This Weekend I…

A Monday post! Thank the heavens I have time for a Monday post.

I’m sure you have seen on various social media outlets people dousing themselves in buckets of ice and calling each other out to either do it or donate to charity.  Well, this Thursday I completed the Ice Bucket Challenge to Strike Out ALS and I’m so glad I did. This is the best article I found to give a little background information but in my humble opinion it really is a fun way to raise awareness.

My lovely little sister accidentally but probably on purpose never turned the video on so I had to dump a bucket of ice on myself twice.

I think I look like a hobbit in this picture but I share for you people 😉

I encourage everyone to not only participate in the challenge but also be sure to donate! There are so many important causes out there, every little bit helps!

A few weeks ago a close friend of mine asked if I would play in a charity golf tournament and being the golf-obsessed human that I am, jumped at the opportunity.  The weather was incredible on Friday and the amount of snacks they provided was unbelievable. I mean seriously, they gave us a lunch box filled with snacks before we even hit the links… YESSSSS!  It was held at the Links at Lang Farm which I hadn’t played since high school so I was a little nervous but the tournament was a scramble format and we were very happy with the way our team was playing.  Each one of us came up with some very clutch shots when we needed it and we had a blast!  The longest drive for the ladies was so close I could taste it but unfortunately for me it was our 18th hole and I was feeling it.  Next time, though! It’s mine!

Jon swears he was happier than the picture shows…

On a separate but relevant note, how about Rory McIlroy eh????? 3 wins in 3 starts?!? Boss.

Yesterday Zach and I  took advantage of this amazing weekend weather and went for a hike up to Sterling Pond.  This is one of my favorite hikes because it is shorter (only 1.1 miles one way) but it is steep and definitely makes you work for it.  Halfway through we thought we were dead, 3/4 the way through Zach really wished he hadn’t worn his Sperry’s and just shy of the top we asked a gentleman coming back down how close we were and we could have hugged him when he said less than 10 minutes!

Not bad for the top of a mountain that I used to be a snowboard instructor at, Smuggler’s Notch represent 😉

When in Jeffersonville, you get a sandwich at The Cupboard Deli. If I ever created a list of Maxims, that would be one of them.

While Zach fished, I took on the incredibly important task of sunbathing on the big rock/taking photos. I love me some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale so I was intrigued by their Summerfest when I saw it in the stores.  Not necessarily my favorite, I’m sort of picky about summer beers because sometimes I think they taste a bit too artificial but this was definitely a solid summer beer.

It took us just under 40 minutes to get up to the pond and we knew the trail would start to get dark soon so naturally I made Zach snap a quick picture and off we went.

 Another successful Vermont summer weekend in the books!

Would you do/have you done the Ice Bucket Challenge?

Do you enjoy golfing?

Would you rather a slow and steady hike or a short and steep one?

Recapping: Vermont Brewers Festival

Happy Monday All!

As some of you already know, Friday evening I attended the Vermont Brewers Festival so this morning I thought I’d recap some of the festivities! Last summer was my first time attending and it quickly became one of my favorite nights of the year. I mean what could be better than an evening with great friends, gorgeous summer weather on the waterfront and of course, the copious amounts of amazing beer!

Arguably the worst part of brew fest is far before the actual event when tickets go on sale… these tickets sell out SO FAST! This year I read that they sold out in less than 20 minutes! In fact, the day the tickets went on sale Zach had an accident on an ATV and had to be taken to the ER for what we thought could be a broken hand. Of course I took him to the ER but not before making sure we had secured both of our tickets… priorities people, priorities.

The gates opened just before 5:30 to let people in to the food area where Maria and I consumed a much needed and incredibly tasty gyro… Ahli Baba’s, you never disappoint me. Shortly after 5:30 the horn sounds, the gate drops and it’s off to the brews! A massive bag of kettle corn, 15 drink tickets and a lovely souvenir glass in hand we made our way through the crowd.

Another festival, another festival selfie with this lovely lady

In terms of lines there were definitely some long ones for a few places- Alchemist, Hill Farmstead, Lawson’s and surprisingly (to me anyway) Burlington Beer Company. I opted out of waiting as I am fortunate enough to have most of these at my disposal but with a good “line beer” I am sure the wait would have been worth it. I believe I counted 35 Vermont breweries and 14 out of towners, pretty impressive for a tiny state 😉

My handsome date, without a broken hand

Some of our favorite local brews were…

Drop In Brewing Company: These ladies looked like they were having a great time, which I loved. As for the beer, Zach and I are big hops fans, so we tried their Supernova IPA. Zach loved it, I thought it was solid but I didn’t enjoy the aftertaste. I tried some of Maria’s Sunshine and Hoppiness and that was amazing!

14th Star Brewing Company: I’m pretty sure this was the only place I spent two drink tickets for one beer and it was completely worth it for the Double Honey IPA. Sweet but stilly hoppy, I was a big fan.

Kingdom Brewing Company: I was just kidding about that previous statement, I also spent two drink tickets on the Kingdom’s Out of Bounds IPA and it ended up being my favorite beer of the night. It was smooth and easy drinking but definitely packed a punch of hops. I would get into trouble drinking these all day!

As for the Out of Towners:

Portsmouth Brewery: I’ve actually been to the brewery in New Hampshire but I had never tried their I.L.L. which was quite literally a hoppy lager that I really enjoyed.

Brasserie Dunham: These guys from Quebec had some of the coolest names for their beers, Maria tried a Leo’s Early Breakfast IPA which combines guava puree and earl grey tea… what??

Taking photos with these attractive babes in front of the bathrooms, because there wasn’t a gorgeous lake right next to us or anything…

As I’ve said before, this is one of my favorite events of the year. I feel like the 5:30-9:30 time slot is the perfect amount of time for going at your own pace and enjoying the evening with friends. The 15 drink tickets always seem to be too little at the beginning and then by then end you still have 3 left and are well on your way to that beer-induced “happy place” for the rest of the night. I love that people from all over come to join in on the fun and the location (though poorly documented in my photos) is hard to beat!

Not sure why I have two full beers in my hand

Also, just an important fact about me… I am a sucker for swag- coaster swag, sticker swag, I’m down with all of it. If you share this feeling with me then the brew fest is absolutely a must!

Swag for days

So there you have it, my time at brew fest was just as awesome as I hoped it would be and (insert incredibly dorky terminator voice) I’ll be back!
Yep, I did that.

Side note: I’m quickly realizing that this blog started as a fitness/lifestyle blog and has quickly turned into “Kari drinks at various fun events across the state, oh and sometimes she works out.” I mean when in Rome, right?

How was your weekend?

Have you ever attended a Brew Fest?

A Weekend at Home

As much as I love traveling and getting away for the weekends I can’t help but really appreciate weekends at home.  If I’m lucky they end up with the perfect amounts of fun and relaxation, this weekend was certainly no exception!

On Friday my sister, Katie and I went over to the newly renovated taproom at Switchback Brewing to hang out with our cousin who is a brewer.  The new bar is gorgeous and I was surprised by how spacious it was in there, even when the after-work crowd started pouring in they definitely had the space and the staff to keep up!  In terms of beer, my friends and I aren’t exactly beer snobs (read: we sort of are and can’t help it) but if we are at the bars Switchback is our “easy drinking” choice.  I really love their new Pale Ale and I get excited to see it on tap around town.

  

We weren’t sure if you could have dogs in the taproom but they quickly informed us that Maggie was welcome so we brought her in and after being pretty forward with a few humans she calmed down.

This also happened…

After Switchback we did a quick costume change and went over the the South End Truck Stop, as I mentioned in my VT Bucket List post, I have been wanting to get over to the truck stop this summer so I was pretty excited to make it happen.  I didn’t take any pictures but just know that the food trucks smelled delicious but I will admit it was very busy, like almost too busy.  I ate a pulled pork sandwich from Southern Smoke and it was one of the best pulled pork sandwiches I’ve ever had!  After living in the south I have semi-high standard but it was literally incredible!

I promised my friend Tori (who writes the Hotel Vermont Blog) that I would stop by their Milonga Tango Argentine dance party, so Maria and I headed over to the courtyard to listen to some great music and watch the very impressive tango dancers!  We arrived at the tail end of the party, long enough to get asked to dance but not brave (read: boozed) enough to say yes… but we still had a blast sipping on a couple glasses of wine in the beautifully decorated courtyard and chatting away.  If you get to the Burlington area and need a place to stay definitely check out Hotel Vermont and the Courtyard Burlington Harbor! Seriously can’t go wrong with either- but I’m wicked biased 😉

On Saturday Katie and I walked down to Church St to test out a new Italian restaurant, Pascolo Ristorante.  Pascolo was opened by the Farmhouse Group who already have one of Burlington’s darling restaurants (and one of my personal favs) with The Farmhouse Tap & Grill. The service was great and all of our meals looked excellent.  I had accidentally eaten breakfast an hour before so I wasn’t starving by any means but I did get this pretty boss caprese sandwich on focaccia bread. I also just ate a piece of leftover Margherita pizza that was excellent cold… I think I’m the only person on the planet that enjoys cold pizza over hot.

After lunch (and a quick stop at the Shaved Ice cart on Church St) a few friends and I gathered our stuff and headed out to another stop on my bucket list, Niquette Bay!

We went sort of later in the day so it wasn’t as packed (score!) but we still managed to have a blast swimming around in the surprisingly warm water and jumping off the cliffs! The sun had moved beyond our spot so we didn’t get scorched out there which was a super nice change to my recent burns.

On Sunday we had people over to our oven of an apartment to watch the World Cup Final, 2 box fans between 10 people means things got real sweaty real fast. Props to my friends for sticking it out 😉  Zach is obsessed with the Germany squad so I definitely leaned towards them over Argentina… sorry for your loss Messi- welcome to being cursed.  I knew I wanted to make some sort of dessert to fit the theme (I am all about themes people- ALL about them) but I literally had an hour to prepare so I went with this recipe from CookiesCakesPiesOhMy for Black Forest cupcakes… Germany- Black Forest- World Cup- Cupcakes, you get the theme.

The recipe could not have been easier and while I was worried when the batter was so thick they came out perfectly moist and got rave reviews from the friends and family- even Zach ate one and that never happens. Please ignore my happy birthday cupcake liners, I forgot I didn’t have any regular ones when I started making them.  Seriously though, make these cupcakes, they will not disappoint!

Did you do anything new and exciting this weekend?

Did you watch any of the World Cup games?

This Weekend I…

Took a selfie while fishing on the Colchester Causeway…       It was necessary I promise.

Caught my first ever fish!!! I can’t even put into words how excited I was so instead I will share a ridiculous hair day photo of the momentous occasion…

Seriously though, my glasses aren’t even on my head right!

Swam around in this beautiful place…

Seymour lake for the win!

Hung out with these clowns at Joe’s Grandfather’s 90th Birthday…

It was a gorgeous day to celebrate!

Took a shot of scotch and soda for the man of the hour…

Hollis in the background giving the thumbs up!

Got our dance on at the party…

And our sweat on because it was so freaking hot.

Listened to Hollis tell us how he got to 90…

“The key is to stay positive, that’s how I’ve been doing it for 90 years and that’s how I’m going to do it for the next 90!”

Leaving camp after a great weekend is always tough but I’m so excited to have a short week at work thanks to the 4th! Zach and I will be heading to Connecticut at some point and that will definitely fill the post-camp trip void 😉

Happy Monday People!

Fun Facts Friday

Alright! Alright! Alright!

(I like to imagine Matthew McConaughey loves Fridays just like I do)

Fun Facts Friday will be my version of Friday Favorites or Five Things Friday… these facts will all be incredibly true and worth reading/taking in to consideration… obviously.

1. Ice Cream Socials were fun as a kid but might be even more fun as an adult.

This is my “ice cream in the hair don’t care” face.

Vermont = Farm Country

A moose wine holder??? How unnecessarily necessary!

I spent a lovely afternoon catching up with a dear friend over a couple of MASSIVE cones of ice cream and a long walk through the islands.  For those of you who haven’t been you must and I mean must make a trip to Seb’s Snack Bar in South Hero at least once in your life.  I have never been to a place where I chose hard ice cream over soft but at Seb’s the cookie dough hard ice cream is basically heaven. Plus it’s attached to one of the cutest little country stores… I mean hello who doesn’t need a hand crafted moose wine holder?

2. A Trader Joe’s Cookbook (skinny style) is a brilliant idea.

Seriously, it has photos for each recipe… I’m sold.

Mexican food and potatoes?!? Yupp.

I picked this incredibly random cookbook up at a Christmas Tree Shop a week ago and can’t wait to try out some of the recipes.  Now that Vermont finally has a Trader Joe’s (I know what you are thinking and it really is tragic… we don’t even have a Target… life is tough) I am super pumped to know exactly where to get everything. The only thing missing from the cookbook was multiple recipes on how to use cookie butter… probably because “Skinny” was in the title.

3. A Sunday spent on the golf course is the perfect way to spend a Sunday.

Brother crushing it on the links.

On Sunday my big brother and I went golfing at Ralph Myhre Golf Course at Middlebury College.  It was the first time I had been there and from the drive there to the course itself it did not dissapoint! My score was nothing remarkable but it felt great to get out and spend a gorgeous Vermont afternoon swinging some clubs.  I even learned how to hit my hybrid… only took me 5 years 😉

4. When you find a great concealer it’s sort of like winning the clear skin lottery.

L’Oreal True Match Crayon Concealer

I literally cannot remember which blogger suggested this but I picked it up yesterday and could not be more happy with it. It feels great and it covers so well! If you are looking for an inexpensive but trustworthy concealer you must try it out! (Plus Rite Aid has a ballin’ return policy)

5. Weeknights at the Ball Park are basically the best.

Vermont Lake Monsters vs Tri City Valleycats

These people are pretty cool.

Thursday Evening Ballpark Style

I had the pleasure of spending last evening at Centennial field which is such a cool little ballpark with an awesome history! A few friends of mine decided to go in on some season tickets this summer to the Vermont Lake Monsters (a minor league affiliate of the Oakland A’s) and now have a great excuse to spend home games together at the field.

ACTUAL FACT ALERT: Legend has it our very own Lake Champlain has it’s own lake monster affectionately referred to as “Champ”

Keep it real folks 🙂