redemption

some people call me loke, some call me stroke...but i would like to refer to myslef from now on as the "comeback kid." thats right, after last weeks embarrassment and general dissapointment i came back strong with high hopes and full throttle. On friday night, Erika had hoped to be wined and dined and treated like royalty for our weekend date. Much to her dismay, I had planned for us to go out to dinner with the crew to celebrate "jakie-poo's" birthday. Erika had a rough day at school- to say the least- and i am sure she was just hoping to leave the night up to me. friday night was a bit unusual however. Jake had planned to go to the movies with some of who we like to refer as the "replacement friends" at around 6:30 or 7-ish. therefore, we- those friends who care about him most and vice-versa- had his Olive Garden b-day dinner at 4:45pm. Yup, just us and the denture squad. in fact, we had beat the senior citizen rush, if you could imagine. the dinner was fun though: nothing is better than gettin together with amazing people. the katz', francis, jake and the mendioroz's. we shared some pretty amazing laughs, and good food. i think that the quote that will be legendary forever is sarah's classic "Chris would be soo embarrassed!" as we discussed the new trend of nudist colonies becoming mainstream. sorry chris. what a line!

after dinner we went up to the Riverwoods and saw "The Prestige" with Chris and Sarah. it was our second time, and we still haven't gotten it all figured out. what a great flick-i highly recommend it. the first time with ty and jenny left us stumped, confused and wanting to figure out what had happened. the second time, we got most of the plot worked out, but still are lost on a few things. its awesome.

Now, for the whole reason of the new name- saturday was my turn to sing the great Bob Marley's Redemption song as i planned out our night. Erika had been gone all day at school, I didn't have to work, so i focused on "her day." as she was away, i got my domestication on. thats right, i have been known to cook from time to time, yet baking i have not ventured into. My boss made an amazing pumpkin cake thing the other day at work, and i brought a nugget home for erika to sample. if you know erika at all, you know that this is her favorite time of year because pumpkins are everywhere, in every form of edible food and she can't get enough of it. after 2 days of raving about the "punkin goodness" as she called it, i got the recipe and baked it while Erika was off at school pampering jeff.

i also went grocery shopping to put togther her new new favorite dinner- Giatta's veggie paninis- which i made for her hot and fresh when she walked in the door. she enjoyed the panini, but was distracted by the huge pan of pumpking deliciousness. with no hesitation we dove into the dessert and her eyes lit up. jackpot! she loved it.

the night did not end there however. after stuffing our faces with pumpkin, and letting our guts settle from such a quality meal, we headed up north to enjoy the highlight of the evening. i took her to see the classic "Man of La Mancha" up in SLC at the Hale Theatre. The cool thing about this particular theatre is that its a "theatre in the round," like Shakespeare's Globe. The drive up was a joke, we almost missed the show. I guess there was some orchestra concert at the E Center accross the street, which caused serious traffic. there is nothing worse than a utahrd traffic jam. But the gods were smiling because the show started late and we were able to make it.
the play really was entertaining, Don Quixote was really good and soo was Dulcinea, but the real show stopper was Sancho.one of my favorite parts was when he sang to a dying Quixote about "this and that." Also the fight against Gypsies was a classic scene. he was hillarious and the production was great. we still have the songs stuck in our heads today.it was good to be enriched with culture, especially spanish culture and it was a great end to a great night.

most important of all was the appreciation and happiness that oozed from erika all night long. i always love seeing her face light up, as she gets treated special or is pampered in any way. its soo worth the time and effort to really show how much you love someone, and then feel the love ten times more right back.