Beer Soap

This weekend I made way over to the Made in NH expo. It was fantastic. Lots of great New Hampshire crafters made it out. It had a large variety of options to check out food, wine, photography, baby clothes, ballroom dance lessons and more! I had a great time exploring.
I discovered while I was there, a local artisan who made soap. This may not seem very impressive but the woman made soap products from local brew!! Beveridge Soap Company is a small home based business producing artisan soaps. They use local breweries beers to make soap. I got their Cape Ann Brewing Pumpkin Stout Beer soap for myself and their Dude made with White Birch’s beer. Dude has a clean man smell to it my hub and I love. They aren’t just limited to beer soaps either. They also offer a wine soap from LaBelle and a chocolate soap. Candles and shampoos are also available!
I find this to be a cool man gift! So if you are looking check out:
http://www.soapguildstores.com/BeaverRidgeBathandBody/Default.aspx

New Hampshire Gets Decked Out For a Good Cause

Hundred Nights is an emergency cold weather shelter in Keene New Hampshire, open from December through March. This shelter, started by Don Primrose in January 2010, is a volunteer/ donation run charity. They offer a resting place on cold nights for those who have been displaced or are homeless.  They cater to individuals and families.

On March 30^th they are hosting their 2^nd annual Hundred Nights’ Masquerade Ball. This event will be to help raise money for the shelter. It will include dinner, a cash bar, dancing and a silent auction. Tickets are $40 with a guest purchased before the event or $50 at the door. Please check this event out. It’s a fun night out and great way to give back to the New Hampshire community!

Hundred Nights’ Masquerade Ball – http://www.hundrednights.org/events

Mom Prom is a nationwide event that came to New Hampshire three years ago. It was started in Canton, MI with a desire to raise money for a local charity and for women to have a great night out. Women get together to get dressed up in their best or tackiest dress and bring awareness to a charitable cause, in New Hampshire they are raising money for St. Joseph’s Breast Cancer Center.

On April 20^th Mom Prom Nashua will be hosting there 3^rd annual Mom Prom event. It will include snacks, one drink ticket with a cash bar, dancing, a photo booth, and a silent auction. Tickets are $50. This event will help kick cancer out of our lives and help improve the quality of care offer to patientsfighting breast cancer. Please check out this event!  It’s great night out for women!

Mom Prom – http://mompromnashua.org/mom-prom-nashua-2013.html

These are some great ways to give back to our communities. If you know of more let me know. I’d love to help out. Thanks!

Shopping Local Opportunities

Local shopping isn’t limited to the little locally run shops downtown. They are great and I recommend checking them out to everyone but what about locally made shopping? The stay at home mom who knits the cute caps, the local wood carver who creates bears from logs or the local farm who turns seeds into veggie feasts, they aren’t always easy to find. We search the net, craft sales and expos to find these fun treasures.

Bags made out of plastic grocery bags.

So I’ve found a few for you to check out.

Castle Berry Fairs is host 3 different local crafts events around New Hampshire.

http://www.castleberryfairs.com/calendar.php

March 22-24 in Salem

May 11-12 in Hampton Falls

May 25 – 27 in Meredith

These are great opportunities to check out local crafters and find some great gift but that’s not it. Don’t forget to check out NH Made’s website. They have a great calendar for local events. They offer links for the farm to restaurants connections, NH Farmers’ Market Association, NH Winery Association, New Hampshire Cheese Maker Guild and more. This is a really exciting site for NH goods, products, and events.

http://www.nhmade.com/

This last event I’m really excited about, it’s the 18^th annual Made in NH Expo. It offers a wide variety of New Hampshire Services and products wines, desserts, chiropractors and more. The current list of vendors seems endless. It is April 5-7. Tickets are just $9 for endless tastes of NH. It is being held in Manchester at the Raddison.

http://millyardcommunications.com/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=ExhibitorLists&category=madeinnh

Chocolate Lovers Unite in NH

Chocolate brings smiles to the masses. Whether hot chocolate, chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake or just delicious chocolate by itself; it can’t help but bring out the best in all of us. When we see the sweet treat a smile come to our faces. We know it means a brief sugar rush. It’s supposed to be an aphrodisiac. So it only makes sense that someone should throw a Chocolate Fest, right??

Well tomorrow, March 9^th from 12 – 2pm at Colby-Sawyer College; chocolate lovers will converge for the 18^th annual Chocolate Fest! Tickets are just $10. This festival will include “best chocolate” and “best display” in which festival guests will be voting for the winner. This is an event not to miss! So if you are in the Lake Sunapee region swing by and if not head that way or you may have to wait till next year and it’s chocolate so that’s just not worth it when you can taste the region’s best chocolate!

http://www.lakesunapeenh.org/chocolatefest/

Fall Festivals

A new chill and the fresh smell of crisp leaves fill the air. Pumpkins sit out decorating front steps. Kids skip through apple fields while harvesting a tasty treat.  Football season is well under way and many televisions will be assaulted in unjust ways after a few bad calls.  Of course it’s also fair season as well. The first fair of the October season that I attended was Warner’s Fall Foliage Festival and this weekend I checked out Hudson’s Pumpkinfest.  I found some amazing crafts, fun people and great food at these events.

Warner’s Fall Foliage Festival was a large event from October 5-7 on East Main Street in Warner.  The festival was a merge of a craft fair, a regular fair (with kiddie rides and farm animal events), a talent show and flea market.  This festival was very large and spread out, up and down roads, in building and on lawns. In the heart of the festival was a flat stage set up for the performers. Singers and dancers congregated here.  Many talented young children or groups of children flashed their performance skills for on looking parents and guests. The talent didn’t end here though strolling around amongst the crafter I was astounded by crafty and creative group assembled here. Handmade pottery, quilts, purses, scarfs, hats, gloves, home décor, soaps and more; New Hampshire is very innovative. A woman sat at her booth spinning wool into yarn from Loosen Ends Weaving/ Fiber Arts. Another woman, CraftyKathi, turned her old plastic grocery store shopping bags into new reusable woven bags. She offered totes, picnic bags, coin purses and more. Amazing and ecofriendly! Another man from Dogwood Studios, made amazing wildlife shaped puzzles and other wood crafts. Not to mention the number of people selling handmade Christmas items; stocking, tree skirts, and table runners in a variety of Christmas patterns.  This was great but the local creativity didn’t end here! The Festival offered your average fair cuisine of deep fried everything but the creative residents also got involved in this too! Restaurants opened booths serving comfort food and local growers got products out farmers’ market style. Fall comforts were available, like cider, and apple crisp. Fun, stay at home and relax foods like chili and mac and cheese were on the menu. They even offered homemade ice cream! Buffalo meat from Yankee Farmers’ Market was available if you wanted chilli, a burger or a hot dog. It turned out to be a great day and only sprinkled a little and the foliage was at about 50% of its prime color change.

http://wfff.org/

http://recycledplasticbagsbycraftykathi.weebly.com/

http://hdgpdg.wordpress.com/about/

http://www.dogwoodstudiosnh.com/

http://yankeefarmersmarket.stores.yahoo.net/

The Hudson Pumpkinfest was a small festival that took place October 12-14 off Route 102 in Hudson. Of course the day I chose to go was the last day. It was rainy and cold so there were few people and not as many vendors as there had been on Friday and Saturday when the sun was out but it was still fun. Fair rides were set up for the kiddos but because of the rain the children seemed more drawn toward the small petting zoo and the pony rides. The petting zoo offered pigmy goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, a small donkey, a baby donkey, turkeys, a llama, an alpaca, a cow and a baby llama/ alpaca hybrid called a Inca. The babies animals were extremely wet muddy and cute especially the donkey and the Inca!! Pony rides were offered under a heated tarp so kids could have a ride and stay warm and dry. The pumpkinfest had some fun crafts. Although my favorite vendor was a wood crafter, named John Holmes, he made clocks, planters and even toilet paper roll holders out of wood in the shape of bears and moose. The most creative item he made was the convertible picnic table. The table converted into a backed bench.He doesn’t seem to have a website but I’m looking into more details but his workwood was awesome!  The pumpkinfest also offer a vendor selling home brew soda in barrels, Martial Arts instruction, handmade jewelry, a car show, and on Saturday night it had fireworks.

http://www.hudsonpumpkinfest.com/

 

 

 

Keep in mind fall fairs aren’t over yet. Keene’s Pumpkin Festival is coming next Saturday October 20^th from noon to 8:30 p.m.

http://pumpkinfestival2011.org/Visitors.html

Ladies Night for a Cause

Every woman has that old dress; she had thought she’d never wear again, stuffed in the back of her closet just waiting for its next show case.  The dress may not have been seen since a prom or a wedding. It may be a year old or fifty years old. Some dresses are even found on eBay. These dresses are getting their second chance at the Mom Prom. So shake the dust off your dress just into those dancing shoes because Saturday April 20, 2013.

Mom Prom is a night out for women to celebrate as they raise money for a great cause!! Mom Prom Nashua is raising money for St. Joseph’s Breast Cancer Center.  This year Mom Prom is moving from Nashua to Alpine Groves in Hollis.

More to come but please share this and check out Mom Prom Nashua website.

http://mompromnashua.org/index.html

http://www.alpinegrove.com/default.html

 

Downtown Dinner in Oz or Nashua

A clear summer night sitting outside of a favorite restaurant enjoying a glass of wine as the sun sets and the stars burst in all of their brilliance into the darkening night sky.  The hum of Wednesday night traffic rumbles by and the smells of popcorn and a fresh warm dinner fill the air. A large screen sits at the end of East Pearl Street blocking the view of the busy Main Street but the chatter of people sitting nearby or strolling past adds nothing less to a night on the town.  Silverware and glasses clank as people devour their dinner and drinks while waiting for the last rays of the sun to drift off to sleep and the film of the evening to spin to life. Waitresses slip around the outdoor tables quietly getting patrons ready for the start of another silver screen adventure.

If this sounds like a great night out, Nashua’s Chamber of Commerce and Community Events, LLC partnered with Great American Downtown took advantage of this by hosting Nashua’s very own Downtown Dinner and a Movie summer series.  This event offered a Wednesday night of movies and dining from either Stella Blu or Villa Banca. It started June 20^th and ended this year on August 22^nd. They had 6 days and 6 great movies picked out.  Grease, Dirty Dancing, Princess Bride, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Anchorman and the Wizard of Oz, were this year’s movies! A great classic is always better than a new movie.  I say excellent choices only wish I had discovered this sooner!

http://www.nashuamovies.com/

So I attended yesterday’s showing, which start at 7:00pm, of the Wizard of Oz, great classic film.  This was the last Downtown Dinner and a Movie and it had drawn quite a crowd. The place was hopping! Dinner was sold and served by Villa Banca. It has been known to receive a lot of accolades for its delicious Italian food! The dinner menu was scaled down from the offering in the restaurant and a drink menu had to be asked for when choosing a beverage but otherwise the service was excellent. I had the lobster wrap and it was tasty as well as well priced at $16.

http://www.villabanca.com/index.html

The movie started around 8:30pm and after a few early glitches from the blue ray. The movie went on without a hitch. It’s always nice to relax with a glass of wine and a wonderful old movie and besides what’s more classic than Wizard of Oz.  So all in all this was a great night out and very well organized and run. So make sure you keep your eyes open for their return next summer!