Bravo!

I was smart enough to take two Advil before jumping into bed the night before. Aside from having to pee like nobody’s business, I felt pretty good when I woke just before 8am. Mindy had said that she intended to sleep as late as her body desired so I harbored no plans to wake her or bring her coffee. She even joked about sleeping until 3pm. Doing so is not even fathomable in my little world. I enjoyed my alone time quite a bit. I made coffee, exercised, and walked Ykraps. Meanwhile, it was sunny outside but quite chilly. It was only 40 degrees. I had just gotten settled in front of my PC when I heard Mindy begin to stir upstairs. And I was very surprised when she popped down the stairs a little before 9am. She claimed feeling well rested.

 I reminded her why I didn’t make and deliver her coffee. She understood. We chatted for a while before I seriously contemplated my run. I ended up dressing and heading out at 9:30am. I ran along Trabue & Hague while also cutting a couple major loops off my overall run. No real reason – just felt like it. Probably took about ½ mile off the total distance. I noticed that my dad’s new grass is coming in nicely, especially on the northern half of his front lawn. The southern half (the side less cared for) is limping along.

 Mindy was decorating for fall/Halloween by the time I made it back home. I’m proud of her. Years past, she’s started the last weekend of September. That weekend then marks the last time that I see the house in its ‘normal’ state until after New Year’s Day. Come the first of November, Mindy will weed out the Halloween specific fall décor leaving just an autumnal/harvest spin. Then, the day after TG the XMAS stuff goes up. It’s a process. What I loathe most are the window/door clings. She does a tasteful job, however. I must admit. Window clings aside, nothing too gaudy.

 I tinkered with doing lawn chores but decided I would not. Instead, I would hang out inside doing not much of anything. Something I rarely do. We again discussed going furniture shopping but opted not. I figured by the time I showered and left, we wouldn’t have that much time before the OSU game. While Mindy decorated, I warmed a bunch of leftovers (Barley wings & Mindy’s roast beef). That served as our brunch. Finishing her decorating around 1pm, Mindy decided to head out grocery shopping. I stayed home. She didn’t head out until nearly 2pm.

 While Mindy was gone I watered the hanging baskets and deck pots. I also remembered that I had a gallon of semi-gloss extra white paint from Sherwin Williams that I used on the interior of the exterior metal doors several years ago. I checked it. It was as good as new. And since I had it out, I touched up the worn spots on the laundry room’s entrance door into the garage. I took care of a few more smallish chores as well before getting a much needed shower. Mindy returned home midway through the first quarter of the Buckeye game. They were up by two touchdowns in no time at all. 

I helped carry in the groceries. We watched the rest of the Buckeye game together. It was pretty much a blowout, although there was a brief period in the third quarter when it appeared that MSU might turn the tide. But that all ended with a fumble recovery for a touchdown. We won 45-7.

 After the Buckeye game Mindy & I freshened up for an evening out. We never really nailed down our plans 100%. Admittedly, Mindy did express a strong desire to eat at Bravo. I assumed all along that we’d still do the furniture thing that we discussed earlier. What I didn’t tell Mindy was that I wanted to stop at Best Buy real quick to check out the newest addition to the Canon Powershot IS camera line as well as picking up a new 8” omelet pan. We stopped at Best Buy first. I really like the new Canon. My old one is having lens issues, which I’m told can be fixed for about $90. Though, I’ll most likely upgrade having gotten about 30,000 photos out of the older one. My “buy now” target price is $350. They’re currently going for the full $399.

 After leaving Best Buy we headed across the street to Front Room Furnishings. We spent very little time there not finding/seeing any recliners that meet our specifications. We may simply have our current two recovered if the price is right. Before heading to dinner we headed over the freeway to the Tuttle Mall Macy’s. While Mindy perused clothes in the junior’s department, I went to housewares to find a new 8” egg pan. I wanted a quality pan but wasn’t willing to spend $50. I’ve found Calphalon pans for as little as $20 past. I found two that were OF acceptable quality and in my buy it now price range. However, one was noticeably better than the other. There was a $5 difference, which I decided was worth it. That’s the one I bought – a Circulon.

 After making my purchase I headed back to the juniors department where Mindy was still busy trying on clothes. She liked the purple sweater dress but not the accompanying purple snake skin leggings. She changed to black. The look in question is a throw back to the mid 80’s. I picked out a pair of jeans that I thought she might like as well. She did and they fit. She bought them, too. 

We left Macy’s destined for dinner. By then, both of us were unquestionably hungry. I offered up P.F. Changs as an alternative to Bravo, but Mindy would have nothing to do with it. She wanted Bravo. We arrived at Bravo after a short commute across the river onto Bethel Rd. As expected, the place was packed. We left our names, took a pager, and headed to the bar. We ended up sitting at two seats by the wood fired pizza oven. Mindy ordered a pricey cabernet. I ordered a Jack & Coke. The wood fired oven barside seats reminded me much of McMenamin’s Blue Moon in NW Portland. Mindy agreed.   Mindy presented me with a Sweetest Day card while we sipped our drinks. Crap! 

After about 25 minutes our pager lit up signifying that our table was ready. We were both surprised and delighted that it was the same table we had on my birthday.  We ordered some appetizers right up – flat bread with spinach/artichoke dip & a bowl of Lobster bisque which we planned to share. As always, our waiter was more than kind and offered to bring it in two separate bowls. I ordered a second drink, too. 

The flat bread and dip was exceptional and so was the soup. In addition, our waiter, Matt brought us bread and oil. That was good too. We ended up filling up on all the appetizers and subsequently chose not to order entrees. Mindy, I know, had her heart set on their lasagna. Next time. We tipped Matt well.    

Mindy was fading, I could tell. We were home by 10pm. We sat on the sofa and tuned to the LSU game. I spoke about catching Palin on Saturday Night Live. Mindy knew that she wouldn’t make it and insisted that I DVR it. I set it up even though I planned to stay up and catch it myself. Mindy was off to bed before 10:30pm. I hung in there watching the rest of the football game. But just as 11:30pm approached, I fell asleep. That used to happen often.  I’m not used to staying up that late. I woke on the sofa around 12:45am stiff and achy. I managed to catch the final Saturday Night Live skit just before heading off to bed.