Week In Review - August 7 - 13

It's been a full, full week and the weeks are going to only get a bit crazier.  But loving it!

The first BIG thing was starting my new part-time job at Parrot Confectionary.  Selling candy is more difficult than I thought.  But I will succeed!  Or eat my way out of it.

Big ego bust - was asked by our publicity person at the library to teach a version of my planner class to her alpha group at one of the local colleges.  I did manage to get my big head through the door at home.  That's set for sometime in September.

But the big events all took place on one day.

Saturday was a full day.  It started with Lady K running in her first 'race'.  

Actually, a friend's kids walked/carried her the one mile and then set her down to run to the finish line.  The event was sponsored by our local hospital and other health-related organizations.  We got a free bike helmet and Lady K 'won' a $1 and a couple of coupons out of the air bouncy thingy.

Here she is checking out the ambulance in her race shirt.  We did have a bit of a melt-down in the car on the day we picked up the shirt.  All the shirts this year are orange.  But she wanted a green shirt because of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.   Sigh...

We walked back home, lunched, napped and then Savvy and I walked back up, but on the other side of the street to Memorial Park for...

The Montana Brewers Summer Rendezvous...

This is the second year Savvy and I have volunteered to be pourers for the event.  We missed last year because of closing on the house and moving.  But were back this year and I have made a note on my future log in my calendar to be on the lookout for next year's signup.  It's a great volunteer gig.  You get a t-shirt, your tasting glass and time to sample beer!  And it's free as a volunteer.  

The biggest bonus is meeting brewers up close and really get to know some of the beers out there.  Savvy was back with Quarry Brewing out of Butte where we poured the first year.  I think Chuck, the owner and brew master was thrilled to see Savvy again.

This year I was assigned to Flathead Lake Brewing out of Big Fork.  David is the brew master and Hillary was there to assist.  And I am now officially in love with their Chateau Aeneas Barleywine, which they assure me will be bottled and on the market soon.  For this non-beer drinker, it was fantastic.  Aged 14 months in wine casks, it was mellow and just down right good!  Can't wait to get my hands on some for home.  Big Fork is a bit of a drive to go for some.

This was my next favorite.  Light and really refreshing.  Enjoyed it a lot.  I don't mean I had a lot of it, just it was really, really good.

The other two beers they were offering on Saturday were their Centennial IPA and their Bufflehead Brown.

I'm not usually an IPA fan (too hoppy for me), but it was good and enjoyable.  The Brown was, well brown!  You knew you were drinking it for sure.  

But I love the artwork on their packaging and in fact, one of the reasons I enjoy going to the Brewfest is to see all the artwork for the different breweries.  

That's Hillary, who is an assistant brewer and really, really nice.  Both she and David made me feel like part of the 'family'.  And a really good part of being a pourer is you get to eavesdrop on the conversations between the brewers.  It's a great way to pick up little behind-the-scenes information on the whole process.

The weather was great, as was the music being performed.  People are really, really nice and despite having all the beer you want in a 5 hour period, very, very little actual drunkenness.  I got to see people I knew from the library and everyone loved my purple hair.

As the evening wound down and it was time to head home, David presented me with a 6-pack of the Bufflehead Brown as a thank you.  However, I do believe Savvy has appropriated it for Dungeons and Dragons tonight.  And the sunset last night...

One of the biggest pluses however for being a volunteer at Brewfest is just how nice everyone is.  Granted, we have not worked in every booth (maybe one day!), but all the brewers are as nice as they can be, especially when you ask them about their beers.  I have never been treated with any less courtesy as a volunteer than if I had actually paid to get in.  And they have always been very thankful we were there to help out, which frees them up to go talk to other brewers and customers.  This is a great event and a great volunteer opportunity, one which will be on my calendar for years to come.

As far as the rest of the week went...

• Finished 1 book
• Wrote 3 posts
• Walked 56,609 steps or 81% of my goal
• Sat in with the Wednesday afternoon knitting group at the library

The coming week will prove to be filled to the brim also.  But not with beer!

• Picking up Texter's books for the semester on Monday
• Staff meeting on Tuesday
• Two days this week at Parrot (and maybe starting to learn what the squiggles on the top of the candies mean)
• Vacation day and a trip to Great Falls to do a tiny, tiny bit of shopping and to get out of town for the day before school starts
• Picture taking for my powerpoint for the planner class
• Start working on the powerpoint
• Finish up a couple of quickie 'wizard' outfits for the upcoming Big Read

Well, off for another cup of coffee and some blueberry coffee cake.