Well, the dinner party was absolutely incredible. The food was unbelievably delicious, just the right balances of spice. Our guests brought some very excellent wine that accompanied the curried and peppered things served magnificently.
I was slightly inebriated and a little out of focus when I felt motivated to take these pictures. The candles in the centerpiece had burned down so beautifully low. My angle was just slightly different, and the exposures didn’t come out the same either. I have had a terrible time deciding which version of this I like better, so I’m just going to post both.
The dessert was even better than I had anticipated. We have had this at a “local” restaurant before, but Jim’s version was so far superior that there was almost no comparison. First of all, the cookies were home-made, with Ghirardelli dark chocolate dhips. They came out of the oven, and while they were still warm we plated them and immediately put the perfectly warmed up vanilla ice cream on them. A couple of soupspoons of chocolate sauce (simply cream with more of those dark chocolate chips melted in it along with a dollop of vanilla) went on top of that, and then fresh whipped cream was spooned on top of that. This confection positively melted in your mouth and there was not a scrap left after we had all finished. Since we were at a dinner party, we all managed to barely restrain ourselves from licking the dessert plates.
It was wonderful to see how nice and clean my house was when I got up. The dishwasher was full of clean dishes, and once I got them put away, I could load it with the glassware. Now everything is all tidied up. With all that cooking, I am still amazed at how clean the stove wound up being. The new paints they have come out with perform a lot better than the ones that were on the stoves when I was a little girl.
This morning I have given two massages, both of which were quite challenging. While I was working the sun came out. It is turning into a beautiful day, and we have decided that we need to play this afternoon rather than work. So that is what we are going to do.
Honestly, I love my life.
the havens 
Slightly inebriated! HA HA HA!! I also had a couple of beers this weekend and had a good time seeing the Bay City Rollers!
Mmmm…those cookies sound good!
It sounds like a perfect evening. And how special that moment when you look around you and realise you love your life. Happens to me quite often. I’m glad to hear it also happens to you.
Nice pictures, and sounds like a lovely evening.
The pictures are great … I love the flowers. Chocolate chip cookies … yum!!
I like the idea of taking the afternoon off to play!
Taking the afternoon off once in a while is extremely important. One gets to a certain stage of life where you had better plan ahead if you want the play session to actually work. Of course, we also have reached the stage of life where if things aren’t working, we figure out a way to make ’em work. It helps to be creative and inventive and adventurous. Then, when we are lying in splendid relaxation, we giggle in glee because so many poor schmucks are out there slaving away in an office cubicle. Today, Jim looked at me and said “There are a lot of people who really hate Mondays.”
Aw, it’s good to hear someone say that – loving the life thing. I guess it’s too late for me to become a professional relaxation therapist.
I don’t think it is ever too late to become anything, if that is what you want to do. I started getting my certification for massage therapy in California in 1991. Granted, I had been doing massage for about 5 years at that time, but not on a steady basis or as a way to earn my living. But at that time, I was 37 years old. It wasn’t too old, obviously. Just, whatever you do, if you decide to pursue massage as a career, make sure that you go to a school that teaches you proper body positioning and ergonomics and self care. Otherwise, you’ll be right there with the majority of people who think they’d like to be a massage therapist, and have to quit after a year due to injuries to hand, arm and thumb.
Sounds like it was a fabulous dinner and then a lovely day after. Those ‘I love my life’ days are very special.
Hey – nice header! Have you seen the newest theme called MistyLook? When I first saw it I thought your daffs might look nice on that one.
I liked MistyLook well enough to try it on. The problem is the “search” block obscures the “Pages” at the top because my titles are too long. Otherwise, it is a really nice look. But this one has a nice crisp look in the header that I enjoy.
Oh, I must be getting more blog savvy. I just figured out how to still have the pages but not have so many tabs. Hooah! I do like this theme.
I think it looks great. But I’m wondering why your header has come out narrower than the sample header. Did you crop it that way? Sometimes the cropping tool gets ‘fixed’ on a certain size so if you want to use the same image cropped differently you have to copy the photo on your computer and then upload the copy, not the original.
You can see an example of the wider header over at the drawing board.
I see what you mean about the tabs problem.
Shoot, I didn’t even notice that. Thanks, it looks much better now that I fixed it, and it wasn’t hard to do either. I like the look of this theme a lot. I think it is easier to read too.
It does look better bigger. A personal taste bit of advice (feel free to take or leave) would be to crop the photo a bit higher up – just a smidgen.
I also like this theme a lot and have been looking for a place to use it.