Weekend Warrior

Well, you're curious, aren't you? Whether I won the TV war, and got myself a new set. Well, yes, thank you. I did. Thanks to a brilliant tip from Redheaded Rambler faithful reader and friend Curtis, I hauled my butt up to Abt Electronics in Glenview, IL. I was uber-impressed with this store. Mostly because of the free freshly baked chocolate chip cookies they give you on the weekends. :) But, more importantly, this store is packed with ridiculously knowledgeable electronics and appliances gurus who don't mind questions from a ridiculously uninformed girl like me (and, just for kicks, a massive aquarium with three eels and tons of exotic fish...I've never actually seen an eel move...it's impressive that I can pinpoint that moment to an electronics store). So I ended up leaving with a gorgeous 30-inch widescreen HDTV, and I am a happy camper. Scott will come over to my house more often than he has been, that's for sure! He loves it as much as I do. I'll be glad for the break from his third floor stairs! Also, I love that I can watch football games in HDTV, just from my antenna. It's fabulous. The clarity is so much better than the regular signal. It's like watching cable for free, but brighter. It's intoxicating, I must say. I just kept saying, over and over, "Look, it's so pretty." We tried out my absolute favorite movie in the whole entire world (yes, it has changed officially, and perhaps forever to) "Pride and Prejudice" on it's glorious widescreen, and I have to say, it's much better looking on there than on my previous, squat 19-inch substitute TV. Although, I have to say, when Jake and Scott are arguing about movies next to me, I still have problems focusing on the game. This is their fault, not the fault of my pretty TV.

But, enough about the TV already, you are saying. Yes, I will move on (but recommend Abt if you ever need electronics for your own personal use)...

In other news, I made sushi for the first time this weekend. Scott and I spent Saturday evening with Kristin and Curtis, trying out our sushi making skills. Both of them are ridiculously talented in the kitchen, and I am a novice by all accounts (watching Kristin cut an avocado was interesting to me. I'm a novice, I tell you!). But it was an enjoyable endeavor, and the sushi was amazing. I turned out to be relatively proficient at the actual rolling process, and in the eating, as well. :) Seriously, it was a great double date night, lots of Riesling and fun conversation, in addition to the good homemade food! It was a memorable evening.

Yesterday, I had a monologue at church, which went well. I like it when Scott is my director. He's really good with feedback, and encouragement, and his presence makes me much calmer than I normally am. Then we watched the Bears first loss of the season (ouch), and moved on to celebrating Scott's birthday at Fogo De Chao, the Brazilian steakhouse downtown. It was a great experience, unlimited amounts of 16 different kinds of meat, filet mignon, ribeye, pork tenderloin, etc. and bottomless amazing garlic mashed potatoes. We were stuffed to the gills, and I was amazed at Scott's ability to consume much more than I did. We also had the interesting opportunity to see Muhsin Muhammed, the Bears wide receiver who had caught a touchdown earlier in the day, as he entered the restaurant as we were about halfway through our meal, and sat down about 10 tables away. It was a fun moment to see him at the salad bar, waiting for everyone else to choose their fixin's.

We settled in last night to watch the Sunday night football game between the Patriots and the Colts, and Jake stopped by for a bit (leading to the aforementioned movie arguments while I was trying to watch the game), it was good to see him.

It was a very expensive and rewarding weekend. I think I gained 20 pounds. But all in all, a great weekend!