Last weekend

Last weekend Dennis and I spent time meandering toward Southern Ohio and stopped in Dayton to visit Rachel and Nathan. The four of us ate at a nice chain restaurant called Carrabba's. Nathan and I ordered the Chicken Bryan which was grilled chicken with a layer of goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes on top. Mmmm... We also had bread with dipping oil, calamari, salad, and mini desserts. Quite good.

We stayed the night in their home and next day drove to Cincinnati and walked around a very large antique mall and then...

I've been wanting to go to an IKEA store for a very long time. I truly could spend the entire day and possibly all my future wages there. HUGE place! A venerable warehouse of stuff and ideas all wrapped up in an artful Swedish package. You can even eat there. While waiting in line at the check-outs with the other 100+ people who were also trying to check-out, Dennis bought a yummy frozen yogurt for me which I ate while waiting. It was very good and only $1.00!

This is what I bought:

I bought two of these to use as bedside lamps. They put me in mind of 1940s designer lamps. They are very cool and I got two for the price of less than one at any other store. I must say though that the bulb size was labeled incorrectly on ALL of the lamp boxes and thus we purchased two bulbs for over $6.00 which don't fit the lamps! Fortunately the actual bulb for the lamps is an easily found type and I was able to buy them at our local hardware!

We ate lunch at Benihana Japanese Steakhouse. We did the Hibachi experience and it was fun and delicious. (In case you don't know, that's when they cook on a griddle in front of you.) Dennis and I had the scallops with veg and fried rice. They brought us steaming mugs of green tea at the end. Very nice. Nathan's family joined us for lunch and his Dad, Larry, wore a paper version of a Japanese chef's hat throughout. It suited him.

We had a lovely trip and made it home Saturday evening with enough time to read a bit and settle down after traveling. Sunday was spent doing things here at home. Dennis worked on the "cut list" for the kitchen cupboards so he can purchase wood to start building the "carcasses." (Really! That's what they're called!) After visiting IKEA and looking at some of the hardware in their model kitchens, Dennis redesigned a corner cupboard and had to do a new list for that.

This weekend? Our niece, Tara's wedding. I'm going to help with cutting and serving the cake. Want some? I can fix you up.