Crabbie's Ginger Beer Cocktails

I've been on a serious Moscow Mule kick recently when we go out for dinner and drinks because they're so light and tasty. I decided to look up the recipe the other day and realized they're in fact super easy to make at home with just a few ingredients ~ ginger beer, lime and vodka.

I recently discovered Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer which comes in three different flavors ~ Spiced Orange, Scottish Raspberry and the Original Ginger Beer which all taste amazing. It's made with real ginger that's steeped for up to six weeks, then blended with exotic spices to create a unique and flavorful ginger beer. I immediately fell in love with these ginger beers because they're not too sweet and already contain 4.8% alcohol.

These are best served over ice with a slice of lime or lemon. I did a little sampling over the weekend and whipped up some seriously good cocktails with Crabbie's Ginger Beer to enjoy at home while we watched movies. They were so good I have to share!

Raspberry Dark & Stormy 

Ingredients:

1/2 oz dark rum
Crabbie's Raspberry Ginger Beer
Lime wedge

Glass full of ice

What To Do:

Combine the rum and ginger beer in a glass full of ice cubes, stir well and garnish with lime wedge.

Crabbie's Moscow Mule

Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz vodka
3/4 oz. lime juice

1/2 oz. simple syrup
3-4 mint leaves
Crabbie's Original Ginger Beer

What To Do:
Crush the mint leaves gently in the bottom of your glass. Add the lime juice, simple syrup, and vodka along with some ice cubes. Then add a splash or two of Crabbie's Alcoholic Ginger Beer depending on your preference or taste. 

These products were provided to me complimentary in return for my honest review of the products. All opinions stated above are honest and accurate based on my true experience.

Best Happy Hour Spots in Orlando

From traveling around to different cities, I've realized that Orlando has some of the best deals for happy hour during the week to unwind after work. Other than people that work for the big amusement parks in Orlando a large portion of young professionals work downtown and the surrounding areas so there's lots of fun places to meet up after work for a quick drink and/or bite with friends. Here are a few of my personal favorite spots although there are TONS of other great happy hour deals in Orlando!

Restaurant titles are clickable if you want to visit the website to get more information or view the menu.

Carmel Cafe & Wine Bar

Carmel Cafe has happy hour 7 days a week from 4-7pm which includes $5 large glasses of wine, $5 small plates, $2 off liquor drinks and $1 off beer. We also love going on Thursday nights which is $5 martini night. Nothing gets me more excited than that!

Aku Aku Tiki Bar
Aku Aku has a different special everyday on their Hawaiian style drinks. Insider tip: The Tiger Fucker cocktail pictured below is a must-try but only have one because they are very strong and a very large size cocktail!

 

The Gnarly Barley

Daily specials: Taco Tuesday, Wine Wednesday, Tin Thursday (craft beers) and $1 off drafts on Tues-Fri from 4-7pm.

Vanbarry's Public House

Daily drink specials and live music on the patio from 12-3pm. Vanbarry's has a really nice outside patio and allows dogs which is perfect for us for happy hour, lunch or brunch!

The Parkview

Graffiti Junktion
Graffiti Junktion has happy hour all week long M-F which includes $1 off draft beers; $3 house wine; $4 well drinks & margaritas.

Hammered Lamb

The Brass Tap
Happy hour is Monday to Friday from 4-7 pm and includes $4 pint beers, $4 house wines, and $6 small plates.

The Porch
The Porch has a nice, relaxed atmosphere with different food and drink specials during the week: Craft beer specials and 1/2 price burgers on Tuesdays. Kids eat free on Wednesdays. All you can eat wings on Thursdays.
 

So now I'm ready for some happy hour. Is it Friday yet?

A Different Mimosa

I cooked up Sunday brunch at home recently for K and myself and decided to experiment with the ingredients I had at home to make mimosas. I used Pinot Grigio wine instead of champagne along with some strawberries for garnish and we loved how they tasted.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chilled white wine

1/3 cup ginger ale

1/4 cup chilled orange juice

Frozen strawberry halves

Makes 1  Mimosa cocktail

What To Do: 

Combine all liquid ingredients and use a cocktail stirrer to mix the flavors.  Add frozen strawberries to the top so they help keep the cocktail cool while also providing a hint of strawberry flavor.

Sip and enjoy!

Weekend: Blogger Happy Hour & Sunday Brunch

I'm ready to tackle this week after a fun yet relaxing weekend spent in and around town. On Friday, Pinky was in town so we organized a blogger happy hour with Kerri, Pamela and I at Carmel Cafe & Wine Bar. We had a blast meeting Pinky in person and sipping on some martinis and wine!

Saturday was all about relaxing and getting stuff done around the house plus some blogging and cooking powered by the aroma of pumpkin candles and Lola snuggles.

K and I went out for a sushi lunch date but that was the extent of leaving the house.

On Sunday a friend hosted a brunch at her condo downtown so we started off at her place for a Latino style brunch and Bloody Mary's before heading over to the Fiesta in the Park around Lake Eola to walk around and check out all the local art, entertainment and food vendors.

 Quick reminder that our Kendra Scott + Sephora giveaway ends tomorrow...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Joining the lovely B for her Weekending linkup.

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!

If you read my post on Tuesday you might have seen there's a new link party on the block called Share The Love hosted by Pamela from A Little Glitter which takes place every other Tuesday. I think it's a great way to feature other bloggers and share their posts that are worth reading. This week I posted about some Selfie Tips from Kerri at Cheshire Kat.



Speaking of Kerri, we met up for happy hour yesterday at Marlow's Tavern. Marlow's was throwing their 2nd anniversary celebration with some great happy hour deals. They gave us some cotton candy (cotton is the tradition for 2nd year anniversaries), we had some drinks and appetizers, won some door prizes, and also managed to walk away with some free cupcakes too. Fun times but blogger fail for not taking a selfie with the pro herself!

Favorite Jewelry & Accessories Shop: 
I just stumbled upon Earrings Nation jewelry this week on Etsy and they have some gorgeous pieces along with beautiful earrings and such for brides and bridesmaid gifts.

 

Favorite Recipe:
This Thai Chicken Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce recipe sounds amazing. I'm a fan of anything with peanut sauce.

Cutest Social Media Post:
I've been following Boo for a while now and I still can't get over how cute he is.

Free Money!
Love getting paid to shop from Ebates. I've made a total of $235 since signing up a couple years ago. This check isn't as big since I haven't done much shopping recently but it pays off nicely around the holidays when I do most of my shopping online. Who doesn't love free money?

Joining Amanda for her weekly Friday linkup and hoping she's having a blast in Charleston with two of my other favorite bloggers.

Enjoy your weekend pretties!

Weekending: Relax & Refresh

 

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I can't say I was entirely productive but I did get some much-needed rest as well as some fun out of the house with friends.

Friday night was perfectly relaxing spent at home. We made some dirty martinis, watched movies, and hung out with the wrinkly girl.

On Saturday night we went to Kings Bowling on International Drive to celebrate two birthdays. They rented a private section of the bowling alley with two lanes and we had dinner & drinks to celebrate. I suck at bowling but it was a fun time nevertheless.

Don't mind the guy in the middle. haha

After bowling we continued the festivities at a new bar called Tin Roof for some live music and drinks. I really liked the atmosphere of this bar and the music was awesome!

Of course, shots were lined up for the two birthday boys.

What a fun night out!

On Sunday we relaxed at home before heading out to the movies to finally see American Sniper. Excellent movie yet sad and surreal. I definitely recommend it if you haven't seen it yet. 

 Image credit

Oh and here's Lola...she hopes you have a great Monday!

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Thursty Thursday Dirty Martinis

Hey everyone! Today I'm joining Kristin as the co-host for her Thursty Thursday linkup. 

Of course, my signature drink recipe is my all time favorite...Dirty martinis with blue cheese stuffed olives

Serving size: 2 Martinis

Ingredients:

5 shots vodka

1 shot dry vermouth

1 shot olive juice (for extra dirty)

Blue cheese stuffed olives

 What To Do:

 Shake ingredients in a shaker with ice and serve chilled.

 

1. Follow Hopelessly Ever After and Martinis & Bikinis via GFC or Bloglovin'.
2. Write about your favorite DRANK (alcoholic beverage).
3. Grab a button from below or Kristin's sidebar and put it in your post. 4. Come back here and link up!!!
5. Get some new recipes or drink ideas for the weekend and make a new friend!!

6. Send a tweet with #ThurstyThursday and include @leggs532 and @TriniEmz  so we can see it!!

Anyone interested in co-hosting next week email Kristin at: hopelessly_ever_after@yahoo.com

An InLinkz Link-up

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.hopelesslyeverafter.blogspot.com" title="Hopelessly Ever After"><img src="http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l54/leggs532/thurstythursdaybutton_zps8b8d412b.jpg" alt="Hopelessly Ever After" style="border:none;" /></a></div>