Aside from Rebecca.....

What a great day it's been. Actually, the past 24 hours have been really enjoyable.

2/14/04: It started last night when Ian and I went out for a Valentine's Day dinner. We chose "Soleil" at Greenbelt for its French menu and outdoor seating around a fountain. The music was iffy. At one point it got so loud we couldn't hear each other, but a couple complaints to the manager and the plug was finally pulled. The way it's designed at Greenbelt 2, there is a row of restaurants side by side and they all have outdoor seating adjacent to one another. So the music was shared by all and the only thing that distinguished one restaurant from another was the table setting and chair style.
We both had the softshell crab. Pass on the softshell crab. As Ian said, once you've had Chesapeake Bay crabs, nothing else is worth eating. The rest of the menu was excellent, of course the dessert was divine.
Post dinner we did some window shopping and found a small store that specialized in... well, we're not sure. They had a lifesize Darth Maul, some brain teaser books, classical CDs, refrigerator magnet games, and les pieces des resistances, signed limited edition light sabers. One was Darth Vader's from A New Hope, signed by both James Earl Jones and David Prouse. Count Dooku and Darth Maul were the other featured lightsabers. Each of these could be ours, for only $700 each! Or the more affordable options for $400 that were just as cool, but without the signature.
Oh, I admit I lingered. I lingered long after Ian had decided this was not a worthwhile purchase and rattled off all the reasons we couldn't buy one. Not the least of which was, What would visitors to our home think of us? I told him we could cover the case with a patch of velvet and prop up a crystal figurine on it. Wouldn't that work? Of course he also had to bring us Nicholas's obsession with Star Wars and how quickly he'd try to make it light up. Or how Jonathon would love the signatures and scribble right on over them. What a party-pooper. Will those items run off the shelves? Probably not. Ian's birthday is in July. Shh. Yes I'm nuts. You might say another prayer (once Rebecca is healthy) that I'll forget about it, or that the store mysteriously moves without notice. It's been known to happen.
*sigh* They were gorgeous and I had a moment of geek weakness.
We went to the bookstore instead and bought a bunch of books. I figured we saved ourselves hundreds of dollars, it was worth it.
This morning was our weekly chat with my mom, followed by letting Rebecca play at the playground with a new arrival and her 2 kids (one of whom is in Rebecca's class and came to the party last weekend), a frantic run to National Book Store to pick up a birthday gift for a party Katherine was attending, and then dropping Katherine off at said party.
Side Note: When the MMDA traffic patrol is out, do not break the traffic laws. I realize that many of the traffic laws aren't posted, and several are simply imagined by the MMDA, but do not break them. It wastes a lot of everyone's time.
Ian went home with the boys, Jonathon napped, they invited Tina and her kids over for a bit, and then had pizza before picking us up.
I decided to stay with Katherine and it was a great choice. With Michelle and David Blue and Tiffany Gilroy, we sat on the patio and chatted while the kids swam, ate hot dogs and burnt off plenty of energy playing inside and out. Michelle and David are from New Zealand, so I've promised Michelle that once we have our dates and our general plan outlined for the R&R trip, I will be picking her brain to make sure we're not missing anything and what we have planned will be good for all ages. I figure we can't go wrong with some Auklanders on our planning committee.
As parents came to pick up kids (the party was small, about 8 kids arrived), we moved inside for cake and coffee and I just can't say enough about how nice it was to be an adult with kind and fun new people without focussing on the kids for 3 hours. My circle is expanding. Being the last to leave (again... I think we need to do something about this), we went home where I promptly layed down on the couch to read and fell asleep.
Time alone with my husband on a nice dinner out. Time with other adults and the opportunity to chat with popcorn and pleasant skies. Quiet time to nap on the couch. Is there any better way to rejuvinate one's soul? After the past 3 weeks, I desperately needed time to focus outside the house and med schedule.
And to top it all off, yesterday a gorgeous 2+foot bouquet of roses arrived at my door, from the back of a motorcycle delivery. Ian knew it has been a rough time for me, and I love him all the more for noticing. The chocolate and cookies didn't hurt either.