We had snow flurries here today!!! That calls for some excitement in Georgia. Especially before Christmas. And on our holiday filled weekend. I already told you all about my Christmas cookie exchange party on Friday night. Well, last night we had a holiday dinner with our friends from small group at church.

We all have kids in this group and decided that spending the evening out to dinner together sounded more appealing than any one person hosting a party. We all wanted to get out for an adults only evening and a nice dinner. I would say we succeeded.

For our dining venue we chose Maggianos to do the family style dining together. Plus, Italian tends to be a meal most everyone can agree on. I had never been to a Maggianos, but I was pleased with our meal. I was also pleased with my special beverage. I got a taste of an alcoholic drink! It was non-alcoholic, but tasted great – mint, lemon, raspberry sangria. Yes, I loved it that much.

We started with appetizers and salad – stuffed mushrooms, tomato caprese, and spinach salad. And of course, soft bread. I think I could have made a dinner out of the spinach mushrooms and spinach salad. Love.

The main course included traditional lasagna, a sausage angel hair pasta, mushroom ravioli, and a chicken dish. I put a sample of the sausage pasta, lasagna, and mushroom ravioli on my plate.

Last night was one of those times my stomach feels full very quickly, so I didn’t eat much of the main courses. I really only liked the mushroom ravioli anyways, so just ate the portion of that.

Dessert, though? I saved room. Cheesecake and tiramisu? Yes, please!

I could not have asked for a better evening. I was especially happy because Peter managed to make it to dinner. He flew up to New York and back yesterday. His grandmother’s health has started deteriorating even more and he decided it would be better to visit quickly to say his goodbyes rather than go up for the funeral, whenever that happens. I can’t travel at this stage, especially with all of my contractions, and he didn’t want to leave me for long, so he made a day trip of his visit. I hated not having the option or chance to go, but sometimes life just happens that way. I hope she knows that I care and have been praying for her. Prayers matter across any distance. I’m happy Peter got the chance to go, though.

Well, we will be heading out soon for another holiday evening. Part of which occurs outside. It should be interesting for this chick who hates the cold. Stay tuned for the fun, tomorrow!

• Do you like Italian food? What’s your favorite? I actually prefer my sauteed veggie bowls with a bit of pasta and lots of marinara over things you order at most Italian restaurants. I don’t like how heavy a lot of it tastes.
• A powerful quote to share - Prayer may not change things for you, but it for sure changes you for things.  ~Samuel M. Shoemaker

Is it really Sunday already? Does the holiday weekend really end tomorrow? Bah humbug! I have thoroughly enjoyed myself the last few days and do not want it to end. It seems you all love the care-free, holly-jolly feeling as well – evidenced by the numerous smiley faces in the comments from my last post. Also, for those who asked, I have not shared a recipe for the fudge because its a pretty special recipe to me. I can tell you this – instant coffee and peppermint extract are involved for the peppermint mocha version. I make the rest with love. 😉

Last night Peter & I shipped Makenzie off to her grandma’s for the night, so we could have one last night to ourselves before baby B arrives. With packed weekends between now and the New Year, plus not knowing how soon baby B plans to make an appearance, we wanted to take advantage while we could.

You would think that we would choose to use that night for a spectacular evening in downtown Atlanta or a mini baby-moon to the North Georgia mountains. Wrong! I only wanted a low key evening just the two of us and the chance to sleep in the next morning. Instead of a high class evening, we ended up on a date that had us laughing at its high school nature – dinner and a movie. It still suited us perfectly, despite the 10+ years since our high school days.

Since we had plans to hit up a theater with an IMAX, our night brought us to an area mall. That meant chain restaurant city. Out of our options, we decided to visit where we actually had our first date almost 5 years ago – Carrabbas. It satisfied me plenty. We started off with the bread + oil/herb mix for dipping.

Then, I had an Italian salad with the mezzaluna (chicken & spinach ravioli with a sundried tomato sauce) for my dinner.

Delicious and I still have half of my meal leftover. Easy dinner tonight? Hmmmm….

After dinner, we headed to our movie – Harrie Potter 7 in the IMAX theater.

I am a total tweeny bopper with my love for the Harry Potter books and movies. Twilight too! They are so fun to me. I went in without any high expectations because I have heard many say it wasn’t quite as good as they hoped. I ended up pleasantly surprised. I loved it and cannot wait for the final movie next year.  I will say IMAX doesn’t live up to its claim to fame though. Not worth the extra $6.50 per ticket.

After that we headed home and crashed. I don’t do well staying up until after midnight. Knowing we didn’t have Makenzie to wake us up in the morning helped. And we took advantage. I did not wake up until 10 am and stayed in bed until 11! We haven’t done that since before kids. It felt amazing.

Since it was already so late, we both were quite hungry and at the last minute decided to hit up The Flying Biscuit for a breakfast out to continue our lazy care-free time together. I wanted savory so opted for their basic platter which included farm fresh scrambled eggs, chicken sausages, a fresh biscuit with cranberry apple butter, and some of their famous grits.

Peter ordered the same thing but with an oat pancake on the side for us to share.

That place serves the best breakfast out of any restaurant I have tried. Only half that plate and a few bites of the oat pancake filled me up.

I still feel a little under the weather and did have another big contraction last night (just one) so I plan to spend the rest of the day taking it easy. I hope you all have the chance to as well. See ya in the morning with a Q+A post for all the questions I received related to my weight. Duh duh duh. 😉

• What is your favorite chain restaurant?
• Do you ever go into movies with lower expectations because you don’t want to end up disappointed?