Cute boys and beer? Um, yes please.

SAINT ARNOLD BREWING’S FIRST EVER SCAVENGER HUNT

The good folks over at S.A. have put together a scavenger hunt with hidden clues embedded in a video. All of the items that you are seeking are in downtown Houston.

Watch the video below. The video will show specific objects with which you need to take a picture of yourself (i.e. have both you and the object in the same photo). All of the objects are in establishments where you can find good beer, and enjoying a Saint Arnold while on your quest may bring you enlightenment.

Once you have found all of the objects and taken the required photos, either upload the photos to a photosharing site (i recommend Flickr) and send Lennie with Saint Arnold the link to lennie@saintarnold.com –or– print the photos and get them to the brewery.

The deadline for us to receive the photos is Sunday, August 3 at 11:59 PM. (If you are trying to drop off photos at the brewery over the weekend, there is a little mail slot in our front door.) Make sure you include your name, email address and phone number. Only one person per photo so if a group of you are doing it, you each need to take individual pictures of yourselves with the objects.

At that party, we will draw one of these names and award that person a home kegerator. Um, sa-weet!

So, in summary:

The Prep: Watch the video posted below

The Proof: Take photos of yourself with each item shown in the video.

Monday

When your week starts out with an up til 3am Monday night, you know you are in trouble. I had a long day at work, and was looking forward to a night at home. That was until Mark told me about The Tontons last minute show at Notsuoh. Having just seen them on Saturday at Lebowski Bash, I was jonesing to see them again.

So I met Mark for a drink before the show, and he even let me play photog for the night. Hopefully I got some good shots of the band. These guys are incredible. Seriously, if you have the chance to see them live, do it. They’ve been nominated for best new band in the 2008 Houston Press Music Awards.

So after the show, Amber and I stuck around for awhile and hung out with Asli, Tom, and Adam. The old Clark’s, now Notsuoh, has a pretty wicked room upstairs filled with old costumes, records, an old double turntable and music relics from Clark’s and Dean’s. So we hung out up there for a bit until someone yelled, “who are all these people up here?!” We took that as our cue to leave. That was 3am. It was Monday. Dude.

Tuesday

Tuesday, visibly exhausted at work, I was again, looking forward to a quiet night at home. However, I was actually delighted when Laura Mayes and Carrie Pacini called to set up a dinner meeting to discuss a new project. So we headed to Cova in the Village for some wine, cheese, and chatter. We had a great conversation and some excellently selected champagne by the very Italian Carrie. :-)

When we were paying the bill, the waitress looked at me and said, “did you go to St. Rose elementary school?” She was a classmate of mine, a fellow girl scout, from 4th grade. Small world. Reminding me of the time I was in NYC and a girl, Susan, stopped me and Kasey on the street because she recognized Kasey from college, but as we began talking, realized we were in the same girl scout troop. in 4th grade. Crazy.

After dinner I headed over to meet Mark and The Tontons to discuss some styling for their upcoming show on Friday at Warehouse, and a photo shoot that Mark had set up with Jessica Grieves on Saturday morning. Adam ordered a fruity drink. We laughed.

Wednesday

I left work a little early on Wednesday to meet up with The Tontons to do some thrift store shopping in the Heights. We were trying to find them some outfits for their Friday show, and the Saturday morning photo shoot. We first met at Retropolis, where while we had a lot of fun digging, we didn’t really find outfits to put together; unless you count this rhinestone cowboy get up that Justin discovered.

We headed across the street to the new Buffalo Exchange in the Heights and started searching for “glittery” tops to pay off the 3-D glasses theme they were planning for the show. We nixed that idea as soon as Adam almost bought a sequined v-neck cardigan. Not exactly what we were going for. We decided on a uniform look, much like they wore to Lebowski Bash, and headed to Sand Dollar to look for black vests and cowboy boots.

Michelle met us as Sand Dollar to help out Asli with her outfit. Miggy also ripped up the boys old black ties and made new skinny ones for the show. They turned out fab!

After shopping we headed to Onion Creek for a quick bite before the guys headed to practice. Michelle and I headed over to Beaver’s for another successful Green Drinks. Hung out with Ned, Jeff Kaplan, BIll Erickson, Sarah Jones, and of course the uber talented Bobby Heugel. Check out this great article in the Chron on Bobby and his flair for the perfect cocktail. And check out Bobby’s amazing cocktail website, Drink Dogma. This kid is sickly talented.

Thursday

Thursday I made the very tough decision to cancel my scheduled Boulder trip for that weekend. Being that the last month had been so crazy, and so go go go, I was feeling anxious about being away and already feeling the stresses of another weekend of craziness. Also, I was thinking about attending BlogHer in July in San Fran, and I knew I couldn’t make both trips. So I decided to cancel Boulder, and catch up with Gwen and all the ladies in San Fran in a few weeks.

After work Thursday I headed to Big Woodrow’s to celebrate Keisha’s last day at Aker. She’s been there forever it seems! And we are all excited about her new gig at Chevron! Got to hang with MRock, Shek, and my GA, Brian. It was like back in the Ellayess days!

After Woodrow’s I headed to So Vino to celebrate Emily’s bday. I hadn’t been to So Vino yet and was pleasantly surprised. All these new wine bars opening up, it’s hard to tell them apart. So Wino was small, and intimate, and the food we had was great. The waiters were all well informed about the wine selections. I visited with Becky and Seth, and Annie who i hadn’t seen in months and months, and one of Emily’s friends, Paul, who I’m pretty sure I bonded with over Justin Timberlake. JT brings out the best in everybody.

Friday

A quick after work nap was just what I needed to get the energy for the big show at Warehouse with The Tontons, The Riff Tiffs and Fat Tony. Michelle came by, we shared a glass of wine (ok mom, girlfriend jokes!) and we were off to Warehouse to get the Tontons dressed for the show.

Met up with Erin and Groovehouse who were both shooting the show. We arrived just as Lisa’s Sons went on. Not sure how to describe them without being negative. Hmmm, it was high energy.

The Tontons were up next, and the place was filling up. Mark helped hand out 3-D glasses to the crowd for a wicked 60′s affect. I grabbed the glasses and placed them in front of my iPhone camera. I was surprised the effect worked!

Eric’s shots from the show here.

The highlight of the show was when 4 members of the Houston Symphony joined the Tontons on stage for “Syrup.” I think someone caught this on video, and if so, I can’t wait to see it.

We stuck around for the Riff Tiffs, who were also excellent, and ran into Christian from Studemont Project, and Hodge and Cornbreadd from TFT, who we watched Fat Tony with from backstage. A great night for local music indeed.

Saturday

Reeling from a killer hangover from Friday, I missed The Tontons photo shoot with Jessica on Saturday morning. But judging from the amazing pics she took, they didn’t need me there. Check out “the morning after” shoot here.

image: Jessica Grieves, Ecor Rogue Photography

After finally pulling myself out of bed, I headed over to Chris and I’s Vinyl Creative meeting spot, Rudyard’s, for a quick VC meeting of concepting new ad campaign and discussing new clients. Oh, and of course black bean nachos.

I left Rudz and headed to Volcano to help prep for the big Houstonist Crawfish Boil. JB bought 500lb of the crawdaddies and we were peeling, cutting, washing, and boxing for a few hours before the crowd arrived at 6pm. And boy did they arrive. We had a HUGE crowd, almost 200 that came out to Volcano to get some dirty fingers and faces. Some great pics of the boil here.

Luckily, the last party of the night was close. Just down the street at Armadillo Palace, my cousin Adriane’s husband Matt was throwing her a surprise 30th Bday party. Adriane and I were raised together, practically as sisters. It was so fun getting to see her and old friends and family. Always a delight hanging with Rachel and Nate, and the adorable Carly, Thomas’ GF, who solidifed her status when she snapped a pic of dance teacher’s indiscretion.

Lauren Levicki was also having her bday party there the same night, so the entire Houston young socialite crowd was in attendance.

Sunday

Well, it’s Sunday now. And I’m headed out the door to my old roommate Dave’s house for some brunch and soccer watching. Also, looking forward to a meeting about a new project tonight with Joe Litzinger of Baby Crow Productions. More deets on that later! Very excited about it.

Here’s to hoping this next week is a little more calm, with more sleep involved. :-)

This season Houstonist quickly tired of eating over-priced, cayenne-coated crawfish that didn’t quite meet our expectations. So, we decided to have our own little boil and share some with you readers while we’re at it.

We’ve got 500 pounds of mud bugs teed up for this Saturday at Volcano. You might be asking yourself, “Where did Houstonist get 500 pounds of crawfish?” To which we reply, “Shhhh. Don’t worry your pretty little head.”

The crawfish will be boiled Louisiana style, i.e. with the seasoning actually in the water instead of sprinkled on top of the crawfish. Don’t worry about your taste buds heating up too much. You can always douse the flames with a frozen screwdriver or other Volcano creations that you fancy.

We’ll also have a fresh batch of Houstonist shirts and other schwag on hand. You’ll look much cooler on the stroll wearing some of our sweet threads instead of one with crawfish juice all over the front of it.

Think you can make it? Sweet. All you need to do is show up on Saturday with your entourage. There is no need to call the bar, but feel free to drop us a comment and let us know you’re coming.

Houstonist Crawfish Boil
Saturday, June 28th
First batch will be ready at 6PM
All you can eat for 5 bucks

Volcano
2349 Bissonnet St
(713) 526-5282

Sunday before memorial day my sister, Jill, organized a group to celebrate at my parents house.

My dad has claimed that next year is the year we’ll finally be building a pool, so in preparation, my mom went out and bought this above the ground pool. (the last one she bought burst into the house!)

Jill’s boyfriend, Matt, and his two boys Matthew and Jacob, as well as Matt’s parents Tim & Mary, his brother Kevin and sister-in-law, Amy, and his sister Beth all joined us.

Also, joining in on the fun were our childhood friends, the Whitton’s. Ashley and her new addition, the adorable Tyce, and her BF Leo (who we learned will be getting married in the same place me and Michelle are headed to in a few weeks.) Her mom Susan, and brother Patrick, who we grew up with down the street. It was so awesome to see all of them there.

My grandma and her boyfriend, Dick made an appearance, as Dick told me a funny story about my “new employer” Halliburton, and the luggage that Earl Halliburton, Jr. created that would float to help you survive in a plane crash into the ocean. Who knew?!

And of course it would be a party at my parents’ house without Doris and Joe Hinton. Doris made homemade ice cream and, as always, Joe kept us in stitches all day.

Last minute additions included Jason, Tiff, and Shannon, who definitely livened up with party with their washing machine rendition in the tiny pool.

Amber and Brian also stopped by for some yummy margarita concoctions courtesy of Michelle: Miggyritas!

The spread of food was incredible. 4 different kinds of ribs burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, homemade ice cream, and a yummy dessert that my sister made with ice cream bars and butterfingers. YUM-O!

It was an awesome day with friends and family. Looking forward to many more when we get the REAL pool!

More pics from the day here.

I ended the day with a 2nd pool party at the home of Stef and Paul, with all my Dynamo peeps. Flip cup, Beer Pong, and i got to play DJ. :-)

Happy Memorial Day!

And mightI add, YUM-O! Very close to the consistency of beef (if you were wondering.) I got over the shock real quick, and had another bite.

After the Sunday morning surfing lesson with Russell, Callan and Margot picked us up at the hotel and we headed for Fremantle, a beach town just southwest of Perth.

Sunday Session. No, not a church service, and far from it. It’s Perth’s equivalent to Houston’s Sundae Fundae, so naturally I was game for that.

We started out at Little Creatures Brewery for some local brews. Good stuff. Actually, all the beer here I’ve had has been most excellent. Barking Duck still my fav.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in true Sunday Session and hopped around from bar to bar having a blast. Then, back to the hotel for some pool time. The sun here is HOT. And beer seeping from your pores I’m sure doesn’t help. :-)

Back in the room now, getting ready for a week working in the Perth office. Thinking about this week, and the 4 short days I’ll be home Friday before heading back out to London, Amsterdam and Bahrain. All I can think is LAUNDRY! Oh and Dr. Sketchy! Don’t forget, this Sunday Feb 17th! I hope to see some of your mugs there, cuz i missus them.

More from Perth soon. Cheers, loves!

When we arrived yesterday, after calming down from the bathroom disaster back home, Josh and walked down to the pier for dinner. We planned to take the ferry across, but the last one would not get us back in time. So we found a pub near there called the Lucky Shag, and sat down with a few pints of Victoria Bitter and some Fish n Chips.
We are staying in East Perth, near an area called Northbridge, near the tourist attraction Swan Bells.

It’s Friday now, we are 13 hours ahead of Houston. I’ve been working all day in the hotel room, and getting ready to go meet the boys for happy hour.

Lots planned this weekend: Surfing lessons on Saturday, and I found an Arts & Fashion Market on Sunday that i plan to go to.

Chris has also gotten me in touch with his friend here who is a musician, so Im hoping to hook up and do some live music hopping while I’m here.

I’m headed to happy hour mates!

Cheers!