer outside. Because..well it's colder out there than it is in here.

5:07 Clean up time! Me? Dayquil time. There is also some chicken soup calling my name, and I still havent gotten my delirium nocturnum...

5:13 Temperature is good and the specific gravity is 1.0068

via instagram

5:16 yeast is in. beer is waiting. kitchen is cleaning. we wait, and come up with names for ~ 2 weeks.  It's also time for me to return to my post under the fluffy fur blanket with a huge mug of soup to fix up my head.


Goodnight :)