Dining at Bonefish is Always an Experience
Posted on October 23, 2013 by Ching under Food and Drink.
It’s always a challenge to eat healthy during my birthday month because random restaurants send me coupons for stuff. And you know me. I just can’t resist. Though, over the last few years, I have gotten a bit more picky. I never pass up a chance to eat at Bonefish, though. Specially when they give me FREE bang bang shrimp.
Anymore if it’s just Brian and me then we just opt to eat in the bar area so we don’t have to make reservations and we don’t have to wait. Plus, we always seem to meet really cool people.
One time we were there we met Patty Armstrong who is in the Board of Directors of the Junior League of Wichita and her husband. I guess they are regulars because all the staff seemed to know them and the manager was really chummy with them. They were super nice and we had great dinner conversation, for a bunch of strangers.
It was really tough to get a seat at the bar on Saturday night, though. It was super packed. Brian and I were there later than usual too. We are a couple of old farts and prefer to go at five-ish. Anyway, we had to wait forever for an opening at one of the community tables. It made me think of Winston in one of the episodes of New Girl. The one where he saves all the seats by being all weird and trying to drive all the other diners away. It was just me and Brian so we didn’t have to do that, but if we were expecting others to join us and we didn’t have a reservation (not likely because Brian and I are anal and would always have reservations if we’re dining with a group of people but anyway) we agreed that we’d probably do the same thing. It made me laugh in my head. Sometimes I just do that. I think of something and it makes me laugh, but then I actually outwardly laugh and then other people are like, “What’s so funny?” but then you can’t explain it because it all happened in your head.
Anyway, this last time we didn’t really meet-meet people. There was another couple already at the table. I think they just gave up on waiting for their table and decided to eat dinner at the community table instead, but I could tell that probably isn’t something they normally do. Halfway through their meal their pager buzzed. I mean Brian and I purposefully choose to dine at the community table. Theirs was more accidental. We didn’t really get to visit with them much.
There was a young couple who sat across from us briefly. They seemed to be on a first date. I’m thinking they met on a dating web site. I don’t normally eavesdrop on people’s conversations, but I couldn’t help it. They were sitting across from me. Anyway, they left as soon as their table became available.
After they left another couple took their place. It was an old guy probably in his 50s. He wasn’t bad looking but definitely old. His date was a young girl about mid-twenties. Brian thought they were father and daughter at first but as soon as they started conversing with one another he caught on that they were on a date. Brian thought it was weird. I think he must have been putting out some kind of vibe because they ended up moving to the bar, or as far away from us as possible. Maybe our PDAs weren’t helping. Just kidding.
When they left I told Brian that I could tell they were on a date right off the bat just from how they looked and through their body language. And, I’m more open-minded when it comes to age differences. I don’t think it’s weird when people 20 years apart date. After about 25 everyone is pretty much the same age in my book. Plus, it’s one thing if you look ancient but I’ve seen some really hot-looking old dudes. Then again, my concept of hot is not the same as other women. For instance, Kevin Spacey in House of Cards is hot to me but other women will probably disagree.
Brian is turning 40 next year and I told him that he’s actually more attractive to me now than he ever has been. He looks better than he ever has physically but, aside from that, his salt and pepper hair is just plain sexy. I told him that I’d probably find him less attractive if he died his hair and actually looked younger. If he dressed in a nice business suit everyday, I probably wouldn’t know what to do with myself. Fortunately, he dresses like a slob (just kidding, but very casual nonetheless) most days so I can at least function and not act like a googly-eyed girl, daydreaming all day. If were in my twenties and met him as he is now, I would totally date him and I would feel the least bit oogie about it. I’d actually be all over it. Seriously. If I were single, I’d actually prefer dating older men to guys my age.
But I digress… Besides the great food, the dining experience at Bonefish is always interesting. Specially if you opt to eat in the bar area. Until next time!
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Feeling Rusty
Posted on October 22, 2013 by Ching under Poker.
Brian and I played poker at Nilla’s for the first time in a long while. I was feeling pretty rusty. Brian had a good showing, though. He got to the final three tables and did better than all of us. He was feeling sick that day, which is a good thing because he seems to do well whenever he’s not feeling well.
Although, he started feeling better halfway through. Not good. The only time I don’t want Brian to feel better is when he’s playing poker. LOL.
We have another poker tournament this Saturday. I’m trying to figure out what to feed Brian to make him feel sick. Maybe I need to start exposing myself to germs at work. Hmmm…
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Christmas for Eli and QQ — Done
Posted on October 21, 2013 by Ching under Toys, Wishlist.
Brian and I got PlasmaCars
Anyway, we only got one for QQ at first but then they actually work great for bigger kids as well (even I enjoyed riding around in it at the store) so we decided to get one for Eli also. We figured it would be more fun if they had two of them so they could race each other. Luckily they come in a variety of colors so we got a different color for the second PlasmaCar
After Brian assembled the cars, he took each of them for a spin. He just couldn’t resist. LOL. These things are so fun we even considered getting some for ourselves. Seriously. Who knows. Maybe Santa will get us each our own PlasmaCars
Santa, if you’re reading this, I would like the Zumba green and purple PlasmaCar
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Bamboo Memory Foam Pillow
Posted on October 20, 2013 by Ching under Shopping.
I’m sharing the link with everyone in case you missed these awesome pillows at Holiday Galleria.
The bamboo memory foam pillows came highly recommended by the Egyptian cotton sheets guy. I had missed out on these awesome sheets earlier this year at the Women’s Fair, but I had mentioned them to Brian. I didn’t want to miss out on them again so I made sure to buy a set. I wanted to get a couple of pillows also, specially since the sheets guy said they were the best, but Brian vetoed the purchase. He figured that I was getting a little “shopping happy” because of the margaritas. They are really awesome, though. Just ask the Junior League women. Seriously. I bet every single one of them got some. Just like they all have several sets of the soft Egyptian cotton sheets.
Anyway, the pillows came up in my email via Living Social. This was my chance. I didn’t want to miss out on them again so I grabbed a couple of king sized ones.
The deal is amazing — 71% OFF the regular price. I think the price is even better than the Holiday Galleria price. If you want to get some extras, this is your chance. The deal is only going on for 22 more days.
You may not see this deal again. Don’t miss out!
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Budget Time
Posted on October 20, 2013 by Ching under Money, Tips.
It’s that time of the year. Whenever we start talking budgets at work, that’s our cue to do start working on our household budget also. Brian and I sat down and did our 2014 budget the other day. Hopefully we’ll actually stick to it next year.
We’ve had to deviate from our budget over the last couple of years. We planned on paying off my student loan by end of 2012 but got derailed and didn’t actually make the last payment until the beginning of 2013. Buying a house brings with it some additional expenses, which we expected, but didn’t really budget for in 2012 because we originally planned on waiting until our lease expired in May 2013. We were supposed to pay off my student loan first, then buy a house once our lease was up. We just ended up doing it backwards. Things didn’t quite go according to plan, but it all worked out in the end.
We wanted to put 20% down on our house last year but we closed on our house on our 10th wedding anniversary, which was a couple of months before our CD at Intrust Bank matured. It makes me sick that we’ve had to pay PMI over the last year so Brian and I and promised each other that as soon as we found a good time to do it we’d make a principal payment that will drop our mortgage balance enough so that we wouldn’t have to pay PMI anymore. I’m so happy that we finally made that payment the other day so I’m looking forward to slightly lower mortgage payments each month going forward. Hurrah!
For 2014 we’ve had to tighten the budget a little because we’ve got a couple of things that we’re saving for — a new car for me, which I plan on paying cash for in 2018, and down payment for our next house in 2016. That means no extravagant vacations and frivolous purchases over the next few years.
Brian thinks I have a shopping problem and I agree that I have a difficult time passing up a good deal but I think we can do it. We’ve tightened out belts before (when we were paying off all of our credit card debts eight years ago) and we got through it. We were actually completely debt-free within a couple of years. So I am completely positive that we can do this.
Anyway, I highly recommend sitting down once a year to create a budget if you’re not already doing this. Brian and I have done this over the last few years and it has really worked well for us. We set pretty high goals for ourselves so even when we don’t quite make it (such as in the last couple of years) we’re still in great shape.
Our annual budget gives us a good road map to follow for the coming year so we’re not all over the place. Having a plan also allows me to look forward to the coming year with less apprehension and much more peace of mind. This may not work for everyone but it works for us. So come up with a plan, stay focused on your goals, and best of luck to you in the coming year!
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