Song Lyric of the Day:
No, I won’t change / Another thing / I cracked the bell / I tried to ring / A scissor runner stole my heart
This weekend was packed, the kind of busy that has me wishing today was a day off just so I could recover. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Friday night Rich and I went to Brazeiros Churrascaria, a Brazilian steakhouse that opened a few months ago, to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary. Talk about eating your fill. The concept is basically that you have a little circle card, one side red, one side green, and you flip it over to get started. Once you have it green side up, you can start with the unlimited salad bar. Then sides are brought to you: carmelized bananas, cheese bread, garlic mashed potatoes, and crispy polenta. The real fun begins when they start bringing the meat. Good lord, the meat. Brought out by gaucho chefs, there are about a dozen different types of meat, ranging from leg of lamb to sausage to sirloin to filet mignon to chicken breast wrapped in bacon — lots of meat. You turn the card back over so it’s red side up when you need a break or, in my case, fear you might vomit from eating so much. Seriously — I ate for almost an hour straight. I’m still full and it’s three days later. I really think I ate my own weight in meat. You get the drift. Aside from a great restaurant experience and a wonderful date night with the hubby, I got my belated 10th anniversary gift, to boot. Behold my anniversary ring:
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| Shiny! |
The service at Brazeiros was fantastic, too. I made a point to tell the manager on duty how great all our gaucho chefs were — they made a point to come back to me with well-done meat whenever something wasn’t as cooked as I would’ve liked. Now that’s good customer service.
Saturday afternoon was spent with the family celebrating our nephew Stephen’s second birthday party at his Grandma Jane and Grandpa Bruce’s house.
Coraline made friends with Grandma Jane:
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| New friends |
Stephen’s favorite one of our gifts to him was the little basketball:
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| Still flushed from playing outside |
The Big Gift was Stephen’s very own Ford F150, complete with personalized plates:
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| Sweet ride |
The Big Gift led to a carjacking by cousin Elliott, with Stephen giving chase:
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| Vanessa tries to stop Elliott as Stephen runs behind yelling, “Stop! Stop!” |
And my mom fulfilled a lifelong wish and got to go for a ride on Bruce’s motorcycle:
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| That’s actually my dad with mom, not Bruce. And Michael’s the one who took her for a spin. Got that? |
Rich and I managed to have a quiet moment with the birthday boy:
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| It’s a Stephen sandwich! |
Then last night we had a very last-minute, impromptu dinner at our house with my father-in-law, Papa Doug, Rich’s sister, Kirsten, and our brother-in-law Chris (Momma Carol’s in Iowa right now). I made turkey arrabiata lasagna for the main course and a marble pistachio cake for dessert, complete with ice cream on the side.
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| Coraline lounges in Uncle Chris’s arms while Auntie Kirsten looks on. |
Oh, as for the non-napping baby, Coraline was awake on Saturday from about 9:15AM until 7:30PM. She dozed maybe 20 minutes in the car after Stephen’s party and refused to nap at all once home. I’m pretty sure that’s her new personal record for hours spent awake. Stubborn, stubborn child. Wonder where she gets it from …
It was good to see Elliot and Stephen again.