News

National Waffle Day is August 24.
Use this as a guide to choose your meals wisely for that glorious day. We challenge you to celebrate this sacred nation holiday by gorging yourself on one or ALL of these ridiculous savory waffle options. 

1. Mac & Cheese Waffles

source

2. Stuffed Pizza Waffles

source

3. Tater Tot Bacon Grilled Cheese Waffles

source

4. Cheesy Leftover Mashed Potato Waffles

source

5. Waffled Hash Brown Croque Monsieur

source

6. Cheesy Herb Waffles Florentine

source

7. Monte Cristo Wafflewiches

source

8. Taco Cornbread Waffles

source

9. Waffle Iron Queso Frito

source

10. Chicken and Waffle Nachos

source

This past weekend, we packed up our Prius C tetris style and headed down to Brooklyn for the final Renegade Pop Up of the season. We left Friday afternoon and stayed overnight with friends in Greenpoint, because we knew we'd have to be up bright and early for set up Saturday morning.

This is what East River State Park looks like at 8am, before any this is set up and anyone is hanging around.

This was our view for the day. We had a great time meeting all you NYC weirdos, and chatting with our booth neighbor, Chase from Wrong World Ceramics. As soon as we saw Chase's work, we knew we wanted to purchase something, but it was literally all so rad that it took us all day long to settle on what we'd get. We ended up bringing home a flask very similar to this, but in red instead of blue. It was a long, hot day, but a great experience.

Saturday we woke up to a perfect August morning and decided the best thing to do was take a walk around the Troy Farmer's Market. Before hitting the market, we stopped in at Spillin' the Beans to grab some iced coffees to sip on. Then our first stop was to see our friend Ashleigh of The Grey Birch. Her hoop embroidery is so great! That little campfire hoop would be perfect for a camp, cabin, or lake house in the Adirondacks.

She also has some great little pouches, handmade from vintage plaid flannel shirts. 

After chatting with her, we walked through the market and browsed all of the local business and farm booths. The food booths were pretty tempting too, and we stopped to grab a fresh squeezed lemonade.

These raspberries and peaches looked too good to be true.

We were super stoked on the purchases we made and couldn't wait to get them home.

We grabbed this great tobacco strawberry pumpkin pillar candle from Collar City Candles.

I couldn't resist getting this bar of Beach Bum soap from RAD Soap Co. They also had a tub of Beach Bum body cream that I snagged too. They both smell amazing.

We bought this watercolor print from The Grey Birch. It's a beautiful addition to our mantel.

It was so nice to be able to enjoy the warm, sunny morning, walk around our city, and meet some of the great local makers that make Troy a great place to live. Recently, an out of town blogger and photographer came and documented the 12 hours he spent in Troy. It's a great post that really illustrates why we  love Troy, read it here. 

A couple of weekends ago, we loaded up the old Ford Ranger and left Troy bound for Kingston NY. The Chronogram Block Party was the big event, and we vended at the Etsy Pop Up Market. It was our first show in the Hudson Valley, and we were really excited to meet a lot of new people and talk to them about Weird Beard!

We set up our tent just as the sun started to move to the west. It was an evening market, and we really enjoyed the diverse crowd that came out to the Chronogram Block Party.

We were a block away from the food trucks and beer garden. Once the market ended after dark, the party really got started as the beer garden filled up and people enjoyed the beautiful Kingston night after narrowly missing a band of thunderstorms that cleared just to the north. We had a great time and hope to be back next year!

Last Saturday, we packed the Ranger up early in the morning and drove from Troy to Cairo, NY for the Greene County Youth Fair. This is my hometown county fair that I went to as a kid. It was great to see so many old friends & family wander by our booth, and it was even better to meet a lot of awesome new people!

We officially ran out of Weird Beard buttons, but we hope to have more in our hands before the markets we're doing this month.

Come out and see us in August! We'll be at the following markets:

Sun Aug. 9 - Troy Flea, Troy NY
Sat Aug. 15 - Chronogram Block Party, Kingston NY
Sun Aug. 30 - Troy Flea, Troy NY

This past Saturday was Weird Beard Candle Co's first market! We were at the Troy Pig Out from 10am - 9pm. We met a lot of great people, made some good connections, and most importantly had a great time!

Our first market was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth. We're just getting started! We have several more markets and fairs lined up for the summer. Stay tuned, we'll be sure to keep you posted on all of them! Next up: The Greene County Youth Fair in Cairo NY on July 25. See you there!

It's almost time! This weekend kicks off the beginning of the race for the Triple Crown. Saturday, May 2nd is Derby Day! We'll be celebrating by tuning in with mint juleps in hand and Weird Beard Candle Co Derby Day candles burning.

Horse racing has always been a part of life for Mike. Growing up, his grandfather and aunt trained and raced horses. This meant childhood summers spent trackside, eating hot dogs and playing vintage arcade games (another nostalgic love of Mike's that we'll get into some other time).

When I met Mike, I had never been to a horse race, despite living most of my life within 50 miles of one of the most famous tracks in the country: Saratoga. The first summer we were together, he took me to the track for the first time, and I fell for it, hard. I'm not much of a gambler, but the atmosphere when a race goes off is electric.

We try to go to opening day and closing day at Saratoga every summer, and as often as we can in between the two. It doesn't officially feel like summer until the track opens at the end of July.

We talk about planning a trip to the Derby one of these years. We'll get there some day!

Have you ever been to a race? How about the Derby? What's your favorite part of spending the day at the track?