29

Yesterday was my birthday and, as always, it was a great day! I'm a little freaked out about being 29 - I think it's the anticipation of turning 30 (although since I've been anticipating it for the past few years I don't think it'll be too bad). It just seems really old to me. I was watching MacGuyver reruns the other night (yep, that's right, I was) and I thought, 'HOLY COW! My mom was MY age when MacGuyver originally aired!!!!'. That was quite an eye opening experience.

Anyway, back to the most special of all holidays, my birthday. Since it wasn't actually my birthday this year it wasn't quite the extravaganza that it was last year, but it was still a really great day. It started out with Justin getting up with the kids and taking them with him to his weekly basketball game so I could sleep in or whatever. I'm not sleeping too well these days but it was still nice to be able to lie in bed until 9 and then take my time eating breakfast while I watched whatever I wanted to on TV. Shortly after Justin and the boys got home, I left to go out to lunch with Vanessa. We went to Stowe to this really great place called the 'Rusty Nail'. We sat on the covered patio right next to an awesome fireplace. It was so nice to have a long lunch with a great friend. Thanks Vanessa!

Later that night, Justin took me to a really fancy restaurant called 'Butlers'. If you live in Vermont, you SERIOUSLY need to go!!!! It's associated with the Culinary Institute of New England so you know it's going to be awesome. One of Justin's friends from church is the head chef there and it's AMAZING! It's a little pricey and the food is a little more sophisticated than what I'm used to, but the experience was awesome! Michael (Justin's friend) told us that when we got there to just order an entree and he'd take care of us. I ordered duck and Justin ordered grouper (which is a fish). While we were waiting for our food, Michael kept sending out all sorts of fancy foods for us to try.

The first thing he sent out was called fois gras. It was the best thing I ate all night!! I thought it was some kind of banana thing. Michael came out at the end of our meal and told me that fois gras is really fattened duck liver. EWWWW!!! I would have never in a million years touched that stuff if I'd have known beforehand what it was, but it was seriously delicious. It was almost like a dessert. I'd eat it again! (Not an actual picture from our dinner, but you get the idea - it's pretty and doesn't look like it'd be made from something gross!)

The second thing he sent out was actually two different tasting plates. The first one was a fish plate. Now, I DON'T eat fish. I honestly cannot remember the last time I ate seafood other than shrimp. I really REALLY don't eat it. Ever. But Justin and I had decided that the theme of the night was 'try everything'. So I tried it. I was surprised at how much I liked it. I ate a scallop that was flavored so good I almost forgot what I was eating, and some halibut fishsticks. There was also an oyster on the plate that Justin ate (I just couldn't bring myself to do it).

With the fish course was a meat course called 'The old and the young'. I'm not sure why it was called that, but it was awesome too. It had a braised shortrib on it that was delightful and something that looked like a veal eggroll. Our favorite thing on that plate though was the shaved veal tounge with gnocchi. Again, never in my life would I have ordered shaved veal tounge, but it was really tasty. And the gnocchi - words cannot describe how much Justin and I loved it!!

By the time our entrees came, we were practically full already! Michael took such good care of us! Our entrees were really good. I have to admit that I liked Justin's better than mine (which is weird because he ordered fish). My duck was good, but it took me a minute to get used to the texture.

For dessert, we ordered a neopolitan meringue cookie thing that was - again - delicious, but WAY too small (oh well, I guess that's what you get at those fancy places). It was a great meal and, even though I don't think I could eat like that often, it was fun to be fancy for one night!

It was a great birthday! A huge thanks to Rick and Vanessa for watching our kids so that we could go out! And thanks Justin for making sure that I got to spend the day relaxing and doing things that I enjoy doing - that is really the best gift you could give me!
This is an actual picture of us before we went out to eat. Two things - no, I am not having twins and yes, I really do have a month and a half left. I am aware of my girth, I do not need to have it continually pointed out to me (this public service announcement brought to you on account of the many people lately who look at me with pity in their eyes when I tell them that NO I am NOT due any day).