BLEUBIRD BLOG

FOR THE WHISKEY LOVERS.

i am not a giant whiskey fan. i have never been a huge fan of dark liquor. rum, whiskey, scotch, no thanks. but my husband is and so are a lot of my friends. aubrey has been into making fancy manly drinks lately, elixirs if you will, and this one is his new favorite. it's called a stone 1510 and is perfect for winter time.

you'll need: 

a good rye whiskey, we suggest bulleit rye.
benedictine liqueur.
zirbenz stone pine liqueur.
old fashioned aromatic bitters.
a lemon.
ice.

tools: a shaker, drink strainer, shot measure pourer and a paring knife.

directions: pour two ounces of rye, one ounce of benedictine and one ounce of zirbenz into your shaker. give it a couple of heavy shakes with ice.

slice the rind of the lemon and rim the inside of  your drinking glass, leaving the peel at the bottom of your glass. then strain and pour your booze over the peel.

add two dashes of your bitters and stir.

cheers!

footnote: timex is running a holiday "time for me" giveaway over at the timex stylewatch facebook page for two timex watches and a $250 giftcard. click here to enter. also, for those of you who asked about my watch.

A NIGHT AT THE ZOO.

we spent the evening with some friends at the zoo for their holiday"zoo lights" showcase. we had never been before and are slowly crossing things off our list that we have yet to do here in houston before the big move. parking was a little tricky, but we made it inside and walked the lights. we said hello to the animals that were awake, which just happened to be some of our favorites, the elephants, the giraffes and the lion. we snacked on hot pretzels and dippin' dots, we watched the dancers, rode the carousel and listened to some great christmas music. the end of the night got a little "interesting" with it being two hours past birdie's bedtime, but it was really fun and the kids loved it. i am so glad we went.

A LITTLE HOLIDAY PARTY.

we threw a little cocktail party last week to get some of our friends together and give them a gift from timex. we recently partnered with timex for the holidays to try out their timex gift finder, which is an easy to use tool to help find the perfect time piece for your friends and family. aubrey and i needed new watches and were discussing that watches are actually great gifts for so many reasons. they are small, useful and classic and make a great last minute gift idea.

our friends came over, i made artichoke dip, we ate yummy cheeses, had some drinks and listened to christmas records. it's rare that we get out these days without the kids. we have to skip most of the holiday parties each year due to them being adults only, so it was nice to have a last minute get together here after the kids were in bed. we had fun... some of us may have had a little too much fun.

*this post sponsored by timex. thank you for supporting the sponsors that make this blog possible.

8 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS.

there are only eight days left until christmas, well technically seven since i am writing this late at night, but how exciting! my big kids are flying to florida for christmas on wednesday, it's their dad's year. it is always hard not having them here for the holidays, but we decided to spend this christmas eve with some good friends and their kids, so i am looking forward to that. we are going to exchange gifts with them and spend the evening in cozy pajamas and eat lots of yummy food. i will be making artichoke dip and my carrot soup. i still need to come up with a dessert. i'm thinking pie.

many of you have asked me to tell you more about the books i wrapped up for the kids in place of an advent calendar. so here you go...

24. pete the cat: i love my white shoes.
23. itsy mitsy runs away.
22. i had a favorite dress.
21. dragons love tacos.
20. boot & shoe.
19. the great paper caper.
18. the heart and the bottle.
17. pete the cat and his four groovy buttons.
16. oh no, george!
15. abe lincoln's dream.
14. goldilocks and the three dinosaurs: as retold by mo willems.
13. the three ninja pigs.
12. bear has a story to tell.
11. the fantastic flying books of mr. morris lessmore.
10. a home for bird.
9. extra yarn.
8. those darn squirrels!.
7. lost and found.
6. the way back home.
5. the incredible book eating boy.
4. a sick day for amos mcgee.
3. a book of sleep.
2. the dot.
1. how to catch a star.

how do you celebrate the holidays? i love learning other peoples traditions and would love to hear some of yours if you would like to share.