Regular Blog Post....

BEER REVIEWS!

Thanks for your responses! I'm happy to serve as your personal beer reviewer...might as well, since I try enough beers and drink enough for a living. Once a month I'll give you a couple new beers I've tried and my thoughts. I'll try to review beers you can get locally and try for yourself. Just to help my own cause a little, I'll tell you my current favorite Sam Adams too!

Sam Adams Octoberfest...sooo good! Casey's favorite and mine too. It's a dark amber color which just invites you to the fall season right away. Made with 5 malts, it's pretty full in flavor and a little sweeter from the caramel malt. You can taste caramel, toffee, and a little roastiness. so smooth...this is truly a german mairzen session beer...meant to drink at a big long table with friends, stein after stein.



Goose Island IPA...a great india pale ale. If you like hoppier beers but aren't thilled with having your mouth pucker from the bitterness of the likes of Dogfish, this is the beer for you! Clear and golden with a nice white foamy head...looks pretty delicious when poured on draft. Very clean and crisp while having lots of flavor and a light spice lingering at the end of the hops. Goose Island is a brewery from Chicago and make a lot of aweosme brews...you should be able to find it in most places because Bud has the distributing rights...so it's everywhere - find this one!



Brooklyn Lager (because I'm in NY)...smooth amber colored full flavored lager. has some sweetness from the malt and a hint of hop bitterness but neither are prominent or overpowering. just a nice mellow beer with flavor. compared to sam adams boston lager there is a lot less hop spice in Brookly Lager. quite enjoyable...no wonder it sells so well in nyc!


Long Trail Ale (because I was in vermont)...all their beers are rretty blah. tastes like earth...which is a common hop quality which can come out in the aroma of the beer. But shouldn't come out in the taste! These beers taste like you dug up some earth and mixed it with a light ale.



inappropriate beer drinking...this is at Matt's going away party and that would be his good friend Ross and Casey in the picture with me...can you spot Nick in the background?


appropriate beer drinking in Breckenridge, CO.

the traveling saleswoman

We've been pretty busy these days....working and traveling!

I have been a little MIA from blogging this past month because I have been traveling A LOT and when I travel with work I'm pretty consumed throughout the day and evenings and when I travel to see family and friends, I'm spending time with them!

Here's a short synopsis of my past month. Burlington, VT for a week for work...Richmond for a weekend reunion with my VT girls and to celebrate my friend, Colleen's soon to be arriving baby girl :) Boston for a weekend to see family, friends, and the BC-VT game...Boston again for a weekend to see family and celebrate Caroline's arrival and also that week for work.

It has all been great! Here's some highlights:

-Vermont in the fall is gorgeous...the leaves were changing and people who go up there to see them change are called "leaf peepers" (weird name) I was surprised to find out how many companies are based up there...Ben & Jerrys, Vermont Teddy Bear, Cabot Cheese, Green Mountain Coffee, Magic Hat Brewery, Long Trail Brewery, and Orvis to name a few. Locals LOVE Vermont and literally only want to eat, breathe and sleep things that come from vermont. Overall, I'd go back in the summer to see Lake Champlain or to ski.

-Richmond was a 30-40 degree difference in weather, haha. My college girlfriends and I had a great weekend together and had a nice little baby shower for Colleen! We watched the Hokie game together and had some great dinners and late night convos...so fun! I also got squeeze in a little visit with my parents and my friends the kays, peddicords, and sara. So nice to see good friends that I don't get to see very often...especially since they have a sweet little new puppy, Charlie!

Jamie, Melissa, Allison, myself, Colleen (mommy to be), and Natalie


yay baby girl Rust!

celebrating :)

me and charlie

Kat, Tracy, Sara, and I with the girl dogs...Charlie, Bella & Lilly...missing Cole :(


-Our Boston weekend trip was great! Besides hitting insane traffic in connecticut on the way up friday evening...we loved getting to see our college friends! Plus we got to see Caroline for the first time (read previous blog). It was lots of fun having a good time together and getting to see the Hokies play at Boston College. Although I will say that BC fans are really un-excited by their team and vt didn't look very good either, so the only good things about the game were the beautiful weather, good friends, and we pullled out a win!

BC stadium and campus behind it


Adam, Nick and Trace...i couldn't get these guys to take 1 good picture all weekend!


Natalie and me at the game!


-My next Boston trip was soooo fun too :) I got lots of quality time with Caroline, my mom, aunt, shannon and andy! Shannon's baby shower was so much fun...little miss caroline is definitely set for a while. I also got snuggle with the little one later that day and again on sunday and then AGAIN in the middle of the week on wednesday! she changes more and more every time I see her...amazing. Not only did we do a lot of baby showering, but also some shopping and got the new dad (my brother, Andy) out to the last Red Sox game of the season. cooold night, but great seats and they beat the yankees!

andy in his season tickets seats!


mom, andy, and i at fenway!


I will post pictures of Shannon's shower pics when I get some copies...I didn't take any pics myself :( Maybe a picture-only blog is in the works :)

NEWS FLASH...I am an Aunt! Caroline has arrived!

I think being an Aunt is going to be my favorite new role...mostly because my niece is the sweetest little cupcake and the most special tiny peanut out there.

While I was in Richmond on Sept. 18th visiting friends, I got a call from my brother, Andy that Shannon had had a little girl! I was really really surprised because Shannon wasn't due for another 6 weeks...also a little worried to make sure everything was ok, but mostly ecstatic to hear the news!

As the day went on we heard updates on how mom and the baby were doing and everything continued to sound positive. She was a little thing coming in at 4lbs 6oz! The next day we heard her name...Caroline Elizabeth Smith...so pretty.

Shannon stayed in the hospital till the following Wednesday while Caroline was in the special care nursery for about a week and a half. She was very pink and healthy while gaining weight steadily and feeding like a champ!

The week in between when she was born and when we headed to Boston..i was dying of anticipation to meet her. We headed up on Friday night...baby gifts in hand and got to spend a lot of time in the hospital visiting with Caroline and her new parents on Saturday afternoon and then again briefly on Sunday. She was soooo tiny and asleep, but we got to see her get fed and burp and hold her for the first time!

Last week I got to snuggle with her after she had come home and she is doing great!! getting bigger and bigger...smiling a little and has started to open her eyes and look up me :) She is sooo little and snuggly - i love holding her! i think she likes her aunt leslie because every time i gave her a little kiss on her sweet cheek she smiled! She also stopped fussing when i held her and rocked her a little...then I gave her a high five when the eagles scored and told her we would go shopping together one day. So I'm pretty sure I'm her favorite aunt...even if I'm her only aunt, haha.

Mom and Dad Smith are doing great and getting the hang of changing diapers, feeding, burping and doing all things baby. Now she's over 5lbs and getting cuter by the day...can't wait till we get to see her again!

Our Visit in the Hospital





Now that she's home...up to date pics Shannon has sent us during the week.
With socks on!


Smiling


wide awake!

Girl Time

One of the hardest parts of moving away from Northern Virginia was leaving my girlfriends. I have the most amazing group of friends (case in point, Leslie, my blog buddy, isn’t she awesome!) In Arlington I always had a friend who was willing to have a girls’ night filled with rom com’s and red wine or get dressed up for a night out on the town (or just another trip to Clarendon Ballroom.) Although living with Matt and Karl is great, they do not have the same appreciation for my Thursday night tv/wine sessions (Project Runway, Grey’s, Private Practice, Real Housewives, Always Sunny - my DVR cannot possibly keep up…) Sometimes you just need a girlfriend and, lucky for me, the past couple of weeks I have been able to have some much needed girl time!

Three weeks ago, Tina came down for a visit. I absolutely loved having her here. Her arrival coincided with the season premiere of all of our favorites shows that we were used to watching together in our little Birchwood apartment. Now instead of BBMing about them (BBM example: What do you think of Heidi’s shag bangs?), we could critique everything from my couch. It was perfect! We spent time at the beach, the bars, and had some Blackwater Bistro pizza! I hated to see her go, but I get to see her in another week, so everything worked outJ

In addition to my fabulous visit, I have also made a great group of friends here in Milton. Ask anyone in the military and they will tell you that one of the best things about being in the service (or married to someone in the service) is meeting new friends. I especially enjoy my military spouses because they understand what it is like to be away from family, to change jobs every six months, and to deal with the sometimes-ridiculousness of the military life. They understand that sometimes you just need a break from it all! And that is exactly what we did this past Saturday night. Four other wives and I booked a hotel room at Pensacola Beach’s newest hotel, Margaritaville! We dressed up, went to a nice dinner, visited the Landshark bar, and spent the rest of the night bonding over drinks in the hotel room. It was a perfect girls’ night from the multiple outfit choices to the risqué dinner conversation that had people staring;) Even though all of us will be leaving here in the next couple of months, it is possible that we could end up in the same area. I sure hope so, because we already have plans to go to Vegas when the boys deployJ

Spending this past Saturday night with the girls made me realize how much I missed my girls’ only nights. Luckily I do not have to wait long until another one because this weekend I am headed to NYC to spend the entire weekend with Leslie and Tina!

PS – Matt and Karl do their best to be my substitute ‘girl’ friends. Karl watches Glee with me and, sometimes, Matt will even judge a Project Runway outfit. Thanks, guys!

At Peg Leg Pete's drinking Bushwacker's

Group shot

Pensacola Seafood Festival

Girls' Night at Margaritaville!

Pre-dinner

I had lobster mac and cheese - LOBSTER MAC AND CHEESE!

Jimmy Buffet's Landshark bar - complete with hammocks and beach bonfires

The view from our hotel room - sometimes it is hard for me to believe that I live here!

Home Sweet Home

Since we have been here for a couple of months, I thought that it would be nice to give you a little tour of our house. Even though we don’t know how long we will be here, I still think that it is important to make our house feel like a home. We can’t paint the walls, hang too many pictures, or plant any flowers, but it is amazing what some indoor plants and candles will do for a house. Enjoy the tour…

Welcome to our Hokie house!

Come on in...

Study table - previously known as our kitchen table - you will usually find Matt on one side and Karl on the other with books spread allllll over

Notice the 70s style fake fire - we thought it was appropriate since it has dropped below 80 degrees

My island

Mave aka man cave

Come visit and you will stay in this room

Our room - notice Sadie's Hokie bed

Oh how I love our double sinks

Walk through closets - I couldn't take a picture of Matt's side;)

My favorite big girl purchase

Hope you enjoyed the tour - now I am going to go enjoy a glass of wine on our little porch:)