Another action packed weekend of events in Tulsa!

now through Monday:   The Creek County Free Fair - to get you in the mood for the upcoming Tulsa State Fair, Creek County's features livestock, exhibits, rides (wrist bands are only $15 for unlimited rides!), free outdoor concerts, a kids' zone, food, and more!!


Friday:  Someone once told me shortly after I moved here that Tulsans love holding festivals, and that there would be something going on pretty much every weekend, and that has proved to be correct!  This weekend is no exception, with the 49th Annual Greek Holiday Fest.  Featuring lots of food and dancing, admission is only $2!  For the Greek in all of us!
For those stargazers out there, head on over to Jenks or Broken Arrow for the Astronomy Club of Tulsa's free "Sidewalk Astronomy"!
The now infamous and according to many, "the single best rock show of all time", Tulsa's own "Smunty Voje" will be performing at Jewel tonight....you won't want to miss out on them at 10:30pm, as well as Jewel's Customer Appreciation Party featuring drink specials all night long!  Jewel will be closing its doors Saturday night to make way for Brookside's first & only rooftop patio bar!!  Get Smunty tonight!!!

Saturday:  Get an early and FREE start to Saturday's lineup!
Downtown Adventure Walk - 9-11am, a walking tour of Tulsa's architecture.  Pre-register by calling 596-1485.
Smithsonian Day - Free general admission to either the Philbrook, the Gilcrease, or the Tulsa Historical Society Museum! Can't beat that!!

Ok folks, who doesn't enjoy a great steak dinner, complete with salad, bread and baked potato, and accompanied by live music?  Even better, getting to choose your steak from among 50 teams competing for the title of best in our state?  I thought so!  Better hurry to purchase your ticket now for the Oklahoma Championship Steak Cook-Off , before they're sold out! Or for those grillmasters out there, join one of the teams!

It's all about the wine, people!!  Can you believe there are no less than three wine events today??  Drink up and be merry!!
Stone Bluff Cellars - starting at 7:30 am, they'll be holding a "grape harvest" (yes, think Lucille Ball, so dress accordingly!  I'm thinking that after all the stomping you'll get to sample some great wine!!)
Tidal School Vineyards "Calabash"  - I can almost taste it - fresh caught seafood served up with the best local wines and beers accompanied by live music.  Only $35 gives you all the fun you can imagine!!
Guns Wine & Roses - maybe a little more formal and romantic than the Calabash, and certainly in competition for the night's wine tastings, this is a little closer to home at the Tulsa Garden Center on Peoria.  For $75 (or $60 if you're a member) you can sample 150 wines, complete with hors d'oeurvres and desserts.  Sounds like a great date  ;)

Free (gotta love that word!) Concerts!
TCC  "Education Rocks" concert Sat. at Veterans Park from noon to 8pm, featuring great live music, food, kids area, and info on area colleges.
The Presidents of the United States of America will also be rockin' Tulsa at the Hard Rock - doors open at 8:30 pm, and seats are limited!
Be sure to also mark your calendar for another free concert coming Oct. 1st, 9pm at River Spirit Casino: The B-52s!!!


Sunday:  The STBC 6th Annual Car Show - from 5-7pm, hundreds of cars will be on display, from Dodge Vipers to Model Ts, music & food, best of all admission is free!  The South Tulsa Baptist Church will be accepting donations of non-perishable food items for their Ministry Center.

A look ahead at the upcoming week:
Tuesday, Sept. 29th:  The 3rd Annual Life by Chocolate - 5:30-9:00pm, gourmet chocolate sampling and silent auction to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; tickets are $15 in advance/$20 at the door.  Call 918-430-5090 for more info. (RT Urban Tulsa Weekly)

Whew!!!  I'm done for now, time to get the weekend (& party) started!!!
See you around T-Town!!!  :)
                                      

Tulsa's October Lineup (so far!!)

It's almost right around the corner, so I thought I'd give you all a sneak peek at some of the upcoming events for next month!

First up, the Tulsa State Fair:  running Oct. 1st-11th.  Normal admission is $8-10, depending on what day of the week you go, but advance tickets online are only $6.50.  Also, opening night is $1 gate admission (with a special coupon from participating local Ford dealers; $5 without the coupon).  See the link for other promotions going on throughout the fair's run.  I LOVE the fair, and since I haven't been to Tulsa's yet, I can't wait to check out the food, rides, entertainment, livestock and exhibits!!!

Not to be outdone, Tulsa's Oktoberfest, running the weekend of Oct. 22-25th, should be just as awesome.  Admission is only $5.  I did go to this event while I was here visiting last year, and had the best time!  I'm going to see if I can sign up for the annual "Bier Barrel Race" to be held on the 24th! Looking at the concessions they'll be having is already making my mouth water for bratwurst.  There's even a map on their site you can check out.

Halloween Happenings!  Have you gotten your costume yet?  It's ok, me neither!  I do know what we're dressing up as (keeping it a secret!), and fortunately our costumes won't be expensive.  They will entail visits to both Party City and Spirit - I'm so glad they have them here in Tulsa!  Now while you guys don't have the awesome theme park attractions like Halloween Horror Nights at Universal, or Busch Gardens' Howl-O-Scream, I hear the Haunted Castle in Muskogee is just as frightfully fun!  Running Fri/Sat evenings in October, the Festival features 9 attractions on 60 acres!  There are child and adult discount ticket combos available online.  I went to the Renaissance Festival they had there this past spring, and if that's any indication, it will be awesome!  Last but not least, this Halloween won't be complete without going to A Rocky Halloween.  To be held on Halloween night at the Brady Outdoor Stage on North Main, the party gets started at 8pm with the band Crossland, to be followed at 10pm with the Rocky Horror Picture Show entertaining the masses.  After that, the party will spill over at Club Majestic & The Hunt Club. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the gate.  Coinciding, be sure not to miss the Brady Fall Arts Festival going on earlier in the day from 10am-6pm.  To me, this sounds like Tulsa's answer to Tampa's Guavaween - one explosive street party!!!

And there you have it, so far....and any additional suggestions for upcoming events are most welcome!!!  :)

How was YOUR weekend Tulsa?

Ours was another enjoyable, fun-filled, packed weekend!  My recap:

Friday eve:   Let the games begin!!  The Highland Games, that is!  Hopefully you lads and lassies got a chance to check out the Scottish Festival this weekend.  We went Friday night for MacBeerfest, and the weather held out perfectly!  After walking around a bit, we headed over to the beer tent where they had several assorted pub beers available.  There were also food vendors hawking traditional Scottish fare - I sampled the Scottish pie (not quite brave enough to try the Haggis!), and also some excellent Lemon Shortbread from the House of Douglas Bakery.  Other vendors were selling everything from kilts to swords, and while the games weren't starting until Sat. morning, they did have a bonfire ceremony where all the Clans' names were announced, and representatives from each declared their unique battlecry.  Great celtic music from bands Celtic Cheer, 7 Nations, and NeedFire could be heard throughout the evening.  My friend had been eyeing the Whiskey Tasting tent ever since we got there, so he signed up for the last single malt tasting.  It was quite informative as a brief description of each whiskey was given before participants had a taste.  You could then jot down notes about the taste of each whiskey, although my friend noted that as he progressed, he didn't really notice a flavor change, but that he "got happier"!!!  As Tulsa really is one of America's 'biggest little small town', wherever you go, you always run into people you know, and the Scottish Festival was no different.  I have to give a shout out to our friend Vernon!  Great people, good times  :)   Alba Gubra!
We left the Scottish Fest to go hang out with some friends and ended the night playing pool at Sharky's
(I will readily admit I'm no pool shark, but I still love to play!!)

Saturday:   BOK & Ribs!!!  I couldn't wait to get down to the BOK this morning - they had free tours of the facility, music, and giveaways and a commemorative frisbee listing all the performing acts that have played the BOK over the past year!  And since we got there before 1 pm, admission to the Rock 'N Rib Fest just outside was free!  Featuring several different award winning rib vendors, I really wanted to try Johnson's "Thermonuclear Sauce", but chickened out after reading you had to sign a liability release!!  I did try their pulled pork sandwich...mmmmm.  We also tried Willingham's famous Tennessee BBQ, unique in that they serve sauce on the side, so you can appreciate their dry rub.  Also awesomely good.  I wish I could have tried all the different vendors, as I'm sure they were all tasty, but alas, it was just the two of us sampling, and by the time we got done with Willingham's we were ready for a nap!!  (well, HE was, I was wanting to go lay out by the pool as the weather had warmed up and the sun was out in all its glory!)

We 'siesta'd' the rest of the afternoon, as we had our friend's going away party to go to.  This is where last weekend's meat sale came in very handy, as the host was planning on grilling burgers - and of course we happened to have plenty of ground beef! After picking up some of our friends, and some beer, we headed on over to the party.  Good food, lots of laughter, and tons of empty beer bottles later, we decided to continue the party at the Soundpony.  There were about 20 of us, and when we got there around 11pm the place was packed.  Tons of people crowded the dance floor as a dj spun house music, and the wait for drinks was incredible, but understandable.  We made our way out back and hung out, once again running into more people we knew!  Being the DD I could have stayed, but my friend was ready to pass out around 1, so we headed for home.  Apparently our friends stayed and shut the place down!

Sunday:  We were going to spend a leisurely Sunday at home but we ended up going to meet our friends at Brookside By Day for brunch.  I split the sausage-onion-jalepeno-pepper jack omelette, which was delish!  While they were deciding whether to play frisbee golf or regular golf, we needed some groceries and opted to head home.  However, we didn't realize we would have to find a detour home because of the Hispanic Heritage Run. 

And that about wraps up the highlights for this past weekend.  Subscribe to stay posted to events coming up this weekend and next month!  As always, see you around T-Town!!  :)

A Soggy Start to the Weekend in Tulsa.....

I'm hoping that the 40% showers forecasted for today and tomorrow are in the early am and finish up by early afternoon, because there's a lot going on in T-Town this weekend, as usual!  And I was thinking this morning might have been perfect, cooler weather to go walk about downtown and take some pics of all the buildings and points of interest for this blog and upcoming website.  Alas, that will have to wait!  Meanwhile, kiddos, there's plenty of other stuff to do around here this weekend, rain or shine!

Today through Sunday:

Oklahoma Scottish Festival  -  We plan on going later tonight for MacBeerfest, featuring bands and BEER!  Can't wait!
Rock 'N Rib Festival - For just $3, there will be awesome bands as well as award winning rib vendors.  I plan on going tomorrow, because between 10am-2pm, the BOK Center is having a free open house as well!
Can't wait to try the "Thermonuclear Sauce" Ribs - Mmmmmm.... (yeah, I LOVE things hot & spicy!!)
Restaurant Week - Tomorrow's the last day to take advantage of a full course lunch or dinner at a special "fixed price", as participating restaurants proceeds will benefit the local Community Food Bank.  Not sure where I'll be going - there are so many great choices!
Oklahoma Indian Summer - In Bartlesville, featuring American Indian artists, intertribal powwow, crafts and demonstrations, and food!
I did want to also mention that tomorrow is the Komen Race for the Cure - a 5K run/walk in memory of those who have been affected by breast cancer.
As if all that weren't enough, we still have our friends' going away party tomorrow!

Good times ahead, see you around T-Town!!    :)

From Steak to Art this past weekend in T-Town!!

Friday night....

Didn't really have anything on the calendar, we were just gonna stay in....but around 9 we found out that a friend of ours was going to be at Vintage, which is a wine bar right down the street from us, so why not?  After leisurely getting ready, we strolled over.  Had wine and a hurricane (I had the drink, he had the wine!), we shared an appetizer, but our friend never showed, so we headed on home.  Don't you know right after we got in the door she called!!!  Having nothing better to do, we headed right back on over, but once again, when we got there, she was nowhere to be found!  This time we didn't stick around and headed back.  Of course, our friend might have been at one of the other 6 neighboring bars, and it was virtually impossible to pinpoint her locale due to the noise decibel!!  In any case, friend meetup FAIL!  So, we just hung out and watched movies.  (Sounds boring, but it was a fun night!! Besides, it worked out because we wanted to get up early on Sat.!)

Saturday:  Ok, so our plan for today was -

a) hit up this meat "dock sale" in Owasso

b) afterwards, go to Claremore for the "Bluegrass & Chili Festival"

c) afternoon - Philbrook for "free 2nd Sat" admission

d) eve - Hard Rock for "Urban Indulgence"

Of course, as you know, things pretty much never go exactly as planned, though our intentions were there.

We got going by 10ish, and got over to Owasso.  Let me tell you, if you have a spare freezer and want a great buy on meat/poultry, THIS is the place to go!  Apparently, they have a sale every month.  You just park, go up and tell them what you want, and then you check out!  For added incentive, the aroma of marinated steak being cooked wafts through the air!  Needless to say, our spare freezer is now stocked!!  Ahh, Beef!  It's what's for dinner!!!  :)

Since the meat was frozen solid, we figured we'd have time to check out the Bluegrass/Chili Fest in Claremore:

We got there around 11:30, and there was already a crowd.  A few bands were playing, there was a car show, "fair food" vendors, a train ride for the kiddies, along with a slide, and children's activity tent.  Inside the Expo Center were arts & crafts vendors.  What we didn't realize that even though the chili vendors had their tents set up, they were just getting started and the actual chili tasting didn't start until 4pm  :(  

So, we left a little disappointed, but we didn't want our meat to thaw out!

**This is another lesson to be learned in these parts: check out the time schedule of events! (along with getting tickets in advance if possible, before the event sells out!)**

We headed for home and unloaded all the meat to our freezer.  Then we got ready to go to the Philbrook!

After enjoying a light snack in Woodward Park (imo the most beautiful park in Tulsa, if not one of the most that I've ever been to!)  By now, the weather was overcast, and it was around 2:00.  Still plenty of time to enjoy the museum grounds, and since they are apparently doing this through December, I'm sure we'll be going back.  (You can't beat FREE!)

Once again, I didn't realize that they were running a free trolley between the Philbrook & the Gilcrease (although there wasn't free admission, the Gilcrease was also offering free activities for the kids.....ahhh, brings back memories!)

Check out the awesome pics at the Philbrook!

One of the very first things you realize is how HUGE this place is.  23 acres to be exact, including lush gardens where they grow everything from sunflowers to corn and other vegetables!  All of their produce grown goes to the local Community Food Bank.  :)

I would highly recommend exploring the gardens, and apparently it's a popular setting for weddings.  Along with the gardens, there's a 'summer house' as well as a creek that winds around the outskirts.  We could have taken a nap on the plush lawn, but alas, it started to sprinkle so we headed back inside.

I was ecstatic to learn that photography is permitted (without flash) throughout most of the museum, so I snapped away!  Inside, there are THREE levels, with various themed rooms filled with art.

The main entrance level features temporary exhibits, archive exhibits, and the Italian Room & Music Room.

The lower level houses the Native American collection and Santa Fe Room, while the upper level features Modern & Contemporary Design, Antiquities, and African Art.  My favorite exhibit had to be the Modern & Contemporary Design, featuring everything from antique radios to the iPod!

By the time we were ready to leave, we were exhausted!

So, we came home to chill for a bit...but my friend ending up passing out, and although I still really wanted to hit up Urban Indulgence, I was tired as well.  Wanting to compromise and do something inexpensive, we opted for going to the Sushi Train!
If you live in T-Town and haven't been here yet, this is a MUST!  You can order off the menu, but I highly recommend selecting off the train.  Most of the dishes are between $2-5, so two people can easily dine for under $30!!!  We hadn't been there in a while, so we filled up and left happy, putting a great end to Saturday for us  :)

Lazy Sunday (aren't they always?!) -  We did sleep in a little on Sunday, and didn't really have anything planned, so first off we headed to Home Depot ISO window screens.  Unfortunately, we found out they don't carry them, but Lowe's apparently did so we headed there next.  On the way, we took the "scenic route", stopping at this little gem (on Lewis near 12th St.):

This place is SO cool, kinda like a 70's rock psychedelic meets Spencer's.  Everything from incense to your fave rock memorabilia & cds!!  I had no idea!!!  I'll be shopping there in the future!!  :)

After browsing, we headed down 15th Street, where I was given the suggestion about hitting up all the clothing/furniture/misc "boutiques" and featuring them on a future blog.  Excellent idea!!!  :)

By the time we neared Lowe's, we were hungry, so we caved and stopped at Freckles (frozen custard).  Food is good, but I loved the old pictures on the wall from Tulsa, going back several decades (including the old amusement park they had where the expo center is now!)

As luck would have it, we found the screens at Lowe's, just in time to install and enjoy the cooler fall weather.  On the way back, we popped into the parking lot at the Expo - they are getting ready for the FAIR!  (so are we!!)  We actually were thinking about going to the gun show, but...there will be more of those (seems like every other weekend!!) to come!

Rest of Sunday spent installing window screens, and cooking dinner.  I admit, I LOVE to cook, not that I'm a fancy chef or anything....but I can cook decently, and can be pretty resourceful/creative!  Sunday night happened to be ground beef, tomatoes, peppers, corn, and shredded cheese, ala stir fry (what I had on hand).  Yesterday, however, the whole apartment was filled with the aroma of chicken (making broth from the leftovers).  This plus the lower temperature has put me in the mood for fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving....ahhh, can't wait!!!  :)

I've added a calendar below of upcoming events and things we have planned, so feel free to check it out. 

This weekend, so far:  a couple of our friends are leaving town soon, so we have going away parties, plus the BOK Rock 'N Rib Fest, and Restaurant Week now through the 19th!

See you around T-Town!  :)