Ladies' Night

So the sad thing is that one of my very favorite ladies is moving away (with her whole family) to Arizona in a week.  They'll be six hours away!  But on the bright side, we made it a priority to get together -- just the two of us -- before she moves.

In truth, she and I have never been out together without kids or husbands.  There was even one point in the evening where there was this silence for a few minutes and she said, "Gee, we give up being interrupted by kids every two minutes and now we don't know what to say!"

Ha.  It's true that our conversations have always worked around other people.  But we were able to laugh about that and we got right back into new topics.

She took me to this cool place for dinner (her treat! so sweet!) called The Melting Pot in Uptown (one of my favorite fancy shopping centers in Albuquerque).  I'd never been to the restaurant and I'm glad she was there to help me navigate the menu and now I want to take C and other people on special occasions.

Anyway, this restaurant is really cool with all their tables having a sort of private setting or feeling.  Each booth is set into a little nook or cranny and it makes for easy conversation because you can't hear everyone else in the restaurant.

Each table has a burner in the center where they prepare our food in front of us in a little "melting" pot.

We enjoyed a four course dinner with a cheese fondue course (so delicious and rich), a salad course (it was good, but it's salad so ... moving on!), a main course (we got a pot of hot oil and cooked our meats and veggies right there at the table ... but there are many varieties of cooking methods that included vegetable broth, Hawaiian and curry, I think) and finally a chocolate course.

The server asked us, at that point, if there was anything else he could bring us.  I said, "Yes.  A stretcher, please."  I was so full!

I snapped this photo of our dessert with my cellphone before we messed it up with fresh fruit and a variety of cakes and treats.  It was a combination of dark and white chocolate fondue.

There were a lot of little details I enjoyed about the whole dining experience at the restaurant, but I think the best part were the three hours spent with my friend.  We laughed, we got teary about some stuff and we encouraged each other -- all invaluable stuff and it was such a great memory to create with one another before their move.

I know we'll be in touch and they won't be that far away, but I know things will be different for us when they go.  After all, we've been used to having them just five minutes away!  I'll miss this friend, for sure.  Our whole family will miss her family.  They are just completely awesome.

I love you, Lady!  May you continue to be blessed as you move forward in life.  I know your family is truly blessed to have you as the mama of your family.