The Date Inspired by "E"

In case you're keeping track, which I highly doubt any of you are, we actually have not yet gone on our date inspired by "D" in our alphabetical dates adventure. We had it scheduled for a week ago, but (spoiler alert!) it's a double date, and our doubles had to reschedule. Since they are a key part of the experience, we'll report in on that one once we've gone. Meanwhile, I already had the "E" date on the calendar, so I took a deep breath and tried really hard to not freak out about out of order dates!

The "E" date was an EARLY BIRD DATE, complete with EGGS and ESPRESSO, and EXTRA fun with our friend Randy, who joined us for breakfast!

Ryan had this past Saturday off work, so we arranged to meet Randy at Omeletty's, which is a local restaurant.

* Fun fact about Omeletty's: we have had their food several times, but this was the first time I've ever been TO the restaurant. My parents actually really like this place and on a handful of occasions over the past year, Mom's gotten food for us (moving/renovating/gallcation) and brought it to us so we didn't have to cook.

* Random observation about the restaurant: their sign says they specialize in breakfast, lunch, and dinner...which makes me wonder if that should just say they specialize in food? I mean isn't that like all the food?

* Random fact learned while eating at the restaurant: they have a HUGE chalkboard on one wall that details all the specialty coffee drinks they offer, but they actually don't have them anymore. The waitress told us the owner's late wife hand-lettered the chalkboard and after she died, he wanted it left untouched, so it stays up there. She said they have a lot of explaining to do when people try to order from it!

* Random PSA: The aforementioned chalkboard sign (which I did not take a picture of because it was crazy busy in there and I felt weird taking pictures) features "expresso," which is not a word. Ryan and I have this conversation a lot, because he calls it expresso, and I remind him it's actually espresso. No "X."

Breakfast was egg-and-coffee-filled and delicious! Someone was particularly excited about it.

 Hey! You can see part of the chalkboard behind him!

We had a great time talking with Randy. He's a fun friend, and we actually spent a couple of hours there swapping stories and having fun!

Early bird dates are fun, and if you're going to do one, try going to a place you've never been for breakfast. Whole new experience!

The Saturday Six

One.

I dearly love Holley Gerth. Such an encourager. {I have a flip calendar by my bed with her writing in it, and I love flipping a new page each morning to read what she has to say!} This post is just beautiful, and if you're struggling with the question of why you're here on this earth, read her thoughts. I particularly love this quote: "Whatever 2017 may bring, there is One who has brought me into this world for Himself. There is no greater calling. There is no more glamorous career. There is no higher glory."

Two.

 This week, I decorated our home for Valentine's Day. I don't have a ton of decorations for this holiday, but I'm always looking for new pieces to add. Maybe you're that way too? I don't have any of these (yet) but Ever Thine Home has some great, timeless, faith-based decorations for Valentine's Day. This is the same company that created the Adorenaments we love so much and had in our home at Christmas. So I can definitely vouch for the company providing quality products, even though I haven't seen these in person!

Three.

Anyone else crazy excited about Beauty and the Beast coming out? I am not AT ALL a big movie buff. I enjoy watching them (at home) but never count down to any or want to see them immediately. It's just not my thing. But this one? Oh yes. Belle is my FAVORITE princess. The trailers are amazing, and I think Ryan fears I'll be singing all the songs at the top of my lungs in the middle of the theater. (It's a legitimate fear.)

Four.

 I know I've posted a similar link to this in years past, but I think it's important to share again! Katie at Dashing Dish has a new lineup of skinny Super Bowl snacks to make. If you're hosting a party this weekend and need some healthy and flavorful options, check these out!

Five.

You know how I love finding new date ideas! Found this one this week..filing it away for later, after we're done with alphabetical dates. But in case you need an idea before then, check it out!! Looks like fun! 


Six.

Source

This week, I read a new-to-me author: Patricia Bradley. Her latest novel, Justice Delayed, interested me because you know I love a good crime/suspense novel!! It had been a little while since I read one, so I thought it was about time to feed that side of my reading love again.


Andi Hollister, a TV crime reporter, is doing her best to work her way up the network ladder, and her family is doing their best to make their final peace with her older sister's murder, which took place eighteen years earlier. The man convicted of killing her - Jimmy -  will be executed in three days, and they can finally relax, knowing justice has been served.

But with just hours until execution, Jimmy receives a handwritten letter from someone who says she knows he didn't kill Stephanie, and she can prove it. But before she does, she winds up dead as well, and everything the Hollister family thought they knew about this case is flooded with doubt and question.

Andi and her cop-brother Brad, and his investigator-friend Will suddenly have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time to make sure Jimmy isn't wrongfully executed, and if he's not the killer, to find out who should be sitting behind bars in his place.

I was really excited to read this book and even told Ryan I bet I would knock it out in a day, staying up until all hours of the night to finish it, with heart racing clear to the last page. And while I didn't dislike the book or the story line, it didn't grip me quite as much as I thought it would. I was fairly near the end before that I-must-keep-reading-even-though-I'm-so-tired feeling hit me.

Part of the problem for me were all the characters in the novel. They were plentiful and at times, it was hard to keep them all straight. Andi, Treece (her best friend and fellow reporter), Brad, and Will were easy to keep straight, but there were a whole crew of other names, several beginning with J or L that I kept getting confused. I had to slow down my reading to keep track of them.

And part of my problem was my confusion of details I was certain would become major parts of the story that didn't, and other details that I didn't think should matter, but they did. I had to keep slowing down to reprioritize as I read.

For me, the story was good, but the suspense wasn't as gripping as I'd hoped. I would absolutely read this author again, but I would probably pick a different series next time.

* I received a copy of this book from Revell at no charge, and all opinions are my own! * 

50 Months and a "B" Themed Date!

Yesterday we celebrated 50 months of marriage. Nice, clean numbers like 50 make me want to go back to the beach. And while yesterday was stunning by ANY Indiana winter standard...it wasn't the beach.

The sad part of yesterday was that we had to spend way too much of the day apart. Ryan had work, of course, and I had to go back to the dentist!

You guys!! I got the best report I have ever had since all this dentist-y stuff started! She said I'm almost completely healed up, I had great hygiene (THANK YOU, THIEVES!!) and my x-rays showed no decay. Three cheers for that!

After the dentist visit, I drove over to the station to see my friends and ended up staying TWO HOURS. It was so good to see them! On the way home, I stopped in the old stomping grounds of Marion to go to a viewing. {That was my second viewing in two days. I fear I'm becoming my parents.} Then, when I was almost home, Ryan called and said one of his friends needed to borrow our car for the evening, so I met up with them to drop off the car. Ryan and I went to ANOTHER viewing {yes, this makes THREE in two days} and then we could start our date.

I'm pretty sure when I wore my pretty dress 50 months ago, I didn't envision this milestone with a day apart, a dental bib and two funeral homes!

We tried to take our monthiversary photo and Braeya kept moving around and distracting us, so we had to trash the whole first set of attempts...except this one. This kind of summed up the day well.

But we got a keeper, too:

Now. For the B date!

If you missed it last week, I wrote about my decision to do a series of alphabetical dates throughout the year. Ideally we'll do these every other week, but I thought the monthiversary would be a nice day to sneak in a low-key alphabetical date. This one wasn't nearly as involved as the "A" date.

First up? BBQ DINNER.

I gave Ryan a choice from two BBQ restaurants in town. We'd been to one before, but not the other. He decided on the one we knew and loved, so we went there and had our food in just a jiffy!

We got a platter dinner to split and brought it home so we could eat it while we rested, because it has been a very busy week. {It was DELICIOUS.}

Then the next part of our low key home-date was BORROWED BOARD GAMES. We don't really own any, so I borrowed Sorry! from one of his work friends and we got busy playing.

At the end of round one...it was close!

I'm red. He's blue. He won.

Because of course.

He also won rounds two and three.

He tried to look genuinely sorry as he slid the pawns into home. I told him the game was representative of my love life before I met him. SO CLOSE - and then someone else won the guys. SORRY! lol!!!!!

Even though I lost all the rounds, and the day was crazy chaotic, the date was fun! Proof that they don't have to be crazy convoluted to be fun. BBQ and board games at home = much fun!

Happy monthiversary, Ryan! The last 50 months have been the best! :) I love life with you. Not sorry one little bit!

Alphabetical Dates: The Letter "A"

A few weeks ago, on the Saturday Six, I shared this post with you - from the website Canvas and Table. It was an idea for planning alphabetical dates - one date themed with each letter of the alphabet. I absolutely fell in love with the idea, which shouldn't surprise any of you who know me well. You know I love dates and themes. So I sat right down at the end of last year and planned out all 26 dates (nerd alert!!!) and we were supposed to start the project a couple of weeks ago with the date inspired by the letter A.

Alas, something inspired by the letter G kept us from eating normally, so all dates had to be postponed. And so it was that this past Saturday, we went on our "A" date, and it was so. much. fun!

It actually worked out that we had to delay this date, because we got to do something extra and fun that we wouldn't have if we'd done it "on time."

Our friends Bill and Kristin (my friends from my pre-Ryan days) had the incredible privilege to adopt their foster daughter, and the official adoption date fell on Friday. Saturday, they had a big party at their house to celebrate their forever family. An adoption party? Sounds like the perfect way to kick off an A date, doesn't it?

We had a great time catching up with old friends (friends from yore, not elderly friends) and watching the new family interact together. Really glad we could be part of this day!

ALSO...got to see my friend Cherri AND have my picture taken with her! Had a picture with Kristin too, but didn't ask if I could use it here, so I won't. Cherri said it was okay. ;)

After we left the party, we went to the next part of the date, which was an APPETIZER DINNER. Ryan and I never order an appetizer when we go out to eat, because we're too cheap and we don't want the extra calories on top of our dinner calories. So we've never enjoyed the goodness of the appetizer menus anyplace we go. Originally, when I thought we were going to stay in Kokomo for this date, I was going to have us go to Applebees for appetizers, because double alliteration makes me incredibly happy. But when I knew we would be in Indianapolis, it seemed the perfect time to use some gift cards we had for the Cheesecake Factory.

Our plan was to arrive at the Cheesecake Factory early, eat before the dinner crowd hit, and then walk off our meal by perusing the attached Fashion mall. That was the plan. And you know what they say about the best-laid plans.

We arrived at 4:30 and by the time we inched our way to the front of the line and got our name put in, we were told it would be a one hour wait to get in. And that was only because we were a party of 2. Larger parties had to wait 2 or 2.5 hours to get a seat. And it wasn't even dinner time yet!

They told us the pager wouldn't work if we went out into the mall, so we didn't. We stayed all crammed at the front of the restaurant, watching the 50+ person line stay steady as time went by. I was about to ask some parents of kids if they would sell me stale cheerios from their diaper bags. I was so hungry! {Hadn't eaten much at the party because I knew the appetizers were coming. Or I thought they would be, anyway.}

My favorite part of the wait was this lady who came in with two little boys in tow (probably about five years old) and they formed a human train and pushed past the whole line of people waiting to put their names in and arrived at the counter before turning around and leaving. I heard the lady say as she walked out, "This place must have really good food." I'm not sure why she thought it was okay to cut past all the waiting people, but she did!

Finally, about 15 minutes before our hour was up (and after I had admittedly made this a matter of actual prayer), our buzzer buzzed.

I literally jumped up and down and did not even care what the people next to me thought. (They were probably just jealous anyway.) We got our table and the nice man brought us water and coffee and BREAD. Carbs had never been so welcomed. I was so hungry, I was shaking.

When we ordered, our waiter asked if we were going to want cheesecake, and we said yes, so he told us we should put in our order then because cheesecake alone had another 40 minute wait. (This stuff is all very baffling to folks who normally eat at Wendys.)

The whole process of choosing our appetizers had been taken care of before we even arrived. I'd printed out the menu and we made our process of elimination choices on the drive down. So we were READY to order. We picked totally not clean-eating choices of fried macaroni and cheese and a buffalo chicken dish. They were HUGE and delicious! We shared both and still brought half the dishes home!

It was fun to order things we'd never had, and when we finished up, our cheesecakes were ready! White chocolate raspberry truffle for Ryan and salted caramel for me:

He powered through and put the whole thing away, but I could only eat half (the little half!) of mine. Plenty of leftovers!

We tried not to dilly-dally at our table because lining the walls of the restaurant were all the people waiting like we had been, and I could feel them watching us linger over our coffee and wishing we would just GET OUT. (I would have felt the same way.)

And our final part of the date? Wandering through the fashion mall looking for stores that start with the letter A.

We went in other stores too, including this one, where I found no apothecary table or anything from colonial times. LOL!!!

All in all, the evening was SO much fun. Just something different, and almost free, since we had gift cards! I'm looking forward to the rest of the letters, and since someone asked me on Facebook, no the B date is not a trip to Barbados! Too bad!!!!!

Linking up with Tamar!

The Shafferland Shuffle

How in THE WORLD is it the last Sunday in January already?!!?!? On the flip side, after last weekend's unseasonably warm weather, I'll take it being the last Sunday in January, because it means we are that much closer to SPRING! Yes, please! :)

* Though we dearly love our Sunday naps, we had abbreviated versions of them last week, because we met up with Ryan's family for dinner and the celebration of his sister's 30th birthday! Dinner was at Half Moon, which is a local restaurant, and Ryan LOVES their food but hadn't eaten there in a very long time. It was his first really big meal post-surgery, and he ate every single bite and loved it! AND he didn't get sick. BONUS!

* Ryan had to return to work on Monday, and it was so busy, he didn't even get to come home for lunch. Sadness!! But I baked snickerdoodle brownies to take to his work friends, along with a thank you note for how they filled in for him while he was off work on gallcation. (Ryan fed a piece to Brutus. Ha!) We didn't schedule anything for that evening, because I feared he might be tired from his first day back, so we just hung out and I started reading my novel for the week, which I loved.

* Tuesday was a very busy day, including a podcast interview and some other work I had to get done quickly, and I had to do my workout early in the day. I know some people enjoy working out early in the day, but I'm not one of them. I MUCH prefer to do it later at night. So it was kind of a struggle, but I got through it. We had Bible study that night, and Miss Pheebs was there and snuggled up between Ryan and me for the whole thing. No arguments from me!

* Wednesday morning, I saw the most BEAUTIFUL sight! A tree full of fat robins! I know it's not spring and we have more winter to come, but I called it my tree full of hope! That night, Ryan and I enjoyed another night in and we actually cooked dinner together. We love to do that, but normally I have it ready when he gets home from work, so we don't have the chance. It was fun to work side by side! And then - the workout. Back in its regularly scheduled slot. And not as much fun as eating. LOL!

* Thursday, Braeya and I hung out together for a reading party, and then while Ryan worked overtime, I headed out to get my hairs done. (Not a fair gig for him, is it? But he got pizza for dinner, so I think that made it worth it for him.) It had been MONTHS since I had a highlight, and the hair was, well, white. Sigh. After marinating for a while under some foil and saran wrap, I came home a new woman!

* Friday night, our church had a chili supper and bake sale to raise money, and I wanted to take a dessert for the bake sale. I made buckeye brownies, and they're not hard to make at all, but they do have multiple layers and require cooling time, so I was up at 6:30 in the morning baking the brownie layer! We went to the chili supper when Ryan got off work, and it was delicious! We rounded out the night with some grocery shopping and coffee and (of course) DATELINE! lol! We're so old.

* Yesterday we started a new thing, which I can't wait to tell you more about! Alphabetical dates! Throughout the year, we'll go on a date themed by each letter of the alphabet. {I found the idea on Pinterest. Don't think I'm more creative than I actually am.} We were supposed to go on the "A" date a couple of weeks ago but had to postpone it until Ryan could eat real food again. So yesterday was our day! I'll tell you all about it next week, but we had a great time and I think this is going to be a fun adventure.