After the success of Pub Golf last year for the big 3-Oh, we had to do it again. But this year we had a different theme: Bar Olympics.

The costumes were a bit trickier this year; you couldn’t just wear argyle or plaid. . .you had to put a little more thought in it. But I think they all came out great. We had field hockey refs, runners, tennis players, soccer players/fans, and spectators. I loved everyone’s outfits!

The “crawl” took place on McKinney Ave again because it worked so well last time. We were only at each stop for 45ish minutes. First stop was Black Friar, we met there at 4:00. I was so excited about this stop because they sell Leffe Blondes, and thanks to WhitforBrit and many mentions to Leffe’s I had been wanting try one for quite some time. (Quite tasty, if I do say so myself.)

I’m not going to lie; the thing that drew me to tonight’s book was the cover and title.

Based solely on the title I bought the book one day, knowing I would take it to read on my vacation. Though I must confess I thought this would be a chicklit book I would just breeze through. Somehow I missed the word “memoir” on the cover.

This book starts out at what you would assume would be the low point of the author’s life. Due to her surgeon’s error two of her organs were punctured and she had to spend 2 weeks in the hospital and months hooked up to a “pee bag” as she calls it.

Things seem to turn around, her recovery is moving along just fine, and then her husband announces that he is leaving her for Bob. A man he met on gay.com. But that’s not the worst of it, a few days later she is in a terrible car accident that leaves her seriously injured.

With not many options, and a house that costs more than she can afford, Rhoda returns to her parent’s home and the Mennonite community she ran away from. At this point in the book, for an unknown reason I glanced at the front cover and saw the glowing review of this book from Elizabeth Gilbert. After not being able to make it through “Eat, Love, Pray” I almost threw the book down and moved on. . .but, I was on vacation and didn’t have many other book options.

Hesitantly I started reading again. . .and found myself laughing out loud whenever Rhoda talked about her mom. She is one fiery, opinionated woman, who has never lived anywhere but in the Mennonite community her entire life but boy does she have some hilarious perspectives and thoughts that I had to share with my friends.

In spite of Elizabeth Gilbert’s review, I too have to recommend this read. You don’t even have to know anything about the Mennonite community to enjoy this book because I sure didn’t.

My friend Tara sent me this and I thought it was hilarious and oh so true!

A real man is a woman’s best friend. He will
never stand her up and never let her down.
He will reassure her when she feels insecure
and comfort her after a bad day.

He will inspire her to do things she never
thought she could do; to live without fear
and forget regret. He will enable her to
express her deepest emotions and give in to
her most intimate desires. He will make sure
she always feels as though she’s the most
beautiful woman in the room and will enable
her to be the most confident, sexy,
seductive and invincible.

No wait… sorry…

I’m thinking of wine.

It’s wine that does all that.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATE!! In honor of Kate’s birthday, I (Beth) have taken over her blog today. Kate needs a proper shoutout on here without having to write it herself. And in honor of her birthday I would like to share 10 things I like/love/want to share about Kate, Katers, Kady Lady with you:

10. There was that one time she went missing on New Year’s Eve and I drove all over looking for her and even called the police station to see if she had been arrested (you’ll have to ask her where she really was ).

9. We get to see each other pretty much all day every day since we live together and work in the same office!

8. She keeps the house stocked with wine!!

7. I love her for growing out of Barbie’s and passing on a sweet collection to me when we were little (see the sweet dream house behind us).

6. She’s always available via facebook, gchat, twitter, BBM or text if you need her….well, except for that one time on New Year’s Eve

5. She made my website for me and so graciously helps me out A TON with it – www.lifesafont.com

4. I love that she’s having another cool birthday party this year!

3. Growing up we spent A LOT of time with our boy cousins on our mom’s side of the family….we lived in the same neighborhood for awhile and all attended the same school…..Kate was always my allie and bestie.

2. Because it was probably her idea – one time all 3 of us kids thought we were going to be in trouble (a.k.a. be spanked) with our parents so we all put on multiple pairs of underwear and multiple pairs of shorts before going downstairs to face our punishment….but it turned out we weren’t in trouble at all!

1. Because she didn’t kill me that one time when I gave a guy her phone number because I didn’t want to give him mine and he called her like 3 nights in a row at 1 or 2 a.m. (For the record….I’m still sorry, but I also still find it hilarious!! )

Happy Birthday again!! You are the best and my favorite sister!! Love you!

Beth or Beeper

I know, I know Mondays are book review days. . .so I’m a day late but my stupid modem died and we have no internet service, so I apologize.

This week its another Chicklit book but by Whitney Lyles. I read her book, Always the Bridesmaid years ago and thought it was cute, so while browsing the shelves at Barnes & Noble I was happy to stumble upon “First Comes Love.”

Now that Ethan and Cate have been married they begin to struggle with wether or not they are ready to have a kid as all their friends around them are starting their families.

As someone that has never had a child. . .I am now completely freaked out. . .but still I thought the book was hilarious. Cate doesn’t have the greatest experience being pregnant and spends most of her pregnancy in bed.

I absolutely love Whitney’s writing style and find her books to be a fun and easy read. I can’t wait to read another one of her books.

Sorry to keep it short and sweet but when your borrowing internet from your mom it’s better to be in and out!

It had been just over 5 years since I went on an extended vacation. . .which meant it was about time for one. I went to the Dominican Republic with my friends Meredith & Melissa. We left at the crack of dawn Wednesday morning because we had a 5:40 am flight out of Dallas to Punta Cana (with a brief stop in Atlanta).

We stayed at the Occidental Flamenco, all-inclusive hotel. . .it was alright. . .nothing special, but I can’t really complain because we were less than 5 minutes from the beach. My plan for this trip was to relax so there really isn’t a lot to tell about the trip other than our excursion.

My sister had gone to Punta Cana a few years ago and highly recommended the Saona Island excursion. The only day we could do it was our first full day in the DR and it was a great way to start the trip. We were picked up at 7 am and had a 2 hour bus ride. . .that was a bit of drag but once we were on the water we forgot about it. Check out the view:

We took a catamaran out to the island and then had time to enjoy the beach and the water. While we were on the island we got to know the other people on our excursion that were a lot of fun. In fact if you are up in Montreal and looking for something to do, check out our new Stand-up Comedian friend Daniel. After lunch they loaded us up on this huge speed boat and took us to the “natural swimming pull” and got to play with starfish.

It was the best day, after that we spent the rest of the time chilling on the beach and reading. I couldn’t have asked for a better vacation and most definitely will not be waiting another 5 years for my next vacation!

Tonight I decided to go with an oldie but a goodie. . .the 2008 Kali Hart Chardonnay. With these 100+ degree temperatures I had to go with something chilled. And after the adjustment from vacation back to the real world. . .I needed something I KNEW would be good.

Since you know I already like this wine. . .instead of discussing why I like it I want to share with you some fellow winos I have found via twitter that have some great wine knowledge and are pretty darn entertaining.

Recently I discovered that much like on my blog, on twitter it is #WineWednesday. This is how I found @CorkTease, this girl cracks me up! Check out her blog! And @FabOCGirl suggested two new types of wine to me tonight I’d never heard of: Sancerre and Albarion (both whites) – look for these to be discussed here soon. Be sure to visit her blog. Last but not least @UCBeau, he seconded the above suggestions and he has a wine and food blog you should check out!

Sorry to keep it short and sweet tonight but this bottle of wine is getting tome! I’ll post vacation pictures tomorrow for you to see!

Oh and there will be a pause from wine o. wednesday next week more than likely as it is a “special” day and there is a possibility my blog will be hijacked. . .

Cheers!

I have got quite a few books to discuss after my vacation. . .but in an effort to keep it short but sweet, I will talk about them one at a time.

The first book I read was one I stumbled upon at Barnes & Noble a while back and never got around to reading. It is called, Names My Sisters Call Me by Meg Crane.

This was definitely a quick and easy read but it was also very entertaining. Technically I think this would be considered a “chick lit” book but I thought it had a little more depth to it (a deeper meaning if you will. . .). In a light-hearted and unobtrusive way Crane addresses how one event affects the three very different sisters in her story.

Thirty years prior to the story’s beginning Courtney, Norah & Raine’s father walked out of their lives. The ripple effects of this event in each sister’s life set the course for how they would spend their lives treating or rather hiding from one another.

Without giving away the story, I appreciate that in the end they realize that they may never see eye to eye or truly understand one another but that’s okay they don’t have to.

I definitely recommend this book, so go read it!

I actually did wine o. tuesday last week because I got together with some friends for dinner and then sadly had a really busy week last week. . .which is why I am just getting this blog up. . .August is going to be a busy month so I’m might be a bit of a slacker and will go ahead and appologize for that now!

I stumbled upon the 2008 McWilliams Cabernet Sauvignon. A few years a go a friend of mine gave me the 2006 Cab and I loved it! I am happy to report. . .the 2008 is JUST as good! The only change I could see was an updated label; it went from yellow to a crisp, clean white label.

This is a must try Cabernet that isn’t too pricey, it’s always under $15.00. Let me know what you think when you try it!

Cheers!

One thing I was definitely tardy to the party on in life, was floating the river. I’m really not sure how I never knew about it; it’s so much fun!

Not that long ago we decided we wanted to float the river this summer and picked last weekend. So I went in search of a place to stay. After scouring numerous vacation rental properties, I stumbled up what I think was a great find; a cute little house in New Braunfels that sleeps 10 called Hausita.

It was perfect less than 10 minutes from both the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers. Last year we floated the Comal so this year we decided to float the Guadalupe. It was high this year so we didn’t have to get up, lift our tubes and walk around rocks. . .for the most part the water took us right over them, every once in awhile a few of us did get stuck.

We did the 5 hour float and had a blast, just a few bumps and bruises and a little sunburned. Can’t wait for next year! Here are a few pictures I borrowed from: www.RiverFotos.com.

If you haven’t ever floated the river you should. Although let me recommend you go with someone who’s been before and hopefully you won’t lose anything like we did (take rope & tie everything down). Last year my friend Joe recommended taking a Camelbak instead of worrying about a cooler. . .best idea ever!

In case you didn’t guess I gave up on Eat, Love, Pray. I hate not finishing a book, but I just couldn’t bring myself to finish this one. Maybe I’ll take it on vacation with me and if I run out of anything else to read I’ll force myself to read it; but no promises.

Friday I got a delivery from Barnes & Noble, but because I went to float the river I didn’t get it until Sunday. Last night I started reading Sliding into Home by Kendra Wilkinson.

I’m not going to lie, I love those trashy reality shows on E! like Keeping up with the Kardashians, Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami, Pretty Wild & Kendra. So naturally I was really looking forward to reading Kendra’s book.
After the torture of trying to read Eat, Love, Pray this is one easy read. I’m already halfway through the book and really just started it today. I enjoy a good biography and reading about how people got where they are today.

What I like about this book is that she gets straight to the point and tells you her story without a lot of extraneous details that don’t enhance the story; instead she just drops in a little humor. You definitely won’t be learning any rocket science with this one it’s just feel good story about how a trouble teen pulled herself out of her drug addiction, became Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend and then found fame.

This is definitely one book I recommend. Now enough of my yakking I want to get back to reading.