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Alexie Myles Afonso

@biiiiig.yikes

1.7K

followers

2018

following

📍Vermont 🇵🇹🇧🇷🇨🇺
•TOTC CAP Class of 2023 🍍
•Behind The Barrel S1 2024🥃
•Tiki By The Sea W1 2024🍹
•Hendricks Housewife🥒 & Squirrel 2025🐿️

POSTS STORIES REELS

spent a lot of time in this garden this summer
plus nollie
and turkeys
martha & ida know a thing or two
☺️ by @biiiiig.yikes

lookin at leaves this past Sunday 😌 by @biiiiig.yikes

prepping for winter 101 by @biiiiig.yikes

newport weekend to celebrate danielle ☺️ by @biiiiig.yikes

take two girls from Vermont, plop them in Brooklyn for their first @barconventbrooklyn and poof!
from seminars to panels, exhibit booths, meet ups, after parties, and the insane energy for the Knicks… vibes were very high and there was a lot of hugging.

thank you BK and thank you to all my industry friends & family who refill my cup just by being them. to the friends I didn’t get to see, I can’t wait to see you at tales 🥰🩷 by @biiiiig.yikes

Hello! If you’re new here and want to know me, my name is lex & I’ve been a professional bartender for the past 7 years.

I have taken a bit of a break from bartending since April because this past winter in January I suffered from what I believe was a manic episode triggered by a boundless and damaging experience in a workplace.

It was so severe that I nearly checked myself into a hospital/crisis center. I was suffering from paralyzing flashbacks from past trauma, daily panic attacks, rapid and dangerous weight loss, and I was on a fast spiral to a really bad place. I was so scared to make that decision because I really could not afford to not work, nevertheless pay for any type of medical treatment (without having health insurance because service industry… a whole other issue). Instead I was met with brutally honest support from my loved ones and people around me who really know me. Not the “bartender Lex” who was breaking under her hospitality mask. With their care and support I was able to leave this job and not have to go to an inpatient treatment.

Instead, I have been spending this time over the past 2 1/2 -3 months in therapy learning again how to regulate my nervous system, rebalance my day-to-day routines, getting help with my relationship with food & eating, as well as challenging my relationship with alcohol.
I love the beverage industry and I love bartending. I’ve loved everything that it has been able to provide me over the years and support my professional growth. I’m proud of the work I have been able to do in developing three unique bar programs in the past four years.

I hit such a level of burnout, exhaustion and self hatred… that I knew I needed to step away. I’ve needed to find what my original source for bartending was which is creativity, community, and love. Bartending in my eyes is an organic form of grassroots community organizing. It’s knowing your neighbors, it’s connecting with your regulars. It’s being there for folks to give them a safe and welcoming experience whilst still being your authentic self.
At the core, service and hospitality is kindness and compassion. (More in comments)… by @biiiiig.yikes

thank you thank you thank you.

WOW - thank you to this team for all of your work and dedication this season, it has been a whirlwind of a winter.
thank you to our dedicated FOH team for believing in this space and the vision.
thank you to our incredible chef Andre Baker for his talent, leadership, and for being one of the easiest and most fun chefs I have had the pleasure of sharing a restaurant with.
thank you to my friends and family, I’m sorry for all the times I couldn’t hangout or got “sucked into work late”.
thank you Tyler for watering me like the delicate fucking flower I am.
thank you to my mentors and superiors, I could not have been so successful without your guidance and inspiration.
anyone and everyone who put a speck of love into TBar… thank you from the deepest parts of my heart.

in the blink of an eye I went from being handed the keys to an empty restaurant space, creating a bar program and FOH system, to opening within one month?! from our soft opening December 5th to our final ski season shift April 13th, I am so proud of the magic that was made.

we got to be different, be loud, be ourselves, and put some real blood, sweat, tears, laughs, bad ass quality cocktails, phenomenal food, delirium, and more into that little building.

thank you for the opportunity @strattonresort and I look forward to where this journey will go. ✨

bev truck still in the works, big blue is about to get some major attention for mud season 🤭 by @biiiiig.yikes

nyc for the one and only wedding of @j.k.tobin and @middleageish_gambino
thank you for being you both, you threw the most beautiful celebration 💗 by @biiiiig.yikes

Tiki By The Sea Wave 1 2024 ❤️
Thank you to the Barcelona Hotel for hosting us and thank you to the staff & volunteers for making this happen! Thank you to the brands, bars, reps, bartenders, and educators for providing incredible seminars and products! And cheers to the emphasis on cultural empowerment and respect versus appropriation in the world of tiki, indigenous practices, and history. Big time gratitude for the education and all the new friends 🥰

and thank you @boldcitybourbon for making all of us look pretty ✨ by @biiiiig.yikes

Campari Day of Service 2024 in true Vermont fashion- maple line maintenance! The group took down old maple lines to be replaced, cleaned up the sugarbush zone, weeded research quadrants, and over had a beautiful day with @smokeyhousecenter. Thank you for hosting us and we can’t wait for next year!

Thank you @campariusa for bringing together over 1,000 volunteers across the GLOBE for this annual event and strengthening our communities!

Also a big shoutout to Will from @split.spirits & @app_gap_distillery for joining us and discussing regenerative farming practices as a distiller here in Vermont, his love for spirits and farming shines through when you talk to him! ❤️

@camparicommunity
@campariusa
@usbgncf
#camparicares
#camparidayofservice by @biiiiig.yikes

WELL! It’s real and it’s happening. The past few months have been a grind and a whirlwind, but beautiful and fruitful. Thank you Mark and Margaret for your support and believing in me, you two are a core of our community in Southern Vermont and inspire me so much. This is only the beginning, but their famous big blue catering truck is about to get a new chapter in it’s story, one that I am bursting at the seams to make my next chapter as well. I’ve been dreaming for the day that I would be able to break out into my own, but I must say thank you to all the coworkers, mentors, superiors, and industry friends for all you have taught me along the way. From auction hunting, starting up a business, licensing and certifications, market research, planning and design work… all while working full time and running a family homestead?! Needless to say, I have not had an ounce of a social life, but I couldn’t be more full of life and pure determination. More to come is an understatement, but right now I get to officially share what has been brewing this summer and I’m really proud of it.

And of course the two rascals took an opportunity to romp around the swamp while we were distracted celebrating, they were not happy with backyard baths yesterday evening… 🤡 by @biiiiig.yikes