Beer and Bisque

The holidays is usually seriously downtime for me so I try to hit a few pubs that are normally out of my normal routine.  Perfect for scouting the scene for LITP.  

Friday in between Christmas and New Years is a great time to get out and usually there are bowl games in town bringing visitors to the local bars for more flavor.  Such was true on a Friday afternoon at Steamhouse Lounge.  Best bisque in town and a great place for a local beer.

I proceeded to the upper bar, I always feel it's more fun, and luckily it was pretty packed for barely passed lunch time.  I wasted no time getting my bisque and beer and could tell right away the bartender would be fun.

Apparently it was a bar full of Oklahoma Sooners and he was having fun showing them some Southern Hospitality via a few special drinks, some shots and A  LOT of football talk.  I fit right in!

Before long, the beers are flowing, we all share a shot and start debating who goes in the Hall of Fame first, Matt Ryan or Phillip Rivers.  An incredibly interesting comparison, by the way, if you want to google it.  I absolutely adore when you can kick it with total strangers, share a few drinks, dap it up goodbye and wish each other well.  

According to the bartender, Friday Happy Hours are always happening so I feel a little Friday afternoon adventure in my future in the new year.  Promising LITP interest.

I will be taking LITP on the road again shortly so until then, Happy New Year!

Is there love in the London Pubs?

Day 1 in London and I venture out for some sightseeing in the rain. Well, sightseeing makes me thirsty. 

Enter the Anchor Tap pub in Shad Thames. There are signs everywhere on the doors the walls, the bartenders t-shirt etc that this is a mobile,  tablet and laptop free zone. Drinking beer and talking encouraged. I LIKE IT.

There is a cozy fire going and a local brewer's beers on tap. And I am the only female in the place. Perfect!

There is actually a decent mixture of ages. Which is odd at 1 in the afternoon. Some of the younger gents definitely seemed to be on lunch break. Cheers to them. 

But of course in true LITP style the most talkative guy at the bar is the older gent,  a handful of pints in and had the runniest nose I have ever seen. 

Runny nose guy makes a couple attempts with small talk...what are you drinking? Is it still raining outside? But eventually he stands up, stands next to my chair and begins to talk. 

Where I am from? Me: Atlanta, GA

Is that cowboy country? Me: No, that's Texas. 

What  about is it near Louisiana/ Cajun Country? Me: sort of 

Have you seen the movie Southern Comfort...Me: No

...something about Canoes and guns and something something. 

He goes back to his seat. 

Other random guy close by says...the only Southern Comfort I know about is the drink. I chuckle and answer: me too. 

Runny nose man keeps talking which sparks the other gent to ask me if I I would like a Southern Comfort and lemonade. Haha He feels my pain. Of course there is only some crappy well bourbon to serve but the gesture was appreciated. 

After runny nose man leaves, the other gent and I exchange some pleasantries and happy holidays and a few laughs over runny nose man. 

No love in the pub but great laughs in the pub and a warm welcome to London. 

Black Friday Bar Crawl? I think I will

I am pretty late finally get to this post but I couldn't let the world keep moving without at least pointing out my valiant effort to find Love in the Pub on Black Friday.

I am not a shopper, if I can't buy it on the internet, I generally don't have it.  So Black Friday, to me is a day to get out and enjoy the bar scene while everyone else is shopping, traveling or recovering from the big Thanksgiving meal. 

In an open day like this, I can generally make it to a few bars through out the day but I have never used this time to scout out love interests - of course this year, I was ready and willing!

Starting off the day, I decided to head to Smyrna to a familiar spot in order to meet up with friends.  First bar of the day COMPLETELY EMPTY for the most part.  There was one lovely older couple that I was able to share some advice about Irish Whiskey, so much so that she complimented how lovely I was - I swear if they had a son/grandson my age, I would have gotten the hookup.  Maybe this is another angle as I seem to be best at meeting people in their 70's.  (mental note - ask older people if they have any single family members/neighbors/friends etc)

Next bar, slightly more people, nothing much to mention here - except some Tequila was involved.

After the second spot I was on the move - back up north to some Kennesaw dive bars.  Now it's starting to get interesting - new places and new people. 

Next Stop: Buzzy's Grille.  Definitely a dive bar and an interesting place.  Best of all the price of drinks makes my wallet happy and the service was superb.  Seemed like a lot of regulars - however, they were all incredibly friendly.  Other than the friends that I had met the average age was probably 50 but generally mixed between a bunch of 20 somethings and a bunch of 60 somethings.  Will visit again to see if the results were skewed.

Next Stop and most promising of the night - Old Towne Grill.  Now, I say this is the most promising because the entire bar tending staff is female - wearing attractive/Tight/short clothing and I assume that attracts the men in.  Granted, not sure what caliber of men but TBD.   Best of all, there are a ton of great TV's - which again, definitely a male magnet.  I have to find an opportunity to re-visit this pub as I can see that it's completely promising!

Stay tuned on my follow-ups.

Hook up Central on the top of Nashville

There are times when I purposely plan a LITP post and sometimes, they literally just fall in my lap.

I recently flew to Nashville for a night to watch a friend perform at a venue downtown.  After the shows we enjoyed an amazing dinner at Oak and then decided to have a nightcap at the rooftop of the Thompson Hotel, LA Jackson.

LA Jackson did NOT disappoint for people watching.  If I had to describe the place on the LITP scale, it would be Hookup Central. Within 5 feet of my eyes at any point there were couples snuggled up, groping each other, making out etc.  I don't even recall ever in my life seeing  a place like this - not at such a high percentage of PDA.

Now, I imagine a lot of these couples came and left together but I bet an alcohol heavy environment like this also leads to a high propensity of breakups.  Leaving the newly dumped ripe for the pick up - if that's your thing.

The crowd seemed to be all over the place in the age range - which is ideal.  My buddy was even being eyed by a group of older ladies very sad that we were leaving when we did.

Truth be told, at 41 years old, I am not in the mood for any sort of hookup.  But I bet a few more drinks and the right chaperones to make sure I didn't get unwillingly groped and this place would be a blast.  Luckily, I had my two best guys friends to keep me out of trouble.

This is definitely my highest "love" in the pub rating yet.  This place was a little classier than pints, so how about we call it 4.5 Fancy Cocktail stars.  Definitely a must visit for the single if you are in Nashville.  Make sure you eat first and have an exit plan.  HAHA

LITP goes West Coast

Stay tuned this week for LITP on the west coast. 

First stop... Mr. Bings! I am the only female in here. And 50% of the men are cute. Who would have guessed. 

But everyone is on their phones....good conversation with the bartender, I feel like he is my in. 

Stay tuned, I am here all week. 

Thursday is for Oysters?

I almost decided it was a Netflix and Chill night but I am glad I didn't.

I did a little search to find a place near by that I had not been yet and stumbled upon the SuBourbon Rock and Roll Oyster House and Social Club.  Yep, that's a mouthful so it stood out as a must visit!

Anchoring a small strip with an Income Tax and Insurance office, I enter to find a large porch and the dark bar with peanut shells covering the floor and a band setting up for the night.

There is a mix of crowd that only towns like Marietta and Kennesaw have - and I mean that in a good way.  Bartender greeted me quickly and poured up my Tito's.  They only serve oysters - Raw or Broiled and you can order food from the next door Italian place and they deliver.

The music was fun, there was poker on the porch and though I kept waiting for the live band, they didn't start by the time I left - sounded like it would be fun. 

My first interaction is a man ordering a glass of wine for his friend - which he called "Pinto de Grigio" and then made it very clear it was NOT for him.  He was having a PBR.  I later met his friend,  a lovely older gentleman named Ed who had a long discussion about people and their use of cell phones and how kids probably don't even know how to write anymore.  He said I didn't look a day over 38 - I am not sure why that is so different than 41 but it was meant to be flattering.

I asked the bartender for a recommendation of the baked oysters and she suggested 3 cheese, cajun, Jalapeno.  I can not emphasize how good they were.  Delicious.

No other singles that I could tell but definitely a fun place.  Maybe I will try the live music on a weekend when I can stay up past the 9pm start time.

Great Service, Great Oysters and a lively place!

True confessions

The idea of this post was truly just to have fun in going out and observing scenes and entertaining everyone.  

But I will admit, sometimes it's actually a little depressing.  I mean, I am not trying to make today's post depressing because I am enjoying a fine glass of wine near my fireplace and thinking of the last few places I have visited - I haven't posted because there was nothing entertaining to post - with the exception of some great friends I have hung out with (by the way, I truly have great friends and even get to connect with friends out of town regularly).  

Still, I will seriously never understand how 40 somethings are supposed to meet or have fun out as a single person.

When you are 20 something, you have friends that are single and 20 something and you all hang out together.  When you are 40 something, you have friends that are 40 something and some of them are married, some are married with kids, some just have kids, some are divorced etc. And it's impossible to get together and go somewhere that you might meet someone.  

There must be something different that we can create - the "over 40, somewhat of a drunk, work my butt off and looking for someone to one or two days a week enjoy the company of" club.  I am gonna trademark that.