Another Full Weekend

Song Lyric of the Day:

One public face / In a private limousine / Flash photograph / It’s the only light you see / No secret life

Bryan Ferry / “Kiss and Tell”

9:45PM.
Here is the link to my headshots session. Select my name from the list and then type pattiepics for the password. I think Sabrina did a great job, as I’m really not photogenic in the least. The woman’s a miracle worker. (That’s Photography by Sabrina, 865-531-7638; the session runs $125.) I would’ve posted the link Friday afternoon, but I was slammed at work. I was copyediting my ass off.
Friday night, my parents and Samantha met Rich and I at our house after work. From there, Dad drove us all to Laurel Valley Restaurant in Townsend, TN; it’s part of the Laurel Valley Golf Club. It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten truly divine Italian food, but this place has it. My parents know the chef, Johnny, from his days at Roman’s Pizza in Knoxville. Our visit coincided with the end of the restaurant’s first nine weeks in business.

We started out with the complimentary bread and olive oil dipping sauce, followed by fried mozzarella and French bread pizza for appetizers. Rich and I had delicious Caesar salads that came with our entrees, while Mom and Samantha had house salads (Dad doesn’t do salad). Our entrees came, and we finished stuffing ourselves. I had the lasagna, which was fantastic. And I don’t say that lightly about lasagna–I’m like Garfield when it comes to good lasagna. But this lasagna had it all: four cheeses, rich marinara sauce, and premium ground beef. And the portion was huge. Rich ordered a grouper special and was thrilled when it turned out to be a big, real piece of fish, not a fish nugget like he gets in most restaurants. I don’t remember exactly what my parents had, but they cleaned their plates. Samantha had the beef tips, which she also devoured. Rich, Samantha, and I then ordered cheesecakes to go. While we were beyond stuffed, we were planning ahead. We were surprised by Johnny with deep-fried chocolate chocolate chip and bananas foster crunches. Somehow we all managed to find the strength to eat yet more food, and it was totally worth it. Since I don’t like bananas, I stuck to the chocolate crunches, and I could’ve smoked a cigarette after, they were so good. Really, I could’ve died like the happy, stuffed little piggy I was right then and there.

Rich and I are already planning on taking our anticipated-in-the-near-future guests, Richard and Donna, to Laurel Valley Restaurant when they are in town. I know my Aunt Bea and Uncle Louis will love it, too, the next time they’re down here. You can’t beat the combination of great food with an amazing, surrounding view of the mountains. And there’s plenty to do in the area besides eat and golf; the wonderful bed and breakfast, The Richmont Inn, is right up the road. Guess what we’re planning for a weekend in the near future?

Since the restaurant doesn’t yet have a website, here’s the info: Laurel Valley Restaurant & Catering, 702 Country Club Drive, Townsend, TN 37882, phone 865-448-8080. Tell Johnny you read about it here. Maybe I can score some more free deep-fried chocolate chocolate chip crunchers if you do.

***
Saturday I talked Tamara into accompanying me to Lycan Entertainment‘s 3PM promo shoot for their independent horror movie, Point of Fear. I signed up on their email list at Adventure Con last month; I had received an email on Tuesday informing me of Saturday’s shoot. Tamara and I arrived at the old Farragut Regal theater where I immediately sensed she was thinking “What on earth have I agreed to?” Maybe it was the axe, maybe it was the baseball bat, maybe it was the ventriloquist’s dummy, but I could see serious doubt in Tamara’s eyes. Me, I live and breathe stuff like this, so I went with the flow. Basically, we pretended to be fans so eager to see the movie that we were in zombie-like states. I had a lot of fun despite the ungodly heat and the guilt associated with accidentally tripping someone (running as part of a crowd on film is trickier than expected). An added bonus was catching up with my old friend, Taro, who I had still not managed to get together with since moving home last year. While Tamara was definitely a trouper, I was in my element, surrounded by people who were more than happy to discuss Adventure Con, DragonCon, and Comicon, among other things. I particularly hit it off with a couple of women who brought up a certain Fantasy Second Husband© without any prompting from me (I swear). Seems he made quite the impression at Adventure Con. Ahem.

After the shoot, Tamara and I hit the shops at Turkey Creek so we could both take care of some errands, including picking up a birthday cake for Brent. After shopping we headed to Jonathan and Curry’s house for Brent’s birthday party, which is where Rich met up with us. The guys were in the middle of a basketball game, so Rich, Curry, Tamara, and I went ahead and ate since we were starving. We were joined shortly after by Fin and Susannah, then the sweaty basketball players themselves. While Rich had had a long day and left not long after eating and making a Starbucks run, the rest of us stayed to watch Dodgeball (birthday boy’s choice). All in all, I think Brent (alias Preb) had a pretty good birthday. At least, I hope he did. We were just happy to be a part of it.

Tamara stayed over in our guest room Saturday night and then accompanied me on yet more errands Sunday afternoon. Work kicked my butt today since I’m still so busy, but I’m still loving my job. And now here I am.

You know, I never used to be social or active. Turns out it’s exhausting. Go figure.

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