wednesday is the new thursday

last night was one of those nights that i didn't plan on going out. after my original plans for the evening fell through i decided to go hangout with my west side friends. little did i know that dinner at the old stand would turn into a mini bar crawl.

starting off at the old stand (a random place that i have now been to twice in the last couple of weeks), i met foxxy, MOB and mo for dinner. i really wanted a glass of vino. the old stand isn't exactly known for their wine selection, but i didn't care it was what i wanted. 2 massive pours later i was buzzin' off of the cheap stuff.

next stop, the red rose café. i heart the red rose, scene magazine even gave it the best dive bar award. not many people even know where it is but i actually used to work there. i bartended at the red rose every wednesday for a few months last spring/early summer, (i was in 4 weddings last year and the money i earned was for the “wedding fund”). it’s the kind of place that never changes. you walk in and the same regulars are sitting drinking their signature drinks. the best part of the bar is this amazing old school bowling machine, currently it is winter bowling league season (i bowled a 198 last night… yesssss). too bad im not on a team this year, but i don’t see why i can’t get excited about a sweet score.

so i continued my wine consumption, but this time it was franzia merlot (boxed wine at it's finest, ha!). of course i got made fun of incessantly because i wasn’t drinking a budweiser, and my friend pete even decided to mock my choice of drink more by buying me a smirnoff ice with a straw. hot. the bowling balls were a rolling and then the bombs started to flow. this was about when i started to dance. did i mention how good the red rose's jukebox is? it is the only box in town that you can rock out to shaggy, the lord of the dance, cat stevens and the ramones. pure awesomeness.

we bid the red rose adieu and went to the secret smoking bar. (i was told not to say the bars name in my post just on the off chance that someone would report them). i have never been to the secret smoking bar but i was surprised at how nice and spacious it was. i sure didn't miss the smoke smell though. seriously, you opened the door to the bar and the smoke just waifed out like a big cloud. there was some serious bakin' going on. and it's funny, the owners blatantly say screw you to the smoking law and even provide customers with ashtrays.

my cheap red wine tasting tour that i was on last night had to continue at the secret smoking bar, but this time it i got my own mini bottle of wine! (hilarious) one of the guys i was with decided that he also wanted the mini bottle of wine as well, too bad i got the only wine glass in the place (hilarious x2). we're not done yet. next stop pj mcintyres.

walking into pj mcintyres is like walking into a bar in dublin. the bartenders are irish (accent and all, pretty sexy), and often times there are random people singing traditional irish tunes and playing the guitar. it is kinda like walking into the twilight zone for this greek girl. at pj mcintyres is when i realized that it was approaching my bedtime and if i wanted to have any color at all in my face at work i needed to go home asap. right before i left an irish lad slipped me this, random. (obvy this pic was not taken with my new camera!)

last night was so much fun. but i was hurting this morning. ziggy, this dude i work with promptly told me that i looked like shit when i got into work. awesome, good morning too you too d-bag.