Yum! Pour Me a Pitcher!

Are you starting to dream of the summer days where you get to sip your favorite cocktail and bask in the sun? If so, it’s time to fill up your pitcher and enjoy the beautiful weather and share with friends and family.

Us girls met the other day for dinner/happy hour and Colleen ordered a mojito. When it was brought to the table it looked absolutely delicious. My wheels started to turn as I thought about my upcoming beach vacation. I love a great summery cocktail and I quickly began thinking about what I will be making to accompany me at the beach.

In honor of the first day of summer (yesterday) I decided to make a list of the top summer cocktails. Enjoy!

1. The Ultimate Ketel One Lemonade

Ingredients

- 1 1/2 ounce(s) Ketel One Citroen Vodka

- 2 1/2 ounce(s) fresh lemonade

- 1 piece(s) lemon wheel

Directions

1. Shake vodka and lemonade with ice in a cocktail shaker.

2. Strain into ice-filled highball glass.

3. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

2. Watermelon Margarita

Ingredients

- 1 1/2 ounce(s) Don Julio Blanco Tequila

- 1/2 ounce(s) lime juice

- 1/4 ounce(s) agave syrup

- 1 slice(s) watermelon

Directions

1. Muddle watermelon and agave syrup, add rest of ingredients, and shake well.

2. Double strain into a frozen martini glass.

3. Garnish with a watermelon slice.

3. Mojito

Ingredients

- 12 whole(s) mint leaves, plus a few extra for garnish

- 1 1/4 ounce(s) Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum

- 1 teaspoon(s) sugar

- 1/2 ounce(s) lime juice

- 2 ounce(s) soda water

Directions

- Place mint leaves in bottom of glass.

- Add crushed ice, Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, sugar, and lime juice, and muddle.

- Add soda water and garnish with mint leaves.

4. Planters Punch

Ingredients

- 3 ounce(s) Myers's Original Dark Rum

- 3 ounce(s) Captain Morgan Silver Spiced Rum

- 1 1/2 ounce(s) Grand Marnier

- 6 ounce(s) orange juice

- 6 ounce(s) pineapple juice

- 1 1/2 ounce(s) lime juice

- 1 1/2 ounce(s) simple syrup

- 4 dash(es) bitters

- 2 ounce(s) grenadine

- 1 orange wheel

Directions

1. Add in a pitcher Myers's Original Dark Rum, Captain Morgan Silver Spiced Rum, Grand Marnier, orange juice, pineapple juice, lime juice, simple syrup, bitters, and grenadine.

2. Pour into shaker and add ice.

3. Shake and strain into an ice-filled highball glass.

4. Garnish with orange wheel.

5. Barbados Punch

Ingredients

- 1 ounce(s) Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum

- 1/4 ounce(s) triple sec

- 1 ounce(s) lime juice

- 2 ounce(s) pineapple juice

- 1 slice(s) lime

- 1 slice(s) pineapple

Directions

1. Add Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, triple sec, lime juice, and pineapple juice to a blender with crushed ice.

2. Blend until smooth and pour into glass.

3. Garnish with lime slice and pineapple slice.

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Releasing my Inner Kenyan

It’s Pittsburgh Marathon weekend! And I am embracing my inner Kenyan.  I am going to be surrounded by thousands of runners – which, running is their life!  Running is not my life. I’m doing this to support a good cause, and “It Seemed Like a Good Idea” at the time when talking with friends.

I’m running the relay – not the half, not the full. I give props to those who are. I’m running one small section in support of the Animal Rescue League.

But, I am going to try and release my inner Kenyan.  My goal is to finish my section without walking, successfully find my teammates at the exchange zones, not get lost when migrating back to the finish line, and to not be the last person trucking along.

I’ve done a little less than “decent” training for this event. I won’t run if there is inclement weather, or if it’s too cold, or too hot. Really, any excuse I could find to get out of a day of practice, I used.  I did successfully run 5 miles the other day in an hour, which for me is outstanding, because I can’t honestly say I ever ran 5 consecutive miles in my life – even when I ran track in high school.

I’m hoping the “race day high” everyone talks about will allow me to find my inner Kenyan, and run like the wind! I will be smiling when I see my friends cheering me on as I cross the West End Bridge and on to Carson Street. I will make this fun.

It has been a stressful, long, busy week at work (I have bitten off every nail I have). But this weekend will bring new successes, will be shared with friends, and in the end, I will feel like I have accomplished something. I may not have run the entire marathon myself, but I AM part of a team that completed all 26.2 miles.

So if by chance you are down watching on the route on race day, or even flying by me as you work to complete your full or half, just yell at me to release my inner Kenyan.

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Thank You For Being a Friend

I went to this great, local function last night. Mojo and mojitos at Mojo Running and Multisport in Mars. A reason to get gals together who like to work out. But these woman are nuts. Crazy in shape. Two-a-days. Swim, bike, run, yoga. I think I'm in shape until I see these women. But it's what they do. It's what interests them, so it rules them. What they do, who they hang out with. Some have kids, some are younger, some are older, but it doesn't matter. They are different, yet this one thing connects them and, for a while, they are the same.

I'm attending an autism seminar today. All of the people in attendance will be there for one reason--they know, love, teach or in someway interact with someone on the autism spectrum. Some will be short, some fat, some married, some not. It won't matter. This one thing, this one event will gather people who may not typically interact because they share a common interest. There will be chit-chat and camaraderie and someone will leave having made a new contact and, most likely, a new friend and ally!

Be it a common cause or interest, church, neighbors or co-workers, we all have groups of friends that, were it not for our circumstances or individual interests, we would never have met them, hung out with them or befriended them.

It's pretty dynamic and interesting. Some of my nearest and dearest were just friends of friends, or I met them in a waiting room (there's actually a group of us!) or our kids go to school together or I work with them or workout with them.

Regardless, it's amazing. Different friends with different experiences all leading to one place for at least a little bit of time.

Whether it is a circumstantial friendship or a long-lasting one, it changes us and moves us forward. We don't give much thought to how we met or where we end up. We are so damn busy taking the journey. Sometimes, it is nice to look around and acknowledge your travel mates--whether they are there for the duration or just until the next stop.

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An Ode to My Friends

Some of you may or may not know this but I recently accepted a new position with another company. I regret to say that I had to leave my wonderful WW&B friends behind. I will no longer get to see them every day or enjoy their lunch company. For now, it is the occasional lunch meet-up or after work happy hour. What we had goin’ is hard to find, it is not every job that you will thoroughly enjoy the people you work with. When I found myself lying in bed, cursing my alarm I would think to myself, “hey, at least I get to go in and hang out with the girls!” - it made it easier to get out of bed. Now, when I say I would get to “hang out with the girls” I do not mean that we got to sit around and talk boys (ok sometimes we did), paint our nails and fix eachother’s hair, I mean that we got along so well that work didn’t always seem like work. We had fun bouncing ideas off of each other and working on projects together.

So here I am, in my new job, feeling lost. Where do I fit in? A new crowd of people-I am the newbie. Every time you get a new job you go through it, first you are elated with excitement that you got the job; you celebrate with your friends and think of the fun, new things to come for your career. After that, you start to panic and question if you will be able to do the job. You get nervous about your new responsibilities, the new company culture and of course, the new people you will be working with.

I have come to realize, while starting a job is a stressful experience, it doesn’t have to be full of constant worry and anxiety. Keeping a positive outlook and using your new role as a stepping ground to a new, exciting time in your career– that is the way to go. It is ok and normal to feel overwhelmed because everything is drastically different.

Even though it will be a bit harder to see the girls, and will take much more planning than before, I know that we will all remain friends and see each other on a more regular basis. I am grateful to have had the chance to work with such amazing people. Whether they know this or not, I really learned a lot from all of them both on a personal and professional level. Instead of co-workers, they became friends and as I said before, that doesn’t happen often.

So this is an ode to you, my lovely WW&B friends/bloggers/co-workers/comrades –I miss you!

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It Takes a Village

We've all heard the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child." Well, it actually takes a whole lot more than a village to raise a child, raise awareness, raise self-esteem or do just about anything.

We live in a world full of "communities." Facebook is a community. Our churches are commuities. Our neighborhoods, co-workers, friends, friends of friends are our communities.

Back in our childhood days, we were taken care of by our parents, coaches, friends' parents. We ate dinner wherever. Slept wherever. And never worried. Someone would take care of us. Someone always took care of us.

As we enter adulthood, somewhere, we lose that. We lose the security of that "community" that cared for us and had our back. We have circles of friends that we are truly blessed to have. But we lose the "I'll look out for you if you look out for me." We get busy with our own lives and the waters get muddy. Too many ingredients fill the batter and we are left with something that looks amazing, but doesn't fill our hunger.

I have a lot of good friends. Friends that I could call at any hour of any day who would talk me off a ledge, bring me a home-cooked meal or laugh me out of a funk. But still, I hunger for more. I have back-up at work if I'm on vacation or sick, but what about in my real world?

I live far away from my hometown. The place I actually still refer to as home. But through communities, such as facebook, I'm still connected. Recently, on one of my daily facebook checks, I saw a posting from Liv With Autism. It regarded a simple idea--to anonymously friend another mom in the group and become their "Secret Sista." Someone who understands where you are, what you are going through and gives you anonymous words of encouragement, wisdom and the occasional Starbucks gift card. I'm not a part of the support group. I'm too far away. But the idea that someone, somewhere could give me validation that not even most of my closest of friends could (though they try, bless them all). I was in. All in!

Same goes for a friend of mine whose husband is fighting renal cancer. She's made her own community of support. She's set up the Renal Race. Gotten sponsers. Created a website and facebook following. All to honor her family's fight, but also support her mission. Surrounding herself with loved ones and friends, who in a most desperate time of need, are willing to step up and step in to help.

I don't know where my communities will lead me. I don't know if they will feed me or let me sleep under their roofs. I do know that where I am right now, among all my fellow villagers, we are doing what we can with what we have and we are crying, laughing and smirking through it all.

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Hard to Say Goodbye!

When my husband decided that he wanted to open his own bar, I knew it was going to be hard but I absolutely 100% supported him.  For those of you who currently work in the service industry or have in a past life, you know it’s the most absurd environment.  The “rules” of every other normal business just don’t apply to this industry.  Perhaps it’s because you’re usually up all night and sleep all day.  Perhaps it’s because you’re constantly dealing with drunks and idiots and playing shrink to pretty much everyone who walks the door.  I don’t know what exactly it is but having worked in “corporate America” for the last 15 years; the service industry blows my freaking mind!!!

When we opened the bar almost five years ago, our very good friend (of almost 12 years) joined the team pretty much on day one.  Even at the beginning, when the staff was light, he was always willing to pitch in and work a double or check beer in.  He was a huge help to my husband at the beginning.  Then things started to change…

My husband has always run the bar with the idea of everyone having fun.  Like most bars, this means allowing your bartenders to have a shot or two if customers buy you one.  Now this doesn’t mean every time you make a shot or a drink, you get to make one for yourself, it means having one or two throughout the night to make a customer feel good.  Most of us have no problem with this.  However, our good friend…the one who’s been with us since day one…just couldn’t stop.  His drawers started to be off, his temper was short and we tried everything with him.  We talked nicely to him; we yelled at him, we suspended him.  Nothing was working.  Then about two weeks ago, we received an anonymous email through our website from another bar owner outside the city limits.  They came down to see the “‘Burgh’s Best Neighborhood Bar” and most of the email was glowing with compliments.  I was literally grinning from ear-to-ear and couldn’t wait to show my husband and the rest of the staff.  Then…they mentioned our bartender.  They said he was visibly intoxicated behind the bar and running off to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so.  They said he was very friendly but being bar owners themselves and having just paid a very hefty fine to the LCB for the same problem, they wanted to give us the heads-up.  So…I sat our friend down again.  This time, the proof was in the pudding.  He read the email and like me was grinning from ear-to-ear.  Then he got to the part about him (which they did say his name in the email).  He started to cry and I told him that he was suspended this time for a whole week and that if he were caught drinking and or drunk behind the bar one more time, he would be fired!  I had had it.  My husband and I didn’t work our asses off to have someone destroy it (even if they are our friend). 

Well, this past Saturday, we had to fire him.  It was the hardest thing to do and it truly broke my heart.  I honestly never want to do it again but I know that just goes with the territory when you own your own business.  The part that kills me is that our friendship may not survive but what could we do…he became a liability and if we lose the bar, we lose everything.

I know everyone in the service industry drinks a little more than most and probably “parties” a little more than most but, I find that most everyone in this industry uses “the industry” as an excuse…”I’m in the service industry and that’s just what we do.”  I call bullshit!!!  I’ve now been immersed in it for a couple of years and I’m not an alcoholic or drug addict.  I still manage to get up when the sun is shining and although there are days when I’m freaking exhausted, I’m still an adult with responsibilities.  So if that means I lose a few hours a sleep to get everything accomplished and still work at the bar…so be it!

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I Am Thankful For...

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, I thought I would post about a couple of things that we are all thankful for. I will speak for myself, but I can almost guarentee that the rest of the WWB bloggers will agree, as you may too, that we are greatful for a lot of the same things. This list does not include everything that I am thankful for, because you all know I am most thankful for my dog, Mark Eaton, but I won't mention him! And so to start...

First things first - Family. Whether it is just one other person or a hundred different people that make up your family, it is still a blessing to have those individuals in our lives. They are who we are, and who we will grow up to be like (Oh lord, please don't let me be like my uncle!) Family should always come first, hence why it came first on my list.

Friends - How interesting that this word also starts with an F. Are F words good afterall? (I know what you are thinking!!) We all know that friends come and go, in and out of our lives, sometimes just as much as the weather changes, but true friends will always be there, come rain, snow, sleet, hail, etc. I cherish my friends and am thankful for everything they have ever said or done for me. I will probably never be ever to repay them for their friendship, but I do not know what kind of person I would be like today if it were not for them.

Freedom - I think I have said it enough times through my blog posts, but I will say it again. I am thankful for those who leave their families and friends to go overseas and fight the battles that help keep us safe from harm. I am thankful for their strength, courage and dedication.

Now here is where some may disagree - Hockey - If you know me, you know that I love, love, love, like really love hockey. It was perfect when I met my husband because one of the first evenings we spent together, we just laid on his floor watching a hockey playoff game and I think he was so excited that he had a girl who actually WATCHED hockey! But now he also knows why I love hockey so much... Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby, Rick DiPietro, Carey Price, John Zeiler (hahahaha, little inside joke for those who know me), but the list goes on of goooood looking hockey players. I am THANKFUL for them!

So what are you thankful for? I have noticed people posting to their facebook every day what they are thankful for this month, but let's remember to be thankful year round. Enjoy your Thanksgiving Day and remember, give thanks for the fun things too!

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