Compartment 14B

Date night? Woo hoo! 2010-10-28 - 11:28 a.m. J and I had a date night. An honest-to-God, dinner-and-dancing date night. No kids. Other than New York in August, I don't think we've done the just-the-two-of-us-on-a-date thing since Grommet was born. We definitely hadn't been back to the bar we met at and/or done any dancing. And it was one of those evenings where everything came up Millhouse. We got to the restaurant and were told it would be a 40-50 minute wait to be seated, but in the meantime if we wanted to wait, would we be interested in free non-alcoholic drinks and some nibbles? Why, yes we would! And just as I was finishing my Shirley Temple (what? Shut up. I like 'em.), and after only 25 minutes they escorted us to the table I would have chosen had the entire place been vacant. Our steaks were tasty and done the way we liked them, the service was excellent, and we enjoyed just relaxing and concentrating on our food and the conversation for a change. Afterwards we headed for the Market and prowled for parking. Just as we were about to give up and go into a pay parking garage, a spot opened up right in front of the bar we were going to. We had a while before the DJ was on, so we strolled and grabbed a beverage at a nearby diner (mmm... mint hot chocolate for me...). I'm happy to report that "our" bar was exactly the same and even had some of the same staff that were there when we frequented it nine years ago. There had been a turnover in patrons, but the type of patrons remained the same: an eclectic mix of ages and styles, and most people dressed-down for a casual night out dancing to some of the more "alternative" music offered in Ottawa. We managed to actually dance for a few songs before running out of steam. In a perfect nod to the days we were there all the time, the last song that played was one I had danced there often to (Last Night by the Strokes). It was fantastic to get out, but you know, it was fantastic to come back to our real lives too, where we may go to bed early, but we've got downy little cheeks to kiss and warm wee bodies to cuddle before we do so. Before - After All content � Shawna 2003-2010 That means no swiping my stuff - text, images, etc. - without asking. P.S. If you're emailing me, replace the [at] with @ in the "to" line. Oh, and if you put the word "journal" in the subject line it'll have a better chance of making it past my junk mail filters. recommend me HTML and design help by Jo hosted by Diaryland