My friend Mrs. Mercado and I have decided to become ladies of leisure. We’re not, of course; we both work full-time jobs but we have a shared love for home decor and design, party planning, playing hostess, flea market shopping, online shopping, sale scouring, magazine flipping, J. Crew, and watching our husbands play softball. Mrs. Mercado has exquisite taste and though I’m known to splurge when I see deals (anyone else ever gone a little crazy at Target? come on, you know who you are…if that’s not you, I dare you to follow @targetdoesitagain on Instagram and get back to me in a week. Ha!) so as far as shopping partners go, Mrs. Mercado and I balance each other out quite well.

In a new form of recreation, Mrs. Mercado and I have decided to RSVP to local events and gatherings in and around Orange County. I like to think of it as broadening my networking circle! Our first event on the calendar was the first in-store event at Crate & Barrel at South Coast Plaza featuring an expert on glassware from Spiegelau and a representative from LA-based craft brewery, Golden Road Brewing. (When you have a second, check out this awesome article from the LA Times about Meg Gill, the 27-year-old President [yay, you, Meg Gill!] — she’s reportedly the youngest female brewery owner in the world, having co-founded Golden Road with Mohawk Bend owner Tony Yanow. Read it here.)

The event was super fun – a great friend to keep me company, educational (who knew beer would taste so different in different types of glassware?), a lovely charcuterie and cheese spread, a discount on shopping (which I had the willpower to refrain from using), and we met the crazy cool husband and wife team of Adrian Jon Photography (check out their site here). My favorite beer of the night was the limited release Get Up Offa That Brown and we also tried the Golden Road Hefeweizen and the Point the Way IPA (usually I find IPA’s to be too flowery for my liking, but with the right glass and being able to smell the beer before taking a sip and having it hit the palette just so — well I can’t explain how the glass people do it, but you get the point: deliciousness ensues!).

The worst part of the event was perusing the whole store and wanting to buy everything. Especially, the Hunter Trunk, which I’ve had my eye and heart set on for a long time. And it was on sale! Gah! But I slowly, sadly walked away. And, in the spirit of the evening, this Libations Cart from Crate & Barrel is definitely on my wish list but with a price tag way too out of my reach, I’ll be keeping my eye out for a thrifty substitute when Mrs. Mercado and I head to the Flea Market later this month.

Libations Bar Cart from Crate & Barrel