All Posts By

Jess

WHERE’S WOODY?

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Yesterday was literally hot as hell, but that didn’t stop me or the hundreds of whiskey fans from stopping by Loose Nuts Cycles to check out the Bulleit Whiskey trailer!  The little guy is called “Woody” and was originally designed for the Neiman Marcus Fantasy Gift Guide and retails at more than $150,000.  Created by iconic designer Brad Ford, the Woody is cast from repurposed Bulleit barrels and features a fully stocked bar of Bulleit Bourbon, Rye and 10-Year.  It’s been featured on The Today Show, CNN and more. Here’s my coverage along with some recipes from the event-

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The Bulleit Bourbon Orange Cruiser and Bulleit Rye Smash cocktails are perfect for the Summer due to they’re fruity, light taste and drinkability.

Bulleit Rye Smash

1.25 oz. Bulleit® Rye
1 oz. Simple Syrup
3 Lemon Wedges
3 Mint Sprigs
3 Dashes Bitters

In an ice filled shaker combine all the ingredients. Shake vigorously and strain into an ice-filled rocks glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

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Bulleit Bourbon Orange Cruiser

1.25 oz. Bulleit® Bourbon
0.75 oz. Mint Syrup
0.75 oz. Pineapple Syrup
4 oz. Fresh Sweet and Sour Mix
6 Orange Slices
1 Mint Sprig

Shake Bulleit Bourbon, mint syrup, pineapple syrup and orange slices with ice and pour (do not strain) into an old-fashioned glass. Add a splash of club soda (optional) and garnish with mint sprig.

Coincidentally, this event aligned with the Atlanta Bicycle Fest which is currently under way thru Saturday.

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The Bulleit Woody will continue its journey across the nation to help inspire an elevated tailgate experience in preparation for the Summer months and upcoming football season. By following @BulleitUs on Instagram you can see firsthand where the Woody is heading to next!

Recipes provided by Bulleit.

FESTIVAL FASHION: HANGOUT

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While I was running in the sand between shows during Hangout Festival, I was multi-tasking and snapping photos of a bunch of barely dressed ladies but don’t worry, they are suitable for work! (SFW?)

Being on a beach for a festival was something you just need to experience. It’s different in a good way. I mean, what gets better than watching your favorite music alongside the beautiful beach front of Gulf Shores Alabama?!

As far as your wardrobe, that’s also different than other fests.  Most ladies, including myself, incorporated a swimsuit into each outfit.  However, I was surprised at the amount of ladies wearing regular clothes, like a light-weight dress or thin shorts.  Couple things that are musts are sunglasses and hats! Also topping the list are SPF and water-can’t forget those!

Spotted trends include: fanny packs, flash tats, and crochet tops.

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These are my favorites, to see full gallery, check out this gallery on Paste Magazine.

CONCRETE JUNGLE

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Concrete Jungle is an Atlanta-based non-profit that connects the dots between Atlanta’s abundant fruit tree canopy and those in need. In the past 6 years, Concrete Jungle has donated 17,000 pounds of fresh local produce to food banks–free produce that would have otherwise rotted in parks, yards, and on streets.

And what’s even cooler is that it’s all been done by the awesome folks that volunteer their time! Going on their 6th year in action they’ve realized they can hardly scratch the surface of the 2,500 fruit trees they’ve mapped.  So now, they are looking to do something new, raise funds to hire their first ever director! As it so happens, the bad-the-bone farmer gal is my buddy Katherine Kennedy. She rules and is definitely perfect for the position!  As mentioned on my blog’s Facebook page (don’t follow that? please do!) they’re running a campaign and held a fundraiser at Ladybird this past Sunday. The campaign is still live and goes for three more days!

The fundraiser at Ladybird Grove and Mess Hall sold out, go Concrete Jungle! The evening started with a tour of wild fruit trees in the area and then turned into a carnival-themed shindig. New Belgium sponsored the event and they raffled off a cruiser bike. Dustin won a couple tickets from his drone flying skills but sadly we didn’t win the bike, however, supporting and hanging with friends that give their time to those in need was winning enough for us!

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While everyone was hanging outside playing carnival games, I took advantage of the empty space and snapped photos of the decor. It’s no mystery why I love this spots’ vibes!

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Future director Miss Katherine! Her shirt reads “y’all aint eatin’ ’em”

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The carnival games were created by Aubrey, one of the founders of Concrete Jungle. The above game represented how the folks of CJ collect tree fruit. Basically someone shakes the tree and as the fruit falls other folks catch usually with a tarp and not their shirt, but these balls are way less harmful than say, pears! The below game was flying a drone onto tarps, which I heard was easier said than done.  They use the drone to help map out all the fruit trees around Atlanta and have actually made an app for locating them, technology is so freaking cool!

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My mechanical engineer fiance was bomb at flying the drone and of course now wants one, ha!

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What I wore; romper- C&C California, kimono-Billabong, sandles-Target, sunnies-Kate Spade

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Whether you’re an Atlanta native, current resident, visitor or don’t live here at all– Concrete Jungle is doing real good stuff and you should donate!

Fundraiser page here.

DAUFUSKIE ISLAND, SC

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If you follow me on Instagram you’ve seen some sneak peaks of this post and also seen it postponed. That is because this has been one helluva week. It started out with a fun trip to Daufuskie Island. Then it ended with a semi truck plowing into our car as we were one exit away from our home’s exit off highway 20E. Before I stray too far from the real point of this post, lemme summarize what happened real quick in case you are wondering. Our friend was driving and we all noticed a wreck and traffic ahead therefore we were coming to a stop and the semi behind us didn’t.  The impact was so hard and unexpected that we weren’t able to brace for it. Dustin and I both had our heads fly back so forcefully that it felt like my brain and neck were on fire.  Thank goodness we were in a fancy Lexus SUV because it took the impact like a boss. The back window exploded into a million pieces but the truck and bumper really held up. We are very lucky to just be dealing with bad whiplash.  We’ll be visiting a chiropractor over the next month to get our necks and backs straightened out, literally. Any positive vibes sent our way would be awesome!

Ok, getting back to beachy vacation!

We set out on Friday morning with three other couples and drove into Hilton Head where we loaded up on food and adult beverages then boarded the ferry to Daufuskie Island. That night we ate at the Club House followed by cruising on the golf cart looking for wildlife and visiting the beach.  The following day we went hang at a different beach called Bloody Point (I know, has a bad sound but it’s actually pretty!) and on the way spotted a rum distillery and had to stop for a tour.

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Our tour guide Geoff, was so sweet leading us around giving us all the knowledge. After the tour and some Q&A we had a tasting of the two rums they currently sell. The group’s consensus was that the spiced rum was the yummier of the two and we each went home with a bottle. Gotta love small batch booze!

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My favorite moments of the trip were our adventures in fishing! Not that we caught anything, but we gave it a real good try! Derek was a master at cast netting so we did catch a ton of bait-shrimp, mullet, brim-but the only thing we actually got on a hook was a sassy turtle that kept stealing our bait. Did come close to snagging an alligator but it’s probably a good thing that didn’t happen! Here’s a photo of D and I getting real excited about Derek going after a small gator in a salt water run off! Little guy was too fast and smart for us, it was like playing whac-a-mole!

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One of the spots we fished at was a beach that was covered in oyster shells. Even though it was pretty dangerous walking around because those things are crazy sharp, it was so cool! This is a huge coral piece I found walking to said beach, brought it back with me for some porch flare!

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Here in Atlanta a group of my buddies joined a bocce ball league and when we spotted this legit course on the island we took advantage and got in some practice.  We split into teams and played one game until we decided it was beach time. Watching Jonny go from never having played to owning the course was worth ultimately losing to him!

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Another pit stop was the Iron Fish. It’s a workshop and shop (not pictured) by a local man that crafts beachy objects out of iron. I really wanted one of his mermaids for my mom but it cost an arm and a leg. Seriously the little one above was $345. Oh well, perusing around was worth the trip! And we found a few sweet cats, bonus!

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Here’s a photo of my dude looking all handsome and stuff next to a horse that was a spitting image of his old horse, Argyle, he had growing up.

The final evening we made a huge low country boil, a rum watermelon (cut watermelon in half, scoop out some, fill with rum, refridgerate and enjoy a few hours later!) and a dance party! What a trip! We certainly packed it out with all the adventures. There’s only so much you can do on the island but we definitely did most of it!

All photos snapped by Christina Moscoso, edits by me.

HANGOUT MUSIC FEST

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Phew, what a crazy weekend and return back to work! We attended a music festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama and when I got back to the studio we began a video shoot I’m helping produce. Life’s been busy!

The fest was Hangout, a music festival started in 2010. I’ve been wanting to go but always ended up attending other fests like Shaky Knees or Music Midtown.

To say Hangout Fest was a freakin blast would be an understatement! For one thing, my gal pal Emma eloped over the weekend! This free spirit wedding was so her! *Sorry I’m not sorry for all the explanation marks, as you can see I’m very excited to share all this!

Check out her DIY’d shell veil and stunning ring!

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Above: Quentin did real good with this vintage emerald ring!
Below:  Gifts I brought for the bride. A smokey quartz I picked up at Wigwam Fest thinking it looked like a finger and could be a wedding stone. A brass teepee is a terrarium I picked up from Urban Outfitters that can hold jewelry or an air plant. Lastly the ombre indigo napkins I made in the previous post.

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I’ve gotten ahead of myself and skipped the parts before the wedding! Let me backtrack~

We got in late Thursday and the fest started on Friday. The first act we wanted to see was Joywave at 12:30. That’s a pretty early start to a long day in the sun and sand, but boy was it worth it-they were really fun! We saw them in Atlanta with St. Lucia and both Dustin and I got big time crushes on the band!

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They are so energetic and engaged with the crowd, which is one of my favorite things at shows!

Dustin and I agree, they were our favorite performance!

This is what I wore:

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Hat and sunnies: UO, shirt, and shorts: Free People, bag: Target, hanky: Dustin’s

The rest of the day was awesome, and then at 6:30 we met at the beach chapel the fest had set up for all the free spirit love birds who wished to tie the knot!

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She made this bouquet from flowers around condo!

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I’m so happy for you, Emma and Q; you two are a solid team!  So thankful to be able to be there for her semi spontaneous, part planned elopement!

When I was granted media access and then found out Emma was tying the knot, my heart was so full with gratitude that I would be able to capture her day!

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Stealthy D on the first day. After this we didn’t bring anymore liquor hahaha; one day was enough!

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I nicknamed these fried pickles “lava sticks” because they were the hottest things on the planet! Seriously we were amazed at how hot these were but once they cooled down they were real yummy, complete with ranch and Krystal’s sauce. Hangout had some good food vendors! We ate fish and chicken tacos twice from the same vendors.

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Our BFF, shade!

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The VIP area had these big bottles and small pieces of paper to write messages on, cue The Police’s “Message in a Bottle!”

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Beautiful Emma walking to the fest wearing her veil the day after.

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Exploring around the vendor booths. Along with having premo food stands the market area was packed with goodies.

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Saturday we took a trip up the ferris wheel! Great views!

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Cutest hippy kid that gave me a peace sign during Galactic.

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Galactic is a funky jazz band who had Macy Gray as a guest performer, what a cool surprise! I’ve never rushed to a stage so fast!

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Emma’s flash tats looked so good and they lasted the whole time and still look pretty good to this day!

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St. Lucia was our second favorite performance. They also engage so well with the crowd, Again, major band crush!

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This is what I wore the third day. That Free People dress I got from Shopbop. Everything else was repeated from day one.

A highlight of the trip was meeting up with Phantogram and snapping photos of Josh and Sarah before they went on the Palladia stage on Sunday night. I’ll share the photos soon, that is after Paste magazine uses them-whoop!

Here’s snaps of their performance which was our third favorite act (acts rated by day, not by favoritism)

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Other non-mentioned bands we enjoyed were Foo Fighters (duh, Dave is hilarious), Cold War Kids, Major Lazer, Foster the People and so many more.

Since I’m currently typing this in a car traveling back to the beach, Daufuskie Island this time, I’m going to sign off! Everyone enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!