Guess What Just Crossed the Mason-Dixon...

(Firefly Distillery)

Oh yes, that's right. All of you who hail from (or have moved) north of NC can now enjoy what we've been raving about all summer and fall: Firefly's sweet tea vodka!

Via text message from one of my favorite bride-to-be sisters, E. Riley (soon to be E. Riley-Dorn):

They're selling sweet tea vodka up here now!!!

(To which I replied - "Yes!!! Now I can come visit again!")

Haha yeah they sell it by the half gallon so come on!
By "up here", she means near Baltimore. And by half gallon, she means Little Lisa-sized (which she totally agrees is true, too).

Looking SO forward to some DC/MD visits!

PS - Yes, I know where wiki defines the Mason-Dixon line, but who are we kidding?

Congrats, Jamie!

For those of you who've never met fellow Buckhead-er Jamie Saad, be sure to stop by his new venue sometime and say hello!

Black Flower Opens in Glenwood South


(Raleigh Downtowner/Raleigh Chronicle)

"From an unassuming building just around the corner from the bustle of Glenwood South comes a different kind of buzz, one that will last well after the night's end…at least that's the kind of atmosphere Paul Lewis and Jamie Saad want to create at their new bar Black Flower. Located at 517 West Peace Street (just east of Mojo's), one of its main goals is to promote Raleigh's culture."Click through to read the rest of the Melissa Santos' great article. Nick and I went to visit last weekend and had a great time (and of course, Jamie made sure to have a bottle of Firefly on hand for me... because he's awesome).

Double plus (and I hope he doesn't wring my neck for giving away industry secrets), but he dished that the black semi-circle seating may or may not have been reclaimed from the part of Buckhead that hasn't been flipped and holds the leftovers from the post-Jillian's renovation. Being the rockstar bar owners Paul and Jamie are, they found the instructions for recovering them on Google and saved them from the landfill - I support it!

Here's the official site (get your membership - they don't serve food!) and of course, because it wouldn't be the bar industry without it, the MySpace page.

A Noon Game?! Seriously?!

NCSU vs. ECU... arguably one of the finest tailgates in all of North Carolina. No matter how wonderful or how poorly the Wolfpack and Pirates may be performing in the stadium... rest assured that no tailgate in the history of this meeting has ever been anything short of masterfully executed.



A noon gametime for September 20th? GEEEEZ.

I know that my dear NCSU is always looking for the ESPN or ESPN 2 pick-up but that makes for one sleepy tailgate. Not that I'm opposed to the "keg and eggs" spread, but that really should take place no more than once or twice per season... and never for when our real tailgating opponents are visiting. How am I supposed to function as a gracious tailgate hostess when I've only had a nap the evening before (because we'll obviously start the pre-game at the bar on Friday evening).

It's like the BF said: ECU has been whoopin' up on teams in the daytime - the Wolfpack should probably have aimed to switch it up on them with an evening/night game in Wolfpack territory if we hope to have any chance of emerging from the game victoriously.

I'll bring the FireFly's Sweet Tea Vodka... who'll sign up to bring the mimosas and bloody marys? (Adrianne and Laura... this is your official call-out. ;-))