Party Like It's Your Birthday
Allie's birthday coincided with Hurricane Sandy and so...her birthday has lasted three weeks! Last weekend, she finally got to have her slumber party! It was a blast...filled with giggles, pizza, birthday poses and dances, the McKenna American Girl movie, Dance Party 4, blind make-overs (quite the hit!) and the making of a horror video--the homeschool 21st century answer to ghost stories? The only thing that could have made it better is if all of our bloggy friends could have come too!
Date Night
Our whole family has been very emotional about my uncle and my mom decided that she wanted to have all of her granddaughters sleep over last weekend, she just needed the diversion. They all had a blast and stayed up late, snuggled in a big bed together giggling.
The Hubinator and I hit the town...
We went to this place that we had not been to in AGES. It's the kind of place that you would not know is there if you didn't know it is there. It is COMPLETELY unmarked. No signage at all whatsoever, no advertising. It's completely word of mouth and it's kind of been the hip place to be for years. It's a subterranean restaurant, so it is really easy to walk right by it. When ever I have been there, as I walk down the steps, I always feel that I may just need to know the secret knock to get in.
When you first walk in you have the sense of being transported to a different world. The ceilings are low, the walls are all exposed brick. The room is tiny. It is lit almost exclusively by votive candles EVERYWHERE. The ambience is awesome.
The bartenders are encouraged to be very creative and invent drinks. The bar has an extensive catalog of drinks most of which have completely unique names and use exotic ingredients and you can never find them anywhere else. We ordered our first drinks from the catalog, but then after talking to the bartender, we decided to leave our second drinks up to him. After asking me a few questions, he came up with the best drink I have ever had in my life. It contained fig preserves--need I say more? It was divine!
We had reservations and the hostess came to find us at the bar and lead us down a long, dark, brick hallway to the dining room. The niche for this place is exotic meats. I don't really eat meat. I don't like meat. But, Jason and I are really into trying different food. It's one of the things we love to do together. I was very happy with my beet and goat cheese salad on a bed of peppery arugula and my calamari and lobster over pasta. But I did try some of the antelope carpaccio, the elk & rattlesnake chili and the roasted kangaroo that Jason ordered. I admit, it was all very good. Very high quality and very well-prepared. Of course, having drank two martinis helped me not to think too much about it!
Mother-Daughter Date
There has been a lot going on in our family lately.
On Sunday, after my parents dropped the girls back at home, I decided that Piper needed some Mommy Time. She was thrilled when I told her that I wanted to go out and do something just the two of us.
She has wanted footie pajamas forever...and we could not find them anywhere! I had seen them in Target when I was there to get some things for Allie's party and I bought a pair, but they were the wrong size--that is the thing with footie pajamas they really need to be EXACTLY the right size! So, we went back to Target and picked up some cute footie pajamas. Then we went to the book store and just wandered around, got some books and shared an Izze while we perused the books in the cafe. Piper really couldn't come up with anyplace that she wanted to go for dinner--she has been a vegetarian for several months now and finds it a bit of a challenge sometimes to go out to eat now. But we decided to check out Panera and I indulged Piper in a cinnamon bun and a black cherry smoothie--yes, for dinner. She doesn't do it often and she normally is a great eater. I know my dad had stuffed the child with eggs and hash browns for breakfast and homemade mac and cheese for lunch.
All in all, it was just what we needed as we head into this week.
My uncle is very ill.
This is one of the most difficult things I have ever gone through.
I would appreciate your prayers for peace for my Uncle Tom.
Thank you.
Namaste.
