Good morning and happy weekend all!!

I’m writing to you from a comfortable couch after sleeping on a less-than-comfortable floor…. ah, the life of a Triangle Nomad, right?

It was more than worth it though, as last night was the Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ Festival in Cary, NC!

This was the second year in a row I’ve attended the festival, both celebrating (a day later) my beau’s birthday!  We had a killer groupon deal for it, and joined two of our buddies, Claire and Taylor, for the festivities.

Even though we got there half an hour before the doors opened, there was still a line.  Luckily, we were toward the front (whew).

Luckily, we had entertainment in the form of some classy zydeco music.

They actually ended up letting the “will-call” ticket holders in about 5 minutes before the Groupon holders, which was pretty lame in my book. That being said, by the time we got in, there was a lotta beer to go around.

You can see Taylor’s sweet lanyard on the right there, which perfectly held our tasting glasses when we didn’t feel like holding them ourselves.  It was a nice enabler to my laziness, I have to say.

There was some awesome drinks there:

There were some…. less than tasty drinks there:

The BBQ was off the chain (and included with the Groupon!!)

And we had a lot of laughs.

We even found some other beer buddies in the area.

We had Zingo come and pick us up/drive my car back to Taylor’s house for a little late night swimming.

I also have a bit of a confession. When I’m surrounded by the possibility of coming home with free stuff…. I kinda go a little crazy.

• 6 temporary tattoos
• Heavy Seas Eye patch
• Absolut Vodka bar mat
• Malibu Rum bar mat
• Palms Sticker
• Lanyard and tasting glass
• 3 koozies
• a little baggy of hops!
• 1 flashlight keychain
• 2 bottle opener keychains
• a Magic Hat sticker
• a Magic Hat condom (get it…. a “magic hat”! — That’s what the Magic Hat rep told us.)
• And an Iron Man shirt…. in a boys medium. Yeah that may have been from the pool later. Sorry, little man. Don’t leave your things lying around.  Creeps might pick em up.  Creeps like me.

Since we lived it up and dined/drank like royalty last night, I’m off to a pilates class at noon. I’m nervous…. Wish me luck!