I had an excellent day in the mile high city, although I still have no regrets that I've decamped for lower altitudes. When I woke up this morning, I decided to give into to caution and get a covid test, since I was notified via my phone that I'd been exposed (on my birthday, of course, which is par for the course for 9/11 - never forget). So I used Uber Eats to order covid tests from a Walgreens, which arrived in record time. I was negative, as I expected/hoped, but at least I didn't feel like I was knowingly putting people I was seeing at risk.
sssanyway, after testing, I got some coffee and did a bit of work in the lobby. Then, I met up with Aunt B and Uncle B at Cherry Cricket, which is a bit of an institution in Cherry Creek - I'd never made it here because I rarely went out to eat in Cherry Creek before the pandemic, and I never went out here after. But we were able to grab a table on their nicely renovated patio, and we caught up over burgers and fries. We also walked around some home goods stores in the area, and it was a really nice couple of hours to catch up (and to give Aunt B an update on the family china that she foisted upon me, which is safely ensconced in my basement but may not be on display anytime soon - or at least until I buy some sort of china cabinet to store it in).
After we parted ways, I took a long nap, and then spent the afternoon working in the bar. I got some good ideas for my book, which were reinforced by Aunt B showing me some videos of her bees (editor's note: Aunt B stands for Aunt Becky, not Aunt Beekeeper, but both are valid), so I spent some time playing around with that and also ordering some books on folklore. And there's nothing I like better than writing in a hotel bar, so this was v. good for me.
Eventually, I put the laptop away and walked around the block (literally) to meet Kelly at Quality Italian. I kind of half ghosted Kelly when I left Denver, since we're no longer coworkers and so she didn't get an official notice of my departure. But the half ghosting was unintentional, and we made up for it with a long and leisurely dinner. Quality Italian's name sounds like it is an old school pasta joint in a strip mall, but it's actually quality - we had an excellent meal, including shrimp cocktail, and I had a steak and brussels sprouts to avoid overly gluten-ing myself (although I couldn't resist the bread, which was #worthit). Kelly had a lobster rigatoni where the lobster was seared at the table, which was a delight. And the waiter offered us tastes of the wine we were choosing, which basically netted us an extra half glass each, which felt like I was back in the game in terms of scoring free alcohol.
So, needless to say, this was all delightful. We caught up on all sorts of life and work topics, and continued the convo over a final drink at my hotel bar, and are now seriously considering a work trip to Europe together next year. And that, of course, would be right up my alley, so we shall see.
But now, I need to unwind and go to bed - goodnight!
No comments:
Post a Comment