Date Night

Stupid, STUPID Blogspot WON'T LET ME BREAK MY PARAGRAPHS, which is just KILLING the editor in me and MAKING ME TYPE TOO MUCH IN ALL CAPS. I have spent way too long trying to figure out a way around it, but I really should start dinner. So I give up. Read on, if yours eyes can stand it. . . . . So I turned 30. By Saturday evening, we experienced a break in the illnesses infecting our household, and Mommy and Daddy were gussied up and ready for some fun. Charlotte's teacher arrived around 4:30, and Charlotte was SO EXCITED to see her that she practically JUMPED out my arms, into the arms of her teacher. So leaving our darling girl was easy peasy. To celebrate our lack of child, Chris thought we should take the Lexus that night. We can't fit the car seat in the backseat (it's a coupe), so we haven't ridden in it together since before Charlotte was born! We felt like we had never even had a kid! It had been SO LONG, but riding together on a Saturday night in that car was so familiar, it was almost weird. We went wine tasting at Frederick Cellars in Frederick, which was perfectly enjoyable. Then we went to bar/lounge underground for drinks. Finally, we reached the main event--dinner at the Tasting Room, in the old part of Frederick. The food was fabulous. My favorite part? Lobster mashed potatoes. Believe it or not, I actually have a bizarre yet passionate history (and relationship, if we're being honest) with lobster mashed potatoes. (They are the world's most perfect two foods coming together in buttery, garlic-y goodness.) The Tasting Room's version was the best I've had. And they were served in a martini glass. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Oh, it was like the old days. Cocktails. Wine tasting. Fancy dinners. The restaurant was extremely impressive, and I totally felt like we were in DC. In fact, I kind of forgot I was a 30-year-old mommy, and subconsciously thought we'd be heading back to the condo downtown that night. Although Chris and I so easily slipped into Before Charlotte mode, after about an hour, all our conversation pretty much returned to our baby girl. When should we get a potty chair? The self-feeding is going well. Do you think her cough is clearing up? Maybe we should get a kiddie pool this summer. And so on. Still, it was so refreshing to have an ADULT night out. As Chris pointed out, "This is our first meal out in a long time in which I didn't have to pick up Cheerios off the floor before leaving." Late that night, I came down with Round 2 of my current cold, leading to sniffles, congestion, a pounding headache, and a sore throat, which resulted in a pretty low-key Sunday, but I was very grateful that I had been able to fully enjoy our date night. So, here we are. 30. Chris said, "Geez, you're old. Kind of sucks, huh?" "Not really," I replied. "You're the one married to a woman in her thirties. I, however, am married to a young guy in his twenties." I win!