I remember when I was excited about being an “adult.” I had just graduated college, and I was waiting tables to pay the bills. But, meanwhile, I was planning to hit it big by scoring my first “real job.” I wanted to be a professional and one of those “ladies who lunch.” I wanted to be able to buy nice things and go to fancy dinners.
I found myself there and talking about the realization of the moment with my friend Sarah over one such fancy dinner at Ruth Chris (where all the adults eat) this weekend. It wasn’t my first moment of adultness, but it was still fun to chat about. (details on the outfit next time)
We had plans to go out of town on a girls’ weekend but ended up staying in town for a couple reasons. We decided a nice dinner out would still be fun while also being cheaper than gas, hotels, and multiple meals out over the course of a weekend getaway.
The weather was too gorgeous to eat inside, so we opted for the patio.
Cheers! Look how adult-y we are!
I decided to take advantage of the Ruth’s Spring Classic Menu. With one steak running you between $30-40 (for just the steak), the thought of 3 courses for $42.95 sounded like a steal.
{bread & butter}
I chose the arugula salad for my starter.
And for the entree – the reason I was there – a steak on a plate of sizzling butter.
Do you see that bubbling, beautiful butter!? I’m apparently developing a thing for butter. Let’s hope it doesn’t get too out of control.
Sarah got one of the spring menu items, too, so we ordered two sides we both wanted to share – garlic mashed potatoes…
…and broccoli au gratin.
We enjoyed a duo for dessert – a chocolate cake and berries with cream.
Everything was wonderful!
And look how pretty the patio looked by the end of the night. We even got to enjoy live music the whole time since there was an event going on across the street. Score!
Reader question: What’s the best part of being an “adult” for you?
As if Saturday wasn’t fun-filled enough already…
…we got a surprise on Sunday that Bailey was really excited about – an impromptu visit by my parents to help us with our house, namely the yard.
But first, I headed out for Caitlin’s bebe shower.
Caitlin’s shower was at FABO, which was a gorgeous venue – so colorful!
The shower was put together so well – from the cool straws to the great refreshments. I really liked the game they played where Caitlin had to pull random baby-items from a bag and guess what they’re used for. I had fun guessing what they were used for, too, since I hadn’t seen most of the objects before. Hey, maybe if I attend enough baby showers, I won’t be quite so baby-clueless.
And do you see that hat on Caitlin’s head? Her mom made that baby-shower-themed-hat for her! I talked to her about how she made it, and she was so proud of her creation. It was really sweet and a fun touch to the shower.
After the shower, I headed back to the Chic house to help out in the yard. We pulled weeds and did basic clean-up. You know…stuff most people know but our house-clueless selves need guidance doing.
I treated my parents to dinner to thank them for their help. We went to Mama Ricotta’s.
The rolls were hard to resist. I definitely had a couple, dipped into their red pepper olive oil.
And for eats, we got 2 family-style entrees – this penne with chicken, broccoli and a lemon cream sauce. It came out piping hot with al dente penne. It was mouth-wateringly good (as in, my mouth is watering thinking about it while I blog…yum!).
The family favorite was angel hair with meatballs, which i really enjoyed, too.
My parents really loved the meal, which made me happy. It was the least I could do before they had to head back home for the night.
Reader question: What did you do this weekend? Anything fun?
After my Zumbatomic training, I went home, baked up a double-batch of dough balls (that I prepped the night before), got ready, and headed out to meet up with some friends for a casual dinner…old-school-style.
{Jason with Carson, hubby, Matt with Liam, and Nate}
{Caitlin, me, Kate, and Kath}
We haven’t been able to get together with our whole group together since Kath moved, so we were really excited to see everyone…
…plus a couple adorable, new additions.
Nate was our grill-master.
{The spread}
We did a traditional pot-luck and had quite the spread.
{Chardonnay for moi}
I had a little bit of everything – salad, quinoa salad, grilled veggies, and a cheese burger. Everything was delicious as always!
{Liam & Kath}
For dessert, I brought sugar cookie dough balls (click for recipe) (sans the drizzle frosting), and Kath & Matt brought lots of Great Harvest goodness – muffins, scuffins, and Savannah bars.
A little bit of everything – watermelon, a dough ball, plus some Savannah bar.
I definitely picked up a couple more pieces of Savannah bar over the night – they were so good!
It’s funny how you can go for a long time without seeing your friends and when you see them next, it’s like time never passed. We had so much fun catching up with everyone’s recent life changes – from family additions to work. We’re definitely going to have to do this again soon!
Reader question: What’s your favorite thing to bring to a pot-luck?
A great game night should include the following: a fun game, a delicious meal, and a dance off.
Wait.
Oh, that’s just what we did with our game night this past weekend.
My friend Erica and I hosted a game night at The Chic House.
Our friends aren’t the biggest fans of cooking, but we had a great solution. Erica made chili, I was in charge of corn bread, and we asked everyone else to simply bring chili toppings. Okay, so we also asked my friend Sarah to make her famous cheesecake, but other than that, we left things pretty simple.
I had a bowl of chili with onions (a first for me, and it was awesome) and plenty of cheese.
And Erica does her chili Cincinati-style – with pasta. It’s a pretty awesome way to eat chili, and I definitely recommend it, if you’ve never tried it.
Dessert included Sarah’s cheesecake and some chocolate chip dough balls I whipped up earlier that day.
After eating, the gaming began. The word box was definitely my least favorite, while the drawing one was my most favorite. I’m pretty terrible at real trivia, but luckily, my other teammates picked up my slack on the red box. And Sarah and I split up the green box, which made for an interesting show.
My favorite moment was probably when Sarah chose a green card and kept making faces after reading it that screamed, “I have no idea how to act out this person.” She sighed, lifted up her arms and went “RAWR!” My teammate Amy screamed “The Hulk!”, and I followed up with “Shrek!” As it turns out, Shrek was correct. I still can’t believe we won that round in about 3 seconds from her interesting impersonation.
After my team lost, we held a quick Jekyll dance-off. Okay, it randomly came about, but it was still pretty awesome. I’d never seen “the Jekyll” before, but we convinced Shamecia’s SO to show us, and after some serious pleading, he gave in. I tried to find a YouTube video of what this dance looks like, but I can’t find one. It’s sorta similar to what this guy looks like after he drinks his concoction – think shaky hands. It’s a joke dance…sort of like “The Bernie.” You’ve seen that one, right?
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By the way, thanks for the sweet comments on my last outfit post!
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Reader question: What’s your favorite board game?
