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Eighty-Eight Beer Advent Calendar – Beer Eleven

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I learned how to adjust my desk chair at my office today! I’ve been in this office for a few weeks, but it still feels like “not mine” – this small little change has made such a difference towards making me feel like I have ownership over the space I work within. And just in time for the holiday break, lol. Classic Erin moment. 

Today’s blog post is not about classic Erin moments. (Though… that might not be a terrible idea for the future?) Today’s post is about the second last beer of my Eighty-Eight beer advent calendar. How are we already here!? 

I will take a moment to reflect on the experience before I move into the beer. I do think it was well worth the money ($88, naturally) and I appreciated the opportunity to try new beers at a place I am familiar with but have a “go to” beer. I think next year, if there is no beer exchange, I will buy another advent calendar. However, I think I would be more likely to buy one of the ones from a liquor store so I could be exposed to new breweries as well. 

All that to say… onto the beer!

Day Eleven Clue

Beer Eleven clue

The Day Eleven clue read “Don’t forget the water wings”. Well, I had a pretty good idea of what this one might be – could it be the classic “Wave Pool”?

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Eighty-Eight Beer Advent Calendar – Day Ten

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Day 20 tortilla soup!

Today is a very special night. This blogmas post is being written in real time. Like, I’m still drinking the Day 10 beer as I write it. It is incredibly cold out in Calgary – like this insane frigid air from Siberia, aka the coldest air on earth, has swept in. I was lucky enough to work from home today and, despite a dream of going to barre at 5:15 tonight, I am officially hibernating. 

Tonight is a night for soup, Hallmark movies, and the Day 10 Beer.

Day Ten Clue

Beer Ten Clue

The Day Ten clue read “Just in case you’re all alone.” And boy, oh boy, was I able to guess which beer it was!!

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Eighty-Eight Beer Advent Calendar – Day Nine

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Happy Day 18, everyone! I cannot believe how fast this month has gone by. This happens pretty much every month, I think, but I’m always surprised when it’s almost the 25th. (This is when I get paid. It’s not a Christmas reference. But also it is.)

Anyway, I must admit that I am a little bit burnt out. Nothing to do with blogmas, only to do with having too many fun things to get up to. If you read yesterday’s post, you can probably read between the lines that I left my house at 7:30 am on Friday and only returned home to sleep between then and 10 pm on Saturday.

Today was a very similar vibe – I left home at about 8:30 for Pilates at Junction 9, then headed directly over to my mom’s house for the annual holiday baking tradition. I followed that up with picking up some sushi from Kinjo Express, where they are always so lovely, then finally tried to grab some veggies for Christmas. (I was not super successful. I’m not paying $9 for snap peas and $6 for a cauliflower, thank you. I will follow the flyers and find a better price.)

Rylee helping baking

But look at how cute our little baking helper was! (She was helping by tearing apart a Toblerone box.)

Anyway, when I got home for the next two hours, I just read in the bath and then laid on my bed, scrolling on my phone. Which I literally never do. Like I said, burn out.

I finally rallied, though. I did slightly more meal prep than I expected to actually achieve at – vegan banana muffins for breakfasts and lentil quesadillas for lunches. And I washed my sheets. And now I’m writing a blog post. The world is my oyster, my friends. And speaking of oysters…

Day Nine Clue

Day 9 Clue

Actually, I’m not speaking of oysters at all. I’m just too tired for good transitions. So instead, please read the Day Nine clue which states “You deserve to sleep in”. This time I was pretty sure it was not Hammer Pants…

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Life

The Best Holiday Punch Recipe (also the easiest)

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Holiday Punch image
Photo by Elena Leya on Unsplash

Oh my gosh, you guys, the holiday activities have been filling every little inch of my life recently. Which is why I’m writing this post at a casual 11 pm, very chill posting time. Normal choices. If you read yesterday’s post, you kind of have an idea of what I’ve been up to. I did, in fact, do all of those things listed in that opening spiel. Plus, Claire and I headed over to ONE18 Empire for fancy Old Fashioneds and truffle everything after our show. (This is the go to place in Calgary if you want a smoky Old Fashioned.) And then I recorded Mystery, Outsiders, and Abs. Okay, that last one isn’t festive, but still it added to the very full vibe of my life right now. I’m sure many of you are in the same place… which is why I want to share something that might make your life a little bit easier.

The Best Holiday Punch Recipe

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Miracle on 1st Street (Proof) – Pop-up Holiday Bar

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Readers from last year’s Blogmas will remember that I truly love a pop-up holiday bar. I love kitsch, I love special drinks, I love a theme – how could I not be head over heels for a pop-up? Last year, I was all about the tiki drinks but this year Claire and I decided to go a little bit more upscale and check out the Miracle on 1st Street pop-up at Proof!

I forgot to take any pictures of the decor, so thank goodness for being able to embed instagram posts!

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Eighty-Eight Beer Advent Calendar – Day One

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eighty-eight beer advent calendar - day 1

One of the things that really kept me going, kept me inspired, during Blogmas last year was my holiday beer exchange. It gave me something consistent to write about and I had fun being creative with how I photographed the beers. You know? I looked at the things I did a little bit differently. Fun!

This year, life has really been life. I have been able to fill my life with so many things I absolutely love and it’s been full of changes. (I’ll talk more about this when I do my Word of the Year post, as that is the place for reflections.) However, it hasn’t allowed for a lot of bandwidth left over for organizing a beer exchange. In fact, it hasn’t allowed for a lot of bandwidth left over for much, other than dropping things in my living room and going on to the next thing… Imma gonna need to declutter my living room this weekend.

And I’m not the only one. We are living full lives, y’all! (Also, my dear friend Megan, who was the driving force behind last year’s exchange, broke her ankle. We have all entered a season of rest in sympathy.) 

Anyway. All that to say – this year I bought a beer advent calendar from Eighty-Eight Brewing Company, home of my favourite local beer, Tiffany. I’ll write more about Eighty-Eight in my next advent calendar post, as I’ve already rambled enough here today, so let’s get onto the beer!

First Some Housekeeping

Oh yes, thank you, me. 

General housekeeping:

As always, I will be keeping the beer behind a cut for those who are doing the advent calendar on a different schedule. (The brewery itself is starting on Dec 13.) 

Eighty-Eight includes a little hint for each beer, so before the cut, I will try to guess which beer it is. Except for today, Day One, because I only came up with this idea now. 

Day One Clue

day 1 clue

And now follow me through the cut!

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The Best Gin and Tonic Recipe

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The Best Gin and Tonic

My friends! I am on vacation, ready to read, write, and relax for a week straight, and it’s World Gin Day! I wasn’t planning to post today, but I am a sucker for a themed drink day… plus, after over four hours in the car, I just had to pour myself something delicious and share with you all the best gin and tonic recipe. It’s super simple, so let’s get right into it!

Seriously… it’s the BEST Gin and Tonic

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Beer Exchange Day 10

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It’s Day 10 of the beer exchange, Day 19 of blogmas and are things getting a little crazy?

Okay, they are not. Crazy is a wild overstatement.

But I am definitely in the place where I am trying my very best to try to make things as interesting for me as possible.

Beer 10 wrapped

Taking overly artistic beer photos? Oh, yes, I am here. (And thank goodness my partner-in-crime brother, Kevin, was up for developing something artsy.) Now, what beer is beneath that beautiful wrapping? Well… follow me through the cut…

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Beer Exchange Day 6

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Oh my gosh, I am for real sneaking this one in just under the wire. I have had a busy day of holiday baking, podcast recording, toddler babysitting, and sibling game night with very little time to write… and when I got home, I discovered that I had left my laptop at my siblings’ house. Luckily my brother Kevin was way, way too kind and rushed it over to me just in time.

And it’s mildly appropriate to today’s post because today’s post features pictures of my family!

Beer 6 Wrapped

The best picture is the one with the mildly creepy Santa that Kevin is totally not in, even though he probably should have been there. (Was he scared of creepy Santa? Probably.)

But anyway, today is not about the Santa pictures… today is about the beer.

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