For as long as I can remember, my friends and family have called me “The Cruise Director”. Just like Julie McCoy from the Love Boat, I’m the ultimate planner, the “do-er”, the go-to person to find the best places to eat, drink and be merry with heavy emphasis on the first two. Ha!

Anyway, along with my other ramblings on here, I’m going to start sharing my latest faves and probably some old ones too. And a sprinkle of pop culture for good measure won’t hurt either.

To kick things off, the fam and I went to a great St. Patty’s Day event at Hangar 9 . This bar and grill is right on our corner. We laughingly call it our Chandler Cheers. We don’t go there enough for them to know our names and yell out “ROOSH” as we walk in but we do frequent it. Great (and affordable) food and quite a few rotating beer taps, which is a must for me since I’m a craft beer snob. They had an awesome celebration for the day o’ green which was kid-friendly too with games. Syd enjoyed trying to beat her dad at corn hole and I enjoyed my Irish ale and corned beef and cabbage. I’ve never been a huge fan of that traditional meal but it was really good. Green beads were flowing from the Bud Light girls. I had to smuggle Syd some. It was a great Friday night.

A couple weeks back after I got a new job (Yes! I beat the odds and got a new gig in record time after being laid off!) we went out to celebrate on a Friday night at a restaurant recommendation I found on the Living Chandler Facebook Group. (Awesome page, BTW, if you’re interested in joining). Stone and Vine Urban Italian was delish! So good! I always know it’s a good Italian place if they 1) have Italian beer…check! Peroni and Morreti and 2) have tiramisu…check! We’ll definitely be back for more foodie awesomeness.

Just this week for lunch on Taco Tuesday, I checked out an old favorite that has a new home – Guedo’s Taco Shop. They’d been a Chandler staple for years and then moved out of their longtime location due to new development in the downtown area. The owner always said they’d be back after a much-deserved break and sure enough, they popped up in a shopping center we frequent because of the drive-thru Dairy Queen. Can’t live without that. This place happens to be right up the street from my new office. So I rallied some of the troops on my team and went out for lunch. It was just as good as I remembered. Great tacos and salsa bar. Super-affordable. Can’t wait to go back with the fam!

And after you’re stuffed and happy from all this great food, relax on the couch and binge watch Marvel’s Iron Fist on Netflix. Don’t believe any of the critic crap. It’s good. It’s no Jessica Jones or Daredevil but I still really enjoyed it, especially if you’re into either the comic or martial arts or both. You’ll dig it. Lots of good badies in it too. Don’t you think a lot of the time the villains are even more fun then the white knights? This one has a lot of people you love to hate and twists that you don’t expect. Give it a go.

That’s a wrap for now. Peace, love and good food to y’all!