Saturday, May 22, 2021

i am an idiot walking a tightrope of fortune and fame

Today was a delight. I started working at 8:15ish, which is earlier than usual, but that part was sending emails while sitting outside on my back patio for the first morning this season. The trees are shedding insane amounts of finished blossoms, so the patio furniture doesn't stay clear for long - but it was warm enough to sit outside in a tank top, which is so fucking overdue after nine months of the worst winter in several decades in Denver, so I will take it.

I spent the day being quite productive, with a break to eat some leftover spaghetti and another break in the afternoon to take a quick nap (the joys of working from home). Eventually, it was time to throw in the towel, slather on some refreshed makeup, and drive over to Katie's to pursue our evening activities. She and James got a babysitter for the first time in a year, and so the three of us walked over to Root Down for an early-ish dinner. Root Down was a favorite before the pandemic, and it continues to be a favorite now - especially since I was able to reserve outdoor seating, which is on their perfect covered outdoor patio. The drinks were a delight and the food was absolutely perfect - we had the usual devils on horseback (bacon wrapped around cheese-stuffed dates) and arepas, and then Katie and I split a steak and some scallops, and it was the perfect meal. The three of us also discussed a variety of ridiculous topics, including alien threesomes, so it almost felt like life is getting back to some semblance of normalcy.

After that, James went home to relieve the babysitter, and Katie and I kept the party going by going to Lady Jane for a nightcap. We scored a table on their patio as well, far from the madding crowd (things have really accelerated in Denver - we went there two weeks ago and it was dead, but tonight we had to wait ten or fifteen minutes and it was totally full). So we discussed #smalltownlife and childhood and adulthood (and more alien threesomes) over wine for me and beer for her, and it was perfect.

At that point, it was ten p.m. and we were feeling snackish, so we hopped down the block to bartaco and grabbed a second dinner. bartaco has the pandemic ordering situation down to a science - we didn't have a server, just an app to order and pay through - which was odd because the inside definitely feels like a real, upscale restaurant and not some sort of fast-casual order-online kind of place. But it was nice that no one was hovering, and at that time of night it was pretty empty - so we got our tacos v. quickly. My pork belly taco was incredible, and the carnitas were great too - so I would definitely go back at some future date.

But that future is a ways away - I'm going to Iowa on Sunday, and Katie will be in Iowa all of June (but on the opposite side of the state from my parents), so our fancy dinners will have to go on temporary hiatus. And luckily I didn't go overboard with the drinks - I need to do a million things tomorrow, and nursing a hangover isn't one of them. So hopefully I can get some sleep and hit it hard tomorrow - goodnight!

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