Sapporo

So I'm married now!! Whoa madness!! Anyway, once I got back from the honeymoon and was able to catch up on the mundane things in my life, I was able to catch up on the fun things in my life...like this bar mission! Mary and I headed to Sapporo for happy hour and to catch up on the weeks we had been apart.

The place was pretty crowded, although it's prime tourist time with Spring Training in town, but they sat us right away. Mary ordered some fruity drink and I got wine, she was wined out, which I didn't even know was possible, but learned that it is. All the computers were down so the staff seemed a bit stressed but they couldn't have been more friendly and attentive. We ordered four rolls of sushi and they were all delicious. The only thing with happy hour was that we weren't sure what was on. They had a drink list, but we sort of thought no food was on special because we didn't see happy hour food prices anywhere. Lucky for us, food was on happy hour. Our two drinks and four rolls only cost us like $30!! That is amazing for any of you who enjoy sushi, so I would highly recommend Sapporo for sushi during happy hour. We both totally dug this place, and would totally try it again for a happy hour.

House of Tricks

So Mary, Mike and I have lived together now for over 3 years. Since Mike has the pleasure of living with 2 girls, he also has the pleasure of having to do things that only girls would do...like celebrate anniversaries!!

In September we celebrated 3 glorious years of living together, and we had to celebrate with style since it would in fact be our last year together. I must say, I am totally impressed with us as roomies. Most people I know don't last much past a year together, and aren't as wonderful as the 3 of us are, in my opinion at least. So, after several schedule conflicts, we finally celebrated in October by going to House of Tricks on Mill. We missed happy hour, so did dinner instead, which I guess is sort of off with the mission, but we drank, so I think it all evens out.

We sat outside, which was fine until it started raining, but we just huddled under an umbrella and we were fine. We ordered the Artisan Cheese Plate because we love cheese, and it was very delicious. We had dinner, and to be honest I don't totally remember what we all ordered, but it was good, just not very filling, so we had to get dessert too. That was super yummy. But all in all, this place wasn't a good spot for us. The prices compared to the portions really weren't impressive. The place itself is very cute, and maybe we'd try it out again for happy hour, but probably not for dinner. I think if I were to crave some wine and cheese, this would be on my list of places to go to.

So basically, is it good? Yes. But not totally worth the price, and as a non profit employee, that is always a factor in my book.

Seamus McCaffrey's, The Turf Accountant, The Roosevelt, American Junkie and Saddle Ranch...phew

Mary turn 27 on October 1st and her friend Justin came in from Wisconsin to celebrate with us. Whenever friends come in town, it's always pressure to make them think you live this crazy fast paced party life, so, that's what we made Justin believe. Lucky for us we had this bar mission so had plenty of bars to hit up. Friday night, we went to Downtown Phoenix to check out the nightlife, I must say, after this night, I really love going out in Downtown. It's such a laid back fun vibe. Our first stop on the bar tour was Seamus McCaffrey's. I've been here before, as Ryan frequents this place Fridays after work some times. Anyway, we got here probably around 9 and bellied up to the bar...haha had a couple of beers at Seamus, waited for the entire party crew to arrive and celebrated Mary's annual celebration of life. We like this bar, it's a prime spot for hanging out with friends. I think we agree it's not really a Friday night, group hang out spot, maybe more of a after work good time, or with a smaller crowd. I think we had like 12 people with us, so it wasn't easy for standing around talking. Good time though, would of course go back to this place.

After we left Seamus we walked over to The Turf Accountant which is probably one of my favorite bars now! They had a great band playing inside, and lots of patio space outside. The place was huge, and very accommodating for our masses of friends! :) We grabbed some beers at the bar and headed out to the patio area, for our friends who must enjoy fresh air while at the bar. We really loved this bar, in fact we've gone back since!! I think as we get a touch older, we all appreciate being able to sit and chat with friends, which this bar was great for. It's always nice to be able to sit and drink, rather than clutching on to your drink for dear life as people squeeze by you every 15 seconds. So obviously we'd go back to this place...we did go back. Great bar, you should go too!

Once we left The Turf we wandered over to The Roosevelt, which I was a bit

worried about since we had been at irish pubs all night, and I had been to The Roosevelt, I thought no one would like it, and it would be maybe a downer on the night. Well I was wrong. I had only

been to The Roosevelt for happy hour, and at the time, it's a calm little bar, full of people sipping wine and eating their yummy food. At night though, it's a totally different vibe. We all said it was like being at a house party, since in fact, the bar is a old house.

We wormed our way to the back room, cozied up in a corner and had a great time. We got a couple drinks each visit to the bar since this place was packed, much like a house party would be, but we had a

wonderful time, hanging out having fun. You can tell it was later in the night because we actually started taking pictures of everyone! This

was the last stop for most of us for the night. The whole idea was to light rail it around downtown and we never got on the light rail except for to go home. So I don't know about everyone else, but I was tired after walking around all night. The Roosevelt is definitely a favorite and I'm sure we'll be heading back there.

Saturday night, we headed to Scottsdale, to show Justin the other side of Phoenix people.

I had this really cute dress I was going to wear, then if I recall it got chilly and rain-esque out so I decided on jeans instead. When we got to American Junkie, I think I was wearing the most clothes out of every girl there. Oh Scottsdale...

Anyway, so we started off at American Junkie, we got there early, like 10 ish, so we were able to get a bench on the patio. Mary and Justin got there a little later than Ryan and I, so when Justin got there we had to do shots and some serious drinking to catch him up, again, he had to think we live a crazy life 24/7! There really isn't much else to say about American Junkie, it's a typical Scottsdale bar, nothing really stands out about it. I guess the wheel inside is cool, but they seem to have gotten stricter about people spinning it, and I don't know why girls would want to tell the whole bar how much they weigh anyway, but maybe that's the old lady in me talking. I think you should probably go to American Junkie once if you're in Scottsdale, but would I make it a point to go every time I'm out? Probably not, why pay $15 for a drink and wait 30 minutes to get it, when there are so many other options out there.

We then headed to Saddle Ranch, sorry no pictures, we still aren't great about remembering that stuff. Sort of the same feel at AJ, not Apache Junction...American Junkie. It's crowded and everyone looks the same. If you're scouting for some meat heads, it's definitely the place to be though. I think bull riding can be fun, but I feel like now so many bars have that, it's no longer something that sets Saddle Ranch apart. The only place to be in my opinion if you're at Saddle Ranch is upstairs. It's the only place, where it's not super crowded and you can do some amazing people watching. Adam (I think that's his name) from the Real World works here, or did, so if you're into that, that's cool too. Needless to say, Scottsdale didn't do too much for us.

We actually finished the night on Mill, thought Justin should see some college girls. We went to Cue Club at like 1 a.m., drank some long islands, well Ryan and Justin did, rest of us just had beer. We closed that place down! I know it's not on the list of 50 best bars, but we all had a great night. Mike, Mary, Justin, Ryan and I then went to Filiberto's. I think Justin thought we were pretty cool with all our bar hopping. I must say though, I'm glad we don't do this every weekend, so exhausting!!

D'Vine Wine Bar & Bistro

In early September, Mary, my mom and I went to Uptown Bridal to try on some wedding dresses, it's a super cute shop and I was really happy I found my dress there! Anyway, after dress shopping, since we were out in Chandler, Mary and I decided to try D'Vine Wine Bar & Bistro for our next stop on the 50 Best Bars. They have a great Happy Hour, that starts at 2, and anytime I can start drinking at 2 in the afternoon, I'm happy! :) So we enjoyed the $5 glasses of wine they have during their happy hour and some of the tasting food they had. We ordered the bruschetta, it was $2 off during happy hour, and it comes with your choice of 3, so we got the Brie, Marinated Artichoke and the Caprese. They were all very yummy. We also had the hummus, which wasn't on happy hour, but was only $7, it too was delicious.

We both really liked this place, the food was great and a

glass of $5 is nothing to complain about, if we lived in Chandler, we'd probably frequent this place much more. They have art work on the wall that you can purchase, which I think is cool, it makes it seem like we live in some fancy city.

Agreed that this is great place for happy hour with friends during the week. So check it out the next time you're in Chandler!

Sorry we've been out of commission...

Remember in September when I was apologetic and said I'd never let my blogging lag again?! Paint my face red, I am a liar. I must say, the last few months haven't been the best, and although Mary and I did knock out like 5 bars the first week of October for her birthday, and I was excited to back to the regular blogging, the next week hit me with some shocking and saddening news. My dear Stephanie, best friend in the world, passed away in Niger, while serving in the Peace Corps. They say it was natural causes, she died in her sleep, which I suppose I'm happy she didn't suffer, yet I still can't believe she's really gone. So of course, in my time of grief I thought, is going to 50 bars really important in this life I'm leading?! What even is important?! How can I go out and have fun knowing Steph will never come back to join us at these bars? But, knowing Steph for a decade or so, I know she'd never give up on a mission, and she'd never turn down a good night out with friends. She'd also be judgmental of me if I gave up on anything, as she always wanted her friends to follow through. So, Mary and I soldier on in our quest...we'll probably not finish the 50 bars before Phoenix Magazine releases the latest addition of the 50 best bars, but we will do it!!

I promise this week I will get blogging on the 6 or so bars we've been to since the last entry. I know you're all dying to know what we think!! :) I also promise Mary and I will get some quality bar time in before I go off and become a married woman!

Skeptical Chemist

Wowza I haven't blogged in forever!! My deepest apologies, walk and wedding planning have consumed my life! NO excuses! Bars should always come first I know.

So anyways...way back on August 10th Mary and I with a few from our crew headed out to Skeptical Chemist. We went on a Tuesday, since they have trivia on Tuesdays and Mike G is a trivia guru.

We had a wide array of beers that night, Grimbergen, Sweaty Betty, Smithwicks and Guiness. Mary and I really liked the Sweaty Betty, fun name and it was yummy. Not really a huge dark beer fan, but the boys enjoyed.

As far as food goes, we had the basics, chicken fingers, wings,the cod sliders and the steak sandwich. The steak sandwich was super delicious!!

Happy hour had pretty good deals, 50% off all appetizers and flat breads and $2 off beer and wine.

It was a nice atmosphere at Skeptical Chemist, great bar if you live in the area, it was just a tad far from our neck of the woods.

We liked this place, it was a cool place to hang out and enjoy happy hour. Trivia was hard. Either that, or we aren't as smart as we think we are. But I'm pretty sure that's not the case!

So check out Skeptical Chemist, and if you're a Seahawks fan...this is your bar for football this weekend!!!

Geisha a Go Go

Friday night, after we both had hair appointments, Mary and I headed to Geisha a Go Go for some sushi. We really liked this place, we were supposed to go there for happy hour, but since we put beauty before business, we missed it, but the happy hour specials were pretty impressive, and I will be going back to enjoy them! Who doesn't love half price happy hour?!So first thing, Mary gave them a thumbs up for their website, I just went on it and agree it's pretty cool. So props to their website designer!!

The place is smaller than I thought, but we didn't go in the back area where the private karaoke rooms are so it's probably spacious back there. Anyway, we had some lovely wine and sat out on the patio which was nice, there was even a double rainbow (what does it mean?! haha)

We ordered a few sushi rolls, Philadelphia Roll, Caterpillar Roll and the Fresh Water Eel Roll. All very yummy. My only issue was with me and Mary, neither one of us is really a sushi expert and Geisha a Go Go had a very exciting list of specialty sushi we were to scared to try so we didn't. I'd totally want to go back with a sushi pro and try out the other kinds.

<-- Sorry if my rock blinds you in this photo hahaha jk!!! Obviously we didn't take pictures of our meal...we seriously need someone there reminding us what we're supposed to do. You'd think this far in we'd remember!! So yes, Geisha a Go Go is a winner in my book! The waitresses were super sweet and cute. Note to single dudes, you'll feel like they are totally macking on you, yes, macking. I loved this place, I was actually sad that I'd never been there before. I'm not a karaoke person, but if I were I'd bet that would only add to why I love this place.

The cool "cleaning" options in the bathroom were also a plus in my book. Mary and I held up a line for awhile checking out this amazingness. I love bathrooms that do something weird or interesting, I don't know why, but it's a real draw for me. Kudos Geisha a Go Go.

So...yes we'd go back again! This place was super cool and really good, who can turn down sushi and drinks at a good price?!