Year of Sweetness

Eric took me out to celebrate my 34th year on Sunday. It was all top secret until the very last moment and I enjoyed the anticipation.

First stop was a cozy hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant with a fake brick wall painted up to about waist-high on the interior walls. The food was delicious and the house wine may as well have been coming out of a hose (in a good way).

Next stop was...the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. I'm not kidding. We've passed this place on the highway and always wondered about it. Now we know what is going on in there: lots and lots of gambling. It was the most crowded casino I have ever been to, and this was 7pm on a Sunday evening. A Ghostbusters slot machine game experience caught my eye and after finding an open one (it was popular!) I sat down, put in $20 and pressed some buttons. I got down to about $15 and then I won big: $12.85! I know when to cash out. I took my $7.85 and we high-tailed it back to the car.

The next stop was a super-sketchy drive-in movie theatre. Neither Eric nor I had ever been to a drive-in and it was something we have both wanted to do. In the era of home theatre systems and generally really large televisions, you can imagine what market segment remains interested in drive-ins: us and really scary people in pick-up trucks. Unphased by our viewing companions (our car doors lock, after all) we reclined our chairs, tuned in the radio signal for sound, dug into some brownie bites and shared red wine out of a white plastic coffee mug. It was divine. It was a double feature but after Dark Knight Rises we had had enough and headed home to relieve the babysitter and get some sleep.

When I turned 33 a lot of people told me it was my "Jesus year" I guess because that is the year that Jesus died and then came back, etc. Turning 34, I have decided that this is my Walter Payton year. In honor of his nickname I am declaring this a year of "sweetness."