Finally dinner out with the girls

My work friends have been planning a dinner out for almost 2 months. We wanted to go out to The Lighthouse in CL. I had never been as most of the the girls. We wanted to go on Winey Wednesday, which is half off bottles of wine. Sally said we had to go on that day, what a deal! Well, Wed. is my busy day at work. Not every week, but lately we have had a lot of ads with last minute revisions. So the dinner had to be postponed when we would be at work until at least 6pm.

We finally got to go on Wed. Just 5 of us met up, K couldn’t get a sitter. We got a Riesling and I really liked it, good suggestion to Sally – the wine expert. I am not a wine drinker, just beer or fruity cocktails at times. I got the sirloin and it was so good, along with steamed veggies and garlic mashed potatoes. I had enough leftover to have the next night for dinner and split it with the kid, too!

    

It was really crowded in the restaurant but we had reservations. It was super loud, really hard to hear conversations. We had fun hanging out.

They have a nice back patio area with boat docks, but just for drinks. It was getting chilly and I didn’t have a coat so I didn’t hang out there too long.

There was a funny sign along the dock area that read “Please hold your applause until after the sun sets.” I guess it must be some sight.

Last weekend

Sat night – fun time hanging out with my bff, Zubie. T was out with us and her bros came out, too. We had fun checking out the CP bars. T was happy playing Rock Band at her bro’s house at the end of the night.

E got to spend the night at cousins, which he loves.

Ethan made me feel old today

Ethan was telling me about an assembly they had at school yesterday. I asked him what it was about.

Ethan: We had an assembly from the olden times.

Me: Oh. What was it called?

Ethan: School House Rock!

 

Yeah, nice. When I heard ‘olden times’ I thought like Little House on the Prairie. I guess they people in the show were dressed all 70s and that looked so ancient to him.

Today was wear your favorite team shirt to school day. He said it was wear your favorite baseball team shirt. Cousins told us otherwise when we saw they had on Purdue. I had found a White Sox jersey at the thrift store and had got it for him a while back. It is Frank Thomas who isn’t on the team anymore, but we don’t care. He was T’s fav player back in the day.

The previous Friday was wear a vacation shirt day. He really only had the Madison Mallards shirt from our trip up there, so he wore it.

Zubie is in town this week and we are going to go out tomorrow night, yeah fun times!  E gets a sleepover at cousins Sat. night.

Remembering 8 yrs ago today. Watching History channel documentaries about that day, as I always do every year.

Wednesday starts late

School starts 20 minutes late on Wednesdays this year. I thought it was going to be a pain and we would forget, but so far so good. My sister drops off her kids to our house around 8:30 and then I drop them all off. I have noticed that I get really aggravated with the whole dropping off process – when people sit there too long. We have it almost down pat now, just need to get them in the car sooner to allow for more time buckling the seat belts. Didn’t realize how much more time that takes with 3 vs 1. Amanda is in charge of getting the car door shut now, too.

On one Wed. she wore the outfit I got for her.

Isn’t it too cute with the purple & black and sparkles! Love it, I think she likes it. Trent called her a rockstar when she walked in and didn’t realize I had bought it for her!

Big Brother was entertaining this season, then Jeff left

Oh, my summer guilty pleasure is watching Big Brother. I love it, it is my fav. We even get Showtime’s Big Brother After Dark.

Our fav houseguest, Jeff, was evicted on Thursday.

The fav hardly ever wins this game. I did like Dan last year, but he wasn’t my very fav.

Jeff was from Chicago, loved his accent! I loved the cute showmance with Jordan.

 

He was just so cute and sooo funny! The show missed a ton of his funny quips.  

Thanks for a truly entertaining season. Now I’m rooting for Michelle to win it all. Looks doubtful now though.

Still rooting for Jordan, but it looks like this season is going to end so blah with Nat/Kevin F2. I just want Nat to lose it all!!! 

I loved watching the live feed on BBAD. We cancelled Showtime on Friday. So now back to HBO in time to catch some True Blood and the new season of another fav, Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Girls weekend at Shipshewana

My cousin planned a get together at Shipshewana. I had never been there.

I rode with my mom and sister and met up with my cousin and aunt on Friday night.

 

I was so surprised at seeing so many amish buggies on the road into the town. We passed and met 15 buggies. Neat to see so many farms that were amish families.       

 

We stayed at the Farmstead, which is the closest inn to all the shops. We had 2 connecting rooms. We met up on Friday night.

We ate dinner on Friday at Blue Gate, which is pretty much the sit down place you eat there.

  All of us at dinner…I had chicken & noodles everyone else got the fried chicken.

My mother commented on these orange flowers so I wanted a pic of her with her sister.

My aunt and momI knew to expect cutesy shops and we really shopped.

Most of the shops were closed after we had dinner on Friday. We went back to the hotel and visited and played Farkle that Ellen brought. I was the only one that knew how to play.

My mom thought is was odd that my sister and I brought our laptops. I stay up late and knew I would really miss it. My sister even brought an extra one for cousin Ellen! Mom thought it was so funny that she had to take a pic of all of us silently on our laptops in the hotel. Hey, it was free wi-fi, gotta use it!

Sat. morning we got early, pretty early for me at least! We had the nice comp. breakfast at the hotel, then off to SHOP, Shop, shop!

My mom is jealous of the pic that I got of amish buggy with them in background by shops. 

I love a neat display and I love Halloween decor! Is this not eye candy?  

My mom and I in the bldg with a bunch of shops, I’m sure it has a name but I don’t recall it now. The bldg was built around that tall tree.  

Then we had late lunch again at the Blue Gate

Noticed the adorable crayon sets for the kids at the restuarant in little buggies-so cute! at doll store we noticed look-a-like dolls to our kids! Amanda’s doll…

little Matthew’s doll really looked like in a profile…

my Ethan as a doll…he even had those gray eyes as a baby

and my Ethan with Matthew

Ellen and her mom left before us on Sat. and we had not gone in all the shops yet. The best shop was the very last one, my sister and I bought stuff in there. It was more our style and not so country. We even made the store owners take our pic in The Apple Tree.

 

I got some yummy baked goods at the bakery there, too! These yummy whoopie pies in chocolate and pumpkin.

I thought this tree against the building was so cool how they trimmed it so flat.

and the pic my mom made me take…amish at the gas station. They were just in the minimart.

I got Ethan this cute little chocolate butterfly at the candy store there.  

Fun weekend hanging with the girls in my fam! We are thinking of making it an annual thing now, too!