And then that we got drunk

in

If there's one thing people aren't going to pass up, it's getting a few freshly brewed beers for free in the middle of the day. And that's what the Carolina Brewing Company tour is all about. Well, and also learning about how their beer is made. Yeah, come to think of it, that's what the tour is actually all about. But during the course of this tour - which everyone who lives here in North Carolina should experience by the way - the owners of the brewery serve their excellent beers to anyone who wants to try them and that just so happens to be most people on the tour. Take me and my friends who went on the tour this past Saturday. We were totally up for trying some beer: By the beer vat, ah that vat!

To celebrate my friend Sherry's birthday (the girl all the way on the right, the one who looks totally pumped to be enjoying some seasonal barleywine) we decided to head out to Holly Springs, about half an hour away, and go on the Carolina Brewing Company tour, which happens every Saturday at 1 p.m. At about 12:45 p.m. the nice guys who own the place turn on the taps and serve all the people who come to take the tour their choice of beer and I don't mean like a sip of beer so you can "taste" it and be on your way, I mean a full pint of beer, so you can drink it, goddamnit.

At a certain point during the tour, in fact, I decided it might be a good idea to take a picture of what remained of my current pint of beer.

That there is the inside of my beer glass

My friends and I have gone to this tour several times over the years we've all lived here and it's never a disappointment. Never. Good beer in the middle of the day never is. Note the change in attitude in the pictures below.

From uptight microbiologists...

Before they loosened up

...to wacky kids who love life!

Close up, real close

Happy to be alive

Here's one of Jess with her eyes closed:

Jess, eyes firmly shut

But honestly I don't want to downplay the educational aspect of the experience. The guys who run the place are pretty much heroes of mine. They had a dream and went for it and now they own their own successful brewery and when you're there, listening to their story, half-drunk on your second beer (because really, it doesn't take too much at 1 p.m.) you get inspired. And then sometimes you talk to strangers. And then sometimes you get really, really hungry, so thank God there is a Taco Bell on the way home.

Maybe instead of finishing off that entire bag of Valentine's Day candy, get up and go for a walk or something

in

My great friend Karla, who is currently an exercise physiology grad student at UNC, has started a blog called Stay Moving, and it really inspires you to do just that. Move. Get some fresh air. Lay off the macaroni and cheese. I don't know anybody who, during these dreary winter months, couldn't use some encouragement in the whole physical fitness realm. I certainly do. So check out her blog if you know what's good for you. You won't regret it. And who knows, you may be up for running a marathon in a few months. Or at the very least up for running down the street a few blocks or so.