the essence

I didn't make it to the party at the new wine store last night, but I did get to go out for my friend, Kims', birthday party! There was a nice sized group of people & we all met up for dinner at TGI Friday's. I don't know that I'd ever eaten there before. I've just had their foods from the frozen section & I always love the potato skins. So, I figured I couldn't go wrong buying them last night at the actual restaurant. For an appetizer, that was a HUGE serving & I ended up taking half of them home - they were good, though!



Kim, the birthday girl, Jessie, & me



Everyone loves when the restaurant staff sings to them ever-so-loudly for their birthday, right?



Should I mention that Kim is a friend I know because she works at Target Starbucks and out of everyone at the party last night, I was the only one there who isn't/has never been employed by Target? (Other than Paige's boyfriend) Just call me an honorary employee.

This morning Ray had ANOTHER garage sale which his mom & grandmother came over for. I, again, was more than delighted to stay in the (air conditioned) kitchen & make breakfast. This morning was waffles & bacon. We were going to have peaches, too, but they'd already gone bad.

I did take advantage of having all of those babysitters & ventured out to do some grocery shopping sans kids. That meant making three stops, including Sam's. There was one key ingredient, a block of parmesan cheese, on my list & I STILL forgot it! This was to be used in 2-3 of my recipes this week & I was going to try to make some of these meals this afternoon. I suppose I'll have to hold off on those because Ray now has the car.

Speaking of which, Ray has the car because he's out showing houses to some clients. It wasn't until he'd already left to meet them that it hit me how nice it felt to have him doing something related to his job. He hasn't had a house sale since LAST June, as in 2008. Of course, these are people who made Ray show them all over this area early last year & ended up renting an apartment. I hope they don't do the same thing again.

Both girls are napping now so I've just been able to finish the second Harry Potter book (again) & now I think I'm going to get started on some of the meals for which I do have all of the ingredients.

What I'm most looking forward to right now is my at-home date with Ray tonight. I'm going to finish off the gift card I have for my favorite pizza place, I've rented a movie from redbox (has anyone seen that Nicolas Cage movie, Knowing? Is it any good?), & I have my free pint of Starbucks ice cream for dessert (thank you Facebook for that promotion!).

And, just in case you need anymore proof that a 2.5-year-old lives here:





I suppose THAT was to go with the blue crayon scribbled all over my piano keys...