The Coupon Book Adventures Continue

Yes, I love coupons.  A lot.

I love them even more now that I’m a full-time student working a lot of part-time jobs just to pay the bills. Eating out can’t really happen unless I have coupons, therefore I love them.

So when I got another Entertainment Book (aka the Coupon Book) for Christmas I was PUMPED.

Let the adventures continue!

Following candlelight yoga on Thursday, Laura and I (and eventually Snooky) headed over to the local Brixx.

MEDITERRANIAN SALAD: 10!

Lettuce with onion, red peppers, banana peppers, feta cheese, AND an incredible feta cheese dressing.  Plus some delicious bread on the side.  DELICIOUS.  We split it, so it was also the perfect size.  I may never order pizza at Brixx again.

VEGETABLE MEDLEY PIZZA: 5

I was craving pizza, so we decided to split a salad and a pizza.  I love that Brixx offers whole wheat bread, so this is definitely a plus.  However, this pizza was a bit bland.  I liked that it was loaded with veggies, but maybe it needed more sauce or cheese… not sure what it was missing but definitely didn’t hit the spot like I was hoping

COMPANY: 10!

I like to hit the sack early on weeknights, but great company like this is worth staying up past your bedtime.  Plus their giant comfy couches (9- they’re usually hard to get) make it a great place to sit and chat for longer than I normally would.

Great end to a great night Excited for some more coupon book explorations!

Torero’s Beer Specials

9.

Last night I headed to Torero’s with Jay and Ben, and in addition to the delicious food larger than the size of your head (and my camera lens apparently) are some pretty fabulous beer specials worth sharing.  Last night all American beers (except for Budweiser Select, the one I was itching to try.  -1) were only $1.99, in addition to Dos Equis draft, AND Blue Moon draft.  And apparently Blue Moon is $1.99 EVERY DAY.  Plus, Killians is only $.99 EVERY DAY.

So pretty much you can’t go wrong heading to Torero’s for dinner and a beer.  Pay attention to your Clipper magazine as they have coupons every week.  You don’t even have to pay full price for food!

They even brought us some free dessert…

FINALLY Beating Butch in Bowling

6.

Every time we play there’s trash talk.  I’m good at that.  The actual bowling part I’m not so good at.  Despite my own personal bowling balls, my 160 patch, and my 400 series pin, I just don’t seem to have the game to back any of it up. 

But that’s okay.  I’m finding I just don’t really care that much.  Although I was getting sick of hearing about all the losing I was doing.  So when I finally beat Butch on Sunday night, it was definitley nice.  However, he played so bad it wasn’t difficult to beat, and I have a feeling that takes away from any future bragging rights. 

I still enjoyed it

 

Butch is the B on top, and I'm the J right below

P.S. And when we were racking our balls back up at the end, the guy who worked there was so pleased he didn’t have to do it he gave us another 10 coupons!  And since each is good for an entire lane of bowlers, we now have another 20 visits that are ridiculously cheap!

I love Village Lanes Their rating just went up to a 9.

Outdoor Lunch at Brixx

Yesterday I decided to get out of the office for lunch and meet a buddy over at Brixx in Brier Creek since I have a couple coupons (clearly)  

Must say, perhaps one of the highlights of the week.

First, the weather down here was beautiful and they have outdoor seating, so we got to enjoy some sunlight which is always nice when you work in an office with no windows.

(NOTE: I did have a picture to go with this one but made the mistake of taking them on BG’s phone and trusting he would send them to me… Instead he deleted it.  I rate that a 1)

Second, I tried 2 new pizzas (BG was kind enough to give me some of his) and both were super delish.  Absolutely no complaints about the food other than the slightly burnt crust on one of the pizzas (-.5).

Spicy Shrimp Pizza

 

Jerk Chicken

 

 

-1 as pizza isn’t the healthies option, and it’s rather difficult to eat healthy there (less because they don’t have the options and more because the pizza’s just so good how can you resist?).

Overall a highly satisfying experience.  8.5.

Village Lanes in Durham

So thankful to the many coupons available for Village Lanes in Durham, Butch, Bertha (Bertie as I affectionately call her), Toad, Talia and Papa A all headed back for some bowling adventures  last night.  Overall I rate the local Village lanes an 8.5.

I must say, I am becoming a HUGE fan of Village Lanes (and they’re not paying me to post this, I swear).  First, we arrived with coupons knowing we would only pay half price to bowl.  Again, they had fluorescent shoes for me (although they were a bit older this time, -.5), the place was hopping (but not overwhelmingly busy) and the bowling was fabulous.

Couple leagues going on at the same time, and they were highly entertaining to watch.  While I didn’t bowl the best game of my life, a couple really positive experiences made up for it.

We headed out rather late so following the first game I started getting sleepy.  I headed up to the concession stand to get a soda, and as she was filling up the cup we chatted a bit about bowling leagues.  When she was ready to take my money I pulled out my card (didn’t have any cash on me) and she informed me you had to buy at least $5 worth to use a card.  I dug around as if I was going to find some cash in my large wallet (although I’m not really sure what I was looking for considering I knew I didn’t have any) and when she realized I had no cash she was just like “Don’t worry about it- you’re set”.  Then she introduced me to the head of the league so we could get more info. about playing.  I love kind people like that

When we went to pay, the guy at the counter (who we were pretty sure didn’t like us most of the night) ended up handing us a stack of coupons (almost 15 total), each one allowing an entire lane of bowlers to bowl 2 games + shoes for only $5!!!  Are you kidding me?!?!  I’m hooked for at least another 15 visits…

The only downside is where the bowling alley is located.  Doesn’t bother me too much, but there was a shooting right across the street the other night, so perhaps it’s not the best place for those who are easily spooked.  I, however, took self defense in college.

Anyone interested in some bowling?

Friday Night Bowling!

In memory of wonderful nights in Gaston bowling, we decided to use the Coupon Book for some Friday night bowling.  Here are the highlights…

FRAME 1, GAME 1: 9.  Can you believe all but one of us got strikes???  What an exciting/awesome start.  I wish I could say we kept this up and game 3 didn’t end with a score of 77…

FLUORESCENT BOWLING SHOES: 10.  I can’t imagine bowling in anything else.  All the lanes these days are replacing the old school fluorescent ones with new, boring gray and blue ones.  Luckily, they usually have one or two pairs in each size left, so I’m always very specific that those are the shoes I need to bowl in.  Pretty sure they’re good luck.  I fear the day when I show up to a bowling alley with no fluorescent shoes…

BOWLING IDENTITIES: 8!  It all started with our original entry into the Roanoke Rapids bowling league.  I signed up over the phone, and for whatever reason no one can ever understand my name over the phone.  I speculate it’s because I sound younger, yet the name Janice is so rarely foudn with anyone under 40 that they can’t believe that’s what I’m actually saying.  So they immediately move on to “Jena”, “Jenny” or something similiar.  In this case, they wrote my name down as Jenny.  I showed up the first week and they had no record of a Janice Smith who had signed up for a team, but they did have a Jenny Smith.  I quickly figured out this was my team, and they must have just misunderstood my name over the phone.

That first week I bowled AWESOME, and informed them it was actually Janice, so they fixed it on the roster.  The following week when I bowled as “Janice”, I was HORRIBLE.  So I had them change it back to Jenny, and for the next 30 weeks I bowled with the identify of Jenny.  All the locals we bowl with still think I’m Jenny, and now whenever I bowl I use that identity.

SO, clearly everyone else needs one too.  Friday night I was lucky enough to bowl with Butch, Wuffer, Lulu, Gerty, Candi and Willy.  Good times.  

BOWLING LESSONS: 4.  This kid was probably about 12 and throwing CRAZY curve balls.  I tried to get him to give me a lesson, and he appeased me for about 3 minutes.  Gave me some quick pointers, and let me go.  They didn’t work and I pretty sure I sprained my wrist when doing it the way he recommended.  He was still impressive.  

Good times were had by all.  For anyone in the Triangle area, I definitely recommend Village Lanes downtown.  Great coupons on their website, and at 10 fun music started playing.  Only downside= no crazy bright lights like Cosmic Bowling, so it became kinda hard to see your ball.  Still totally worth going.

Coupon Book Adventures Continue- Torero’s!

I’m not completely sure why this is, but there are a disproportionately large number of coupons for Mexican restaurants in my coupon book. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, as I have a firm belief that if they eat Mexican food three times a day in Mexico, there’s no such thing as too much Mexican food for me, regardless of what country I live in.

So tonight before the Bryan Adams show Paul and I decided to head to Torero’s in downtown Durham, clearly because I had a BOGO coupon. That and because I love Mexican, and their plates are bigger than my head.

Would rate the experience a 7. The waitress was awesome and efficient, the chips were satisfying and because of the quick service I avoided stuffing my face too early in the evening, and the Mole was good. Not the best Mole ever (sorry, Tolteca’s got you beat), but definitely satisfying. All in all it was a place I would go again (obviously, as I’ve been there before), and would recommend.

I did kinda miss Katherine’s aggressive chip eating though… Paul was much more polite.

Coupon Book Adventures- La Hacienda

One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was the famous and incredible Entertainment Books. They make them for all different areas of the country, and my mom ordered me the Raleigh/Durham one.

What this means for the excitement of my life is that I have now have a really great excuse to try tons of different restaurants in the area and eat ice cream from every ice cream shop in the city. Because clearly it’s a waste of money not to use all the coupons in the book…

SO, the adventures began this week after climbing when we decided to try a new Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda. In Chapel Hill on 15/501, I’ve always seen it and wondered if it was any good.

Well, it’s not. And it takes a LOT for me to say that about any Mexican food. However, poor service, bland tasting fajitas and beans, and their refusal to use two of our coupons even though we split checks earned it a 3. I will not be returning, so if anyone wants my extra coupon, let me know!