Tuesday, May 27, 2014

A Scavenger Hunt Bar Crawl

  This year most of our friends are turning the big dirty-thirty, and with that comes a lot of parties!  I wanted to do something special for DFH's 30th, but also something unique.  I had seen someone do a scavenger hunt bar crawl on a blog forever ago, and I thought it was the perfect way to celebrate my favorite craft beer lover's birthday.  We decided to do the bar crawl in our neighborhood of Shadyside because it has a good variety of bars and restaurants in a close vicinity and they do not get super crowded, so it wouldn't be a problem traveling with a large group.   Also, DFH and I are moving from our beloved Shadyside so we thought it would be a great last hurrah in our neighborhood.  ( More on that later). 
 
   I created a map with the streets, the name of the bars and listed the times we would be at each bar which was given to all of our guests so that no one got lost. 


I also created the scavenger hunt with a list of items each person/ team needed to find on the bar crawl.  I know this photo is blurry, but some of the items included, take a picture with the birthday boy, take a team selfie, find a cocktail umbrella, get a napkin with the bar name on it, find a coin made in the year 1984, etc.   

 
We told guests that they could group off into teams or do the scavenger hunt as an individual.  Each team/person was given a large Ziploc bag to keep all of their scavenger finds, a pen, the map, and the scavenger hunt list. 


 
And of course no scavenger hunt would be complete without a prize. 



We had all of our guests meet at the first bar, and handed them their bag of goodies and t-shirt.  DFH and I created t-shirts so that we could easily keep track of everyone on the crawl. 
 

I wish I had a real camera, all the pictures look a bit blurry, but the shirt says: Doug's Very Shady Bar Crawl ( Shady is for the neighborhood of Shadyside)
DFH picked out the unicorn logo.
 
We all had a blast, and it was so great to have all of DFH's  friends together for his birthday. 


 
Getting my picture with the Birthday boy to check off the scavenger hunt list.

With LES, and MS.  This is right before I unknowingly rubbed shoulders with Sidney Crosby the Pittsburgh Penguin, who we ran into at one of the bars. 
 
LES and DFH
 
 
 
Our team selfie.


The whole crew!
 

WINNERS!! 
 
As time went on through the night and everyone consumed more alcohol the scavenger hunt search took a back seat hahah, which was completely expected.  But these two collected majority of the scavenger hunt items, and won the grand prize.


 


 
It was such a blast, and easy to plan.  I would definitely do another scavenger hunt bar crawl in the future!



Today is DFH's actual 30th birthday we will be celebrating tonight grilling steak, asparagus, and clams.  YUM! 
 
Happy Birthday DFH!









Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Home Tour and Cocktail Party




  Last weekend was a busy one ( as they all seem to be lately), My Junior League hosted a cocktail party and a Home Tour on Mt. Washington ( a neighborhood in Pittsburgh).  I was the chair of the home tour, so the last two weeks I have been slammed trying to get everything ready and doing the final walk through of all the homes. 


  The cocktail party was at the Le Mont on Mt. Washington on Friday night and was a kick off for the home tour the following day.  If you are local to Pittsburgh you know how gorgeous the views of the city are from the Le Mont.  The restaurant is all glass windows and looks over the entire city, I can never get sick of that view. 



Posing with my co-chair Haley.



   The party was a hit, we were lucky enough to get some great raffle prizes donated for the party, and guests enjoyed passed hors d' oeuvres, drinks,  music and we even had a masseuse.  




 
I am so lucky that so many of my good friends came to support me.
 
All of these pictures have major red eye that I was not able to edit. 





DFH and I.


Saturday I got up bright and early to set up for the home tour.  We had ten fabulous homes on the tour that were also so unique.  I really think ticket holders enjoyed being able to tour the variety of homes on Mt. Washington.  Unfortunately, it rained all day, but we still had a decent turn out.  It was a ton of work but I am so happy I had the opportunity to put together a fundraiser from scratch.


Saturday night DFH's parents were in town so we tried Cibo a new Italian restaurant that just opened in the Regent Square neighborhood.  I had the lobster ravioli, and finished it in about three minutes.  I would definitely recommend this restaurant.   The rest of the weekend was spent being lazy watching too much HGTV, which was just what I needed after a busy Friday and Saturday. 

 
On Monday, my co-chair and I were lucky enough to be featured in our local Pittsburgh newspaper. 

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

30th Surprise Party Recap

    Shortly before my 30th birthday, DFH threw me a surprise party at UP in Shadyside.  I literally had no clue this was going to happen.  I consider myself to be a pretty nosy observant person so it is hard to surprise me, yet somehow I have been surprised three times in the past 1.5 years ( Getting Engaged and at my surprise bridal shower.)    DFH had told me the night before that we were going to meet one of his co-workers and his wife for drinks and possibly dinner at UP on Saturday night, and I didn't think much of it.  ( I would learn that this was a lie.)
 
      On Saturday, the day of the party I volunteered all day with the Junior League and by the time I got home I was feeling lazy and didn't feel like changing and getting dressed up.  I contemplated just wearing my volunteer t-shirt and puffy vest to get drinks, but luckily DFH was dressed up and I didn't know these co-workers well so I decided to make myself look presentable so that I wasn't known as DFH's sloppy Wife.    
 
 We walked up to the bar portion of the restaurant and instead of seeing the co-workers  all of my friends were standing there and shouted, "SURPRISE!!"  A few of my friends said they couldn't tell if I was mad or happy because I had such a blank stare on my face.  I was just so shocked and surprised!!     
 
I don't have too many pictures because I just had such a great time with my friends all night. 


   Sorry this picture is super grainy, but this was a picture of me with my friend Laura being shocked!


 
The first out of the three of us to turn the big 3-0.


 

Some of the ladies

 
DFH pulls it off again with another crazy surprise!
 
 
 
 
I was also spoiled with a Birthday gift from DFH that has me super excited/nervous.
 



 
 
 
 
 
 
DFH and I are going skydiving.  This is something that has always been on my bucket list.  I am so pumped to cross this off the list when we skydive in Maryland this summer...eeek




 




Tuesday, May 13, 2014

LGP!

     Tonight is a big sports night in Pittsburgh.  The Pittsburgh Penguins play the NY Rangers in game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.  Each team has won three games in this round so whoever wins tonight will move on to the next round of the playoffs.  We will be bringing out all of our good luck charms.  Even Oliver is getting nervous for the game and is holding on tightly to his favorite Pen's towel.









    I will likely need to consume an I.C. Light Mango, my favorite local summer  Pittsburgh beer, to calm my nerves. 





Let's Go Pens!

Monday, May 12, 2014

Six Months A Wife.

Hi! It has been a while. 
 I will try not to go AWOL again for that long.  I have so much to updating to do! 

Recently, DFH and I celebrated our 6 month wedding anniversary.   I cannot believe we have already been married for six months. I know in the grand scheme of life that is nothing, but it seems like only a few weeks ago I was putting on my wedding dress  and getting ready to walk down the aisle.

 DFH and I are always looking for an excuse to celebrate so obviously we took this as a great opportunity to go out for some appetizers and drinks.    We have been saving to buy a house so we have been attempting to limit our spending especially on unnecessary purchases, so it was so nice to treat ourselves.  

    A new restaurant, Open Bottle Bistro recently opened in our neighborhood with a cute back porch so we tried it out for our mini celebration.   It is finally warm and sunny outside in Pittsburgh,  so it was glorious to be able to sit outside without a heavy coat.  DFH and I love charcuterie plates and this one was delicious!  It had such a variety of tasty meats, pickles, and pate.  

 
   The whole weekend was beautiful so we wanted to spend as much time as we could enjoying the outdoors.  We decided to be tourists for the day and take in the views of Mt. Washington from the Grandview Saloon patio.  



Cheers to the next 1,0000,000 months as Husband and Wife.