The sunshine was absolutely glorious for one of the first days since it was officially considered Spring. It was hard to sit still at my desk knowing that First Thursday, one of the best monthly events in downtown Boise, was already happening while I was stuck working. I made plans to meet my new Craigslist roommate for first Thursday activities because we figured, what a better place to meet than mingling with free alcohol, free food, fun in the sunshine, and incredible community art?! When I met up with her, she told me I needed to “catch up” since she had been partaking in free wine and gallery activities since 3:00pm.
She took me to a place that allowed us pour our own glasses of wine (one thing I learned from being in college/a sorority was how to pour a hefty glass of vino). While I drank my first Malbec of the evening, we waited in line for a “free photography session.” I’ll confess that the singular glass of wine was not nearly enough to loosen me up for how awkward I felt with an elderly man snapping my photos. I feel like posing in front of somebody that’s taking your picture is one of the most unnatural things you could possibly do with your body. I was probably trembling and sweating in my suede dress, so the guy looked at me and said, “honey you’re beautiful, why are you so nervous?” Obviously I proceeded to feel even more uncomfortable/nervous after this statement was made.
Next we made our way to Mixed Greens, the cutest little souvenir and trinket shop in all of downtown Boise (in my opinion). Here there were two bulky bearded men handing out full-beer pours from Odell brewery. We tried their blackberry sour as we perused the wrapping paper isle and sampled too many different scents of lotion. Without reading the label on a bottle, I accidentally squirted shampoo all over my hands, so I soapily sulked out of Mixed Greens. We then snuck into what looked like a “private party” at a newly established architecture firm downtown. Everyone was wearing suits and ties, and we were just awkwardly loitering around the wine-bar. People were definitely throwing some shady looks our direction, but nobody said anything, so we took a nice glass of wine “for the road.”
We sampled several sweets with very inventive flavors at the Chocolate Bar, and ran to City Peanut Shop to get some savory flavors on the palate. There is really nothing quite like the beer/nut combo, it’s a match made in heaven, but the nut shop ended up being out of beer-samplers. By this time I was feeling quite tipsy, and confident enough in my chances of success, that I asked the guys that were packing up if we could have free beer tokens to Boise Brewing Company since they had run out of samples before we made it in. I figured it was a bold-ask, but I’ve also come to realize that if you don’t ask, you’ll never get what you want. Sure enough, they whipped out five free-beer certificates for my friends and I. Always worth the ASK because you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take!
The last gallery we walked into, I recognized the “BABE DON’T” guy that makes all those stickers you’ve seen allover town. Nobody really knows exactly what it means, but it’s provocative and hilarious for some reason. He gave us some new BABE DON’T stickers as well as a bust of Kanye West with the saying, “adhesive messages of misdirection.” My friends were all googly-eyed that we were finally meeting this local celebrity that has star-status without even being known to the public. Again we got full beers and walked out with them in-hand, but this time the bouncers caught onto us. They were super pissed and yelled at us until my new roommate (with the most adorable freckles you’ve ever seen), asked for their forgiveness. Freckles are legitimately a superpower.
Parking is FREE at the Owyhee building on First Thursdays, but when I Ubered back to my car in the morning (figuring they wouldn’t start ticketing until 8:00am like the signs read), I had accrued a parking ticket. I called the ticketing company to see what had happened and they noted that the “free parking” only lasts until 10:00pm. However, I think the good vibes of First Thursday continued into the early hours of Friday morning because they wiped my record and let me go unscathed. I figured they let me off not only because they were happy that it was Friday, but also because I chose to Uber home that night. ALWAYS PLAN TO UBER HOME ON FIRST THURSDAYS. Shit gets wayyy too LIT!!
Always,
Eventure Squad
