2010 Bluebonnet Brew Off

Working for a college has its perks: I still get spring break! On Wednesday and Thursday I tooled around Little Rock getting chores done that no one with a 8 to 5 job could possibly do. On Thursday afternoon Rory and I set off on an adventure to Dallas for the Bluebonnet Brew Off!
http://www.bluebonnetbrewoff.com/

It is one of the largest home brew competitions out there. Rory had never been to one of these conventions/competitions. We had no idea what to expect. We arrived in Dallas on Thursday night and grilled out with his friend Rick. The next day before we headed to the competition, I made Rory try a bean and cheese taco. He now understands what all the talk is about. Thank goodness for Taco Cabana. They pleasantly surprised me with a new dip: half ranch, half their dark salsa!

We then went to the Westin to register for the competition, where we received our tasting glass. Rory didn't submit any beers this go around, but he plans to next year. We met up with some of the other Central Arkansas Fermenters and headed to the Hospitality Suite. This was the start to a long beer tasting adventure!

The hospitality suite was open from 2-6:30pm both Saturday and Sunday. This was where they had at least 3 or 4 different home or local commercial brews on tap. We almost got a chance to judge some of the entries but the spots were already filled once we got there.

Rory and I headed for a bite to eat before the next event. From 8pm to 10pm the Commercial Brewers from around the globe were there to hand out tasters. The glass came in handy for this portion and the next. At 10pm we switched to the other half of the conference room and got to taste the home brews. Each different home brew organization had their own station. Rory is a member of the Central Arkansas Fermenters. For a while, they even let me hand out and talk about their beer. I knew VERY LITTLE about it, but they invited me to help out again in October for Octoberfest!

The next day Rory woke up bright and early to go to the Beer Tech talks. Rick and I ended up at Denny's for a good hearty breakfast! Then we went to hang out in the Hot Tub and swimming pool on the roof of the hotel that overlooked the DFW airport. Rick informed me that the DFW Airport is larger than Manhattan! I was blown away by this fact.

Once Rory was out of his tech talks we headed to an amazing sandwich shop!

Then we laid low watching movies and eating dinner until the Awards Ceremony at 8pm. Rory won a ton of hops during the raffle. He was pretty excited about it. The awards were over and then we all hung around to try the remaining beers.

Oh and I almost forgot...It snowed starting at 2pm on Saturday and was snowing for an hour of our drive back to Arkansas.

Overall, it was a phenomenal weekend. Hopefully Rory and I will be able to go back next year.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, all convention centers look the same.

It's been 4 months since my last post....so here it is!

I do apologize for not posting for such a long time. I have been extremely busy since Halloween, but I did do a few fun things in my spare time. So in no particular order I will share with you my life over the past few months!

For Valentines Day, Rory took me ice skating at the local skating rink - Skatium (they have both roller skating and ice skating)! I had a blast showing off my moves and pretending to be a skilled skater. I wish I could say this picture was easy to take. It snowed a couple of times in Arkansas. There were a few days where the wintery mix turned blizzard mid day and I happened to be at work. Michael had driven us in that morning and it looked fine, we figured it would clear up by the end of the day. This did not end up being the case, the blizzard struck around 10am. Michael and I scooted out of Conway back to Little Rock around noon, we would have been stuck in Conway otherwise :(

Below you will see a picture of my office right before Michael and I headed out of town. There are people standing on the porch shaking off their umbrellas because the snow was falling so heavy.

The next day both Rory and I were out of work. So after walking to a major intersection for some prime time entertainment where we watched cars try to drive in the blizzard, we decided to brew some beer! Rory decided to call it his Snow Day I.P.A.! It turned out to be one of the best beers he had brewed thus far. Here he is hopping with his hops!

Earlier before the blizzard, we had one week where it was freezing and the other where it was well below freezing (9 degrees one day). A few of us ventured out to Lake Ouachita that weekend. The cove near Katie's lake house was FROZEN! So we went ice skating. Katie said this is the first time they had ever seen the lake frozen over by her house. We had a blast, though I was extremely hesitant to stay on the ice for very long.

Tracing back a few more days to Christmas time, I took a picture of Mom and Pop on Christmas Morning at church! I had not been in St. Peter's since the renovations a few years back. It was very pretty. It was great to be back in San Antonio for a week. Alex, Becca and I made Christmas cookies again this year. We forgot to bring cookie cutters so they were all circles. Alex decorated this one to resemble some sort of fancy egg. You would have to ask her more about that.

In early December, the Morton family and a few more met up in Huntsville for some early Christmas festivities. We brought Jack to Santa's Village, but I am pretty sure Rory had just as much fun as Jack did. This is what Rory would look like if he were a snowman!

And before Thanksgiving and Christmas really rolled around. We found out that Sam got into law school. So naturally, we celebrated with $1 PBRs at Damgoode Pies. We beat the record for number of beers consumed in one seating. We had about 15 or 20 people there to help out. Here are the last few people there.

Here is a photo of the Hendrix Fans for the Razorbacks! The Razorbacks played in Little Rock. Here we all are at the Hendrix tailgate sporting the Hendrix "H" with a razorback leaning against it! It was a great time and a mini reunion of sorts!

So there it is! I have been busy with work but every chance I get having some sort of fun! I am just glad I don't have to wear a jacket anymore. I also might add, I am headed to Graduate School at UALR next year. I will be working on a masters degree in public administration.