Girl's Night Out

The girl's and I had a great time last night at the Miley Cyrus concert.

As you can see below, the girls were VERY excited to get there.

The favorite moment of the evening was when Miley strapped herself onto this Harley and went "flying" around the audience, while singing "I Love Rock-n-Roll". The girls were shocked that I knew all the words to this "new" song.

It was loud, there was screaming - a LOT of screaming, but the girls had a blast. And actually, Miley put on a very entertaining show.

Jake got to spend the evening (and have some great 1-on-1 time) with Grandma & Grandpa Heywood. They ate dinner at Cafe Rio, then Grandpa took him to the movies to see "9". Thanks mom & dad!

Opening Night

We made it! Communal opened this evening. Everything was beautiful and the food was delicious. The restaurant opens to the public on Friday evening. You'd better get in line early.

Jacob unfortunately woke up this morning with the stomach flu, so grandpa stayed home with him so we could all go and enjoy the opening. Suz & Ryan were there too, but somehow I managed to get through the evening without a picture of them!

My goal was to photograph all of our food, but as you'll see, that didn't last long. Every dish look so yummy that more often than not, we were half-way done before we'd realized we forgot to take a picture.

The charcuterie plate:

The halibut:

The flat-iron steak:

And that's it for food pictures, so I'll just tell you what else we had.

1. Charcuterie
2. Mixed greens with roasted peaches and toasted almonds
3. Heirloom tomato salad
4. Seared scallops with a cherry tomato relish
5. Halibut w/a delish sauce
6. Flat iron steak with a savory butter
7. Fingerling potatoes roasted in rock salt w/lemon aioli
8. Potato gratin
9. Potato puree
10. Roasted orange & yellow squash
11. Chocolate caramel tart
12. Butterscotch pot de creme
13. Peach pandowdy

I know. We were very spoiled. Sitting in between Amanda and mom was hilarious. When the chocolate tart arrived, they were both in chocolate heaven.


Colton & Joseph at work...
...and flashing their "we did it!" smiles...

Amanda & Casey were there:

Grandma & her gorgeous grand-daughters:

Brian & Joseph:

The calm before the storm:

Cleaning up after our feast:

Communal. So good.

Isn't it weird how music can bring you back instantly to another time in your life? Tonight on the way to mom & dad's for dinner, Joseph & I were listening to "Rent"(don't worry, I turned the volume down in the the appropriate places.)

We were such dorks in the car belting out every word of every song. Sophie kept yelling at us to turn it down, even though she was listening to her ipod. Then we started talking about all the times we saw it. And how great it was that we were able to see the closing night performance.

Then I started thinking about Harvey, and how he was the person who first took me to see this musical. And then I felt kind of sad. I miss Harvey. It's pretty much the best boss/friend ever that takes his team to see "Rent" in San Francisco for "team-building".

When I got home tonight and checked my email something freaky happened. I got an email from Harvey. I know, impossible, right? Actually it was from "Harvey & Kian Frank" asking me to connect with them on Plaxo. But Harvey's picture popped right up when I logged on to Plaxo.

I like to think that Harvey enjoyed our little concert in the car this evening.

Love you Harvey!

Picture day.

School picture day is almost as hectic as the first day school (for the girls, at least). Last night the girls spent hours, literally hours, trying on outfits and then minutes later changing their minds. I kept reminding them that it didn't matter what they wore on the bottom half of their bodies... just pick out a cute shirt! Once the shirts had been decided, the dilemma of accessories came next. You'll see they both settled on the oh-so-trendy-scarf as the accessory of choice. Then came the need to wake up extra early so hair could be curled and lip gloss could be applied. There's definitely something to be said for boys. Jake threw on his favorite brown t-shirt, ran his fingers through his hair and was done.

These pictures are proof positive that they all left the house looking picture ready. I'll post their actual school pictures when we get them back in a few weeks.

Dinner Club

On the last Tuesday of every month, Pizzeria 712 hosts a "Dinner Club". Occasionally, if there is space, I bring the kids down for a delicious meal. This is what July's dinner club was all about.

Remember how Jake loves to ruin every picture I take?

Well, here's Emma's payback.

Seared sea scallop with sea beans, tomato confit, heirloom tomatoes and corn. Yum.

Flat iron steak with a butter sauce that was to die for. On the side was roasted veggies in a cute little packet.

I forgot to take a picture of the cheese course, probably because, you know, I think cheese is basically gross.

I also forgot to take picture of our dessert before we ate them, so you'll just have to trust me, it was good.

The menu is never the same at the dinner club, and reservations are a must. If you get a chance, give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

Things are moving right along.

Construction is moving along quickly on the new restaurant. The tentative opening date is September 22nd. We stopped by the other night with my parents to take a look.

Notice the piles of beautiful reclaimed wood flooring here.

The floors are being installed tonight!

The windows in this building are stunning:

The outside of the building. The corner location is perfect.

I'll post some pictures of the completed floor next week.