I was looking through my archives when I realized that I had never posted about the brewery tour I took back in March with the boy. Which is sad because this is a great free event in the area that anyone (over 21, of course) can do.
When I woke up that morning, I wasn’t really in the mood to go anywhere or do anything, but the boy finally convinced me, so we were off to the Carolina Brewing Company (we arrived with almost an hour to spare - but the line starting building fast, so that was good). I had heard about this from a former co-worker who had gone the previous week (that girl was awesome).
Carolina Brewing Company, located in Holly Springs, is a local brewing company which uses only the four main ingredients to brew their beer (malter barley, hops, yeast and water). They use no additives, chemicals or pasturaztion which creates a beer with a shorter shelf life than others, but even more tasty (this coming from a girl who drinks whatever is on sale at the grocery store).
The tour started at 1:00, but they turned the taps on about 15 minutes before. They served their 3 main beers (Carolina Nut Brown Ale, Carolina Pale Ale, Carolina India Pale) and their seasonal brew (Spring Boch) which had just been released the day before. The Spring Boch was perfect for me. Light, smooth taste with the barest hint of sweetestness. The boy tried all 4, but I only had a glass and a half of the Spring Boch. I did taste all the other beers and while I could appreciate their quality and taste, they were just too bitter for my taste buds.
I hate that picture… I wish I had listened to the photographer (aka the boy) and taken off my jacket. 
The tour itself was relatively short, about 30 minutes, but chock full of great information. Then everyone went back to drinking. It was basically like a huge party, however, the line for the men’s bathroom was twice the line of the girls. I definitely want to go back and take the tour again, hopefully when their Carolina Summer Wheat is released. The most interesting thing? The 6-month pregnant girl who was the DD for her husband. She looked so jealous of everyone else!
Carolina Brewing Company also does private tours for a small fee, which would be a great company bonding experience or trip for your wedding party!
I hate it when people ask me what I want to do. My answer used to be just a nonchalant shrug, but after graduating, people seem to want more of an answer. What I want to do changes every week. It has since I was about 5 years old – you can ask my mom that.
Well, I guess that isn’t entirely true. Since I’ve been old enough to hold a pencil, I’ve wanted to be a writer. But I know that it will take years of dedication before I can dream of writing, at the very least, part-time. My dream is to have a little cabin on a lake where I can write full-time. But I know that I need a full-time job now in order to build up to that dream (unless, like my mom says, I marry someone rich ).
But this post isn’t really about me, it’s more about the education system I have had experience with. In high school, I never had anyone who actually encouraged me to find what I really want to do. The teachers and staff all seemed concerned about cramming dates, numbers and words into my brain to prep me for “the real world.” Maybe it was different in your school, but in mine? No one really seemed to care what you wanted to do with your life. There were no options to explore any sort of career path.
Then I got to college. I can honestly say that I am glad I went to college on a scholarship because I really learned nothing in my classes. There was no a lot of flexibility in my chosen curriculum, meaning that after I took a few basic classes, I couldn’t explore other departments outside of my own. When I declared my major after submitting my application, I had no idea that they would never ask me again about that choice. I also never knew that my school had an undeclared category – no one ever told me (I’m also the first in my family to ever attend college – either side). I was lost, confused and wanted to experience as many options as possible – but I wasn’t really allowed.
To my advisers, I was just another name on their list. Just a number for them to check off.
I recently signed up for some on-line summer classes through my Alma Mata. I feel that will give me a chance to explore other classes that I might have been interested in, but didn’t really have the time to experience. I signed up for only two classes, as I feel that will really give me the chance to learn the information, not just absorb it long enough to pass a test.
How did you know that the career you choose was the right one for you? Did you have encouragement from anyone older than you?
Friday is payday. So Friday evening, I went grocery shopping. I pulled my $60 out of my bank account ($20 each for gas, food and entertainment) and headed to Harris Teeter – no list or any coupons in hand.
All of this cost me $20.83, which I was impressed that I got so close to my budget, I even got ice cream to spoil myself (yes, that could have bought me more actual food, but I tend to eat ice cream as an entire meal anyway). Savings: $2.51 (I think, I misplaced my receipt) . I tried to buy items that were only on sale, but I didn’t do that well. I feel that I seriously need to do some coupon shopping and browse through the sale paper before I go shopping this Friday.
For supper that night, I used some of the meatballs (the rest will be later cooked in the crock-pot with BBQ sauce), leftover Ragu spaghetti sauce, spaghetti noodles that I found in the back of my cabinet, and leftover rolls from Easter that were starting to stale (under the broiler with some butter and I would never have guessed). This corresponded to leftovers on Sunday as well.
Saturday, I got up and went to the Farmer’s Market for the first time this year. I forgot my camera at home, which is such a shame, but I think I will try to head out there at least twice a month, so expect more pictures than one from a grainy camera phone. If I hadn’t had bread at home, I think I would have purchased mine from there (though I want to try to make bread sometime soon). Here is all of what I got and the pricing breakdown:
$2.50 – Bunch of Asparagus
$0.75 – 3 Turnips (I wanted to cook something that I hadn’t cooked before)
$4.00 – Pint of strawberries
$5.63 – Locally raised pork chops (from Wells Pork and Beef in Burgaw, NC)
With what was left over, I purchased a cupcake and a soda when I went downtown with my roommate later that day (after the NCSU Red/White Game). So now, I have food to last me the week, no entertainment/eating money, but money for gas. I moved my rent money to my savings account and will pay credit card money today.
It was slightly disappointing to me, when I got gas this morning, that at $2.79 a gallon, $20 barely gave me half a tank of gas! Hopefully that is enough to last the week!
