Weekend Festivities

It was a busy weekend here at Chez Kirks. Friday night was my opening at Waverly House. A big “thank you” to all my friends who attended. It was a good show and I’m hoping for some good responses (sales) in the future. After the show, Steve and I were going to meet Valerie, Kevin and the whole Witte family at Bailey’s for dinner. Bailey’s is a new casual restaurant downtown and we were all anxious to try it. I was not mentally prepared for the volume of people downtown on a Friday night. It seemed like the entire city of Springfield was wandering the streets (and doing a fair amount of jaywalking). The more we drove around, the more anxious and upset I became. This wasn’t how I wanted to end my evening and I certainly wasn’t in the mood to fight all the people. Once we found a parking space (after almost 20 minutes) we had to fight the crowd to get to Bailey’s. The group was on the patio, which was noisy and hot. The final nail in my patience coffin was when the band started setting up about 10 feet from us. That’s when I knew I had to leave before I committed a crime. I apologized to my friends for being so wigged out (they seemed to understand) and we left. The further away from downtown we got, the more relaxed I became. Steve and I had a nice dinner at D’Arpino’s and the evening ended on a positive note.

Saturday was more relaxing and fun. We met Valerie at the [Brown Derby International Wine Center](http://www.brownderby.com/) for their first ever Oktoberfest. This mega beer-tasting event featured over 50 brews, bratwursts, cheeses and more. Plus, it was free! We arrived during the last hour, but had plenty of time to sample some great beers. We left a little tipsy, but not in too bad a shape. Saturday night we were treated to a fabulous meal with [Alex, Miriam](http://alexandmiriam.blogspot.com/), Nate and Ginger. We finally got to meet Alex and Miriam’s twin girls, Jasmin and Addison who were positively adorable! Alex fixed a fabulous dinner of Apple Curry Stew with pork and an Asian Pear Salad that tasted almost exactly like one from local restaurant [Ocean Zen](http://www.eatoceanzen.com/). Nate and Ginger brought some yummy cheese and a great wine and we all tucked in for a delicious meal with plenty of great conversation. It was wonderful to see everyone.

Today has been a relaxing work day as we plan our meals for the week, grocery shop, and install the new TiVo. Yep, Steve now has the new TiVo that records in HD, records multiple shows, downloads movies, slices, dices and makes julienne fries. Ok, I made up the last part. Regardless, he’s in technology heaven and I’m happy I can record my regular Thursday night programs AND CSI.