Wonderful weekend highlights

Friday night 'date'
Fri evening Spouse & I went to a screening of the GLBT indy film "Watercolors", which we liked a lot. Synopsis: Circumstances cause the unlikely pairing of a gifted art student with the star of the swim team. Both deal with their blossoming friendship/romance differently, causing tension and hurt feelings. I recommend you add it to your Netflix queue. Afterward we had a late snack at a cozy Italian place we'd never tried before. It felt like a date, with the movie/dinner combo and the cozy atmosphere. It was a lovely night.

Saturday
Spouse & I ran a few errands which included using a $3. off coupon to get our convertible vacuumed and washed. Its amazing how doing so can make your car look newer. Then we looked at tile for the new bathroom at Home Depot, Lowes, and Tile Market. Bad news: we can't get more of the existing tile in the original bathroom. Good news: we found gorgeous tile we both like a lot that is under our tile budget.

Saturday night
I made Paula Deen's corn casserole for the potluck dinner we went to Sat evening at Deb & Greer's. It is always a crowd pleaser, and this was no exception. (Do yourself a favor and double the recipe when you make it.) Everyone brought delicious dishes, and we had a great time visiting with friends and meeting new ones. It was a gorgeous evening so we spent some of it on their deck until the bugs drove us inside.

After the potluck we stopped in at our neighbors Michael & George's party. They were celebrating their 16th anniversary and Michael's 44th birthday. We didn't know anyone except Michael & George, but everyone was friendly and we had a great time talking and getting to know their friends. Many are artists and I got into a fun conversation with a woman named Mary about the shapes typically found in 1950s decor.

Sunday
We slept in until 10:00, thanks to the relaxing sound of rain. It surprised me that I didn't even mind that it was raining. We had a very lazy, relaxing Sun which included drinking coffee, watching TV, talking, and spending time on the computer. It felt great to allow ourselves this day where nothing 'had' to be done. We didn't shower until 5:00.

Sunday evening
Shortly after 6:00 we went to our friend/realtor's house for Thai food. Lee Ann hosts foreign exchange students every year and hosts a party with food from their country. Fortunately for us, this year her students were from Thailand and we were invited to the party. Lee Ann, her daughter, and the 2 students cooked for days and treated us to a terrific Thai feast. Also at the party were several folks we knew casually, and many we'd never met before.

After the party it was still light and Spouse didn't want to go home just yet so drove over to the ocean for a short bit, then stopped for dessert on the way home. I tried to catch up on my blog reading a bit while we watched TV, and then we went to bed.

As I read over this it occurred to me that we had free food and booze on Fri night, twice on Sat night, and again on Sun evening! That's hard to beat!

Crush du Jour: Chris Pine

Friday fragments

Whew, its been a busy work week for me! I count on having unscheduled time throughout the day to write my blog posts and catch up on all the blogs I read regularly, but this week its been a real challenge due to my work load. I'm still several days behind in reading others' blogs, but I will catch up.

Tues evening I dropped Big Ella off at the garage for a little 'fluffing'. There were a few items that need attention. I haven't heard from the shop yet, but its because they're always busy. I'll probably hear something early next week.

My friend Jared sent me this, which gave me a smile:

Spouse & I are going to the movies tonight. Not at the regular theatre, but a special film screening at the local GLBT community center, as part of the 'Another Take' GLBT film series. We always try to catch these. Tonight we're seeing "Watercolors".

Tomorrow evening we're going to a potluck dinner at Deb & Greer's, which should be fun. If we have time afterward, we'll slip over to Michael & George's for a little cocktail party to celebrate their 16th anniversary and Michael's birthday.

On Sun evening our realtor and friend Lee Ann has invited us and others for Thai food at her place. Spouse & I love Thai food and we love thinking about/speculating on/investing in real estate, so it should be a great evening.

A friend sent me this, which made me laugh out loud!

PLEASE - somebody find out where I can get this T-shirt!!! Wouldn't it make the perfect Christmas present for the gay who has it all?

As I predicted, last night's rainfall meant no work on our street today.

And the big news from this week is that Spouse & I have decided to move forward with the addition to our house. After interviewing 4 builders and getting bids/proposals from all 4, we confirmed everything yesterday with the builder we selected. The addition will be a 16 x 23 foot garage with a luxurious bathroom and big walk-in closet above it. More on this later.

Have a fabulous weekend, everyone!

Crush du Jour: Scott Herman

Thai one on

This post might seem like its 'all over the place', but I promise you it will eventually all tie together.

While Bugs & Roger were here last weekend we tried a new flavored coffee called Tropic Kiss. On the bag of beans it read "Chocolate coffee with a smooch of coconut". I kid you not; it really used the word smooch, right on the bag. We joked about it several times over the course of the weekend, but enjoyed the smooth richness of the chocolate and coconut flavored coffee.

Then Tues evening Spouse & I met up with our new friends Deb & Greer for dinner. I met Deb just after moving here, when I was going through my 'I fancy myself a freelance writer' phase and I interviewed her for an article I never wrote. Our 1st dinner date was a few weeks ago at Saketumi, the new sushi place. Sit at the bar and order from the happy hour menu by 6:00 and everything's 1/2 price. Can you say "bargain"??? Spouse & I really enjoyed our food and Cosmos, as well as getting to know Deb & Greer. We had such a good time that we decided to do it again but at another joint.

So back to Tues evening, we met Deb & Greer at Lily Thai, the new Thai restaurant. Spouse & I love Thai food and have really missed it since moving away from VA, so it didn't take me long to decide what to order: Tom Kah Gai soup and Panang chicken curry. Both were delish.

Tom Kah Gai is made with coconut milk, lemon grass, chicken, and button mushrooms. Its very tasty. We had a great time again, and made tentative plans to dine together again.

Then, this morning before work I started my pot of coffee and walked the dog, which is my daily routine. I have several flavored coffees to choose from, and today I chose the Tropical Kiss, with the "smooch" of coconut. When I returned from the walk I poured myself a cup and headed upstairs to my office. Only today, when I tasted the coffee it tasted like lemon grass.

This made no sense at all. Tropical Kiss has a "smooch" of coconut, not lemon grass. But I swear to god that coffee tasted like lemon grass!

Then I wondered if somehow my taste buds had gotten confused from Tues night's Tom Kah Gai, with the coconut milk and lemon grass. But why would my taste buds convert chocolate and coconut into coconut and lemon grass?

If I ate a coconut macaroon, would it taste like lemon grass? I don't know because I didn't have any macaroons in the house (I'm trying to watch what I eat, remember?). So it remains a mystery why the chocolate/coconut coffee tasted like lemon grass.

I drank it anyway.

Crush du Jour: Amaury Nolasco