Instagram Live. Local. Morning Show Crossover.
Watch the video to find out what I have NEVER done that I’ve always wanted to do...
What’s something on your “Never Have I Ever” list??
Oh yeah, here’s what that sounded like on the radio:
Partake Brewing: the Best Non-Alcoholic Beer
Oh haaaaaay, this is an opinion piece - I'm sure you have your fave non-alc. drink and there are more and more options each day. This is a good thing! I'm 32! I can't handle hang-overs any more, yet my love of beer isn't going away... What to do, what to do?
After a particularly gnarly hangover, I decided to attempt a 'sober summer' and so far, so good. Thanks, in part, to non-alcoholic beer!
A huge shout out to Rockfest & Budweiser for selling frosty tall-cans of Prohibition brew at this year's festival. For some, abstaining from beer is very easy - just don't drink a beer! Right? Well, I don't want to drink 10 cokes at a music festival and I really, really like beer. In addition to h2O, it is super lovely to be able to grab what TASTES like a refreshing brewski (well, it tastes like a beer because it is... just a de-alcoholized one)!! I hope more music fests follow Rockfest & Budweiser's lead here... looking at you, Bluesfest!
I've had Prohibition, Grolsch's Non-Alcoholic Radler and Non-Alcoholic beer - and then I tried Partake...
Words cannot adequately describe the taste of Partake *hence the .gif* - you've simply GOTTA try it. This is the ONLY non-alcoholic brew I've tried that, taste-wise, could pass for a regular beer. At 0.26% and 10 calories per can, their IPA quickly became my Top Choice. I can't recommend their beer enough!
The company was started by Ted Flemming, an avid craft beer drinker from Toronto, who's surprise medical situation 'changed his focus'. After trying major market non-alcoholic beers, he decided to do his own thing... which meant, making his own non-alcoholic craft beer!
The company is working on a Stout, which will have 0.5% alcohol content (the highest a brew can have to be considered 'non-alcoholic' and a Lager, also 0.5%. Pictured below, you see their Pale brew which I've yet to track down in Ottawa!
Partake Brewing Non-Alcoholic IPA
Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast
Forest Blakk at KiSS: old lives, future hopes and how art brings light to dark places
An excerpt from FOREST BLAKK's official bio:
"He was born in Montreal and his early years were spent with his mother, who had Blakk at 17 and struggled with addiction, and his stepfather, a notorious drug dealer.
Blakk can tell you hair-raising tales of his childhood, including an assassination attempt on his father on the family’s front stoop, rooms full of cash, and moving around constantly... to evade child services when Blakk’s teachers in Canada discovered the physical abuse his father had inflicted on him."
Forest has been musically inclined since childhood, using an old Don Henley tune as a reprieve from the gloomy surroundings he was born into. He ran away from home at 13, and moved in with his grandmother at 15. She bought him his first guitar and will be seeing him play it, all these years later, to an arena crowd later this summer.
In a former life, Forest gained local success in a band but he didn't seem too interested in talking about that...
“Yeah, that’s the past. The past is the past. I think like all things, that was my elementary school [outlet]. Yeah, I had to learn. I paid my dues like I think a lot of artists do... but I hadn’t really found myself... I had to go from the caterpillar to the butterfly.”
Guitar Solos and Rainbows
Just popping by to share a beautiful picture I took at last night's Matt Mays concert at Mooney's Bay in Ottawa.
"I've never played a guitar solo to a rainbow before." - Matt Mays
HOUSE 4 RENT! Oh, plus an update on Family & Motorcycles
HOUSE FOR RENT IN HINTONBURG: Brand new, super-efficient, 3bdrm/3bth semi, 3rd floor patio, parking/fenced yard…
Hello! It's been a while since my last post. Life's been busy. I think I say that every time I intro a blog when it's been a few weeks... somehow, believe it or not, I am actually getting busier. BUSIER. Life doesn't ever slow down - which is probably a good thing.
We've moved in to our new/old house. I say 'old' because we lived here before, it just looked a LOT different.
31 Likes, 1 Comments - Amy Volume (@amy.volume) on Instagram: "*smashy smashy*"
49 Likes, 1 Comments - Amy Volume (@amy.volume) on Instagram: "Taking shape. 🏠"
It's even more finished than the picture leads on, I'm just too busy to snap more recent pics. Literally. I will though, soon. We pretty much just have the drive-ways/landscaping/exterior work to finish, then we need to find some excellent tenants/neighbours to rent the 3bdrm, 3bth house!
In other news, the kids are doing well and my parents are also doing well. GG lives in a nursing home now and is receiving excellent care. It's a tough lifestyle adjustment though, as she lived full-time with my parents for 14 years. She gets lots of visitors now - more than she did when she was living at home, so that is nice for her! We all just got together to celebrate her 90th birthday in April. We are blessed to be able to spend loads of time together. Lots of memories for her great-grandkids to have.
Work is going well. We have some more people on staff now, which is really awesome! I think the station sounds good but I guess I'm a little biased. We have a lot of fun at work - I've really got a dream job. Whenever I start to think 'how did I get so lucky?' I remember 'o yah, a lot of hard work, college, ambition, dedication, fortitude, late nights, etc.' I have it made in the shade and the future is lookin' bright.
90 Likes, 3 Comments - Amy Volume (@amy.volume) on Instagram: "I AM IN LOVE. 😍 At Motorsport World NEW LOCATION 1375 Clyde!!"
Is now a good time to tell you that I also bought my first motorcycle? A 2018 Suzuki Van Van. I will be strictly riding in the valley until I get my skills up to city-commute-worthy speed (literally and figuratively). Call it my mid-life crisis - or, maybe - my mom-life crisis? NO ROOM FOR KIDS ON THIS BAD BOY - SORRY, GUYS! *vroooooooom*
Lots of positive things on the horizon. Some tough things too, as we age. Though I don't have a lot of time right now (kids are sleeping... will wake and cause chaos in seconds, no doubt) I wanted to post a quick update to say 'hello' and let you all know we are doing quite well.
If you know anyone who's looking to rent in Ottawa's hippest neighbourhood, Hintonburg - CONTACT ME.