This weekend went by so quickly yet I did everything I wanted to do and more. Love those! Here’s a quick recap in case you’re ever looking for some fun ideas to do in Arizona.
Friday: I went to First Friday (the first Friday of each month) in Downtown Phoenix. One of my sorority sister’s work had an exhibit featuring some artists so we all gathered there to start the night off. We then walked up and down Roosevelt and stopped by some of the galleries along the way. My favorite exhibit was Geoffrey Gersten’s The Days We Left Behind at Modified Arts. They were so whimsical, colorful, and fun.
The mural above painted by Lauren Lee can be found on the side of Green Haus Boutique and Gallery. It’s one of my favorites. I just love the colors and simplicity of it. I even got to see her paint it during a First Friday in July which was really cool.
We also ran in to the Arizona Ghost Busters at First Friday. They are a costuming fan club that allows them to draw extra attention to themselves in order to raise money for different charities. What a neat idea! Their car and costumes are pretty legit too.
Saturday: I woke up relatively early and decided that it was time to make a trip to Essence Bakery for some of their macaroons.
They’re the best macaroons that I’ve had in the states and come in all different fun flavors. We got mint chocolate chip, hazelnut, and their new Irish cream flavor topped with some fun gold dust. We took them to go and headed straight for Phoenix’s Public Market. I prefer Phoenix’s farmers/open air market over the one in Scottsdale but they’re both worth checking out since different vendors attend each. My boyfriend got his favorite salsa at Amor y Fuego. Their mild Deso salsa is our favorite. While it’s mild, it’s still very hot for me, but delicious. One of my favorites is PB Americano. They have the best homemade peanut butter that I have ever had. Currently they have 4 flavors, dark chocolate, white chocolate, cinnamon honey, and original. I picked up a small jar of their white chocolate ($5). 100% of the profits from every jar of their dark chocolate goes directly to Techo housing construction and job training. I love when local businesses give back.
As if we didn’t have enough sweets that morning, my boyfriend was drawn to the gourmet caramel vendor, Slade Grove, and picked up one of his pretzel and beer caramels. It was delicious and not too sweet. It would make a great sauce over some brownies or ice cream. The flowers below were found at the market and I thought the white ones were super unique. What a fun fall bouquet.
There are lots of other favorites that I have but I’ll feature some more of them next time I go.
After running some errands, which included going to a flooring and tile store (I’m re-modeling my kitchen, don’t worry I’ll definitely do a post on that later), we were hungry. We stopped by Chop Shop which is a relatively new restaurant in Old Town, Scottsdale. I needed something healthy to help re-balance myself. I got their Liver Cleanse, a juice with beets, apples, ginger, lemon, parsley, and aloe. It tasted like a sour lemonade at first but got better as the ingredients mixed together. My boyfriend did a custom mix of cucumber, ginger, orange, and lemon (?) that was delicious. I had their Danish salad and he had the Moroccan Turkey. Honestly, I wasn’t super impressed with the food but will definitely be back for their juices and smoothies, until I get my own juicer.
Sunday: It’s been a while since I’ve done some hiking and Sunday’s weather was perfect. It was overcast with a slight breeze but still warm out. We went to Papago Park and did the West Loop Trail as well as climbing up the mountain (which was hard with sneakers on). We decided that we needed to hike more often on the weekends as a great form of exercise and being able to explore more of Arizona.
The Frugal Diaries 
Love the colours of the painting!