Beer – A Smith of All Trades

Beer Scavenger Hunt

November 19, 2012November 20, 2012 Jessica Smith

All my hubby wanted for his birthday was cake and beer. Being the birthday lover that I am, I was a little sad that he didn’t want to celebrate turning 27 with our friends and didn’t want any awesome gift. So I decided to make his request a little more exciting by sending him on a scavenger hunt to find his beer.

So, I snuck out one night to do some grocery shopping and to stop by one of the liquor stores in the area that has a nice selection of craft beers — Perfect Pour is the bomb! I picked out 28 unique beers (one for good luck!), and stashed them in my craft room so he wouldn’t find them. Then, I created 18 clues (they all rhymed!!) and strategically hid all 28 beers around the house and the yard. I also hid one at the neighbors. It was a lot of fun to watch him hunt, and it was a fun way to make his birthday a little more special.

Clue #1: Remmy likes to eat these, sometimes more than treats. Sometimes they are stinky, ‘cause they belong on feet.

Clue #2: All you asked for was cake and beer, I guess you’ll want one cold. Better find the rest real fast before you get too old.

Clue #3: Don’t hate me too much, some beers come in pairs. For your first set of two, go check the Harry Potter closet underneath the stairs.

Clue #6: You know who’s quite the loser? That Steeler’s boy – Big Ben. You know what’s so much cooler? Your beer that’s in the den.

Clue #9: I’d rather have a power tool than a brand new, shiny ring. Good thing they’re all so organized, you can find everything!

Clue #13: Modern Family and New Girl are the bomb. So is HGTV. Good thing ours is a 55 incher, with totally awesome HD.

Clue #15: While you’re outside, you should probably check the trees. Just watch out – don’t step in Remmy’s poop or pee.

I hid about half of the beers while he was playing a video game… so sneaky 🙂

Then, he ran out to get tonic water at the grocery store, so I frantically hid the rest. As he pulled into the driveway my neighbor shouted, “HE’S HERE!!!!!” I tossed the last beer into a pile of leaves, which was really hard to find later, and ran inside to meet him.

Also, to throw him off my sneaky scent, I went out and bought a 12-pack earlier in the day to keep good on my “cake and beer promise.” Haha I felt a little ridiculous buying even more beer when we had 28 bottles at home. Oh well!

All in all, he had a great time. If your man is a beer lover, you should totally do this for him. It’s hilarious to watch them hunt and is a manly(ish) way to make them feel special on their birthday.

And don’t forget the cake! Purple — just for the Ravens!

Wipe that scowl off your face, boy. You loved the hunt 🙂

Happy birthday to my favorite husband. I hope it was a low-key and special day, just like you wanted. <;3 You are always such a good sport.

Life

A house of truffles and a house-warming party

August 13, 2012August 13, 2012 Jessica Smith

Like what you see? Of course you do. It’s a house made out of chocolate and basically the most amazing house-warming gift ever. You all know that every once in a while I have to brag about how awesome by best friend — and who wouldn’t brag about a friend who makes chocolate houses!?!

It gets even better. First of all, the house is chocolate (duh). Total win. Second, Dana even put the pink chips on the same side of the house as our pink roses. Double win.

Third, there is a photo of Remmy looking out of the window. Triple win.

AND FINALLY, the house is FILLED WITH TRUFFLES!!!! O.M.G.

We need to have house-warming parties more often if they mean I get chocolate houses 🙂 I almost don’t want to eat it! Almost…

Speaking of house-warming gifts… we got so much wine. SO MUCH WINE! I think we were given 25 – 30 bottles. Holy moley. We also got the yummiest homemade jams (blackberry, raspberry and blueberry) from our friend Amanda; adorable bar accessories (coasters and napkins) from our friend Mill; a yard game and grill tools from Brian’s momma; a picture frame and kitchen stuff from our friend Alissa; and a Ravens quilt and blue table runner from my grandma Becky. We are so spoiled.

Enough about our gifts. Let’s talk party.

Saturday was so much fun. We had a great group of people at the barbecue and were so happy that everyone was finally able to make it out to see our place. It was fun explaining to people the little tweaks we made here and there and explaining the big family room renovation. We had a ton of delicious food and drinks, and we had a couple of very entertaining yard games. Bocci and corn hole are awesome.

Even the babies who came had a great time.

This little guy even came wearing a tux! 😀 SO CUTE.

Overall, we had a fantastic party and were so happy to spend the day with our friends and family. You are all awesome and we loved having you over.

Sunday we crashed. Hard. I don’t think I’ve ever taken so many naps in my life. Even the dog was tired, and he didn’t even party with us!

Hopefully you all had great weekends! Happy Monday!

Craft Projects

Project 5: Coaster art

January 25, 2012January 25, 2012 Jessica Smith

My father-in-law passed away a year and a half ago and my hubby’s mom has generously given us many of Grant’s personal belongings to incorporate in our home to help us remember him every day. Among the things she gave us were a few of Grant’s collections, including a coin collection, a collection of chess pieces and a bunch of old coasters he collected when he was overseas in Germany. I’ve kept these things in my craft room, waiting for inspiration on how to display them in our home.

I had an old record frame sitting in my craft room, so I decided to frame some of Grant’s coasters for us to display. It was a simple project, but I think the finished product looks great.

Here’s what I used: Coaster, brown wrapping paper, hot glue, record frame.

I cut the brown paper down and laid the back of the record frame on top.

I folded the edges over the back of the frame to get a clean look from the front — the record frame doesn’t leave much room for error. Almost everything in the frame is shown, including the edges.

I made sure the paper fit into the frame nicely before I started adding the coasters.

I originally intended on gluing the coasters to the paper and spacing them out by eye, but they fit so tightly in the frame that I decided to do it the opposite way. So, I laid them out in the frame the way I wanted them to appear in the frame.