Two Thumbs Up to Capital Ale House

It's rare these days that I receive GREAT customer service, so after an experience yesterday, I have to share it with you all!

Yesterday morning, I saw on my Facebook newsfeed that the Flying Squirrels posted this picture saying that you could go to any of the three Richmond Capital Ale House locations, purchase a beer--particularly Chin Music, the new beer of the Richmond Flying Squirrels--and get the glass for free, until glasses ran out! I knew Matt would be all over this. However, since newsfeeds get all jacked up sometimes, even though I saw that post on Thursday morning, it was really posted Wednesday afternoon. So, I was afraid that was only a Wednesday evening thing.

Anyway, I waited until later in the day and called the downtown Capital Ale House to find out more info. I spoke to an employee named Derek who was EXTREMELY helpful! I told him I had seen the post on Facebook and wanted to know if that was just something that was going on Wednesday, or was it still going on. He said the free glass with purchase of a beer was over, but they were still selling the glasses they had left for $2 a piece.  I asked if he thought they'd still have any left by Thursday evening, and he said they should still have some by then, but I could tell he didn't want to promise anything to me. Finally, he said, "well, you said you're definitely coming tonight, right?" And I told him I was. He said, "I can reserve some for you and put your name on them....how many would you like?" I asked for 4, he took my name, and he said they'd be waiting whenever I got there. I was so excited and thanked him a bunch of times for being so helpful!

I called Matt once I got off the phone with him and told him the glasses weren't free anymore, but I had four reserved for $2, but you know Matt, that's a steal for glasses, as he said! haha

Later yesterday evening, we finally decided to head out. When we got there and looked over the menus, Matt saw two names at the top and said, "Well, looks like you spoke to the executive chef today when you called!" Sure enough. ha. No big deal, I just thought it was pretty cool.  We ordered 2 things of fries to eat while we were there--we'd already eaten dinner--which were DELICIOUS, had a wonderful server AND, the best part? We ended up getting the glasses for free anyway! Talk about a great night!

Super Bowl Sunday & Michael Robinson Day

While all of the snow days and delays over the past couple of weeks

were very nice, I was so glad that both students and staff were all at school on Friday. Why? Because Friday was Michael Robinson Day at Varina!

Everyone wore their Seahawks gear, team colors, or a Michael Robinson football camp t-shirt, which most of us picked up extras of the day before spirit day!

Many news crews, the Times Dispatch and a representative from the Henrico paper all came to document the festivities during lunch...when the students could sign the banner (see below) and grab some Seahawks cookies!

There was also a video recording of Michael Robinson giving a shout out to Varina that played on our TVs all day (we had it memorized pretty quickly! :) , so that was pretty cool, too!

Spirited Art

Can someone PLEASE tell me how it is already April?! This year has already flown by!

A couple weeks ago, my friend Emily and I went to Spirited Art in Short Pump.  If you've never heard of this {or a similar place, Wine & Design}, you go to paint, and you can also buy some wine or food to eat while you paint!  They have classes you can sign up for, where there's an instructor showing the class step-by-step instructions on how to create a painting, and everyone is doing the same thing.  But, Emily and I signed up for an open session, where you can choose any painting to do, they put the original right beside you, and have some of their employees walking around to get you started and help you out!  I enjoyed this, because I think it was easier to go at your own pace, and I know there were several times where Emily and I would just sit back, look at our paintings, and figure out what we liked, what we wanted to change, or just to take a break! haha.

While it took a long time to get every last stroke of paint "perfect," the time FLEW by! We were there just over a couple of hours I think!

Throughout the evening, I took pictures of my canvas, not exactly "step-by-step," more like, just whenever I thought about it! haha.  {And don't even get me started on the smudge on my phone's camera....I've tried and tried to get it off!}

Running of the Rhinos!

Winning stuff is always fun! I've won a couple things on the radio here and there {and I've also been the first wrong answer played on air, for the K95 K-quiz question, haha}, and it's always super exciting to win something......especially when it's something you want or will get good use out of!  Some things that I've won are tickets to Countryfest & the Hot Apple Pie CD {very good CD, by the way} and also a gift card to Ledo's Pizza {very good pizza, by the way}.  You see what I did there? Consistency is key. Or so they say.

Anyway.  A few weeks ago, Matt won some tickets through the Local Suds Facebook page for the Running of the Rhinos: Lost Rhino Local Suds Pub Crawl. It was a cool experience and something fun to do, as I would've probably never gone to any of these places before {and, if the opportunity ever comes up again, I would only go back to two of these places anyway, haha}. 

We both got off work and hurried, and I mean HURRIED, to get ready to go.  We started out at Capital Ale House, where we checked in with Local Suds, got our free t-shirts, and enjoyed some music from the band that was there!  Again, had we purchased tickets for the event, I guess the shirts *technically* would not be free, but, we didn't pay a dime to go :)

Shamrock the Block

About once a week, Matt and I go out and do something fun.  It usually falls on the weekend, as he gets off work at different times each day during the week, and we are just both really busy!

This past Saturday, we went to Shamrock the Block in downtown Richmond.  Of course, every year this event comes around, but neither of us had ever been before.  We went right at the beginning of the event (we each already had plans for later in the day) and stayed for a couple of hours.  Maybe that time frame isn't as much "fun" as it is later in the day, but we both had fun!

And you know, I was expecting to see many people dressed up in green, maybe even a few people dressed up as leprachauns, and then you have all of the green, mardi-gras type bead necklaces, but the beads are really shamrock-shaped.....but I never dreamed I'd see so many crazies in one place.  Yes, I expected to see them, don't get me wrong, but there were some people I saw and I thought to myself, "you really thought you looked okay to go out in public? You're wearing shorts and a tanktop; your entire body is orange, but your face is white....?" Yes, I really saw a lady who fits this description!  But, on to the fun stuff!

Christmas at The Jefferson

This past Saturday, Matt and I did one of my favorite things to do at Christmastime: go see all of the decorations at The Jefferson! Seriously, you can go see it every year, and each time be just as blown away by the beauty as you were the last time! 

While we were sitting down for a little bit right by the big tree, I told Matt that I could really just sit there all day looking at the decorations! Gorgeous!

And, it's always a plus to hear Christmas music! I still miss being able to switch over to Lite98 at any time and be able to hear Christmas songs (but, not to worry, I have plenty of Christmas CDs to get me through the rest of the year ;).

They even have someone playing the piano down in the lobby...so it's nice and relaxing!

Also, each year there is a huge gingerbread creation, made entirely of gingerbread and all kinds of sweet treats.  This year, it was a gingerbread train!! I had been hearing about throughout December, so finally getting to see it was awesome! Be sure to read everything that was included to make the whole thing!

Anyway, hope you enjoy some of the pics....and Thanks Abby for letting me borrow your camera!!