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Wild South Brewfest and Shenanigans

 

Insert obligatory complaint about it being Monday already here.

Friday – I was like uhhh what did we do Friday? Then I remembered it was Valentine’s Day. Ha! After work I came home and made our traditional Valentine’s Day lasagna, full fat, full cheese with homemade spaghetti sauce. It was delicious! We just hung around and watched TV. I love nights like that!

Saturday – We had Wild South Brewfest on Saturday. Chris invited our friends from Huntsville down for the day. We met up at Slice at noon for some lunch before we headed on over for our day of trying beers! There were 13 Alabama breweries there and 6 North Carolina ones. I think they said there were 36 different beers you could sample. They also had small plates because well….soak up the alcohol, duh!

It was pretty crowded, but not so much that you couldn’t walk around. They must have only allowed so many people into the event. The ticket proceeds went to Wild South, which is a great cause and what better way to celebrate the wilderness than with some beer?!
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They had two bands play. One was a zydeco band and they were pretty good.Very upbeat and entertaining. Not normally music that I would purposefully seek out to hear live, but I certainly enjoyed it! The other band was not as good. It was sort of a buzz kill almost. The music was slower and they just weren’t as lively. It sort of worked out that they came on second though to start to filter out and slow down the drinking I suppose!

 

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After brewest, we headed over to Fuego to have dinner. Funny, as we were just there last weekend. They seriously have the best taco salads ever! We were walking back to the car and the guys begged us to stop by World of Beer for just one more beer. We said FINE! Haha. I didn’t partake in the beer drinking there, I had enough for the day! I sampled several beers, but in total I probably had the equivalent of maybe two beers the entire day.

When we were at World of Beer, there was a homeless lady in there harassing people. That is the one pitfall of that place, it seems almost every time we are there we have to deal with a homeless person that is completely out of line. I am fine if one comes up and asks for money or says hello or whatever….but don’t be vulgar or cause a scene or do something that makes every one feel uncomfortable. They had to kick her out because she was making everyone uncomfortable and saying completely inappropriate things.

Sunday – I did meal planning and grocery shopping then we pretty much spent the rest of the day watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory and a Law and Order SVU marathon. I wanted to get some cleaning done and give the dogs a bath and cut Mac’s fur but I just didn’t feel like it. Oops. Sorry not sorry!

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Sunday Social – Lazy Days and Guilty Pleasures

1. What are your favorite things to do on a lazy day?

Wear a tshirt and nike shorts, lay around on the couch watching TV, snuggling with my husband and/or dogs and then when I have had enough TV, play some video games. Eat yummy foods. Never do my hair or make up. Yup. Perfect day!

2. What is your tv guilty pleasure?
I watch a lot of different shows. I guess my “guilty pleasures” are Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Grimm and Twisted. Most of my other shows are normal.
3. What is your favorite road trip music?
I love listening to music from middle school and high school in the car! (The 90’s and very early 2000’s) It makes me so so happy!
4. What are your favorite magazines or books to read by the pool or laying around?
Currently I am still finishing up the Harry Potter series as far as books go. I love Women’s Health, Shape, Real Simple, Southern Living and Cooking Light magazines.
5. What is your favorite snack?
Chips and salsa/guacamole. Just yum. I am not allowing myself to have that very often anymore, so my go to healthy snack is either fruit or hot air popcorn with lime squeezed over. I promise it is delicious! It gives you the consistency of buttered popcorn without all the fat!
Sunday Social
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Breakfast Is THE Most Important Meal of the Day: Fiber One Protein Cereal

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I received a box of Fiber One Protein Cranberry Almond Cereal and a box of Fiber One Protein Maple Brown Sugar Cereal from General Mills in my BzzAgent kit free for review. All of these opinions and thoughts are of my own.

I was excited when I received my Fiber One Protein cereal boxes in the mail! I am an avid breakfast person. I truly believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is what get’s you up and going, and sets the tone for your day. My favorite way to start breakfast is with protein and fiber. Something that fills me up and gives me energy! I find it difficult to find any cereal that offers up BOTH fiber and protein AND tastes good. I thought it just didn’t exist. Enter Fiber One Protein Cereal!

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I first tried the Cranberry Almond flavor,  a masterful mix of crunchy almonds, delicious cranberry pieces and sweetened granola. It tasted great and had a little bit of a sweet side with the cranberries. My favorite part about the cereal is that it stays crispy and crunchy the entire way through, down to the last bite. I think my favorite way to eat this cereal is with yogurt. It tastes delicious mixed in some plain or vanilla yogurt!

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Next up I tried the Maple Brown Sugar, a bountiful blend of sweetened granola and crunchy pecans topped with the taste of maple brown sugar. Now, I am going to be very honest with you. I was very skeptical about trying this flavor. I had a feeling it was going to be too sweet. I am not fan of the maple brown sugar oatmeal for that reason. I waited two weeks after receiving the boxes to even try it and had a back up breakfast ready to go.

With all that being said, I actually was very pleasantly surprised!!! The cereal wasn’t overly sweet and it had the same great crunch factor that the cranberry almond flavor offered. The crunch factor is the most important thing for me in cereals, I am a textures person and nothing makes me sadder than soggy cereal. Out of the two flavors I tried, I am surprised to say that the maple brown sugar is my favorite! I have a bowl of Fiber One cereal and a side of berries in the morning and it holds me over well into the lunch hour. Something else that is very important to me!

With 10 grams of protein and 20% of your daily fiber in just one bowl, you really cant go wrong! It makes being healthy quite easy! Might I recommend giving Fiber One Protein Cereal a try?!

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Friday Five

1. SnOMG

That’s right folks. the deeps south received some more snow Wednesday night. I really enjoyed it because this time I was snowed in, not out! It was the beautiful kind of snow that falls down in big fat flakes and covers the ground immediately! We had so much fun playing in it! The dogs, well mainly Gracie, loved it too!!! You just don’t get beautiful white covered scenery often in the south, so we had to snap about a million pictures!!! Chris took some with his fancy camera, but these are a few of my iPhone pictures.

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2. Sweet dogs. After playing in the snow early yesterday morning, I think someone was tired.

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3. Sisters. Keeping it classy since the 80’s!!!

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Before we took this picture, I was joking about how everyone always thinks I am the “younger” sister, even though I am five years older. Hehe. Tracy said she always thought that was awesome when we were younger, but now she doesn’t like that very much! I really enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with Tracy last weekend! I don’t get to see her nearly enough.

4. Wild South Brewfest – The Wild South Brewfest will be at Iron City tomorrow. Chris mentioned that he wanted to go, and invited some friends from Huntsville down to hang out with us. I am really excited. There will be several local Alabama breweries in attendance, along with some North Carolina ones. All the proceeds go to a good cause too!

5. Happy Valentine’s Day bitches!

the Sowell life
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It’s Mac’s House, We Just Pay the Mortgage

Mac might only be 7 pounds…but he certainly can fill up a room with his personality!

I think the thing that always amazes me the most about dogs, is that they have no sense of personal space. Mac and Gracie will walk all over you and your stuff to get where they want to go. Dogs invented parkour not people.

Mac will let you know when he is not pleased.

See that face. How dare I be on my lap top when there is petting to be done.

Mac didn’t authorize me to work on my taxes.

There are no worries about wondering what it is that Mac wants. He will be sure to let you know, subtly of course.

Whether it is a belly rub….

Or to come inside.

Mac can multi-task. He is very resourceful. He can sharpen his teeth and hold Gracie’s toy hostage simultaneously.

Mac also finds the ground for peasants. He prefers his throne.

Yup. It is safe to say that this is Mac’s house. We are just lucky enough to live here. You know, since we pay the mortgage. And open doors since we have thumbs.

Linking up with Jackie and Karly!