BLAME IT ON THE ALCOHOL

Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol.  We in da get club getting tipsy. Numb. Shots Shots Shots. Red solo cup!!

I wonder how many songs are dedicated solely to the art of getting hammered?  My guestimate is somewhere around 684,475,219,205,582,371 (give or take a couple).  If someone can take a few seconds to find out, I would greatly appreciate it.  I genuinely want to know PLEASETHANX

Getting drunk truly is an art form.  It takes a lot of practice to figure out how many lemon drops will send you to unconscious oblivion and as our parents and teachers taught us practice makes perfect right?  Which is why I practice as often as I can (but I promise I’m not an alcoholic).  However, as any college student can tell you alcohol is expensive!!  Unless you enjoy torturing your esophagus with those $10 plastic bottles of vodka you want to actually enjoy what you’re numbing your brain with and the good stuff don’t come cheap.   So that’s where my deal finding ways comes in real handy.  I am always on the lookout for a fun adventure and when it involves alcohol it gets even better.

I honestly don’t even know how many alcohol-related deals I have purchased over the years (swear I’m not an alcoholic, I just can’t count that high).  But I have done everything from wine tasting to painting with wine tasting to Cinco-de-Mayo open bar events to a Vegas barhop with unlimited bus drinks to half off drinks at local bars to a booze fest with Santa Claus to wine trains and probably many more (I really truly am not an alcoholic). 

Here is a list of all the deals I can remember I’ve purchased with what I paid vs. what they normally cost:

	What I Paid	Alcoholics Pay
Vegas Club Crawl w/ unlimited drinks on the bus	$39	$88
Santa Claus Booze fest with unlimited beer & wine tastings in Atlanta	$25	$50
Cinco de Mayo festival with 1 hour open bar in New York	$15	$24
Sacramento Wine Train	$22.50	$45
Sacramento Bulls: drinks, appetizer, desert and bull ride for 2	$19	$43
Bar 333 at Le Meridian in San Francisco	$25	$50
Alley Katz bar in Sacramento	$10	$20
Streets of London bar in Sacramento	$15	$30
Skybox bar in Sacramento	$10	$20
Long Beach wine bar with tastings and appetizer	$22	$44
TOTAL	$202.50	$414

I saved over $200 using these sites for my alcohol related extravaganzas!!  I know people who will spend that much money in 1 night on alcohol.  CRAZY RIGHT?  But I promise these weren’t all experienced in the last week, these were deals purchased and used over the last 2 years.  I’m really truly not an alcoholic.  I just like to drink a lot!!!

 

 

REAL TALK if you have any alcohol-related issues please don’t take my advice (this time).  In fact, if you have already read this post then I suggest you go directly to your local rehab facility or therapist or hypnotist and have the memory of this post erased from your brain.  I do not condone or promote alcohol abuse.  Alcoholism is a serious disease and anyone suffering from it should seek help immediately. 

Getting started

THIS is a first for me folks so please bear with me as I learn this thing called "blogging."  I've always considered myself somewhat tech savvy (knowing how to google = tech savvy right?).  While not completely in the loop on the current trends, I believe that I've maintained a fairly decent knowledge on the workings of the internet.  However, creating and maintaining a blog is completely foreign to me.  It was suggested to me by a friend (Hi Cherita!!!) that I should create a blog for my deal finding ways.

LIKE many people I am in a constant state of being broke.  I live paycheck to paycheck and have to watch every penny I spend, but I still want to participate in the adventures and experiences the elite get to enjoy.  I want to travel the world, see the 7 wonders, see magnificent shows, sore the skies, plunge into the depths of the world, pole dance with contortionists, mud run with pigs, belly dance with sumo wrestlers, twerk with Miley Cirus (why not?), and just about everything that would be included on a bucket list, except cage dive with sharks.  A recurring nightmare as a child has me terrified of sharks (I still haven't forgiven the company that recommended snorkeling in shark infested waters in Mexico)  Unfortunately, always waiting for that next paycheck makes doing these things very difficult.  

SO a few years ago a friend introduced me to Groupon and Living Social (thanks Sharan, I haven't forgotten you were the one who introduced me) and I instantly fell in love!!  Ever since learning of these deal generators I have consistently lived by them and I have found many other sites that offer deals as well (gotta love the internet, seriously how did we survive 20 years ago?).  Now I live by these sites.  I don't do anything without "consulting" them first.  For me Christmas gifts, birthday presents, vacations, events, etc. are almost exclusively purchased on a deal site.  I won't even go to the store without seeing if an item I think I "need" is available on one of these sites first.  Because of these life savers, I have been able to experience more in the last 3-4 years than I have in my entire life.  I've been skydiving, rock climbing, white water rafting, happy hour painting, finally went to New York (twice), seen Broadway shows, been to many different festivals (Mexican fiestas, Brazilian carnivals, fairs, etc) and concerts (Backstreet's back alright!!), wine trains, booze buses, dinner shows, comedy shows, boozing it up with Santa Claus, mud runs, color runs, night runs, food tours and on and on and on and on.  Even every day activities like bowling and getting Starbucks are offered on these sites regularly.  

MY ability to spend hours searching these sites is what makes it possible for me and most of my friends to have lives and it's because of my frugal ways that my friend suggested I create this blog.  We recently went to New York for a week and spent no more than $1000 (each) on the trip.  Which, if you have been to New York, you know is pretty damn impressive. That includes airfare from California, hotel (or in this case apartment rental), transportation, sight seeing, activities, events, food and most importantly ALCOHOL. These sites, along with other travel sites (travelzoo, homeaway, airbnb) can make any trip financially possible.

THIS is where the blog idea comes into play.  Who really wants to spend hours of their day searching site after site after site for that deal to go somewhere or do something?  Well, obviously I DO I DO I DO I DOOOOOOOO.  If you want to enjoy these things as well then I can help you.  I have no problem wasting my sleeping hours helping others find that shark diving experience they've been dreaming (or in my case nightmaring) about.  Hopefully I can remember to continue this blog site and show all that I have been able to experience and convince you that it's worth the time invested to be able to experience life's adventures.  I hope to post pictures and descriptions of events soon with the costs of the events versus what people with money pay for the same events.  So please stick with me as I figure out how to conform to current trends and BLOG about it all.