One Time I Paid Eighteen Dollars for a Few Baby Carrots.

Crazy right? I know it's crazy now that some time has passed but during the ordeal I was so overwhelmed that I thought I was getting a deal... Kind of...

Here is what happened. Me and my dear friends Sarah and Megan were on the cusp of our twenty year friendaversary. Holy smokes we have been friends for a long time and friendships like that deserve first class celebration. What to do? Since we're not quite at the place where we can travel to Europe (children, and babies, and like mortgages and all that) we decided to go out for a super swanky fancy pants dinner. We decided on GE, Graham Elliot's restaurant because he is a judge on Master Chef and Sarah and I both watch that show. This is the kind of place where the prices aren't on line and you can't get in without a reservation, and they want you to check your coat. This place is fancy.

What amazing friends. How blessed I am to have them in my life.

We're excited, we're dressed up, we're childless! We check our coats even though I feel weird about it (since I made my coat) and get our menu. There are no prices on the menu and the menu isn't really a menu. Turns out when you dine at GE you get served eight little courses (you can also add on eight tiny glasses of wine which would have sent me to another planet so we opted out of the wine). We do go for the eight courses, though, because we're in the mood for adventure and because we want to feel special, and because this guy is on television, he must know what he's doing.

Yuzza?

The first course comes out and I can barely swallow it, then the second comes out and it's okay, then comes the clam course. Oh Lord save me! I'm not a big seafood fan and I'm super picky about textures. I force myself to eat the fried shrimps but brave Megan decides to go for the raw oyster with the weird foam. She bravely tips it to her lips and then... sits there unmoving for what seemes a really long time... It was scary. Finally Sarah says in a loud whisper "We aren't judging you! Spit it out!" which she does. The courses continue, some okay, a few good, and some horrifying. I ate the fish and was plesantly surprised. Here's the thing, though, we were so desperate that this be worth it; that the meal be amazing that we were going nuts over the things we sort of liked. And, I was fine with it, until they brought us celery mousse. I like mousse when it's chocolate. When it's flavored with celery salt and has raw celery in it, then I don't like it.

Cauliflower?

When the courses comes out they have to explain them to you (good thing as one of the courses had a pinecone on it you were not suppose to eat, it was for "aroma"). Finally they bring out the dessert. YES! I love dessert. And the waiter says smugly "zis iz our deconstructed carrot cake".  I look upon a plate that has some baby carrots strewn on it and a few crumbs. There is no cake. I pop one of the carrots in my mouth and I taste... raw carrot... In the words of my dear friend Susie, "WHAT THE HEE HAW?!" And the words that burst out of my mouth are, "This is stupid!" to which we all laugh (too raucously for this sophisticated place).

Some of those are rock. Your not suppose to eat the rocks.

"No Megan! Don't do it!!

????????????

It reminded me of "The Emperors New Clothes". Every one pretending that it's amazing because every one is saying it's amazing but really we all know that a big juicy steak or plate of wonderful pasta would be better. Megan put it perfectly when she said, "This is the most amusing meal I've ever had." Truth Megan, truth. What did we pay for the most amusing meal? $160 a person. If you do the math that means "ze deconstructed carrot cake" was $18! The next time we pay that kind of money for food we better be in Europe.

Seriously though, it was fantastic memories. One more wonderful thing to add to twenty years. And the best part of the night was the very end. When the mattre d slipped our coats back on us and Sarah despaired as we left, "my coat is made of sweatshirt! Now he knows now he knows!" I laughed so hard I peed a little. Totally worth it people, totally worth it.

Summer Fun with Friends.

I have these two friends that I've known since sixth grade, Megan and Sarah. We ran with the same crowd and all lived in town. I guess that made us townies if you can be such a thing in a town with a population of 1,000 and woods in your backyard. We were soon inseparable. In high school when my family moved I lived with Sarah and her family to finish out the semester. Those years in Rudyard were really special because of them. I mean it's the quintessential picture of growing up in small-town-America; we rode our bikes to each other's houses and all over town, we slept in each others backyards, and spent countless summer days at the beach. Really beautiful.

This photo sums it all up. This was my 16th bday btw.

Maybe 8th grade. Megan and I at the beach.

Megan is wearing my mom's bridesmaid dress and I
do not know what Sarah is wearing lol!

When I got married Megan and Sarah came to the wedding. When I had my first baby Megan was at the shower (Sarah lived in Wisconsin by then). The three of us made it a point to get together at least once a year. When Sarah got married in the Upper Peninsula Megan and I road tripped it up there. The next time we got together we did it with my (second) nursing baby in tow. Then Sarah had a baby and Megan and I went to her new place in Chicago to see them and hang out and she was nursing. And, someday we'll all be hanging out and Megan will be nursing a baby. Then someday we'll be at our babies weddings and we'll all be crying!!!!!!!! I may have just lost my mind for a minute (excuse me while I compose myself).

So you see what I'm getting at right? We've always been there for each other. Through heart breaking moments with parents, and bad break ups, and all the highlights of becoming adults. These two know me almost as well as anyone and there's something to be said for having friends that knew you before you were married and a mom. For having friends who understand your quirks and love you any way, who can remind you about the crush you had in sixth grade (Billy McQueen if your reading this you really missed out). Friends who know you as an individual before you took someone else's name and became the "all powerful" mom.

Our twentieth "friendaversary" is coming up and that just blows my mind! Please don't do the math to figure out how old I am it's embarrassing! And we are going to really celebrate (not in England like I want I think we'll have to save that for like thirty or something) but I know that this is only part of our journey together and I just love that.

This week Sarah came for a visit. She brought her dog and her baby and Megan came over and it was awesome. I'll be honest I was worried that it'd just be mass chaos with my brood but it wasn't. I got to cook and feed them and Sarah did the dishes (best house guest ever!). We just chatted and basked in the fact that our lives are so different yet so the same. I love these two women (we're women now imagine that) and having them over here made summer feel like summer. It made me feel connected to my roots in a way I hadn't for a long time. And some of my new friends got to meet them and they became friends so it's like this amazing waterfall of love (can you tell I'm all hopped up on feeling good?)!

I love to feed nursing mothers. They're always so ravenous
that they're really excited about my cooking. These were
blueberry/raspberry pancakes with local maple syrup.

Me and the baby (I was so excited to take pictures of the baby
I didn't get any with Sarah in them oops).

Do you see this red hair!!!

Megan and the baby. Basically we held him so much
Sarah wasn't in any of the pics.

I'm really grateful to God for the fact that someone as transient as I am can have such long lasting deep relationships. What about you? What makes you feel connected to your roots?