The Ivrester, or I'm Good at Drinking Award!

On behalf of me, again, I accept this award, for myself.

So, Sarah, a/k/a this amazing, sassy broad behind Venus Trapped in Mars (which I say with lots of love, obvi), created a new blog award.....

Tis not the Liebster, but better.  It is the Ivrester, which in French means drunk + ster.  I was nominated by Beth at Hang On, Honey, and Rita Marie at Champagne and Pizza!  Thanks, girls! This post is EXTRA appropriate because I'm guest-posting about over at Adriana's blog today--check out my summer essentials post, which naturally includes summer drinking essentials!  You will love some of the steals I found on shorts, hats to hide your shame/drunk face, party tanks, sandals, etc.

Le Rules (since we're being so fancy & Frenchie) ::

• Acknowledge who nominated you
• Answer the 10 questions listed below 
• Nominate 10 bloggers you think are excellent drinkers
• You can't nominate the blog that nominated you (But why would you? They clearly just answered the questions already)
• Don't make any more questions, everyone just answer these questions below... why are we making so many questions for this Leibster guy?
• If you are nominated, just answer the questions and nominate 10 more people. That is it.
• Why are there rules for this? Q&A. That is all.

Questions:

1. What is your favorite drinking game, and why?

Probably the "finger game"...I have no idea what else it might be called, but it's fun and can be played anywhere you have alcohol!  So you basically put a cup of whatever you're drinking in the center...a full beer, a mixed drink, half a solo cup of beer, whatever you want.  

Then you can have as many people around it as you want.  Each person puts a finger on the lip of the cup (so sometimes use an extra in case you have dirty friends).  Say you have 7 people playing.  One person starts and says, "1, 2, xxxx number".  Then on that last number, everyone either pulls their finger off, or leaves it on.  

So if you guess correctly the number of fingers left on the last number, you are "out" and thus immune from drinking the center drink.  I.e. If you say, "1, 2, 4" and there are four fingers left, you are out and safe from chugging the center cup.  As people go out, the last number you can call decreases with who is left in the game, so if there are five people left, you could only say, "1, 2, 5!"  By the time you get to two people, it's better to put two fingers on and make it a little more exciting!  Loser (winner?) has to drink the center drink!

2. It's your birthday, what is your idea of a perfect evening? 

Wow this has changed a lot...umm my last birthday we went out to a really nice dinner with lots of wine for me.  Probably ideally, dinner and drinks with friends and then more drinks on drinks.  Vodka!

3. Money is no object, what is your go to drink at a bar? 

Top shelf vodka and club soda with a lime.  Simple.  I will also sometimes try a cocktail off of a list, but usually they are too sweet for me!

4. How many times have you played "Edward 40 Hands"?

ONCE.  That is all I ever needed, but I hear people love it.

5. Take this alcohol screening quiz here, what score did you receive? 

20%, so not very exciting, but I think we should all be glad I basically failed the alcoholism test!

6. What is your favorite memory with alcohol?

K I will share two memories associated with pictures that I'm not totally ashamed of.

Post sailboat-rental on Lake Michigan, we had a sailboat rental, and this Italian named Captain Lorenzo sailed us around on his boat while we drank all day!  We went through about a case of beer, a bottle of champs (I think?), a bottle of Skinnygirl Marg that turned into shots? Basically it ended with this...that's me in the hat..doing "crank that" by Soulja Boy.  See? I'm wearing my shame covering fedora.  Summer essentials, people, summer essentials. 

Wino photo booth pics at our wedding with my bridesmaids.  Told you I loved a good photo booth op, our wedding was no different! 

7. What is your favorite song about drinking? Or song to drink to? 

Hm probably "Drink on It" by Blake Shelton.  Also, as Bryan just pointed out, "Whatever You Like" by T.I. It's mah jam. 

8. What is your favorite activity to do while drinking (i.e. boating, bowling, golf, trivia, etc.)

Being with good friends at the pool or lake or whatever water we're by! 

Lots of boozy summer pool days in Chciago full of beer, tequila, Greek wine my friend's dad made, basically whatever isn't in a glass container! 

9. In your opinion, which is the number one party school in the country and why?

Wisconsin, duh.  I didn't go there, but had plenty of friends who did, and even my mom has taught me ridiculous drinking games that she learned there at my dad's fraternity house in the 60s.  Game day there in particular is a sight to behold...magical.  

10. When do you know you've had too much to drink? What are your signals? 

I get a little sassier and deeper....not at the same time, and depends on the crowd!  One of my girlfriends in Chicago and I used to have epic wine nights on her balcony where we would go through maybe 3-4 bottles, ok sometimes like 6 I bet, and nights where we were up til 3 with work or school in the morning. 

Also, my nose gets red!  You could call me Rudolph when I've had a little too much!

I will now nominate...

ANYONE reading this who wants to answer this fun set of questions!  I feel like most of my bloggy drinker friends have already been nominated, so go nuts guys!

The Liebster! Round Uno

So, on Tuesday, a name-sharing new blogger friend of mine, Sarah at Limited Space Organizing nominated me for a Liebster award!  How incredibly surprising and nice to be recognized as a fun new blog!  Here are the rules of the Liebster:

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog and link back to theblogger who presented this award to you.
2. Answer the 11 questions from the nominator, list 11 random facts about yourself and create 11 questions for your nominees.
3. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 11 other blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen.
4. Copy and Paste the blog award on your blog   

Sarah's 11 questions for me:

1. (Obligatory) Why did you start blogging?  

Good question.  I had been reading some great blogs that I found via Pinterest (find me here) such as Kate @ The Small Things Blog and her sister Lauren's blog, From my Grey Desk.  So those inspired me a bit, and then my husband had always said, "You're so funny (sometimes), you should just start a blog and write about junk!"  Well, it was something to that effect.

2. What is your favorite thing to organize?
*big smirk* I would say I like to organize my personal agenda the most.  Our desk is a federal state of emergency area-I use it for working from home and we use it for our "stuff"-bills, etc.  My cabinets have things piled on top of each other...mess.  Just a mess.

3. What kind of friend/person are you?
I would say I'm a damn good friend, who is lucky to have a posse of equally amazing ladyfriends scattered all over the country now.

4. What is your favorite piece of clothing to wear?
This varies *so* frequently, I can't even begin.  Right now I'm digging my long skinnies from American Eagle that create a perfect cuff to go with flats or heels. 

5. What is your favorite project you have done?
Well, I'm not really a project expert, as I mostly DIY things I have seen on pinterest!  But, by far, my favorite and most used are my coasters-scrapbook paper modge podged onto 13-cent tiles from Home Depot!  Love the "party animal" paper-get it....animals...in party hats...!!

y'all are jealy for sure, i know, i know!

6. What is the best piece of advice you can give someone?
I don't think I should be giving anyone advice! I am not Oprah.  But, I will say that that becoming friends with my mom and not just being mom and daughter has been a wonderful experience, and I recommend it to anyone.

7. What is your favorite book and why?
 I actually had to go to my Goodreads page to see what I like.  The problem is that I almost always enjoy everything I read, as evident by my 3.88 average rating of over 100 books.  I love any book that has a transforming power to it-teaches me something new about the world/past, takes me on a journey (Harry Potter is probably my favorite in this sense), or just makes me think about things in a new light.

8. How did you come up with your blog name?
Well, my name is Sara.  And I live in Texas now.   And part of it was just trying to say "this is me, and how I live, and I also live in Texas, which sometimes is starting to play a role in how I live my life now."  

9. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
Yeesh, I guess having my own "place" to go really.  And tweaking my colors/layout constantly.  And deciding if I should go for it and get a professional design.  Not yet probably.

10. If you could eat any food for the rest of your life what would it be?
I could legit eat french toast and bacon all day, every day.  

11. What would you do if someone gave you one million dollars to spend however you like?
Honestly, I would buy a home (something reasonable but awesome), pay off my student loans, and save/invest the rest.  I'm boring like that.  Wait, I would also buy a Louis Vuitton Speedy 30. 

11 random facts about me:

1. I have known my husband for 13 years, and we met at a little league baseball field.  He played, and I sold concessions with my bestie (also my maid of honor 13 years later!)

2.  I hate seafood so much.  It's an issue of texture for me. Yes, I will try it.  But I will probably hate it.

3.  I am trying to learn to run!  Yes, I feel it's a "learning" situation.

4.  I love going grocery shopping.

5.  I am a person who says everything I like is "the best" "my favorite", "love it so hard", etc. 

6.  I love Wisconsin sports-go Packers, Badgers, and Brewers!

7.  I'm obsessed with Pottery Barn and can't wait til we have a house one day so I can do DIY PB projects.

8.  We are hopefully getting a dog this summer!

9.  I feel like 26 is a weird age-I'm an adult, but not really?

10.  I hold/am(????) a Master of Public Administration.

11.   I'm working on integrating more color into what I wear (yes this is a real thing/problem I have). 

And the 11 blogs I'm sharing the love to:

Y'all this was my most difficult part!  As a *very* new blogger, I really have focused on developing my ideas for my content, and trying to stay away from too many other blogs for fear of imprinting a little!  This has lead me to a bit of a drought in reading new, and smaller blogs.  Often times I find myself drawn to blogs that have massive followings.  I am working on this for Round Dos, which will follow soon, I promise!