November 14th, 2007 (10:37 pm)
current mood: happy
So I went to work yesterday as usual. I had a good day - I'm having a good month, really. For approved listings I am already at 91% of goal, and if the few listings I am battling our QA department on (that's for another post sometime) go through, I will be over goal already for the month! I think another big part of why I like my job is that, so far, I'm good at it. If I meet goal again, this will be the 6th month and it will be an automatic promotion to the next level of validator (which is also an automatic pay raise). Anyway, back to my birthday - we do birthday baskets at work, and I got lots (LOTS) of dark chocolate in various forms. Also a few other snacky things and pop and knick-knacks. And the largest bulk of my listings toward goal was approved yesterday.
When I got home I came inside and Madd was in the basement. So I go downstairs and he has Jarin sitting on the pool table (it had the cover on it) with cake, ice cream and a book in front of him - it was really cute. The book is "I Am America And So Can You" by Stephen Colbert - we both enjoy watching the Daily Show & Colbert Report, and I am looking forward to reading this book.
I didn't even notice (Madd had to point me in the right direction) that he had bought the high chair I wanted for Jarin and had it all put together and everything! I wanted to get a wooden high chair for Jarin, but Madd didn't want to because they are way more expensive and he thought it silly to spend that much on a high chair. But I really like them and think it looks nice and was determined to get one, so I was really excited about it.
Another thing I hadn't noticed when I got home that had to be pointed out to me (poor Madd) was that he had mowed/bagged the leaves in the front yard! This is a big deal to me because 1)living in a house I think you choose to take on more responsibilities, and yard-work is one of them so you have to do it (and we hadn't done it yet), and 2)I worry (too much) about what other people (especially neighbors) think - and the house across the street from us was previously occupied by the lawn nazi (which makes all the other yards look crappy in comparison). Anyways - cleanup of fall leaves is taken care of! YAY!
And of course, I hop on the internet as usual to check my daily list of sites. He knows my habits well. I opened firefox and my startup page is different and says firefox sucks and maybe I should open internet explorer. So I do that, and the home page is a birthday card site for me that Madd had sent people to to leave a message for me - and he started it over a week ago! How awesome was that? Great planning, and great to have the online card that I can keep that everyone signed!
I was told to be ready by 6 because we were having dinner at 7. Madd made reservations - impressive. As I was getting ready he changed into dress clothes - impressive again! So we drove Jarin to the sitter (which was also previously planned without my knowledge), then drove West. For a while I thought we were going to Biaggi's, as I had talked of it before. But we didn't get off the freeway until Jordan Creek, then we turned left - so I had NO CLUE where we were going. Well, Madd got us to Fleming's Steakhouse. When we got inside a girl took my coat for me to check it. All the girls at the check-in booth told me happy birthday :) We were taken to our table and seated and given menus. The first 4 pages of their menu is wine, then there is a totally separate menu of wines you can only buy by the bottle. There were varying prices, which I always think is nice - not everyone wants to drop $100+ on a bottle of wine. We got a bottle of cabernet sauvignon (Ring Bolt, I think...not sure I remember that correctly).
ugh - I wish I could critique it like Sam does because it was so great! We were given a starter of crisp bread with two spreads - one was a smoked cheese spread (I do not remember what kind, it was white & crumbly & yummy) and the other was chopped olives (and other stuff). We were given plenty of time to look over the menus, but were not ignored by any means - the waiter was great! We both ordered the New York strip prime cut - Madd's was medium-well and mine was medium. Both came cooked perfectly to what we ordered. I think the only complaint either of us had for the whole night was that the meat was pretty fatty around the edges (more-so than expected). But the meat was very good. One down-side (for those of us looking at the prices) is that everything is a la carte. We got a side of mashed potatoes with garlic (these might be the best garlic potatoes I have ever had - they were so light and creamy and the garlic was perfect) and asparagus (I forget what it was seasoned with, but it was great). They comped a dessert for me, as it was my birthday...I told Madd that without the Jarin factor I could die happy after eating that :) It was a chocolate lava cake. It pretty much looked & tasted like a super-yummy cake donut with hot, melted chocolate in the middle, and had ice cream with wafer things on the side - and a dish of whipped cream served on the side.
The bill was definitely the highest we've ever incurred together for food :) Madd said it was "a day's wages"...but well worth it. ugh - I SO wish I could have had Sam write my "review" - except that he wasn't there haha. He's big on presentation...since everything is served a la carte, it is pretty nice looking when it comes out. I would say it is a tie between the asparagus and the dessert for the nicest looking dish. The service was excellent. Everyone who served us in any way was very friendly and told me happy birthday. We were neither smothered nor neglected by our waiter. He was knowledgeable about the food and the wine. He earned his tip, for sure! I definitely recommend it for anyone wanting a nice night out and not worried about the money for that night!
So we picked Jarin up and came home, and I go to pull into the driveway as usual (with all the stuff in the garage both our cars don't fit in there) and Madd opens the garage door - it was all organized and cleaned enough that we can both park in there now! This was also something I have been talking about wanting to get done since winter is coming. He was just full of surprises - and I don't know how he had time to do it all! I was very happy and it really was a great day/night. Wow - 26. I can remember when I thought my older cousins that age were so old and out of touch with what was cool. And now I know that one of my little cousins somewhere probably thinks that about me at family gatherings. Oh well. Time goes much faster now with Jarin - hopefully raising him will help keep me young more than it makes me old! haha