Boy, I've gotten as behind on updating my blog as my liver has at processing alcohol. It's certainly not due to lack of Sipping, more so a lack of remembering my Sips evenings.......
It all started on a rainy night on week eleven of the Summer Sips livin'. We had all intentions of saddling up next to the bar at Table 31 again, but the afternoon rain had scared us a few blocks down to Smiths. As I've mentioned in blogs prior, Smiths is definitely a favorite happy hour destination. Between the Sips specials and the half off drafts, you can't go wrong with the beer selection. The wines aren't my favorite, but it was that kind of night - the one where you've contemplating how you can drink at your desk at work without anyone seeing. So, Pinot Grigio it was. Throw in an appetizer of chips and guacamole, and we're off and sippin'....
Before I go further, it's important to mention that Sips is kind of like a 'Choose your own Adventure' book from childhood. The way it ends isn't completely up to you, but all of the choices that lead you there along the way are in your control. I loved those books as a kid. You could read the story more the once as long as you continued to make different selections each time. Choose your own Sips Adventure starts with bar selection, then the drink selection, then as the night progresses the further decisions that lead to drinking Gatorade and Sprite in an 8AM meeting....
So, we've made our first decisions involving Smiths and drinking wine. All is well as the Sips hours pass. Five becomes six and six becomes six forty-five. Now, you're looking anxiously at the next two options in your Choose your own Sips Adventure: head home post Sips or meeting out of town friends at another bar for further drinks. Its safe to say that no one ever chooses the 'Walk down the lighted path back towards Grandma's house' option. What fun would that be? Its always the dark and risky path. That path, in week eleven, was a trip to Time followed by a bender at Ladder 15. I'd love to educate you on how this book ends, but someone ripped out the last few chapters. I'll give you what I know....and what I've been told...
I'm not crazy about Time. I know a lot...I mean A LOT....of friends who love this bar, but something about it never appealed to me. Alas, we head down for a drink and to pick up some additional Sipster friends. One more glass of wine and we've decided that we need to head back towards Center City. I've also spent a couple of blog posts raving about Ladder 15. For whatever reason, there is never a bad time to be had here. The staff is great, the drink specials are good enough and the atmosphere is all around fun. My bestie, who you may recall by her dedication to her Coronas earlier in the Sips season, has also swapped the safe road for the risky path. Before I know it, she shows up with two vodka/sprites and a good short walk down college memory lane. One round turns into two, turns into three, turns into shots of SoCo and lime....you get the point. New friends are being made, a bit of dancing is breaking out and the night that should have ended when you reached the first book crossroads has now walked down every dark tunnel and faced every never-land dragon.
This is pretty much where I stop remembering my night at Ladder 15. Here's what I've been told. The drinking and dancing ceased close to midnight (um, a reminder that Sips ends at 7PM would be lovely). There was a taxi ride home, Dominos pizza consumed and I broke the BFFs house key. I woke up dressed for work, albeit in yesterday's work clothes, with nausea that I hadn't felt since my mid-twenties. Making it to work was a treat as was the morning hours that followed. I'll spare you the details, but leave you with this: Choose your own Adventure books are intended to test not only your courage but also your greed. Don't let the desire for reckless abandon sway the logical decision to take the lighted a few times. You'll appreciate it in your 9AM meetings.
