Flogging Molly at Tempe Beach Park

I know, I know.  I usually try to come up with interesting or at least witty titles for my posts.  That said, I am still to impressed with the show that Flogging Molly put on for St. Paddy's Day - that if you were there, you would think that "Flogging Molly at Tempe Beach Park" was interesting.  (If you weren't there, I am told that they come every year...and you should seriously consider making it a priority next year.)

Okay...Okay...enough with the intro. I'll tell you about St. Paddy's Day in Tempe. 

The hubby and I rode the free Orbit bus down to Mill to pick up our tickets from will call early in the afternoon.  It was the first time that I had taken advantage of the free ride down to mill, and I was impressed with the cleanliness of the buses.  Finding out that the concert didn't start until a lot later that night, we decided that a nap was in order.

Fast forward to 7pm.

We took the bus back down to mill, and decided to have dinner before the show.  Since it was St. Patrick's Day and there were so many people on Mill, we knew that there would be a killer wait pretty much anywhere we picked.  A little off Mill we saw Slices Pizza (http://slicespizzajoint.com/) and had a great dinner.  You can't beat pizza and a drink for a little under 5 bucks.  I really like thin crust New York style pizza, so I was in heaven.

Then on to the concert. 


I love Flogging Molly and have since my sister introduced me to them a million years ago.  This was the first time that I got to see them in concert.  It was worth the wait.  I danced and danced to all of my favorites and generally had an amazing time.  I can't wait to see them again (after teaching hubby a few more songs).

Wild Animals and Irish Food

Our one year wedding anniversary was yesterday.  It has been quite a year in our mildly unorthodox marriage (more on being married by proxy later). We decided to make the most of the last good weather for a while and spend the afternoon at the Phoenix Zoo.  (http://www.phoenixzoo.org/)

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this zoo as opposed to the Nashville Zoo are Grassmere or the North Carolina zoo is how close to the animals you can actually get.  I was having a close conversation with these two giraffes until some loud children came up and scared them away. 

After walking around the zoo, we decided to go to an anniversary (late) lunch on Mill Avenue in Tempe.  We decided to try Rula Bula Irish Pub since I love Irish food.  (http://www.rulabula.com/) The atmosphere in the restaurant was very nice.  It was so well decorated; I thought I could very well leave the restaurant and step out onto the streets of Dublin. I had the Fish and Chips, and while the food was adequate; I really wasn't impressed.  The fish and chips were good, but the atmosphere made me expect and really want better than just typical pub fare. I will say that the service was perfect. 

Music on the Mill

So...as you know if you are someone who follows along, then you know that I was laid off from my job as a curriculum developer in Scottsdale.  I've been frantically trying to find another position either in curriculum design again or back in a middle or elementary school classroom.  (Shameless plug alert: I'm awesome...hire me!)
My husband in a last ditched effort to make me feel better took me to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants...the Mellow Mushroom (http://www.mellowmushroom.com/).  The Hawaiian calazone that we always split was delicious as usual.  The really nice part of the evening was our walk up and down Mill Avenue in Tempe.  We didn't know that there would be lots of street musicians down on Mill.  I heard two who were really nice.  It was really enjoyable to walk hand and hand and look at all the of college-y shops while the pizza was digesting.