Wakarusa 2010

My first major music festival ever!! It was a blast. Rory and I arrived around 9 pm on Wednesday night and stayed through Sunday morning. Rory's Uncle Robert and his friends reserved and RV spot. It was in the shade, we had water and electricity hook up. We also got the luxury of showers and real restrooms. A commodity that I was very appreciative of after about 20 minutes in the heat. There were a lot of great shows there and some very interesting people!


For example, I didn't realize that hula hoops were a popular item for anyone over the age of 12.





Here is a picture of one of Rory's favorite bands - The Black Keys. This was a great show. Everyone that was staying at the RV site with us set up an umbrella and a few chairs. I felt bad about blocking a good view, but shade was hard to come by.


This Umbrella was the first one we had set up. The next few times we set up a tarp for cover so we could fit more people underneath.

One of the stages was located under a giant tent! It was the best place to be. Complete shade with a breeze and cool grass. Here we are taking a break from the heat in between shows!

Right by this tent was a ton of food, another stage and a carnival set up. We didn't go on any rides, but it looked like fun!

Spring time!

I am so excited the spring is finally here! Sadly, I really do enjoy the feeling of being suffocated by the humidity sometimes. Give me a week or two and I am sure that feeling will go away.

Rory and his friend Paul got us tickets to the first Arkansas Razorbacks baseball game in Little Rock in something like 25 years! It was completely packed, we had to arrive about an hour early for decent seats on the berm. One night we decided to go to North Little Rock for some Mexican food. It turned out to be one of the most amusing nights on record. Parker(on the left) decided he wanted to make a pride bet with Paul that he could eat his entire plate, his gigantic margarita, the remainder of his wife Kathryn's food and an additional plate of fish tacos. Paul thought it was a sure win, so he suggested that it turn into a slap bet - the winner gets to slap the loser no strings attached. In the end, despite Paul's confidence in winning, Parker came out like a champ and cleaned his plate. Here they are signing the official agreement on the back of a receipt.
The waiter was so kind to us that night, we decided to have a picture taken of this monumental occasion. Note: the slap didn't happen in the restaurant, but we had about 8 people there so we were making a fair amount of noise. From left to right - Our waiter, Parker, Paul and Kathryn.

Once we got back to Kate's house Parker took his opportunity to slap Paul no strings attached. It looked like it hurt, but Paul should have seen it coming!

I also took my last admission trip to Nashville and Chattanooga. These are a few of the folks that I hang out with when I am on the road. From left to right - Lindsey (UGA), Seaton (College of Charleston), Lori (SMU), and Ryan (Berry College). It was a great trip, it was sad to say goodbye to my friends for 2 months of the year.

Rory and I are headed to Wakarusa the first weekend in June! I will definitely post some pictures and stories after that!

Wedding Season Begins!

We have officially kicked off wedding season 2010. Since I have been lacking in pictures I decided I would make this one picture heavy instead of text heavy. So here are a few pictures from wedding related events. The first two were taken at Melissa and Chris's engagement party in North Little Rock. This one is Rory and Paul (his old roommate)

Kate and her mom.

Then this past weekend we all met up again at Melissa and Chris's wedding in NLR and reception at the Junior League Headquarters in downtown Little Rock. The wedding we was gorgeous and the food and drink were delicious. It was great to see all of Rory's friends and celebrate!

Emily and her boyfriend Robert!

Rory, Ann and Parker

Besties!

Chris Mi and me

Rory and me!

Jenna and Julian (note, 2 days after the wedding they got engaged)

Rick, me and Parker

Emily and Kate.

Easter Weekend

Second blog post in a row with no pictures! But I felt that it was necessary to tell you about Easter Weekend in Little Rock!

Most everyone made the trip to Little Rock for Easter and Margo's Baby Shower.

On Thursday night I got to see Margo, Brian, Julie and Steve at the Purple Cow! (In case anyone was wondering, I had a mint chocolate chip shake). We parted ways until 10:30am the next morning when everyone came to visit Hendrix and see the new building. I then spent most of my remaining dining dollars and treated everyone to lunch in the new and improved cafeteria! It was chicken strips and mac and cheese as always!

When I headed to the airport to pick up Mom and Pop. Rory, Brian and Ryan were headed to the races in Hot Springs! Mom and Pop had met some very nice young man for Kristen Catalani on the airplane. We then dashed off to Whole Foods for a quick bite before we got ready to meet up with Margo. While Pop napped, we headed to the mall and did some shopping!

That evening we went to the Oyster Bar for some high quality fried food! It was delicious. Then Margo called it an early night and headed back to the Routon's house. Mom, Pop, Rory and I met up with some of my friends at a wine bar in North Little Rock. It was a blast. Mom and Pop were introduced to the best iphone application - Words with Friends. They kept playing all weekend, it was a blast. I found out that Words with Friends considers "sexts" to be a real word. I was shocked but it got Mom 24 points for playing it!

On Saturday morning I cooked breakfast for mom and pop at my house and then we watch some Final Four highlights. Then Pop met up with Mickey and Lauren and Mom and I headed to hillcrest to do some shopping!

At 2pm all the ladies headed to Margo's Baby Shower. Julie, Jan and Sarah did a great job decorating! The cake was confetti cake... which was amazing. Baby Alford was definitely throwing a party in Margo's belly :)

That evening we all cooked out at Julie's house and watched the West Virginia coach have a love session with his hurt player. (http://www.nesn.com/2010/04/dasean-butlers-injury-brings-painful-ending-to-west-virginias-season.html)

The next day we went to church and then had a great brunch at Boscos with the Alfords and the Routons!

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

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.

Halloween in Fayetteville!

For the second year in a row, I went to Fayetteville for Halloween. This year we stayed at Rachel Floyd's apartment, which was conveniently located on Dickson Street (where you can find most of the bars)! On Friday we went to one of Rory's friend's Halloween parties and had a blast.

The next day Rory showed Rachel and me around the town and went to the overlook of Fayetteville, Mt. Sequoia.

Rachel and I on the top of Mt. Sequoia, we got a little confused navigating the windy roads, but it was a really pretty view.

Rory and I in costume, which we managed to wear both nights that we were there!

Rachel and the Razorback!

Arkansas had a huge lead at halftime so the stadium cleared out. We stuck around for the whole game and went to the front row as close to the 50 yd. line that we could get.

At the opening of the game the marching band got in an A formation... I thought it looked pretty cool.

Rachel set up a nice little tailgate in the grassy part of the parking lot for us. So of course we had to take a Galloway Girls picture!

The weekend was a blast. It was also the last long car trip for Granny's Saab. We drove the pig trail back, which was the way you got to Fayetteville before they built I-540. It was absolutely gorgeous with all of the leaves changing/falling. Thank goodness it finally stopped raining. We ended up getting 16.5 inches of rain during the month of October.

OCTOBER!

Here are a few pictures that I have taken so far this month.

Ollie John, Laura and I went to the Big River Grille in Downtown Nashville. It was delicious! I left all of my pants in Little Rock hanging in my closet before I left for a 2 week trip. Laura met up with me at Target to go shopping. Apparently she went off-roading in the Honda to get to Brentwood!

One of my visits this week was to Bell Buckle, TN. I thought this shirt was hilarious.

Rory moved into his house last weekend. Here he is standing in front of the sold sign.

After the Big River Grille we walked back to Laura's apartment and along the way found Elvis!

Waterfalls near Kyles Landing

Rory and I went for a 4 mile round trip hike near Kyle's landing. It took us around 4.5hrs. It was the most rigorous hike I have ever done, but awesome. I tried to upload the pictures in chronological order... there is a reason there are no pictures towards the end. It started raining and we looked disgusting by the end of the trip.

This picture was taken before we realized we were going the wrong way.

Then we got back on the correct trail and it started drizzling.
Indian Creek, this was the creek that the whole trail was based off of. Including 60 to 70 foot bluffs. They were terrifying.

This was a waterfall that was not in the book. We think that it is only around when it is raining.

The waterfalls were so beautiful. It was pouring down rain so the camera had trouble capturing flawless pictures, but it was gorgeous!

If you look closely, you will see a cave at the top of the waterfall. It was too slippery for us to climb and it isn't allowed anymore because of the bats.

The next morning we went on a 1/2 mile roundtrip hike to get to this waterfall. This one was very pretty but not as rewarding as the others.

Kincannon Wedding in Fort Smith

Rory and I headed to Fort Smith, AR for Memorial Day weekend. It was a fun filled 3-days of festivities. We got their Friday night and met up at Faux Pas (a classer version of the VFW). On Saturday we explored Fort Smith and went to the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner and then a bar that I can't quite remember the name of. The wedding was on Sunday, followed by a great reception. There was a photobooth at the reception!!!! It was awesome. So here are a few pictures...not in chronological order.

These are some of Rory's friends. From left to right: Meredith, me, Kate and Melissa.

Amy and I acting ridiculous!

Amy and Phil at Faux Pas... where Amy surprised me with her new hair style!

The weekend was a whole lot of fun!