A couple weeks ago Xan and I met a friend at Al’s Place. It was named America’s best new restaurant in 2015 by Bon Appétit. So, of course there’s been a lot of buzz. Usually, when a restaurant or something else is name best “whatever” we try and stay away. The crowds and wait times over shadow whatever to-die-for thing you’re going for in the first place. The plan started innocently enough. All 3 of us are part of a larger dinner party group who scheduled an event for that evening, but then it was re-scheduled for a later date. We all had that evening free, what could we do with it? Sit at the bar and eat French fries at Al’s Place, right?? For weeks we claimed all we would do is get fries at the bar and move along. Ha, yeah right! By the time we were in line to get in we had all agreed that if we could get a table we would stay for a full meal. “We’ll probably never come back – we might as well go for it” we said to ourselves. And that’s exactly what we did.

This year’s Super Bowl has several layers. You’ve probably already heard (or if you’re completely sports-unaware like me, maybe you haven’t) the super bowl is being held at Levi’s Stadium where the San Francisco 49’ers play. San Francisco is hosting a whole week of free events in what they call “Super Bowl City.” Super Bowl City is just steps from my office and is a swath of the city that has been barricaded off and can only be entered through metal detectors, long lines, and security checks. It’s a really big event and causing a lot of disruption to most of the locals. However, it is kind of cool to be apart of something so big. It’s got that buzzy team spirit you feel at a live sporting event.

Yeah, I realize it’s almost February. But, our New Year’s cards landed on doorsteps last week and now I can share without ruining the surprise. The first year we were married I really wanted to do a holiday card. Being freshly married babies in a new city the budget for that year’s card for tiny. I mean next to nothing. If you asked Xan he would have said there was no budget for it, but it was really important to me so we compromised on something in the middle.

Full disclosure: I’ve never cared much for the idea of Vegas. I can’t keep up with the party girl lifestyle and the thought of staying up all night sends chills down my spine.  But, Xan had to go for work and so; the opportunity to go for pretty cheap presented itself. When you live on the east coast going to Vegas is a big deal. It’s an all day flight each way. So, you’re not just going for a night or two. I’ve never wanted to invest that much time or money in it. This seemed like the perfect way to get a little taste of Vegas without having to commit too much time/energy/money/life/etc. I’m actually really glad we went. For one, it was a fun weekend date (ever since Dev and Rachel had a weekend date in Nashville on Master of None I’ve been wanting to do the same thing). Two, because it was one of those obligatory things to check off the list that I didn’t think I cared about, but actually found interesting.