Written by Milwaukee Brewfest Queen contestant: Ruthie Burich

I wish there was a class in college titled “How to Win a Contest”. I totally would have taken it. I’m pretty sure the only contest I’ve ever won was beer bonging against a high schooler who was visiting his brother at college. Bear with me for the next 5 weeks while I talk about my life as a Milwaukee Brewfest Queen contestant and the scoop on a banging beer festival that you will kick yourself for not attending.

What’s the contest?
Competing to be your next Milwaukee Brewfest Queen! Vote for me!

What’s the deal?
You get to hang out with me and 9 other beautiful ladies while you drink beer (…and I get some super prizes if I win).

What’s the event?
Milwaukee Brewfest is a fantastic beer sampling festival at the lakefront on July 30th. Could it be any better?

Why am I a Brewfest Queen contestant and why would I like to be your Queen?
You can thank Newaukee’s own Ian Abston for putting me up for it, but after the first event at Summer Soulstice this past weekend, I’m hooked. What’s better than walking around talking to the great people of Milwaukee about beer, and drinking plenty of it, all night? You got it, nothing. Well, ok winning the lottery would probably top it, but you get my drift.

What amazing Milwaukee event can you find me & the other Brewfest Queen contestants at next?
This Thursday, stop over to Red Rock Saloon after work to visit me and taste a sampling of the more than 170 different beers that will be at Milwaukee’s best craft beer festival July 30, 2011.

Go ahead, skip your cousin’s wedding for it. You know you will have much more fun than if you were eating dry, baked chicken sitting next to Aunt Clara, who can’t stop talking about how much acne you had as a 14 year old in the JNCO jeans. And don’t forget to vote for me!

Post by Brooke

Summer Soulstice 2011 is as as always a nice escape from the redundancy of bar hopping on the weekend. It’s always nice to have an excuse, to get a little Saturday Funday action in.

The summer event kept North Avenue bustling on Saturday with all kinds of distracting things. I personally couldn’t focus my attention on anything because I was continuously distracted by musicians, kiosks of jewelry, a T-shirt Exchange booth (fully loaded with a Gym-Tan-Mke muscle tank), cute puppies, massive dogs, BMX tricks, burrito eating contests, and of course, Rage-in-the-Cage Dodgeball.

The music acts were more diverse this year than other years I’ve attended. The music acts spanned from rap to rock to Evan Christian. Milwaukee summer festivals never fail to be amusing, even if all you enjoy doing is people watching.

What were your thoughts on this year’s Summer Soulstice? What did you Love? What did you Hate? What were you totally neutral on?

1. The Volleyball scene from Top Gun was filmed here.
2. Monday morning is watching you and knows where you are at all times … except if you’re at the beach.
3. The dreamboat you swore was love at first site last Friday night on Brady Street will be there. And he is hoping you will be, too.
4. Half naked people everywhere.
5. Mike Brumm plays music here, who is like Milwaukee’s own version of Jack Johnson
6. The Milwaukee Sheriff’s Department is hoping to see you.
7. Beer tastes better with your toes in the sand.
8. Gain an understanding of why Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett keeps calling it the USA’s ‘fresh’ coast.
9. Girls. Girls. Girls.
10. Boys. Boys. Boys.

Cheers Newaukee,
Jimmy

Top 10 Reasons to go to Bradford Beach this Summer:

1. Did you not sit behind a desk, indoors, all week?
2. Because creepin’ on Facebook gets old. Here’s your chance to do it in person.
3. It will remind you of your college spring break.
4. Chicagoans are at their beach, and Milwaukeens are clearly better than them in every way. Keep the pressure on, Milwaukee!
5. You live on the East side. Where else are you possibly going to have a bonfire?
6. It will give you a chance to even out your farmers tan.
7. To get that “I’ve worked my a$$ off all day and now I’m exhausted feeling” simply by laying in the sun for an afternoon.
8. Do I actually have to convince you to go to a beautiful beach? Fine … don’t go.
9. Summer Solistice is June 21st- each day is now getting a minute shorter than the last. Soak up the sun while you can.
10. Peer pressure – EVERYONE ELSE IS GOING.

Cheers Newaukee,
Jimmy

Blog By Jimmy

Saturday
The benefit of not going out on Friday is upon you. You’re up early and you feel good. You have time to drink coffee in your apartment and catch up on TV/Politics/shooting zombies all morning. You head down to Bradford Beach in the afternoon to catch some sun and you’re impressed at how much it feels like you’re on college spring break. The night rolls around and its time to party and you have quite the agenda. By the end of the night you will have done all of the following:

• Rode the bull at Red Rock Saloon
• Convinced the bartender at Rosie’s that it’s your birthday, enabling you to drink for free
• Drank a pint of beer from the Old German Beer Hall
• Realize that The Harp is full of snobby (I’m just jealous) Marquette students
• Be slightly offended (and enjoy) what you’ve seen at Coyote Ugly

By the time you get home, you’ll have an appreciation for all of the night’s events. You’re aware that you won’t be able to get away with this type of behavior for much longer and you savor every bit of it. At this moment in time, your dad still expects your voice to be hoarse on Sunday morning, you can get away with sending late night text messages to the person you like (no, no you can’t) and it still seems appropriate to stumble into your apartment after midnight.

Cheers Newaukee.

Blog by Jimmy

>u>Friday
You’re not hung-over, but you’re definitely not running on all cylinders. The morning was a bit sluggish but that To-Do list you created last Sunday has a few more items that need to be crossed off. You power through, knowing that it will only be hours until you’re dancing at JoCats on Brady Street with all your friends. By the time you make it home, you have nothing left in the tank and decide to take a nap – that lasts for the better part of the night and turns into bedtime. Whoops… rain check, JoCats.

Finally…. Saturday.

Blog by Jimmy

Thursday
This day is all about project work and you’re kicking ass and taking names. There’s a lot going on in the city tonight and you have your war helmet on as you look for parking on Prospect Ave. If someone can identify you by your car, they know all too well that you will shut down traffic in order to get a good spot without even a hint of remorse.

You attend the week’s Newaukee event. You’re wearing the same clothes you always wear on Thursday night (and most likely will wear them for tomorrows casual work day, too.) As the sun goes down and you’re surrounded by the downtown architecture you find yourself with a mix of feelings. You’re exhausted, but not tired. You’re moody but not in a bad mood. You have this yearning for some sort of nostalgia you can’t quite put your finger on. You’ll do your best to hold onto these feelings – but fail to, which is okay because through it all, you’ll realize you are on your way to becoming exactly the type of business professional you want to be – and your cup is empty. You head inside to meet more people just like you.

And tomorrow? TGIF Baby!!

Blog By Jimmy

Wednesday
A frustrating day. You’ve done what seems like a million favors for every Executive (PowerPoint’s are tough for these guys…) at the company and while you’ve been busy – you have nothing to show for your project work and daily tasks remain incomplete. It’s summertime, the weather is finally nice and you plan on going for a jog past the Art Museum and relaxing (doing more work) at Alterra Coffee Roasters after hours. As you turn the lights off at the end of the day, you can feel the prospects of the weekend beginning to slightly pulse through your body.

What will Thursday bring?

Blog By Jimmy

Tuesday
Waking up is easier… your starched business clothes were laid out the night before and coffee is brewing in preparation for the commute. Project work is rolling and you’ve lost track of time. The evening rolls around and you think to yourself, ‘It’s a nice night for a drive’ and decide to take 794 home and cross the Hoan Bridge. You didn’t take into account that every highway system in greater Milwaukee is under construction and 60 minutes later (instead of the normal 15), this particular drive has become more stressful than the work day. At least you know your horn, brakes and vocal chords work.

You approach downtown and realize the ride was worth it as you’ve discovered the best view of the Milwaukee Skyline. Plus, you won the work raffle and have two tickets for the Brewers game tonight.

Next up? Hump Day.

Blog By Jimmy

Monday
The snooze button gets a solid workout and if it weren’t for your built in autopilot – you probably wouldn’t make it into the office at all. You’re pleasantly satisfied after completing the morning commute because you’re still so tired you can’t really remember doing it (scary). Once in the office, you aren’t the most productive for the better half of the morning and if someone dare try and converse with you before you’ve had at least five cups of coffee, they’re going to get one of the most evil stares you can produce. Project work makes zero progress but luckily you’ve done some mundane tasks in case anyone asks what you’ve been up to all day. As you pass the US Bank Tower on your way home you have a sense of victory – you made it through Monday.

Check back tomorrow for what Tuesday has in store…