Yesterday, I went to Cartel with Jacy, Stephanie, and Tracy (the newest addition to the girlhouse). Cartel makes a great cappuccino, and the vibe is pretty cool.  Kind of a garage feel mixed with college art building.  (If you’ve ever been to the school of art over at ASU, you’ll know what I mean.)

Jacy got her change in PHXBUX which is a new local art project/discount token.  I thought initially because of the name that the tokens would actually be used as a form of cash, but the website states that the tokens “are only good as a dollar off coupon at the participating businesses.”  One token can be redeemed per person per business each day.  A bit misleading from the impression one gets from the little information one receives at the register.

The tokens are interesting though-they are made from American Pewter and each one is polished by hand.  On the edges, they read: PHX BUX IN ART WE TRUST.  It seems to me from what I read on the website, that this is more of an experiment in art than an alternate form of currency.  I’ll be curious to see how things progress considering that the tokens were just released.