Beer, Bourbon, BBQ, oh my!

This Saturday, Matt & I hit up the Beer, Bourbon & BBQ festival at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. It was a great event that brought in thousands of Nashvillians for bluegrass music, unlimited drinks, and a lot of excuses to say "life is good."

But before I get to the festival fun, I'll highlight a few random events from the week. First, I found the worlds greatest deal at none other than Wallyworld. This dress was only ONE DOLLAR. I couldn't pass it up. (And yes, I am standing in the universally flattering sororitypose. go ahead-judge me.)

so its a little short...keep in mind...ONE DOLLAR. whatasteal.

At work this week, Matt had to be the "victim" in a lifeguard drill. That meant lots of time floating in water, and lots of water stuck in his ear:( poor little fella! His ear was killing him all weekend.

I got to spend a lot of time with Katy, including a trip up to Murfreesboro on my day off work, and some time at the apartment where we distracted each other from studying/doing anything productive.

this is very much "us."

Me and Matt did some shopping & went on an ice cream date! (Okay, I went shopping, and bought him ice cream for coming along.) It sounded better the other way.

Can't go wrong with chocolate! Matt got their pumpkin pie flavor.

Someone broke into Mattboo's house :( Or tried to at least. The alarm system scared the intruder away after he broke a window.

I went through 2 enterprise rent-a-cars. I am having my car fixed for a minor fender bender that took place in Matt's driveway, whoops, so I am driving rentals until it's fixed. I was first given a Ford Escape, which was way too big for my liking. So I traded it in for a Dodge Charger which drove wonderfully. When trying to return the first car, TomTom took me all over the world en route to Enterprise. It turns out Enterprise has moved since Tom was updated. So, naturally I followed this enterprise truck to a gas station and asked for directions. Creepy much? Okay, that about covers the random details of the week, so now on to the festival. Matt & I scored some half-priced VIP tickets on Groupon a couple weeks before the event. I LOVE a good deal.

Apparently we weren't the only ones. The "Groupon Tix" line was pretty long when we got there. Luckily, the event was well organized and the line moved pretty quickly.

We made some friends....in the Mike's Hard Lemonade line! Real men drink Mike's. Or

at least that's what they kept telling themselves :)
he loves me...i think.

Before the event, we browsed the website to see what to expect. The website told us that there would be a Maxim "Hometown Hottie" finalist available for pictures from 1-3, along with a guy from "The Deadliest Catch." We joked all the way over about how Matt would have to fight the model off, and how I would get even by seducing the winner of the "Beer Belly Contest." When we actually got there, Matt dropped the tough guy act and got nervous about going to ask for a pic. I ended up asking her to take one with him. Then she told us we should buy her calendar- that it would be great for a Christmas present.... I object.

In an effort to make conversation, I asked if the deadliest catch guy had heard of skinnyrunner.com. "Her family fishes in Alaska, too!" He looked at me as if I had three heads. Sometimes I wonder if I do.
"Now we have to take a tough picture," he says.

We got to watch a demonstration in the "Tasting Theater." The author of the "Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook" did a demonstration on how to make a chicken dish marinated in Bourbon.

Needing a refill while he talked.

Our sample of the dish he made. I think it was maybe called "chicken kentuckiana?" It was pretty good. Nothing too impressive, but we never say no to free food. ever.

The event had lots of booths to sign up for giveaways and to advertise kentucky/bourbon/beer-related merchandise. The Kentucky Horse Association (I think) was handing out these blue horse stickers. They caught on like crazy, and people started sticking them on their shirts. Being the followers that we are, me and matt stuck 'em on too.
Matt.

Me.

So conscientious.

Ready for a nap.

But first things first, TACO BELL.

Back home, wearing our new t-shirts & ready for a nap!

We had a great time at the festival & would definitely recommend it. A couple of pointers after going this year....

1)pack your own bottled water, snacks, & any mixer you might want. Straight bourbon is a little intense, especially when the samples keep coming. You are charged for soda, water, and any food at the event. They don't check your purses, so you could save some serious money by bringing your own snacks and non-alcoholic drinks!

2) definitely invest in the VIP tickets. They get you in two hours earlier meaning a lot less congestion, and shorter lines!

3) wear comfortable shoes! You do a lot of walking and standing.

I guess that's all for now. Happy Sunday!!

Happy Halloween!

Well, it has been over two months since I last posted. And to my two readers (matt and my mom) this has probably been very painful. But now I am back and ready to blog! So what better way to return than with some pictures of some over-grown kids on halloween?! I know. You can't wait.

Halloween weekend recap:
Friday night: After work, I rushed over to Matt's house, giddy with excitement over the fun weekend ahead. We decided to go with the cowboy/indian couple costume theme for Halloween. This year, I decided I was going to get creative and make my own costume. So, with visions of buckskin, war paint, and feathers dancing in my head, it was off to walmart and the costume store to get the necessary materials. We stopped at the costume store first, where matt picked up a mustache, toy gun, and a cowboy hat. I got a headband, some face crayons, and a dagger. I distinctly remember picking up a pre-packaged Indian costume and scoffing at the amateur-ness of the outfit. "Mine is going to be so much better," I silently bragged. HA!

At Walmart, I got a little over a yard of fabric and some red shoe strings to make my dress, and we headed home.

As soon as we got there, Matt broke into his new toys, and had a blast practicing his quickdraw, and more-southern-than-usual accent.

Indians, beware.

the supplies.

The mustache took on a personality of its own.


Fisher wanted to play!

And so the costume designing began....

hot glue-gunning about an inch of fabric over to give the appearance of a thick trim. genius.

then we cut the fabric into two pieces and hole punched the sides so that we could tie them together with shoe strings.

we didnt quite think it all through. the two pieces were hole punched individually....the holes didn't even begin to line up. oops.

So, as quickly as my creative juices had started to flow earlier in the day, they stopped. I decided to "take a break" and convinced Matt to watch "The Last Song" with me.

friday night fail.

Saturday morning: I woke up at 6:30, and silently cursed myself for signing up for an 8 AM race. But there was no way I was going to let that $25 entry fee go to waste, so I threw on my running clothes, grabbed the boyfriend, and headed to the car. Lately we have had ridiculously great weather in Nashville, so I was shocked when we walked outside and found Matt's car looking like this...

frozen versa.

Despite the weather, my spirits soon lifted, and I was excited when we got to the race!

Running is a fairly new love of mine, and over the last few years I've enjoyed getting to run in various 5ks around Knoxville and Nashville. Each race is different. Springfield is a smaller town, and this was the first year for the race, so it wasn't very organized. Most runners seemed to be Sprinfield High students, alums, and family members. All proceeds went towards the school's new baseball field, so the coaches and players manned the race. It was refreshing to run in a hometown race, despite all the techinical glitches. This race had no time chips, just a time clock at the end. It started in the historic Springfield square, and winded mostly through neighborhoods. Overall, it was a moderately hard run because of hills at the end.

I loved the old school "Ready, Set, Go"! start by the baseball coach.

3.2 miles later!

Alot of runners have a fairly health diet. I don't.

YUM.

After breakfast, Matt and I drove to Clarksville to see his dad and my friend Chelsea!

Chelsea and I outside of McDonalds. A Clarksville hotspot ;)

Then, we went to visit Phil, Matt's dad. After our visits, it was time to eat again. We take food seriously.

Once again, YUM.

my new favorite taco bell treat. the XXL chalupa. oooooh man.

And then it was back home to get ready for our night out on the town. Luckily we had extra "buckskin" fabric, so we discarded the disaster from last night, and started over. After hours of failed glue-gunning, hole punching, and shoe-string stitching....we got desperate. We took two safety pins from my race bib and pinned the hole punched, glue-stained piece of fabric together on my left side.

Martha Stewart would die.Getting in character.

the final product.

perfect pair.

bryan and lauren, our partners in crime.

We met up and headed downtown to Paradise Park, our favorite FREE bar downtown. We saw a lot of fun costumes including Chilean miners, a HUGE group of Gumby's, and lots of guidos/guidettes. Oh, Halloween.

Sunday morning: After sleeping late, and hanging around with Matt for a few hours, I headed towards Green Hills to see my 2 year old nephew, Levi. Okay, I know everyone thinks their niece/nephew is the cutest, but seriously. He is cute as a button, and has recently learned the expressions "i push button" referring to his wii, and "I win!" which he proudly exclaims after everything he does. Oh, and when he takes pictures, he lowers his head, smiles, and says "cheeeeeese" and then walks over to look at the picture, so proud of his achievement. It doesn't get any cuter. With a ridiculous amount of pride, I present Levi the giraffe:)

grandpa and levi.

this was towards the end of his photoshoot. He was way more interested in wii bowling than his crazy aunt.

look at the little tail! precious.

Overall, I would call this weekend a success.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, FRIENDS!