Spring, Pubs, and Live Music in Aberdeen... and my rug in a tub (Beware)

Look! I have flowers blooming!

It's starting to look and feel a little more like spring here in Aberdeen. The dogs have been laying outside in the grass. Steve and I ate lunch outside this weekend, and we even went on a walk today wearing short sleeves! I think it's supposed to get cold again by the end of the week, but that's okay. I'll enjoy the now!

This weekend Steve and I went out with some friends. If you're looking for a few good pubs to visit, we enjoyed these. We started at BrewDog. They have a great selection of beer from their own brewery and a cozy atmosphere.

From: http://www.brewdog.com/beer

They also have lots of fun things written on the walls, which I find entertaining. For example, this was on the bathroom stall door (oh yes I did... you are in the girls bathroom).

From there we went to The Grill, which I've mentioned before this post. It's one of the oldest pubs in Aberdeen, and our friends had not been there so we stopped in for a drink. They have a great selection of whiskey, and they offer taster trays. Here is what we got:

Next we stopped by the Malt Mill. It has some dodgy reviews, but we heard they were trying to get the live music scene going stronger than the present. Our friends had been their the previous night and said the music was great. That particular night was cover band that liked Metallica and Ozzy. I noticed that the drum set was not occupied on stage. Upon closer inspection I discovered that the drum sounds were coming from the very unenthusiastic woman sitting behind a keyboard. HAHA. Fantastic. I recommend giving this place a change because it does really depend on the band. If it doesn't work out, we had a good experience at O'Neill's with live music that you may also enjoy if you like the Irish-folk or Indie genres. Anyway, we stayed at the Malt Mill just for kicks and played a couple of games of pool. FYI. The billiard balls are smaller here than in the US and are colored differently (Picture sizes not to scale).

USA Billiard Set

UK Billiard set that we used

Just for Fun(ny):
The front room in our house has had a weird, musty, animal smell for a while. I have mopped, dusted, and vacuumed every surface including the curtains in there with no luck getting rid of the smell. I finally decided that it must be the rug that we have had for 6 years and never washed properly. One day, I dragged it upstairs and propped it up in the shower. I spent a rough 45 minutes wrestling with that rug. Trying to hold it up to reach all surfaces. Dragging it onto the floor to scrub (cleaned the floors later), and then back into the shower where it looked like pond water draining from it (YUCK! Suspicions confirmed). Then, I dragged it down the stairs, through the living room, and outside where I heaved with all my strength to get that darned heavy thing spread across the patio table to dry. Once dried, I returned it to the front room only to discover to my dismay that it seemed to smell even worse! It's like I just brought all the stink to the surface. Ugh! So today I took a different approach. I soaked it in the bathtub and scrubbed it periodically with a brush. I drained the tub, refilled it again with more laundry detergent and water, and scrubbed again... about 3-4 times. I never expected to see the disgusting site pictured below after I had already cleaned it in the shower for 45 minutes a few days ago! Note to you all... regularly deep clean your rugs. Mine is still hanging outside...

Is that not disgusting? That was the first soak. And seriously guys, I vacuum that rug every week and always have! I go over and over it for a while trying to get out all of the dog hair to a point that I basically scrub it with the vacuum and STILL!  STILL...the water looks like this when it's soaked. Let this be a lesson to you all.