Brewery tour

This was written quite some time ago....
One of my goals was to visit a new brewery. There are so many fantastic breweries in the Triangle area, and we have visited quite a few: Triangle Brewing Company, Fullsteam, Bull City Burger and Brewery, and Big Boss. There was a (relatively) recent deal on a local deal site for a tour, growler, two pint glasses, and a 22 oz bottle at Aviator Brewery way out in Fuquay-Varina, so we snapped it up. We redeemed it this past week. As far as brewery tours go, it was pretty standard - here is where we boil stuff together, here is where we store it, here is where we bottle it, etc. (Except they don't really bottle and are working on getting a canner up and on line.) Super disappointed that there weren't more (any) free samples. Also, it was very hot and we had to wait a long time for the tour. Did I mention the brewery was an hour away? And that there were tornado warnings near our house while we were gone? We were worried about Sanford and didn't want to drink much when we had an hour long drive ahead of us. Anyway, the Hog Wild IPA is delicious, the Hot Rod Red is debatable (Jeremy likes it, I don't), and the Octoberbeast was pretty good. We will definitely take home some six-packs of the the IPA when it shows up in stores.

TV

Jeremy and I really enjoy getting caught up in good TV and following our favorite shows. Before we got married, Jeremy bought me the entire series of The Wire, and I watched seasons 1-4. I have a thing about watching all episodes of a series that has ended - it's like if I don't watch it all then it isn't really over. Other examples: Battlestar Galactica (Jeremy made me watch the final season, but there are still episodes from the first season I haven't seen) and Friday Night Lights (likewise, I haven't seen the entire first season even though I own it). We recently found ourselves without any new episodes of any favorite shows to watch (no thanks to Dish Network for dropping AMC), and we went back and watched the entire Wire series. How this show never won any awards is beyond me. The writing and acting are incredible, and there are others all over the internet who can better praise the show's virtues. One of the things that really struck me on the second watching of the 4th season was how difficult that particular season is to enjoy. The main storyline takes place within a public middle school in Baltimore, and in the words of my sister, you better not get attached to any characters.

I wrote the above paragraph several months ago and never published it. After switching from Dish we got three free months of all the premium channels on demand and glutted ourselves on Homeland, Game of Thrones, and Boardwalk Empire. Love, love, love. We've got one season of Boardwalk left, and Justified starts back up this month. Excellent entertainment for the new year!

Sewing Goals

When I wrote out the goal to sew an item of clothing, I had no idea I'd be so pleased with the result. I am a competent seamstress, but my sewing projects are mainly for the home (curtains, pillows, dog bed, etc.). I had an idea for a tunic to wear with shorts or skinny jeans. I found the fabric at a quilt store and adjusted a pattern I found to get the right torso and arm length. I'd never made anything with sleeves before, so that was a big challenge. I love the result and I get complimented whenever I wear it. Jeremy calls it my Mad Men shirt - the colors are much more vibrant in person.

I have a related goal of sewing something for the home, so I'll update here when I cross that one off the list.

Running

Next up on the goal list - run a race longer than 5k. I'm pretty sure that when I wrote out this goal I intended that the race be run without stopping, but I think the Krispy Kreme Challenge in Raleigh counts for this. I had wanted to do this race since I first heard about it many years ago. This past year the race was a little longer than it had been in the past - the course was 5 miles. Competitors were considered to have completed the "Challenge" if they crossed the finish line in under an hour. No problem, right? The only catch - you ran by the Krispy Kreme store at mile 2.5 and had to eat a dozen donuts. Then keep running. I was pretty happy with my result - 7 donuts and a time of 59 minutes. Jeremy walked the course with some friends of ours - he ate 8 donuts. We were supposed to travel to Davidson for a game later that afternoon but ended up spending the day on the couch in sugar comas. My goal is to eat all 12 donuts and finish in an hour next year - digestive system be damned.

I also ran the inaugural Ninja Challenge in Fuquay-Varina this summer. The running part was 5k but I feel like this race counted for more since it included (in part) monkey bars, a balance beam, running through water, using a rope to climb up a seriously slanted surface (followed by jumping into a dumpster full of muddy water - at which point I felt like I was dying), climbing a cargo net, and throwing ninja stars. It was a ton of fun, but I doubt I would do it again unless I had someone to do it with.

Next up, domestic goals...

Goals

About seven years ago I sat down and started a list of about 30 things I wanted to do in the next five years or so. Some of them I did (learned to can), some I haven't (take a trip to Memphis). Inspired by my sister's list, I made a new list of 53 things I would like to do in the near future. I'd like to use this blog as a way to keep up with what I've done - some of these things are worth sharing! My next few posts are going to be dedicated to the goals I've met/things I've done.

Here are some simple ones:

First up, one of the goals was to get this blog useable by deleting all of the wedding pictures hogging up space on my google account. Done!

Next, I wanted to deal with my wrist. During the last phases of my dissertation I developed a nasty case of carpal tunnel. When I wrote out my goals, my wrist was really bothering me - I couldn't type, do yoga, grip with my right hand, etc. It resolved itself as soon as I moved on to a new job and computer. Yay for meeting a goal without actually taking action!

Next up, sewing and running...

Dye job

My sister and mom have spent the summer working on some clothing reconstruction projects. Their creativity inspired me to tackle a project that's been sitting in my closet for months. I have a white cotton shirt with some persistent brown stains on the collar. Make-up? Endangered sea turtle blood? Who knows? The shirt isn't one of my favorites, but it's a good layering piece and it's work-appropriate. Enter fabric dye.

I picked a light blue, but probably should have gone darker to completely cover the spots. They are still visible if you look close, but no one at work needs to be that close to my neck. I don't have any before pictures - just use your imagination. Not bad for a $3 investment and an hour of a Saturday morning. Success!