Only The Curious

I blog about a lot of things here, but one of my interests that I haven’t written about on this blog is craft beer. So, add it to the list. Today the Great American Beer Festival takes over Denver (well, really beer madness started taking over about a week ago) and there’s a ton of buzz about it. I’ve talked to several friends in the last few days who are going to GABF for the first time this year, and realized there are some things that are helpful for newbies to know. So, here you go:

1) Make a pretzel necklace. I know this sounds kind of ridiculous, but trust me, you’ll want one. Grab some twine or ribbon (don’t use dental floss- the salt on the pretzels shreds it) and string as many pretzels as you can on it. I highly recommend adding some string cheeses as well, and possibly some beef jerky if you’re into that kind of thing.

Why?

For one, the pretzels serve as a palate-cleanser between beers. For two, pretzels and other salty things taste good when you’re drinking beer. For three, it serves as a snack and something to get in your belly while you’re trying a bajillion kinds of beer. Also, EAT BEFORE YOU GO. Convention center food is mediocre at best, and you’ll want to have some padding in your stomach. If you don’t feel like cooking, a fleet of food trucks will be parked outside the festival this year. But you can’t leave and re-enter, so get there early and get food first.

2) Plan transportation home that doesn’t involve you driving. Bike, get a cab, have your little brother come get you, walk, take the bus, take the light rail, but don’t plan to drive.

Why?

Even if you’re not planning on getting drunk, you probably will. Four hours is a long time, and the little one-ounce samples may not seem like much beer, but if you’ve ever done a power hour you know that you can get plenty drunk on little shots of beer. That’s not to mention that most of what will be at the festival will be big, often strong beers. Especially if you’re usually more the coors type, we’re talking about more alcohol than you’re used to in your brews. Also parking downtown will be expensive and a pain in the ass. Ride your bike. But lock it up well. Or better yet, get a bcycle for the night.

3) Be ready to wait in line. The line at the door forms early and wraps around the building. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of beer for everyone, but be ready to stand around for awhile. Also recommended to get there before the session start time.

Why?

Because this festival draws people from all over the country, who have waited all year for this event. The GABF is, in fact, the definitive annual beer competition. You may be going just for fun, because your significant other wanted to, or because you kind of like beer, but a lot of the people here are SERIOUS about this event.

4) Drink water. There are water stations all over throughout the event. Stop, grab a cup, and chug it, at least once an hour if not more. Just do it.

Why?

Because we all know that drinking dehydrates you. Four hours is a long time to go without drinking water regardless, but it’s even more important when you’re drinking. A lot of people don’t want to drink water because they’re worried about getting their money’s worth of beer tasting, or because they don’t want to have to stop and pee (you’re going to have to anyway, at some point) or they forget to because they’re already consuming liquids all night. But the thing to keep in mind is that you’re trying a lot of different kinds of beers – you’re basically mixing all night long. You will have a headache tomorrow if you don’t hydrate like crazy.

5) Don’t drop your cup unless you like LOVE being the center of attention.

why?

At GABF when you drop your cup, everyone within 300 yards of you will stop, point and yell “ohhhhhhh” like you’re a second grader who just swore on the playground. Also if you hear lots of people shouting, this is probably why.

Those are my tips for absolute must-dos for beginners. I also recommend having a plan of action – knowing which beers you want to try and which you don’t want to wait in line for, but chances are as a newbie, you’ll have fun just trying whatever looks good. That’s a valid strategy too.

HAVE FUN and come visit Island K if you’re there Thursday or Saturday night, I’ll be there volunteer pouring. Happy sampling!

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I’m not usually a quitter. I don’t like giving up on things. This can be kind of a problem, because I like doing a lot of different things, which makes becoming over-committed far too easy to do.

This quitting was sad, too. I was quitting something I had wanted to do for YEARS. But sometimes when you want something that badly for that long, you stop seeing how it really is and just picture it as the way you want it to be.

So, here it is: I’m not going to be a wedding planner. Not in the near future, anyway.

It’s weird to say that. For about 7 years I’ve been wanting to start my own wedding planning business. I picked out a name and wrote a business plan years ago. I LOVE weddings. And I love planning parties. And I worked on a lot of big events in college, and was darn good at it. So I thought “let’s combine a bunch of my favorite things! It’ll be great!”

Last summer, I started writing an Examiner column on Wedding Planning. The idea was to use the column to get into the industry, get an internship, and work my way up to being a planner. And it worked – since November I’ve been interning with the fabulous Kerri Butler and her team over at A Touch of Bliss. I met Kerri by interviewing her for my column.

The day she brought me on, I called my mom and screamed into the phone “I’M GOING TO BE A WEDDING PLANNER!!!” Then I went directly to the library and checked out as many wedding magazines as I could. (I already had a bunch of books at home I’d started collecting years ago.)

The internship was great. Kerri is a fantastic planner, and I love all of the ladies on her team. I got to see a ton of the industry from the inside, met lots of people, and even worked on a couple of events. It was fun and exciting and I was thrilled to be part of it.

But, the point of an internship is to learn about the industry, see if a job fits you. I found out it didn’t, basically for three reasons:

1) I’m NOT a design or fashion freak. I don’t have an aesthetic eye. (This is why my art is in words and singing and dancing, and not anything visual.) Half of what people hire a planner for is the design piece. I realized I would always need to work in tandem with someone who could do that stuff, because I just can’t. And I don’t know if it’s something I could learn.

2) The energy started really flowing with my social media and freelance writing work. As anyone who is a business owner or freelancer knows, you have to pay attention to what’s bringing in your income. And I found myself needing to spend more time on that stuff, and less on my internship. It wasn’t really fair to either thing not to give it my all. Sometimes you have to recognize where the energy is flowing and where it’s not, and follow it.

3) As anyone who knows me will attest, I love doing about a bajillion things. It’s a huge part of why I moved to Colorado – for everyday adventures like rock climbing, biking, playing ultimate, hiking, skiing, etc. And those are just my athletic/outdoorsy hobbies. But the important thing to realize is that no matter how much I loved weddings, I would never love working at one on a Saturday instead of being on one of my adventures. It wouldn’t be true to doing what I love, and it wouldn’t be fair to the bride or the wedding not to be completely focused on her and happy to be there.

I sat with this all summer, thinking about where I REALLY wanted to devote my time and energy as I flipped through pictures of epic weekends and time spent with friends. I stopped contributing much to my internship. I started writing more. And I was okay with that.

Ultimately, I realized that I still LOVE weddings. I love helping people come up with ideas, being a resource and offering recommendations, and telling peoples’ unique stories. But I can do all of that as a writer. So, I’m going back to writing my column. My goal is to eventually get to write for The Knot, so here’s to my column working its magic a second time!

There was a huge lesson learned in all of this, and I’m grateful for the journey that led me to this conclusion. I hate closing doors, but it feels good to walk away knowing exactly why, and that I’m still going to be part of it all, in the way that suits me best.

So go read my column. And tell your friends who are getting married or who work in the industry. New articles will be going up 2-3 times/week from now on. And if you have any ideas for topics, people to interview, etc. I’ll always be looking for inspiration.

Here’s to turning away from one thing so I can move forward to the next.

And thank you, Kerri.

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A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go rock climbing for the first time ever. Not wall climbing, legit lets-hike-into-a-canyon-and-climb-a-rock-face rock climbing.

My dear friend Kyle was in town, and brought along a posse of four of the greatest friends a person could have. I am so happy to have gotten to know all of them, and consider it complete serendipity that we were all able to meet and become friends. Also, they’re really awesome rock climbers.

So they planned the trip and brought the gear and on a hot Sunday morning we found ourselves trekking up Clear Creek Canyon. The more experienced folks went first, and then it was my turn.

EEK.

I’m afraid of heights. And snakes, which live on hot rock faces in the foothills. (And geese, but those don’t have anything to do with rock climbing.) Also I’ve never thought of myself as being particularly strong. So, you know, I was REALLY optimistic about my chances of getting more than a foot off the ground. Like, that I might get two feet up.

So I geared up, and grabbed on to the wall. It was hot, and rough, and somehow, despite the obvious fact that ITS A ROCK it was harder than I was expecting.

I pushed up from my first set of holds. I was amazed. I didn’t think I had it in me to get anywhere. Then Kris helped me find good places to put my feet, and told me just to stand up. Luckily, if there’s one place I DO believe I have strength, it’s in my legs. I stood up and found myself about ten feet in the air. “Holy crap,” I thought “I’m DOING it.”

The next 45 minutes were slow and painful. There was a lot of me standing in one place, unable to fathom how I could possibly move higher. “There’s nothing there” I thought again and again, as I looked at the tiny dimples in the rock I was supposed to be using to push myself up.

Now, yes, there were some very solid holds in places. And there was a great crack to climb up through. But there were several times I just wanted to give up.

“I’m coming down!” I shouted to Kris.

“No. Keep trying!” he responded. James, Karen, Karl, and Kyle cheered me on and pointed out holds they’d found on their tries.

I got dizzy. It was hot and I was dehydrated.

I probably told Kris I was coming down another 3-4 times. Every time the group encouraged me to make at just one more try. They kept me going. And slowly, eventually, I made it. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT but I made it. 75′ up. Because my friends believed in me, even when I didn’t.

After that, I felt like I could do anything. There are a lot of things that are hard to do. But for the next few weeks every time I thought “oh, this is hard…” my next thought was “but the rock wall was harder, and I finished that.”

In many ways, pulling myself up the face of that wall was a very spiritual experience. But it also made me realize the value of a support system – not just having a rope to catch you if you fall, and not just having people teaching you how to do it, but having people who believe in you and won’t let you quit. People who know you can do it, even when you’re not sure you can, and who will tell you so. People who won’t let you come down even when you really want to just give up.

Thanks, guys. You were fantastic and supportive and awesome, especially given that I’d only met you 36 hours earlier.

Now how to go about finding a supportive cheering squad for all the other things in life…

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