Starr Hill Brewery

Yesterday we did a tour and tasting at Starr Hill Brewery in Crozet. People were actually working (brewery, bottling, boxing) during the tour, so we got to see the place in action!









For some reason in the last photo, I was most fascinated by the machine that added a little glue to a metal piece so that labels could be applied. Do you see that machine?

My husband loves their "Northern Lights" India Pale Ale, I prefer the "Festie" - their Amber German-style Lager.

Breweries = good stuff.

The Royal Wedding

Has infiltrated American life today.

Check out this cake that the School of Nursing purchased to celebrate??

Veritas

Made a brief stop at Veritas today, the winery where we got married.



It's been almost three years since our wedding.



Time marches on.

Geeks who Drink

Last night we explored trivia night (called Geeks who Drink?) at Rapture.

Our team performance was poor, but morale remained high! Next time, trivia night... next time.

Home of the Octagon

In a rare twist, I actually had some free time this weekend to do fun things.

Some friends came down from DC and we aimed to show them the best that Cville has to offer - Monticello, wineries, local restaurants, UVA grounds and streakers. You will find no photos of streakers here, sorry.

Since I forgot my nice camera (d'oh!), these are photos of Barboursville Vineyards taken with my camera phone.





The ruins were pretty cool and the wine was decent. I'm sticking to my opinion that the wineries west of Cville (King Family, Veritas) beat the pants off the wineries to the east (Keswick, Barboursville, Horton).

Blue Moon Diner

Raphael's angels and an artistic breakfast at Blue Moon Diner in Charlottesville.

Babysitting!

Tonight my hubs and I babysat my classmate's 4 week old baby. He was precious, and we had a lot of fun. He alternated sleeping and fussing; mostly he just wanted to be bounced on this giant ball.



Doing it 24/7 seems pretty exhausting and scary! I salute you, parents of the internet!

First Baby Shower

On Sunday I attended a baby shower for the first time for one of my classmates.

The shower was held just outside of Charlottesville with a gorgeous view of the town.




The men-folk were forced to wear balloons under their shirts, posing as pregnant bellies.


I was amazed at how they all played along.. even for pregnant bocce ball.


That was the dad.


And there's the mom (nope, not a balloon under her shirt).


They were showered with some great gifts, while we were showered with three giant cakes (carrot cake, chocolate, and cherry-soaked cannoli cake).



She even got some more creative gifts, like this screenprinted squid onesie.


At the end, someone read "quotes from the night of the baby's conception," with the "quotes" being things they said while opening the gifts. It was awkward and hilarious... use your imagination!



We'll see if "baby fever" is catching, as they say.

Halloween on the Lawn

I love Halloween on the Lawn... a chance to see adorably dressed up children and dogs. What's not to love?

This girl got very excited when she saw Biscuit, because she was dressed up as a dog.



Biscuit got to meet a French Bulldog/Princess.



Bees and Peacocks. Ladybugs and Skunks.



A Pink Butterfly.



Biscuit got to see the Ghost of Halloween Past... or, what he looked like this time last year.



We saw a lone hamburger.



And something to do with Dr. Who, though I've never seen the show.



A Reindeer and a Skunk made friends.



Then the Reindeer took off.



And the Skunk missed his friend..



Biscuit used his bird-dog skills to sniff out a Peacock.



And got some great pets from either a cat, kangaroo, or some kind of rodent.



The house from "Up" was a neat costume.



The lawn was thronged with people.



Though the leaves reflected fall, it was unseasonably warm.

Darden Towne Park

An integral part of keeping your dog tired = dog park.







"Where a dog can be a dog."

L'Etoile

Last night we went to a nice restaurant in town called L'Etoile. My cooking class instructor last weekend named it as one of, in her opinion, the best restaurants in Charlottesville with a lot of talent in the kitchen... so we thought, "why not?"

We were put upstairs in a cute little room by ourselves.







Instead of wine or beer, we decided to enjoy the fall season by ordering the Royal Pippin cider from Albemarle CiderWorks.



It was a good choice that went well with the pork loin and duck we ordered as entrees.



This was the last photo I took before they seated another party in our room and I accepted that it's not the best etiquette to take photos of your food in a fancy restaurant. The salad included apples, cheese, spinach leaves, candied pecans and slivers of Virginia ham.



After dinner we went on a haunted "spirit walk," courtesy of Albemarle Historical Society. The walk started in historic Maplewood Cemetery, where we met several "spirits" or actors portraying historical characters. The tour continued out from the cemetery and to other "spirits" who chat with you in front of a former tavern, former opera house and you get a glimpse of an old trial at the County Courthouse.