Day 141: Mac Bakeshop and Eatery

Exhausted at the end of a long teaching week, I decided to splurge and take my boys out for dinner. We went to my favorite Asian restaurant, Fusion Asian Cafe, and ordered sushi.

Green Dragon Roll, an old favorite

85 North Roll, a new experience. Tempura sharimp, crab, avacado, and tuna. Delicious!

Then we stopped in at Mac Bakeshop and Eatery for some take-home dessert. It was hard to choose, but we finally settled on pudding in a jar. There was banana, strawberry shortcake, and chocolate chip cookie dough, but I went for he chocolate cake, a delectable swirl of chocolate pudding, chocolate cake and whipped cream. I tried unsuccessfully to eat half and save the rest for tomorrow.

My jar is empty now.

If you live in the area and haven't visited Mac Bakeshop, you really must. They serve sandwiches, soup and salad in addition to a tantalizing array of desserts and baked books. Let me know what you think!

Day 140: Homemade Soap

I ran across a blog post recently containing instructions to make homemade liquid soap. Click HERE for the directions; I followed them exactly, except I substituted a 4.25-ounce bar of Yardley's English Lavender soap for the 8-ounce bar of Meyer's Clean Day soap, with good results. I will definitely do this again, experimenting with other fragrances. Let me know if you try this yourself!

Day 139: Measure Up!

It's a long story, but this evening I ended up with an hour and a half to spend with ONE Early Intermediate level piano student. We worked at the piano for about forty-five minutes and spent the rest of her lesson playing games. My favorite was Measure Up!, in which players win by creating full bars using time signatures, note values and rests. Piano teachers, are you looking for a fun way to work on time signatures in your studios? Try Measure Up! You won't be sorry!

Day 138: Spanish Hour

In a comment on my post about Duolingo, one of my followers said a friend of his was using a different website with great success. I was having a hard time retaining information acquired in Duolingo, so today I decided to give Spanish Hour a try. I LOVED it. Today's lesson was on definite and indefinite articles; it made total sense to me, and I feel like I really mastered the material from today's lesson and am ready to move on to tomorrow's. Thanks, Eric, for the recommendation!

Day 137: Pappadeaux

Tonight I went out with a guy I met on Plenty of Fish; he took me to dinner at a nearby Cajun seafood restaurant called Pappadeaux. I finally settled on the Atlantic Salmon Yvette, char grilled salmon with shrimp, crawfish, mushrooms and spinach in a Monterey jack cheese sauce, served with a side of dirty rice. It was amazing. Which is more than I can say for my date. Better luck next time. Meanwhile, I am looking forward to having my leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Day 136: Girl Scout Cookie Party

Every year my friend Jennifer hosts a cookie party for family and friends who order Girl Scout cookies from her daughter. There is a potluck dinner followed by unlimited Girl Scout cookies for every one.

I finally made it last night. Thanks, Jennifer. For EVERYTHING.

Day 135: Margaret Mitchell House/Pittypat's Porch

Today two of my girlfriends and I hit a couple of Atlanta landmarks.

First, we visited the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum.

I learned so much I didn't know about Margaret Mitchell's life and her experience writing Gone With the Wind. What an inspiring story. I am more determined than ever to write a book I feel proud of.

Then we had dinner at Pittypat's Porch. I tried Pittypat's Pitch, a combination of vodka, passion juice and herbs

the fried green tomatoes,

and the special of the day, a delectable combination of rainbow trout and blackened shrimp, grits with gouda cheese, fried okra, and julienne vegetables.

In addition, there was an all-you-can-eat salad bar buffet; sides of collard greens and black-eyed peas; and a bread basket overflowing with cornbread, biscuits and chocolate chip muffins. Everything was perfect.

On the way out, I engaged in a bit of harmless flirting

and my friends and I had our picture taken on a sofa straight from the set of the movie Gone With the Wind.

And to think I almost begged off on this field trip so I could stay home and catch up housework and laundry. Instead, I made precious memories that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Thank you, Denise and Jennifer!