where do i begin?

first, last night. yesterday was alison's birthday (who would have thought? three roommates, two of whom have birthdays two days apart), so her boyfriend set up a surprise dinner for her at red sage, a swanky restaurant on 14th street. so chloe and i joined a group of people to celebrate her birthday and all that.

the restaurant is lovely--modern, sophisticated with decor that reflects the borderline gourmet tex-mex fare--and it was nice to dress up a bit and go out for a meal. i was a little apprehensive because the menu is pricey (and i'm mad budget girl--when did this happen to me?), but felt much better when numerous people in the group commented on how appetizers were going to be the extent of our wild and crazy spending (these are my kind of people!). the service left MUCH to be desired. from forgetting about drinks to waiting FOREVER (we're talking like an hour) to have waiters appear to take our orders, we were all surprised, to say the least. i ordered this apple squash seasonal soup (most of the menu consisted of seafood and other things i never eat, i thought soup would be safe), which, unfortunately, wound up not appealing to me at all. so for my dinner, i had about two spoonfulls of soup and two pieces of bread. um...yeah. but hey, whatever, it was good to be there and show alison that we were thinking of her and all that. and the conversation was fun--it was strange, because i realized that it was the first time i went out to a dinner party without knowing a majority of the people, so it was yet another new experience for our heroine.

one of the reasons why chloe and i get along so well...we're walking to the car, talking about our respective selections (she had the jumbo lump crab) and all that. then she says, "you know, it was fun, i've wanted to check that place out, but i don't get it...give me chipotle any day." my thoughts exactly...i have never understood why you go to swanky restaurants and pay a lot more for a lot less food that usually leaves much to be desired. i have simple tastes and don't want cream everywhere and a bunch of food that i can't pronounce the name of. ;) i've been eating a lot of salads lately and love them because you can't really mess one up, know what i mean?

but it was fun, nonetheless--not to mention i'm always a fan of seeing new parts of the city. plus it gave me an excuse to not go running--i'm trying to limit my urges to go running to four or five times a week, as i've been really tired lately and have acknowledged that i'm doing it a bit too much. need to give my body a chance to relax a little bit--what's the point of going running too much and always being tired (before, during and after) when i can relax for a day and then have the energy to push myself while running (and not feel completely dead to the world after!)? i took sunday off and felt fantastic on monday when i ran (and the running had followed how ever much walking i wound up doing during the great tower search). so hopefully i'll be feeling great tonight so i can kick some running arse and do all that fun workout stuff.

but waking up today to the news that the republicans had taken over the senate and gained in the house--what a lousy start to a morning. what's going on here? does anyone else see how much trouble this is inviting? needless to say, i'm a little nervous about how the next session is going to be--and i'm really disappointed in voters.

grrrrr!