I've had a busy week and it is only Tuesday night! Last night Dave and I went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. I had wanted to go to DiGiacinto's, one of our favorite Italian spots, but they are apparently closed on Mondays. So when Dave got home we talked about other choices and he suggested Ohana's, which is a new Japanese hibachi steakhouse in town. It was great food, similar to the other Japanese restaurants in town. We sat by a young couple for dinner, and the girl actually worked as a server at the restaurant and was there eating on her night off. It was interesting, we got the inside scoop on some of the food, tipping practices and the ironic fact that there are actually no Japanese employees in the entire restaurant. The owner is Korean, as are several of the hibachi chefs. It was a great meal, and our chef, JJ, was quite humorous.



After dinner we headed over to Uncle Bently's, one of our favorite bars. They used to see Dave all the time when he was single, and saw us frequently when we were dating, but now we just don't make it in for a drink very often. It was a slow night, so we had a chance to visit with some of our favorite gals there, April, Christy and Michelle.




We're planning an Uncle Bently's Sunday in August, and inviting all of them and our other Bently's friends down for an afternoon on the lake-- should be fun!

We ended the evening pretty early and headed home, since Dave had to be at work for a 7:30 meeting this morning.

Then tonight I went to a concert at the historic Gilloiz theater in downtown Springfield. I had been to look at the theater for a potential work event, but hadn't been to a concert or anything since it was renovated and reopened a couple of years ago. It was absolutely gorgeous, I wish I had taken some pictures while there. We were there to see my friend Andrea's husband's band, Glen McKenzie and the Road Kings. Several of us met about 6:30 for drinks at the bar adjoining the theater, and then headed in for the concert at 7.

They put on a great show, and were all very talented musicians. Their style is kind of a rock-a-billy type-- Dwight Yoakam, Chris Isaac, that sort of sound. They played a lot of their own original tunes and some covers as well. Apparently they played before the Springfield Cardinals ballgame last Friday night, too. I'll have to watch and see when/where they're playing next, would love to hear them again sometime.

The concert was a benefit for Isabel's House, the crisis nursery that our Junior League started last year. It was a fun evening, and I even got to get up on stage with a couple of other gals for a little tamborine action! Reminded me of my days in highschool/early college when I played keyboard - and tamborine!- in a band back in my hometown. Ahh, the good old days!! Here's a picture of the band, accompanied by me, our Jr. League Prez Linda, and another gal... we were having a good time up there!



Tomorrow night Dave and I are going to a Springfield Cards game with my friend and her husband, so we'll have another busy night! But Thursday and Friday will be quiet, spending some downtime with Jace at home. He's going to hang out tomorrow night with one of his preschool teachers and her hubby. She has watched him occasionally for the last several years, and he was even in her wedding a couple of years ago. So he will be excited to spend a couple of hours with them while we're at the ballgame.

Now I'm off to get a bit of work done before heading to bed.