I was just looking back, and it seems I have not been to a Bourbon & Brew Fest.  Highly strange, I love all of Big City Event’s festivals, but it seems this one always came up after I had committed to something else.  Not this year!

This year instead of the traditional festival they are having a bourbon tasting. There will be over 40 kinds of bourbons to try and it’s all in Tampa this Saturday from 5pm – 10pm.

Now I gotta admit I love a really good bourbon over ice, but also flavors amuse me greatly. There will be Jim Beam Maple Whiskey (hell ya!) and this:

Now, I doubt they will have bourbon cream floats at the tasting, but I will be trying the Brown Jug Bourbon Cream no matter what they mix it with. Or don’t mix it with. Enough said.

Besides the opportunity to taste all kinds of bourbon there will, of course, be some brews AND moonshine.

Oh, and don’t forget the music. All country all the time.

So, to be honest I’m not exactly a good ole country girl. Or anything other kind of country. But I love pretty much all live music, and who doesn’t love this?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLWDxh8NBOo] I am so going to buy a cowboy hat before Saturday!

Go here for all the important info including prices, what you can and can’t bring and such. The Grand Tasting is at Armature Works on Tampa’s Riverwalk. Have I said enough times yet how much I love Riverwalk?  Probably not.

After you do that, how about a chance to win a pair of General Admission tickets?  Just let me know if you are a year round country fan or a fan of convenience (like me) and if you’ve listened to any of the bands that will be at the tasting!  Also, use the Rafflecopter link so I know who you are:
Enter HERE!!!

I received two VIP tickets to The Bourbon & Brew Grand Tasting 2015 in exchange for writing a review and a giveaway. As always, my opinions are all mine.

The 5K Color Blast is coming to Tampa (actually Lake Park in Lutz, but whatever) November 11th! If that date sounds familiar it’s because it’s the same day and location as The 5K Zombie run. Coincidence?  I think not.  It’s because Monster Runs LLC is putting on both runs / parties. They’ll also be in Sarasota October 25th, the day after The 5K Zombie run there.

Know whats cool?  If you sign up for both The 5K Color Blast and The 5K Zombie Run at the same time you get an extra ‘combo’ medal. So if you run for the bling you are in luck!  Check it out. You know you love your running bling.

What else is cool?  This is a color run / trail run hybrid.  You’re fine with a jogging or large wheeled stroller if you’re running with young-uns, it won’t be mountain hiking or anything, but it does add a fun change from your average run.

I went to Monster Runs LLC’s color run last year with my usual running partners, we had way too much fun. They may not make it this year though, they are busy preparing for a little sister they are expecting soon after.

In case all of that cool isn’t enough (you are being SO difficult!) I have a pair of tickets to give away.  The winner will be contacted next Tuesday, you’ll just need to register by October 1st.

Here! Enter here!

Can’t decide if you want to go?  Watch this and then sign up, don’t forget to use code ZEN5 to get $5 off your entry. You’re welcome.

I now know what it would take to pull me out of my self imposed blog break. That would be my favorite party of the year.  The Summer of Rum Festival is back next Saturday, August 15th from noon to 11:00! This is seriously my favorite yearly event.  And not just because I love my rum. Here’s my review of last year’s bash just to prove how much fun it was.

What would cause this to be not just a favorite but my VERY favorite? For one, it’s at the Cuban Club in Ybor. This means a photo worthy historical building AND not having to be outside in the heat the entire time.  Because we can have lots of fun outside in the heat and all, but it’s also nice to not worry about finding a place in the shade so that you can melt a little bit slower. Plus, maybe it’s haunted.

Also, you know I’m all abut the music.  And the booze, but mostly the music.  Well, it depends on the moment but right this moment I’m sober and so giving music the one up. Summer of Rum means ska and reggae and generally island influenced music all the whole day long. And rum. Anyways…  The Hip Abductors are the headline act and I’m particularly liking this song.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbkjwo-iiUk?rel=0]

UNRB is scheduled again this year, so another yay.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfKkEhSqcSY?rel=0] Anyways, lets get back to the important stuff.  The rum. There will be the big names like Captain Morgan and Malibu but check out some of the one’s I don’t know a thing about.  Which means the festival will be a learning experience. Learning is good, right?

Oh, if you want to buy your tickets you can do that too.  General admission tickets are $20 now or $25 at the door.  Want all you can drink and access to the VIP areas? $85 now or $100 at the door.  Of course you know at the door means if they don’t sell out…

I received two VIP tickets to The Tampa Bay Rum Festival in exchange for writing a review and this giveaway. As always, my opinions are all mine.

I mentioned the other day that this weekend the place to be is downtown Tampa, at Riverfest 2015.  You already know about the run, but that’s just one piece of the celebration!

There’s also the Bloody Mary Festival this Sunday May 3rd at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park from 11 – 3pm. general admission tickets get you unlimited samples from lots of local restaurants – and the opportunity to help decide whose is the best! You also get 1 full size drink with your ticket, so you can be certain about the choice you made. 🙂

All that AND music – check out Busted Blues:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seTRhrmWmp0?rel=0] I love listening to the Blues. Why yes, I do like most music. How can you not? Especially when it’s live.

Get your general admission or VIP tickets (all you an drink!) HERE.  Or you can enter to win a pair.  Just leave me a comment and enter here: a Rafflecopter giveaway.

Bloody Marys and the blues aren’t your thing?  Fine.  How about a carnival? How about games and rides like the Para Trooper, Carousel, Fun Slide, Orbiter, Swings or Star Screamer? How about kid friendly shows like magicians, story tellers, balloon artists and face painters? Like you have to be a kid to appreciate that. All that and a full bar and music too.

Ya, of course it sounds amazing. The urban carnival will be at Cotanchobee Park on the Tampa Riverwalk both Saturday and Sunday.  You can go the old fashioned route and buy tickets for the games and rides or you can purchase an all day ride pass here. 

Of course, you could just win a pair by leaving me a comment letting me know your favorite carnival ride and entering my drawing here: a Rafflecopter giveaway.

I’ll announce the winners Friday!

I received tickets to the tampa downtown carnival as a member of Tampa Bay Bloggers thru their partnership with the Big City Events in exchange for this giveaway. All opinions are my own, of course.

I have a confession to make.  OK, it’s not really a confession because everyone knows and I’ve said it before.  I am a LAZY runner.  I’ve been running for ages and still have never run much more than 4 miles because I tend to take breaks. Usually just because I lose the bug, sometimes, like this last time, because of a ulcerative colitis flare. Even when I take a break because I’m sick I tend to milk it.  I haven’t been sick in over a month and I just started running again last week. This time I decided to stop pretending like I have running pride and I am sticking to a beginner 5K plan I found on Runkeeper. For free!  Check them out.

Anyways, I found the perfect motivation to stick with it for a couple of weeks at least, and by then I’ll be back in the habit.  Sunday, May 3rd at 10am Cigar City Brewing is having a fun run in downtown Tampa along the Tampa Riverwalk.  There’s no color being thrown on you, no obstacles and no mud.  So what makes this a fun run?  Well.  Let me tell you.

First of all, it’s only 2 miles making it the perfect run for someone who hasn’t been running so much lately. Short and sweet, sounds perfect!  Secondly, since it’s being put on by Cigar City Brewing you know you’ll be getting a Cigar City Beer afterwards. AND the medal that you get doubles as a beer opener. Which (call me an optimist if you must) I feel pretty confident will also open my Angry Orchards. You also get a t-shirt. I really should begin calling myself a professional t-shirt collector between running and donating blood!

OH, lets not forget that this run is just one part of a BIG weekend in Tampa!   As part of the RiverFest 2015 there will also be the Bloody Mary Festival and a downtown carnival, both of which I’ll be doing a giveaway for very shortly. There’s PLENTY more going on as part of RiverFest 2015, you really should check it out!

But, back to the run.  Want to go?  You can check out the run and register here. Or, I’m giving away a pair of tickets to a random winner.  To enter just leave me a comment telling me what your first run was, or letting me know if this would be your first!  Don’t forget to click HERE: RiverRun giveaway and let me know you are entering!  That way I’ll have your email address to let you know if you win.  🙂  The contest runs through Sunday night and I will contact the winner on Monday.

I received 2 tickets to River Run 2015 as a member of Tampa Bay Bloggers thru their partnership with the Big City Events in exchange for this giveaway. All opinions are my own, of course.

So. You may or may have noticed if you’ve read much here that I kind of have a thing for color runs.  Why? Well, for one thing these are my running partners:

They love color runs so much that this year their birthday party was Color Me 4 – complete with a color run around the park.

So what’s the biggest, best-est (yes, that’s a word. Stop mocking me!) color run coming? How about Color Me Rad? Of course it is.  This year they’re going to have DOUBLE the color- powder AND color gel. How cool is that?  Very, that’s how cool.

Check this out:

OK, yes that would have been better set to Slipknot but I had nothing to do with the music choice.  I think the point is it looks like a whole lotta fun.  So you should probably sign up to win a pair of tickets to the Tampa run! The winner will be emailed next Wednesday morning.

Enter here: Rafflecopter Color Me Rad giveaway

Here’s the link if you want all the details, but here’s the basics:

Saturday, April 18th, 2015 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Florida State Fairgrounds
4800 U.S. 301
Tampa, FL 33610

Your entry includes a t-shirt, a pair of knee-highs, a color pack, the run of course and free photos.  I love free photos!

Just in case you don’t win, want to get your tickets NOW, or just want more than 2, here’s a code for 40% off the Tampa run. How are you gonna beat that?

Disclosure: I received race entries through the Tampa Bay Bloggers’s partnership with Color Me Rad in exchange for this giveaway and for writing a review.

I am super excited, next weekend is the Spring Beer Fling in Tampa.  I went last year and had a really good time.

This year they’ll have (once again) a bunch of bands that sound like they’ll be a lot of fun.  The headliner is the Black Lips. Check them out:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZscgSDYDHM]

Sounds like summer and a good time to me!

Jensen Surf Company is going to be there too. This clip outta get you in the proper mood for the Spring Beer Fling:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2UjhD6gCw0] The Spring Beer Fling Will feature 12 signature beer cocktails, fresh made shandys, and beer-linis.

I didn’t actually know what some of those are, turns out a shandy is your choice of beer mixed with lemonade.  Sounds like the definition of a refreshing spring drink! The beerlinis are beer mixed with fruit puree. So, basically I’m pretty sure it counts as a health drink, seeing how the word fruit is in it. Yay! They even include Angry Orchard Cider as a beer for those of us like myself that are less beer inclined. Not that I won’t be sampling some of them!

They’ll have lots of mixed beer drinks too. The ones I really want to try are Light My Fire which is a combination of Angry Orchard Cider, Fireball Whiskey and peach puree, the Arnold Palmer Remix which is Sam Adams Cold Snap, Lemonade and Deep Eddy Sweet Tea vodka and The Screw Brew which is Wheat Beer, Deep Eddy Grapefruit Vodka, orange juice. I just want to try that last one because I like the name. 🙂

The festival will be at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in downtown Tampa on Saturday, March 21st, 2015 from noon to 10pm. Enter at the main entrance of the festival will be on Ashley Dr, closest to the Sykes Beer Can Building.

Ticket prices:

General Admission: Advance $14 | Door $25 (if available)
VIP Fling Experience: Advance $75 | Door $125 (if available)
For more information, visit www.SpringBeerFling.com

I was given the opportunity to give away not just one but 5 pairs of general admission tickets, just leave a blog comment or follow my on Twitter and let me know that you did through this Rafflecopter giveaway. The contest ends Thursday night and I’ll notify the winners Friday morning.

I received two VIP tickets to Spring Beer Fling 2015 in exchange for writing a review and this giveaway. As always, my opinions are all mine.

Guess what time it is if you’re in the Tampa area?  5K Zombie Run time! (every time I use the word time without numbers Hammer Time comes unbidden into my mind, which is both sad and awesome.)

I did this run last year and the year before, and both times the only thing I had to complain about was that I immediately wanted to do it again. Badly. February 28th the zombies will be coming back to the Tampa area, and you know I will be there!

This time is a little different, because this time I was given an entry to run and an entry to give away for the run.  Lucky me, lucky you! If you’re in the Tampa area anyways.

Enter to win a race giveaway here: Rafflecopter giveaway

Have you ever run a zombie run? Long story short, you can run as a human OR as a zombie, either way you know it’ll be fun.  Even if you DON’T live. Which I haven’t yet.

If you are a runner you get 3 flags (like in flag football) on a belt and the goal is to get to the end of the 5K with at least one flag left.  Lost all your flags? You can pick up extras in the safe zones. Even if you lose those too you go home with a t-shirt and an awesome medal so really it’s a win/win situation!

They’re also having a costume contest, spectators are free, and there will be free photos after the race as well. Yay! They even have free gear check, which I think ALL runs should have, but they don’t always. Oh, and don’t forget the “post-race Apocalypse party complete with music, food, great vendors and a fun atmosphere.”

Check out their web page for more info, and don’t forget to like their Facebook page for updates.

If you aren’t feeling particularly lucky or you need more than one ticket sign up on Active.com and be sure to use code 5ZEN for $5 off your run!

I received two VIP tickets to Guavaween in exchange for hosting this giveaway and writing a review. As always, my opinions are all mine.

Are you in the Tampa area? Do you have a distinct lack of (awesome) plans this Saturday night? Well, I have a solution for you!

Guavaween is back. For 2014 it’s been recreated into a Voodoo Carnival at the Cuban Club! Now I really wish I could have binge watched Season 4 of American Horror Story last weekend… because YES there will be a freak show. As if just plain people watching won’t be worth the trip. 🙂

I have to admit, I’ve never been to Guavaween before.  I love a good party and all, but this one always sounded a little over the top and uncontained.  But not this year!

This year Guavaween is at the Cuban Club, the same location that The Summer of Rum Festival was, which I loved so much.  This may be because the same team, Big City Events, which put on that festival has taken over Guavaween this year. Lucky for us!

There are going to be 5 themed areas:

Funhouse Avenue with voodoo magic and a Freakshow Carnival

Dumaine Street Courtyard – music, a costume contest, and random street performers

Laveau Lounge to get your fortune read (and more voodoo juice)

Sideshow Theater for live performances from Burlesque troupe shows, freak shows and a midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. (I used to watch Rocky Horror every weekend, I’ll have to stop in!)

Club Ju-Jū – where to go for dancing and laser lights (I’m not a big dancer but I can be amused for untold hours by blinking lights…)

So now that you’ve decided that you are going too, what do you need to know? You can get your tickets here.

General Admission Tickets : $18 Limited Presale | $20 Advance | $25 Regular| $30 Door (if available)
VIP Voodoo Experience: $80 Limited Presale | $85 Advance | $95 Regular| $125 Door (if available)

You can find out everything else you need to know including where to park on Guavaweentampa.com.

Want to save your money to spend on your costume and voodoo juice?  Enter to win one of 3 pairs of General Admission tickets here!
Rafflecopter giveaway

Have you run a Spartan Race yet?  If not are you trying to decide whether you’d like to?  Well, here’s your chance to see exactly what the races are like – from your own living room.  Kind of feels like cheating, but in this case it’ll work.

They’re televising races about once a month, leading up to the Spartan World Championship airing November 16th, which is being run is being run in Killington, VT. September 20th. That sounds like an excuse to have some friends over to get psyched up for running your own Spartan! (I don’t know if televising is really a word, but if turducken is in the dictionary then in my opinion anything goes)

Here’s the schedule of televised events:

Reebok Spartan Race Television Schedule: (All times ET)
DATE                            RACE LOCATION     NETWORK     TIME

Tues., August 19           Palmerton, Pa.            NBCSN         9 p.m.
Sat., September 13       Washougal, Wash.     NBCSN         2 p.m.
Tues., September 23     Amesbury, Mass.       NBCSN        10 p.m.
Sat., October 25            Wintergreen, Va.        NBCSN         12:30 p.m.
Sun., November 16        Killington, Vt.              NBC              3 p.m.

I’m not much of a TV person, I don’t even have cable, but I’d love to watch these races!

I have to say, there is a whole lot going on in the Spartan world right about now.  On top of televising races and the Spartan World Championship in Vermont they are putting together a Spartan Race Cruise in March.  Yes, I said cruise.  You go out and race on Saturday, and then Sunday they provide you with entertainment, food, drink and celebration. Talk about an after race party!

They’ve put together a giveaway for 2 for the Spartan Cruise including airfare and the cruise out of Miami (US residents only). Enter for a chance to win here, I did!

Has all of that got you ready to run a race yourself?  Well as luck has it I was given an entry to give to a reader for any open heat (non-confirmed start time) in any 2014 Spartan Race in the continental US., all you have to do to win is enter here: a Rafflecopter giveaway.  The contest goes through Thursday morning, I’ll email the winner the code Friday, the 29th.

If you don’t win or if you need a ticket for a friend, use the code SPARTANBLOGGER for 10% off any race.

Disclosure: I have received a free race entry in exchange for posting a giveaway.

So here’s an interesting question for any experienced OCR fans out there. How do you prepare for things like climbing a rope or scaling a wall if you don’t have a rope hanging around anywhere or a wall to practice climbing? Somehow I don’t think burpees will prepare a person for such things…