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

I can hardly believe Friday has already arrived. Weeks seem to fly by lately. We are already ten days in to December. Christmas Eve is two weeks from today. 2011 is only 22 days away. Baby B could join us in just a month’s short time. Which reminds me. I have some baby laundry to do and a hospital bag to start getting in order. You know. Just in case.

So, last night after my shopping extravaganza, I wrapped up all the gifts and then settled in for a nice evening. Peter grilled up some steaks for us from our cow.

You heard me correctly. Our cow. Now, those of you who are vegan/vegetarian may be kind of put off by this, but Peter & I went in together with another couple to purchase the meat from a cow. We don’t mind red meat in this house. In fact, we have it one, maybe two, times each week with many of our other meals vegetarian based and an occasional dinner using chicken. That’s right. We mostly eat beef or vegetarian style.

We like our beef, but we don’t like the standard run of the mill stuff from the market. We would make a point to purchase the highest quality possible, which could get expensive when its at least $7/lb for ground. When we heard about having the option to purchase extremely local, grass-fed, hormone free, etc quality beef and have the chance to support a local family business, we went for it. It also helped our wallets. We received a large variety of steaks, cuts, and ground for less than $3/lb.

It’s kind of disturbing to have that much meat in an extra deep freezer, but I don’t mind if it means better quality. Plus, that extra freezer we had to buy means more room to put frozen and ready to eat meals for after baby B. Or my Trader Joe shopping spree finds. Or holiday cookies. Or…dang, we should have bought a bigger storage freezer.

For the record, that meat was yummy. And for the record, I’m going to miss Glee while it has reruns. I finally watched the Christmas special last night and loved it. Although didn’t really care for the rendition of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”. That’s my favorite Christmas song (along with Silent Night). I don’t mind the two guy thing – c’mon, I have a gay brother (pretty sure you knew that) – but it just sounded off. I love the one from Elf. Wow. That was a tangent. Getting to my point - I had fun watching Glee…eating a delicious steak and broccoli dinner…and now listening to the Glee version on Youtube on repeat because M wants to hear it over and over. Happy Friday!

• What types of things are you picky about with the quality of your food? I’m most particular about where meat comes from. I also prefer to purchase things like spinach and apples from the “dirty dozen” list organically.
• A random thought you are having right now. I know I’m not the only one who has a mind prone to tangents and randomness.