The Girls' Turn

Last weekend Curtis and his pal James went on a "trip" to pick up a new vehicle for our driveway. It was a good deal. The evening trip turned into an all evening event and Corie (his wife) and I asked for our turn. They agreed to let us go out for dinner, since they enjoyed dinner, and a kid-free moment as well. Corie homeschools her 4 kids (well, 2 school aged and 2 pre-schoolers) so a night out is a rare and appreciated thing. We took along 2 other favorite peeps, Rebecca and Alison. We started with a little pottery painting at the local INK. It was entertaining, relaxing, and stressful all at the same time. Sometimes it is a difficult thing just to decide which piece to paint. A starting point. The beginning. Then... the pattern, the colors. What to put on the blank canvas to make it your own... We each started with the same white beginning. Corie, Rebecca and I all opted for a coffee mug (they didn't have the sugar bowl Corie wanted). Then we made it our own. Color choices. Design. Patterns. Swirls. Dots. Sticks. What we started with was the same. What we ended with was all our own. Alison opted for a little bud vase because apparently the boys in her family still bring her a flower every now and then. I don't need a vase! The painting was to conclude at 5pm, when they closed, but we were a little slow and lovely Phil didn't rush us out at all. He was very helpful, in fact and gave us great ideas.

After finishing up the pottery perfection we  drove south to P.F. Changs. A place I never get to eat because Curtis always vetoes it. It's a fancy Chinese cuisine spot at the mall. Location. Location. Location!! The mall is NOT the place to be on a Saturday evening no matter how early you think you might be. The wait was to be 2+ hours. Well, 3 of the 4 of us had early curfews for the boys to go watch a fight... so we didn't have 2 hours to wait... we had to be back on the road in 2 hours. That would never work. So we opted to drive across the road to Olive Garden... another eatery that is non-existent in our neck of the woods. We made it the length of ONE single traffic light... it took us way longer than expected. I think 1-2 cars went through each light cycle. We almost took the curb to swing a U-ey several times since we were in the Jeep 4x4... but I decided it wasn't worth the chance of forking out the cost of a potential ticket. We waited until we could squeeze by into the turn lane, threw it around the corner and floored it in the opposite direction. Ok, ok... I really didn't floor it... but I did appreciate the free lane to actually drive! We drove around in circles and when we got to OG, the wait there was an hour - which we didn't have. So we opted to drive back toward home and ended up at the Thai Dish... delish! Alison had been there before so we knew it was safe. :)

Alison and her bud vase

Corie and her fancy mug

Rebecca - aiding the drying process

You're better off just not knowing

My mug... our stick family

Dinner at Thai Dish

Our appetizer... quickly devoured by starving ladies!

When we got finished eating we had about 10 minutes to spare so we ran in the Starbucks and grabbed a cup-o-joe to go! A yummy way to end the evening.  And to top it all off... we ALL made it home before our curfews.  Yeah Mommies!