It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

...but I still don't turn on the holiday music until closer to Christmas, though ;-)

There is a lot of small town and big city stuff to do this weekend - all starting today. I wish they didn't all fall on the same day/time though, because I want to do it all, of course!

TONIGHT - Friday, December 4th

Downtown Garner - Tree Lighting

The Parks and Recreation Department will host its annual tree lighting ceremony on Main Street Friday, Dec. 4 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

This year, the department has expanded the traditional ceremony to include even more entertainment, activities and food, including Dance Explosion, Poplar Springs Church choir, the Garner Senior Center Dancers and carolers from True North Church. A highlight of the evening will be the reading of the classic poem, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

Activities for the kids will begin at 6 p.m. inside Santa’s workshop, which is located inside the Sunny Side II Oyster Bar building. Children will get to make holiday crafts and meet Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus.

During this event, Main Street will be closed to through traffic between Emory and Purvis Streets. Plenty of public parking is available along parts of Main Street, in the Garner Baseball parking lot, along Pearl Street and at the Pearl Street Building, at Garner Recreational Park and the Garner Senior Center.

Downtown Raleigh - Winterfest Kickoff

Michelle Branch (one of my favorites), will be performing at 6pm and ice skating in our very own outdoor ice skating rink starts right after. Plus, it's First Friday - yay!



Thanks for the video, Tyler! (Click through if you can't see it, blog readers!)

Tomorrow - Saturday, December 5th

Garner Christmas Parade

The holiday celebrations continue Saturday, Dec. 5 with the Garner Christmas Parade, which will begin at 10 a.m.

This year’s parade theme is “Inside Santa’s Workshop.” Tisha Powell, of ABC 11 News, will serve as the parade’s grand marshal. More than 70 participants will take part in the parade and will include area marching bands, floats, emergency vehicles, local merchants and Santa Claus.

This year, the parade will follow a slightly different parade route than that of before. It will begin on Broughton Street and will travel across Garner Road, down Hwy 50 to the corner of Main Street, where it will turn left and proceed until its ends at New Rand Road. This route is somewhat shorter but should allow easier access to and from the area to those viewing the parade.
Garner news and event details are from my friends at GarnerCitizen.com - a great, local paper!

Brush Up On Your History Over a Double

Coming Holiday 2009!



Brush up on your Raleigh history, enjoy a double, and oh don't forget... there's no food, so you're gonna need a membership. See you there!

As always, "Thanks!" to my SUPER most favorite - Tyler - at TriangleBlvd.tv for the video!

{PS} You can follow the guys from Hunter's Oak City Tavern (who I also love in a big way) on twitter, @HuntersOakCity.

A Throwdown of Epic Proportions

How crazy is it that it's been almost a year since sweet tea vodka was making its first introductions into the lives of Southerners everywhere? (Albeit, it took quite a bit longer to make it to every county in the closed states.)

Well it just wouldn't be summertime without tailgates, cookouts, and days on the water with sweet tea vodka now and it looks as if it's going to get quite interesting this year. I can't wait to try some of this myself and see if it lives up to the hype!

Anyone else had the opportunity to try Firefly's newest competitor in the sweet tea vodka arena?



Many thanks to my good friend Tyler for the scoop!

PS - Maybe I should've titled this post "The Sweet Tea Smackdown"?

You Hungry?

I bet you will be after checking out all of the great happenings for Triangle Restaurant Week 2009!

It is no secret that I love going out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's not that I'm not a bad cook - I'm actually pretty good when I have time, but there are so many great restaurants around here, plus... I just love the whole experience since it's usually a group affair.

one appetizer. one entree. one dessert. one week.



May 11th - 17th, 2009. Mark your calendars! See you there :-)

Growing Up is Getting Old

Want to know what's kept me so busy lately? Among other things, helping one of my favorite non-profits put together a FANTASTIC event happening here in Raleigh on May 2nd.

Here's the scoop:
Bring the family out to City Limits Saloon on May 2nd as Brittany's Battle presents "Boots, Bands & Bulls", a benefit concert with Kevin Lee, Brian Davis and Arista recording artist Jason Michael Carroll, whose new cd, Growing up is Getting Old, comes out on April 28th!

Gates will open at 1pm, and the show kicks off at 2pm with activities for the whole family and the best country music you'll find anywhere, so be sure and visit BootsBandsandBulls.com and get your tickets today!



PS - Holy crap. I almost forgot to thank Tyler for shooting, editing, and producing that video for us! You need video? You need my good friend Tyler who has started his own local company - Red Wire Video!

Great Coverage for the Boys!

A while back I posted about the September 19th (919 - get it?) launch of TriangleBlvd.tv.

Tyler is one of my favorite people to work with - I'm super stoked that the Technician gave the TriangleBlvd boys this great feature:

Graduates launch the Triangle’s first Web television network
Trio of N.C. State’s own provide advertising through the establishment of a ‘video yellowbook’Read the full article here! And then join the TB facebook page, too :-)