Food

About 11 days ago I turned 34.  That feels so old.  Perhaps because I still think of myself as 25.  In fact, I'm a little in shock sometimes when I no longer get carded or am no longer mistaken for a student at work.  I find myself narrowing my eyes when I hear the "younger" teachers I work with complain about that.  That's when I realize, "Oh crap...I'm to the point where there's a different age group of teachers below me!"  I guess it really hit home this past week when my little precious class of freshman in World History stared at me with disdain and incredulity when I told them I'd never heard of a group named One Direction.  Apparently boy bands are back?  (I would also like to point out that the girl who said, "Wait-are you being serious?  You've honestly NEVER heard of them??" had been wearing a Nirvana t-shirt the day before.  Youth.  Sheesh.)

ANYWAY, this past week I had my yearly epiphany about age.  When you get past 25, birthdays are just not as exciting.  Let me rephrase that, they aren't KID exciting.  They aren't "counting down an entire month before and anxiously awaiting to see what presents you get and bugging your mom to make sure she gets the right flavor cake" exciting.  In fact, I get more excited about Jack and Lucy's upcoming birthdays than I do my own - as it should be.  Instead, birthdays become ADULT exciting.  And in my case, I think the most exciting thing to look forward to - other than bring with my family - is eating.  I look forward to a day where I can eat.  It's not the presents, it's not the hoopla, it's not even the ability to brag about your special day.  I love my birthday now because I get to eat.  Is that weird?  I spent more time mulling over what Andy was going to make me for my birthday dinner than I did figuring out what I wanted for presents.  So, here is what I got for my birthday.    

-

On the actual birthday night, Andy made me Eggs Blackstone with Benton's Bacon.  I was amazing.  Mindblowingly amazing.  Andy has mastered 3 indispensable skills in his lifetime:  #1  he can poach the perfect egg.  #2  he can make the perfect hollandaise sauce & #3 he can make me laugh better than anyone.  (you can see from the rankings where my priorities lie.)  It is because of these skills that our marriage is rock solid.  At least on my end.  I had better master a few things myself to cement my usefulness in this relationship b/c I'm pretty sure the ability to "grow plants" can be replaced by a gardener...

Two days later Terry and Cheryl offered to take us to dinner for my birthday which was AWESOME & very generous.  When they asked where I wanted to go, I starting wracking my brain for somewhere that was kid-friendly yet delicious, and would please everyone.  Um...Chili's!!!  I mean, any place that has round the clock Happy Hour and Texas Cheese Fries simply screams crowd-pleaser to me.

Grandddaddy with his Lucy Goose :)

Godfather in the house


***I just wanted to add very quickly that my Texas Cheese Fries and Happy Hour Bud Lights exceeded expectations.  Immensely.***

The following Saturday Andy & I went to Knox Mason downtown to eat a fancy dinner.  Lizzi and Rachel generously watched the kiddos while we dined on Pork Belly and Pan Roasted Chicken.  One day, when we win the lottery, I am going to hire a private sous chef to fix every meal.  I only want a sous chef b/c frankly Andy and I like to cook too much to hand it over to someone else entirely.  But it would be handy to have a person step in there on a random Tuesday after work to make us a nice dinner.  I take that back.  We just want someone to TELL us what we are eating.  There is nothing more I dread during the day than deciding on what to make for dinner.  Once the decision is made, it's a cake walk.  But the decision itself turns into Sophie's Choice & that gets old real fast.

So far 34 is pretty awesome.  I've only had 2 weeks experience with it but I honestly can't complain.  I've had 3 amazing meals, lots of laughs, lots of snuggles and kisses from 2 adorable children, and lots of stuff to look forward to.  Bring on 35 people :)