Royal Wedding?

Move over, William and Kate - this weekend is all about Drew and Brianne!

Another love of my life is marrying the love of her life this weekend and I'm so excited to be making my way to Ocean Isle Beach in just a few short hours (after a Friday morning full of work) for a weekend full of rehearsals, dinner, doing my girlfriend duty once more of lookin' good in a bridesmaid dress, a ceremony, and a rockin' coastal reception!



Congrats, Bri and Drew!!! I loooooove you two! :-*

(Yes, B*Money is one of the few people in this world that I'd miss the TBMF for - and yes, I do expect texts, calls, and pictures from those of you dancing on a cooler in a field in Garner on Saturday!)

Brewgrass in Wilmington

From those local beer guys at Big Boss Brewing... here's a must-attend in Wilmington for anyone making their way to the beach this weekend (or those of you lucky enough to live there)!

*WILMINGTON BREWGRASS FESTIVAL*

When: Saturday, 2-8 p.m.
Where: Water & Princess Streets, Wilmington
Admission: $35.00
Info: http://www.DBAwilmington.org

So this is gonna be a great time! We'll be down in Wilmington this Saturday pouring beers for the Brewgrass Festival.

The music lineup is as follows:
- The Drew Emmitt Band (formerly of Leftover Salmon)
- Chatham County Line
- Fescue
- L Shape Lot

And the other fine breweries we'll be pouring alongside go as follows:
-Asheville Brewing Company
-Carolina Beer & Beverage
-Front Street Brewery
-Foothills Brewing Company
-Gordon Biersch
-Highland Brewing Company
-Lonerider Brewing Company
-RJ Rockers
-Star Hill

This promises to be a great time! There are still tickets available, so don't miss out!
You can get your tickets and more online from another local favorite, eTix.com!



{Image: Wilmington Downtown Business Alliance}

If You're Near Wilmington...

...your manfriends (and maybe even some of your girlfriends) will thank you for sharing this event with them!

From The Boss' Planner:

*LIGHTHOUSE BEER FESTIVAL WILMINGTON*

When- Saturday, 1 p.m.
Where- Hugh MacRae Park, Wilmington
Admission- $25 advance / $35 Door

This is Wilmington's beer festival and it's happening this weekend! We'll be out there pouring our fine beers alongside many other fine breweries, so come check us out! For more info, go to www.lighthousebeerandwine.com.You're welcome :-)

Calling All Fishermen & Fisherwomen!

I say fisherwomen explicitly because I know quite a few of my female readers kick butt and take names when it comes to fishing.

Please consider entering or volunteering with this event to benefit the NC Coastal Land Trust!

Championship to Benefit NC Coastal Land Trust!

Calling all fishermen and women! If you like to fish, enter the Fisherman's Post NC Flatfish Championship to help fund coastal conservation.

The tournament is Saturday, September 20, 2008 at the Joyner Marina in Carolina Beach.

Proceeds from the tournament with benefit the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust, and each participant will be invited to make a small donation ($1-$5) to the Coastal Land Trust when registering.

The Coastal Land Trust member with the largest catch will win a gift certificate to Michael's Seafood-one more reason to join in on the fun! Tournament cost is $125 for those registering before September 1st and $150 after September 1st.

For more information on the tournament or to register, contact The Fisherman's Post at (910) 452-6378 or email flatfish@fishermanspost.com.

For those of you who don't fish but would like to help out with this event, we are looking for volunteers for Friday, September 19th and Saturday, September 20th to help with the tournament and hand out information about the Coastal Land Trust to participants.

To volunteer, email volcoordinator@coastallandtrust.org.Sounds like a great tourney!

Congrats and More...

First things first, I have to say congratulations to Allison Davis, owner of Sandfoot Photography (I highly, HIGHLY recommend her beautiful work), on her engagement this weekend in quite a fabulous fashion!!

Her darling fiancé surprised her with a backstage proposal at the Brad Paisley meet-n-greet in Charlotte... HOW COOL! Check out the picture and a bit of the story online - Brad's face is priceless as Allison got the surprise of her life! (There is also a great story about how Brad and his team managed to make another young girl's night very special - he truly makes me very proud to be a Brad fan today.)

Also, a big thank you goes out to Dave and Andy at Deep South the Bar for having Parmalee's "Carolina" playing on their homepage... I am now ADDICTED to the song and hope that you all will enjoy it as much as I do!

PS - Don't forget to sign up for your membership and stop in and say hello to the Deep South folks soon, too.

Beaufort Water Festival - Part 2

I KNEW there had to be a better website for the Beaufort Water Festival and lo and behold, I've found it:

53rd Annual Beaufort Water Festival

Who in the heck is the previously referenced "Virtual Marketing Concepts" - the company claiming development of the previously referenced site - who built a event marketing-based website that did not even contain the event dates on the main page and included everything else as PDFs? (Business-owners beware... do not give them your money.)

So check it out... and enjoy some good ol' fashioned Budweiser sponsored events before InBev destroys the American favorite (thanks for the link Lisa S.!).

Beaufort Water Festival

Big thanks to my favorite Zeta blogger for letting us all know about the awesomeness known as the Beaufort Water Festival!

If you've missed the first few weeks of events... don't worry! There's lots more going on now through Sunday, July 20th. Check out the full schedule online - there are lots of events going on every day... even during the week (warning: it's a PDF... at least that makes it print friendly).

Here's a little background info about the event:

The History Of The Beaufort Water Festival
In July of this year, the island county of Beaufort will celebrate its great heritage and present-day progress. Our Water Festival had its official roots in the 1930's, when sailboat races on the Beaufort River were accompanied by parties on shore. The Festival also dates to the antebellum era when plantation owners raced barges on our Lowcountry waters. Then, as now, Water Festival was a time filled with merrymaking of all kinds.

The Commodore and his crew invite you to share in the Annual Water Festival with this year's slate of events and activities. Many of the events take place in the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, a seven-acre recreational area in the heart of the Downtown Historic District overlooking the Beaufort River.

Activities
The Water Festival features dances and concerts, fine arts and crafts, an antique show, boat races, sporting events of all kinds, historic home and museum tours, a grand parade and a Lowcountry Supper with local shrimp and after-dinner entertainment plus much more!

Location
The home of Water Festival, Beaufort, South Carolina, is the second oldest city in the state. Beaufort is nestled on the coast between Charleston, SC (70 miles north) and Savannah, GA (45 miles south), and is just an hour's drive from the popular resort island of Hilton Head. Beaufort is easily accessible from US Highway 17 or Interstate 95 (exits 38, 33 or 8).Hmm... I wonder if I can get the boyfriend away from work for a few days?

Ready to Shag?

I'm dedicating this post to Beaufort Belle who told me in my comments that I really caught her eye with my beach music posts... so here you are dear and thanks for the comment!

NC State Alumni Beach Music Party

Whether you shag every weekend or you just enjoy the music, join the Wake County NC State Alumni Club and the Meredith Alumnae Association for a Beach Music Party!

Music will be provided by Soul Dog, one of Raleigh's finest beach music DJs.

July 17, 2008
6:00 - 6:30 p.m. Shag Lessons
6:30 - 9:00 p.m. Beach Music Party

Dorothy and Roy Park Alumni Center
2450 Alumni Dr.
Raleigh, NC 27606

$15 in advance or $20 at the door - includes hors doeuvres and raffle ticket.
Cash Bar

Register by July 11, 2008
www.alumni.ncsu.edu/events
800-627-2586This sounds like a really, REALLY fun alumni event. I'm sure I can count Miss Styron in for this one ;-)

Possibly a Beach Music Concert Tonight?

I'm going to give Red's a call and see if this is taking place since the person who posted the event isn't sure of the address (which makes me wonder what else they're unsure of)... but might be worth enjoying a few drinks at tonight!

TONIGHT Free Beach Music Outdoor Concert (Capital Blvd. REDS Beach Club)
FREE BEACH MUSIC WITH THE EMBERS! TENT AND STAGE ALREADY SET UP.
LET'S GO AND PARTY AFTER WORK!!!!! IT IS SUMMER TIME BABY!
I think the address is 1505 capital.
Thanks goes out to my dad for the heads up :-)!

(By the way, I "found" a website for Red's thanks to Google but it doesn't load. Not incredibly surprising really.)

If you don't know where it is... just head north out of Downtown toward Capital Boulevard (the stretch that runs through the industrial area north of Downtown goes by "Downtown Boulevard" although I don't think you'll see it printed on any street sign). Red's is on the left before the Wake Forest Road / Atlantic Avenue exits... you'll have to pull a u-ey or get off on Wake Forest Road and come back down the other side to get to said left side of the road though.

Vote for Bodie Island Lighthouse!

Kudos to Barefoot in the Park for an awesome post/recommendation/heads up!

Bodie Island Lighthouse



Jeld-Wen Windows and Doors began the lighthouse restoration initiative in 2005. This year Bodie Island Lighthouse is a finalist (one of twelve out of 49 nominated lighthouses) for new windows and doors! Monies for restoration of this lighthouse has been pulled from the budget for the past several years. Please go cast your vote for the Bodie Island Lighthouse here!

Your vote will help North Carolina preserve one of its coastal landmarks!OBVIOUSLY I immediately voted!