Cruise Control, The Dinner

[Side Note: I know I am absolutely torturing my friends with these posts because as everyone can guess, I took a lot of pictures this weekend and they all want to see them. The thing is, I will get to the pictures, and there are a LOT, but, I am nervous because I think everyone is expecting these awesome images because I am the "professional" in the group. Truth be told, I did snap a lot of images with a fancy camera, but considering the light conditions and the fact that I was not directing a "shoot" per say, they are all more like snap shots and are not going to be anything spectacular. There I said it. Now back to the story... ]

So after N picked us up we headed 2 blocks over to the Kona Grill. It took us 10 minutes to drive those two blocks in the afternoon traffic - ahh how quickly I forgot how much I loathe driving in that mess. We parked in the garage and as we were walking to the stairwell someone spied a sign and read it out loud. "Ok girls, someone remember we are in LL2". Mental notes all around; and we began ascending the stairs.

Far too many flights later (poor pg N, she handled it like a pro, darn her! When I was pg, one flight would have knocked me out) we were on the floor we needed. Suddenly my cell phone became fixed to my head as I was trying to coordinate all 6 of us arriving around the same time. N, C, D and I got a table and K and R showed up a few minutes later. It was terribly surreal seeing all these women around the table; I bet the last time we all sat together was in 11th grade (12th for R) at the school lunch table. Remember those white, speckled cafeteria tables? Remember how they folded up really tall.... and um, anyway... ;)

Here is my beautiful friend C at the table. The lighting was horrible (think dark and candle lit, not good for photography) and the pics came out very yellow so I converted these to black and white.

I tried to take a pic of everyone; and here is K, showing C a picture of her sleeping babe and making that silly "awwww" face we mommies make. She might hurt me for that picture, but I think it's cute!

Miss D was right next to me, so I sort of got the top of her head while she checked out a menu. I'll have more pics of her later.

Here is Madame R, stunning in her new short 'do and dressed to the nines for a night out with the girls. I just love her glasses. They make me want to wear some just for fun!

And last but certainly not least is the very beautiful, very glowing pregnant Ms. N, who was desperately trying not to look at me while I took her picture. Her dress was about the most darling thing I've seen.

So there we were, gabbing away, with several conversations going on at once and not one of us missing a beat. We could not stop talking long enough to look at the menus and after being visited by our waiter several times we finally ordered some appetisers.

The pot stickers had pretty good flavor but were a bit dry. However the fried avocado slices were absolutely to-die-for! I want to take this opportunity to once again profusely thank Madame R for giving me the last bite. It was sheer heaven!

Out of the 6 of us, I think only 4 had actually ever had sushi and only 3 of us actually liked it. D, N and C all decided to order a "normal" entree and R ordered herself one small order of California Rolls. K and I decided to order several different kinds of sushi and split them. Well, somehow there was a miscommunication between K and the waiter, and when K thought she was ordering 4 pieces of something, she was actually ordering 4 units (each unit being 8 pieces). So, we, um, ended up with um, well, a TON of sushi at the table! It was hilarious! When K confronted the waiter he kind of brushed her off and told her to share with the whole table. Well, that was a great idea for him, but we really didn't feel like paying for enough sushi to feed a small army! I personally think the waiter knew there was confusion, because in his favor he plated the sushi on big platters - basically making it impossible for us to send much of it back. And, he combined R's order in to the middle of one of the big platters. He knew only 2 people were eating it; I heard K tell him that, and yet he thought we could consume that much??!? Come on! We sent back what we could, but still had far too much left. I was laughing so hard I couldn't take very good pictures, but here are a couple. That platter with the yellow wrapped sushi had about 24 pieces.

This one had 32 pieces as it contained 4 units of something plus R's order! And then, we had 4 plates of this here on the right. Because it was in a special sauce, I guess it couldn't be heaped together on a big platter. We sent two plates back, but honestly, it was the best of all of them and I kind of wish we hadn't. I ate a whole plate by myself!

Despite the hiccup in the ordering, dinner was wonderful. We talked and ate and ate and talked some more. Everyone took turns telling everyone else what they had been up to over the past 10+ years, and when we were all caught up and sufficiently full we decided to move on to some where else for coffee. K had bought us all a box of truffles, and more than one of us was ready to enjoy the special treat.

Being that we were in the Galleria, there was no shortage of Starbucks kiosks, but we really wanted to find a bigger "shop" that might be more quiet and less exposed to the general commotion of the mall. So, after talking to one of the kiosk workers who told us where a shop was, we headed to the other side of the mall. Now one thing you should know is that because most of us were "dressed up" we were not wearing the most comfortable shoes! My feet were starting to scream at me a bit, but it didn't bother me in the least because I was having so much fun. We trekked across the mall, past the ice skating rink, to the location the Starbucks Employee told us to go, only to find another kiosk! Ahh well, it afforded us a photo opportunity or two. Here are R and C carrying some of the left overs (sushi no doubt!).

And of course, we had to do the typical photo line up!

Then the nice young lady at the mattress store said she would take a picture of all of us, but she was scared of my camera, so I don't have a line up pic with me in it. It's ok though, I saw the one she took, and mercy, I look like some sort of giant freak woman. Just call me Amazon! Seriously, I am like a foot taller than all of these gorgeous ladies. I look very strange in comparison.

We decided to stay put and commandeered a table at the kiosk. PICTURES!!!
Don't worry, she was drinking decaf. :)

Wow, I actually was there! D took this pic for me. :)

Even with the coffee, it quickly became apparent that we had all had a long day. The yawns were becoming more frequent and laughs less. We were sleepy!

Still with me? Well, I think I will stop here because the night is not over yet and this post has now grown to epic proportions. The formatting alone will keep me up till midnight I'm sure.

Until tomorrow,

D :)