Whew! A bit of a crazy week, but the good kind of crazy, girly, girly, girly. After opening the week with a late Monday-night baseball game (a guaranteed dose of feminine laughs and chat in the stands of Nathan's baseball games!), I met my friend Chris for dinner Tuesday night at Luci Ancora. Delicious food, as usual. And always great to see Chris! I had a salad and their chewy-cheesy-garlicky house-made ravioli with arugula. What's not to like about home-made pasta? Uh, NOTHING, duh!

Wednesday night was Girls Night In, with Suz and The Maven here at the hacienda for snacks, drinks, and chat. I reprised my grilled bread dinner from last week, spread out picnic-style on the living room coffee table, with shaved ham, sundried tomato spread, and roasted red peppers. Olives and almonds. Roasted cauliflower. And strawberries, chocolate, and coffee for dessert. I love having my girls over! (And staying up until obscene hours of the morning!)

Last night was dinner with Kathie at McCoy's. And a surprise visit from Nathan, because he'd left his backpack in my car (and I'd left my cell phone in same car), so his grandpa (very kindly) drove him over to get my keys! Hearing "Hi Mom!" in the middle of evilly cackling about some such person or thing was so out of context, I'm sure I looked completely confused, it was pretty hilarious. Luckily he knew I was at McCoy's, and found me, and was on his way, backpack in hand, soon enough, while Kathie and I continued on with dinner. I had what I always have at McCoy's - the black bean burger, topped with guacamole, pickles, lettuce, and tomato. Man I love that thing, delicious. I eventually mosied on home and almost had to go to bed at 8:30 I was so tired out from all my socializing! I'm WIPED today, ha - but in a very good way. I'm just old is really more like it. I've always needed alot of sleep and that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon...

So, I'm making a light, healthy dinner tonight. Little breather, before we launch into a big, busy weekend. A simple salad, Nicoise-esque with tuna, capers, butter lettuce, hard-cooked egg, cherry tomatoes, and a few new potatoes. No green beans, but that's OK. Perhaps I'll sneak a few pickled beets into mine (John HATES beets, that crazy kid), mmmm, beets.

Happy Friday y'all!