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Shaunamas wrap-up
Mar. 8th, 2004 12:01 amAfter finishing all that shopping, I hastily wrapped everything--either in a black-with-yellow-smileys-and-colorful-molecules wrapping paper, or cleverly-taped plastic bags--and high-tailed it out around 1735 or 1740, trying to make an 1800 dinner reservation in Clifton, "29 minutes" away according to MapQuest. Along the way, I discovered that Chapel Road is a lot of fun--3.5 miles of very hilly, rather winding road (as opposed to nearby Clifton Road, which is a few miles of very winding, rather hilly road--and arrived at the Heart in Hand restaurant right around 1800, at the same time as my parents and Shauna. Huzzah!
The restaurant was quite nice--a rustic old house, all old timbers and iron chandeliers and quilts on the walls, history featuring an array of famous people catered to, etc. I had one of the last four Beef Wellingtons, mom had a Sesame Glazed Salmon, dad had Seafood Charleston, Matt had lamb, Shauna had roast duck, Brendan had chicken & vegetable soup (and was generally his boisterous but good-natured self all evening, I'm sure to the mild dismay of the few other diners in the room), and dessert was an array of chocolatey, raspberry-y, cake-y, ice-creamy, and in my and my mom's cases, rather alcoholic goodness. (We had coffee with Frangelico and a bit too much Courvoisier added.)
At the restaurarant, I gave Shauna two of her gifts--a tin of Happy Bunny mints that said "Would you like to such on a mint? Since you already suck all of the time," and a Happy Bunny sign book. From the parents she got a gift certificate for spa time, a decorative rose room scenter, and joy of joys, a Josh Groban songbook and three tickets to his upcoming concert that she didn't even know about. There was much rejoicing. :D
From there it was back home, where she got assorted gifts from Steph & Matt (including a French rose clock), and the last gift from me--an Emily the Strange bath towel. :) With the Shaunamas gift-giving complete, I then distributed the rest of my varying-degrees-of-late gifts--Matt got Star Wars Electronic Battleship, dad got the Director's Cut DVDs of the SciFi miniseries version of Dune (which I saw and liked at Ali's house a couple years ago), Brendan got a Little Tykes Rugged Riggz Motorcycle Hauler, and my parents got a Touchscreen Universal Remote Control from Brookstone. Since everyone was quite pleased by their gifts, I'd say I made some excellent choices. :D (And of course, I have several pictures from the evening, primarily of Brendan, which I'll probably post tomorrow.)
There were a couple of hitches with the Brookstone purchase, though. First, I found a travel case designed to protect camera film from x-ray damage in travel screening, which my dad had run up against before, so I got that. I then walked a few minutes away from the store and realized, "D'oh! Dad's primarily using a digital camera now, especially for travel, and doesn't need that sort of case!" So I returned it, left Brookstone, came back a bit later, and their card scanner was down when I went to buy the remote--but the cashier/manager offered me a 10% discount "if it would be an inconvenience to get cash" so I took her up on it. :)
Oh yeah--I also gave three Fresh|Ink cards that delighted me to no end, which I'll post photos of (or at least transcriptions) with the rest. :D
The restaurant was quite nice--a rustic old house, all old timbers and iron chandeliers and quilts on the walls, history featuring an array of famous people catered to, etc. I had one of the last four Beef Wellingtons, mom had a Sesame Glazed Salmon, dad had Seafood Charleston, Matt had lamb, Shauna had roast duck, Brendan had chicken & vegetable soup (and was generally his boisterous but good-natured self all evening, I'm sure to the mild dismay of the few other diners in the room), and dessert was an array of chocolatey, raspberry-y, cake-y, ice-creamy, and in my and my mom's cases, rather alcoholic goodness. (We had coffee with Frangelico and a bit too much Courvoisier added.)
At the restaurarant, I gave Shauna two of her gifts--a tin of Happy Bunny mints that said "Would you like to such on a mint? Since you already suck all of the time," and a Happy Bunny sign book. From the parents she got a gift certificate for spa time, a decorative rose room scenter, and joy of joys, a Josh Groban songbook and three tickets to his upcoming concert that she didn't even know about. There was much rejoicing. :D
From there it was back home, where she got assorted gifts from Steph & Matt (including a French rose clock), and the last gift from me--an Emily the Strange bath towel. :) With the Shaunamas gift-giving complete, I then distributed the rest of my varying-degrees-of-late gifts--Matt got Star Wars Electronic Battleship, dad got the Director's Cut DVDs of the SciFi miniseries version of Dune (which I saw and liked at Ali's house a couple years ago), Brendan got a Little Tykes Rugged Riggz Motorcycle Hauler, and my parents got a Touchscreen Universal Remote Control from Brookstone. Since everyone was quite pleased by their gifts, I'd say I made some excellent choices. :D (And of course, I have several pictures from the evening, primarily of Brendan, which I'll probably post tomorrow.)
There were a couple of hitches with the Brookstone purchase, though. First, I found a travel case designed to protect camera film from x-ray damage in travel screening, which my dad had run up against before, so I got that. I then walked a few minutes away from the store and realized, "D'oh! Dad's primarily using a digital camera now, especially for travel, and doesn't need that sort of case!" So I returned it, left Brookstone, came back a bit later, and their card scanner was down when I went to buy the remote--but the cashier/manager offered me a 10% discount "if it would be an inconvenience to get cash" so I took her up on it. :)
Oh yeah--I also gave three Fresh|Ink cards that delighted me to no end, which I'll post photos of (or at least transcriptions) with the rest. :D
