A blessed night out on the T-town ...

Thank you to the folks at Suite133 for giving myself and Elle a reason to explore downtown on a Friday night with our hubbies. SANS CHILDREN. Both of these feats are rather rarities, as children are actually fun to be around, and also by week's end we're usually so tired with chasing them and balancing life that we just want to curl up with a movie, our lovely hubbies (note to dirty minds: to each her own, not together), and sleep. These last couple weeks were really no different, between holidays, tragedies and Elle's mission of Sweet Hope chocolate making, we were all exhausted. Had the sweet folks at the Suite not been throwing their shin-dig, it's quite likely our heads would have hit the pillow by 8 in order to recover/prep for other holiday parties. I'm so glad we went.

At 5, I walked over from work, down the Spanish steps and over to Suite133 (just above Capers). There I met up with my "crew" ... and ran into many, many, many others it was a treat to see. (Though Marty, I've seen you too much this last week. Find your own parties! Kidding ...) Old classmates, good friends, new friends, acquaintances from every walk of life ... it was a great meshing of T-Town. And I got to point out that Elle is more than a blogger, she's a talented handbag-maker, graphic designer, shoe connoisseur and so much more. That was fun. Oh, and the Tacoma Gnome was making the rounds with Exit133's lovely stafferette. As a friend, of course, so no spreading rumors back to Hanne ... We look forward to hearing more about his evening! And Elle reminds him that he does need to spend SOME time in her garden this year ...

And then ... we headed over for dinner and drinks at Paddy Coyne's on Pacific Avenue in downtown T-Town. This great little Irish pub has become one of my favorite go-to places, but usually for their fabulous happy hour specials. This time? It might not have been "happy hour" per se, but we spent a happy hour or two there! I had my cheeseburger, of course. The menfolk had the fish n' chips, and the lovely Elle savored the beef stew. The boys had their beer, we girls split a bottle of Yellow Tail reserve. Wow. I'm quite acquainted with Yellow Tail wine, but I'd never tried or even seen the reserve version. Very fabulous. Definitely kicked it up a notch. Now I like Paddy's even more ... great grub, great suds, and great vino!

Ahhh ... now I can relax, meditate, and enjoy me some holidays.