Celebrating Things

Yesterday was my girlfriend's birthday. And I was a gentleman and took her out for breakfast, to work, picked her up from work, and we went out for finger food and drinks at a resturaunt called the Cadillac Ranch, which is located near a behemoth of a Giant Eagle (grocery store for those of you not in the Pittsburgh region).

Cadillac Ranch, by the way, was pretty good. We ordered pulled-pork sliders and chicken fingers. I ordered a Bloody Mary as my first drink. I'm not sure, but I think I use the Bloody Mary as an initial guage of how well I'll like a drinking hole. I've had some good smooth Bloody Marys as well as some strange ones. Among the strange are those served from 1902 Tavern, who had some horseradish floating in that thing, and Harris Grill, who was so kind to include a garden in my drink! Seriously, there was at least a slice of lemon, a celery stick, a large leaf of lettuce, some green olives, and something reddish in nature - maybe a carrot stick or small tomatoes? Honestly, I asked for a drink, not a reason to buy a plow. But for all I know, it was a vegan that served the drink. Regardless of the weird ones, Cadillac Ranch served a good, spicy Bloody Mary with the only downside being the amount of ice included. I'm not sure if that's what the midget straws are for, but they help keeping the ice from ambushing my face when tipping that tiny little tumbler back to get the last of the drink. On Wednesday, I'll be visiting Calico Jacks on the north shore with the Sweetheart to visit her bartender friend. I'll get to see and experience how she makes the Bloody Mary.

It was a good birthday for the Sweetheart (or so she informed me at the end of it all), food paid for, visited the new Barnes & Noble on Settler's Ridge (I was surprised that it's not two-stories - the space is high enough for it, and nothing is small in that plaza, anyway), and only had to drive her car to inspection before being whisked off to breakfast. The previous evening (Sunday), she had a small party at her parents' house, which was enjoyable. I got to play horseshoes for the first time (all her relatives looked at me like I had 5 eyes and oozing sores when they heard I never played it in my brief 29 years of existence). The day before that, it was Sweetheart's godson's 1st birthday party, and there were a lot more relatives at that one (I guess turning 1 is more exciting than turning 22). The weekend before that was Sweetheart's grandmother's birthday party!

My dad wonders how large her family is with all the birthdays, graduations, and holiday get-togethers there are. He's acts like he'd believe it if I told him her family adds random strangers for a reason to have gatherings! But it's fun; I enjoy all the hubbub and excitement that comes with a large band of relatives with a slew of the next generation being born and raised.

Well, I suppose that's enough stargazing for the morning. As Sweetheart confided in me yesterday when reading my latest blog post, this blog is not Droid X friendly. But she still finished reading it, anyway. Hurray for persistence!