"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee.com is back for another round! The whole month of February, we're serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs -- including guides, the latest trends, bartender profiles and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!

It wasn’t an auspicious beginning to the weekend. I spent the first half of Saturday in bed with Kleenex shoved in my nose trying to recover from a wicked cold that I’m fairly sure everyone I work with has come down with in the last week. I should’ve been sleeping but one of my guilty pleasures is "Law & Order SVU" and of course there was a marathon on that day, as there almost always is. So no restorative sleep for me, but I was lazy enough to start feeling better anyway.

I managed to drag myself out of bed in just enough time to shower, purchase some DayQuil and head out to Wauwatosa for the Christ King School auction. I’d never been to an event like this, but anything that benefits kids’ education I’m all for.

First stop was the buffet and the food was a pleasant surprise. Honestly, after not eating anything all day until 8:30 p.m., I suppose cold oatmeal would’ve been an amazing meal but this was so much better than that. A nice, loaded salad bar, pasta station, carving station with turkey and beef options (in case you don’t regularly follow my blog, I don’t eat meat so I really cannot speak to this aspect), and a mashed potato bar.

Yes, you read that correctly, mashed potato bar. I love mashed potatoes, even the cheap flakes version, but this was nothing like that. Served like a scoop of ice cream in embassy champagne glasses, we had the option of regular or red skinned mashed taters. I always opt for red skinned potatoes when there’s a choice, and always with the skins mashed in. The only thing better is mashed sweet potatoes. Toppings included mushrooms, scallions, cheddar cheese, sour cream and bacon. It was truly awesome.

There was also a dessert table, but we were all so stuff…

It is the dead of winter, and between blizzards and deep freezes, I'm really getting sick of being cold all the time. I'm headed on vacation in a little over a month but until then I am going a little crazy with cabin fever. Part of me wants to stay in and torture myself by watching the Travel Channel shows on Best Beaches.

Saturday I found the motivation to go to the gym in a little prep for naughtiness I knew I'd put my diet through on Superbowl Sunday. Typically on Saturday mornings, whether I've had a hard night the night before or not, I'm all about sleeping in and staying warm under the covers. But again, with the winter in full effect, it's important to burn off some of the hot cocoa calories.

One super, hot shower later and I was ready to go out and brave the cold again to meet up with friends at Elsa's, one of my favorite spots in town. I don't go often, but the food is amazing and atmosphere is unlike anywhere else in Milwaukee in my opinion. I'm also 90% sure that Milwaukee County Executive candidate Chris Abele was there when we arrived. Can anyone else confirm this?

I had the featured white wine of the night. Usually I hate sweet tasting wine. I tend towards the drier wines, so I was really surprised to fall in love with this sweeter white wine. My dislike for sweet wines comes from the aftertaste. It's like eating cotton candy; you're not getting rid of that sickly sweet slick in your mouth for a while. But this wine had a subtle sweetness with a grapefruit flavor, really light and clean. Perfect.

I had the Four Seasons Salad, which is my favorite thing on the menu. It's so hard to find really fresh produce this time of year so I love the opportunity to order huge, high-quality, veggie filled salads. My whole body screams THANK YOU after eating like that.

Now, the awesome, cheesy nachos we all got to share... I don't know that my body said thank you, but it didn't exactly have any objections either. I don't know what kind of magical, mystical chee…

Last Friday night was a much deserved date night.

It had been a crazy week and I needed some wine and one on one time. We headed to Thirst and Vine in Shorewood, a favorite spot that's relatively new to the area. They have a great wine selection for any palette and price range. I should've saved room for dessert because they have amazingly decadent options but, alas, I stuffed myself long before the final course was even a thought. I'm full just thinking about it.

Stopping at home was a mistake because I had just enough time to think about pajamas when my boyfriend decided "we" were getting our second wind. Alright, we're not that old yet. We cabbed down to McCarthy's to find a pack of my boyfriend's college friends up from Chicago for the weekend. They had been out much longer than we had so although the conversation was fun, it was a bit ... all over the place. In that situation I like to just sit back and enjoy the scenes.

Saturday I got my haircut. I haven't had a cut in a long time so I was pretty excited. After the trim I ran over to Flirt, my favorite boutique, to find a cute little coat to wear. Instead I found a new skirt, not as appropriate for winter, but hey, retail therapy works even if you don't come home with what you ventured out for.

I went straight from Flirt to The Harp for a little Marquette basketball pre-gaming. I didn't hang out at the Harp much during college, but I've realized in recent years that it's definitely on my list of great Milwaukee bars. It's small enough to be cozy, but big enough that you're not stepping on people to get to the bar. And I cannot wait to get back on the patio there in six months when all this snow is finally melted.

The Golden Eagles pulled off an amazing win over Syracuse. I'm a UWM Panther so the win didn't matter as much to me as my fellow game goers, but I figure what's good for Wisconsin college sports is good for all of us, so, Go MU!

After the game we headed straight back to The Harp. I hadn't eaten …