Blame it on the Bossa Nova

Yesterday was unintentionally a Brazilian themed day. When I got up in the morning, I packed all of my things together and headed over to mom and dad's house. Since Jeff was there, I decided it was the best place to spend the daylight hours. I brought my laptop so I could get a little bit of work done, and I actually did design an advertisement while I was there.

Somewhere after noon, Danny needed a nap. Dad was already dozing off in a recliner, and Mom was saying she could use some rest, as well. Jeff decided the two of us should head out for a cup of coffee, and he specifically wanted to find a non-Starbucks location. 

There has been a Cafe Brazil on the northbound side of 75 across form SMU as long as I can remember, and that ended up being our spot. We had obnoxious coffee:

We drove around a little more and wound up heading past Richland Community College on the way back. Neither of us had seen the new construction, but we'd both launched our post-secondary education there. We decided to pull in and see the new buildings. One was called Thunderduck Hall. Wonderful. 

We had a pretty good afternoon, and we got back to the house in time for everybody to get ready for the evening. Jeff and Danny had plans to go to The House of Blues for a show. Jeff got the tickets for Christmas, and that was the whole motivation for the trip. 

I popped into my parents bathroom in casual clothes and emerged in a little black dress. Yesterday was my big one-year celebration with Cas. 

My gift had arrived just in time. 

You probably can't tell, but the M&Ms are personalized. 

I've never had my face on candy before. We had a little time before our reservation, so we had a bit of candy and a bottle of Prosecco. We had each bought one. Funny. When we got to Fogo de Chao, it was just about the perfect way to close out the day. We ate way too much food and agreed that it would have been a terrible place for a first date. 

The Brazilian steakhouse concept features "cowboys" walking the restaurant with meat on metal skewers. They cut off portions at your table if the meat they're carrying interests you. On a first date, as we were a year ago, neither of us would have been willing to display the gluttony necessary to take full advantage of the situation. We're officially a year into this relationship, and we both knew to show up hungry and hold nothing back. In light of that, we chose to take a photo before we went to gorge ourselves:

Afterwards, we probably looked stuffed and exhausted.

The joke is that you go to a place like that with the intent to get the most for your dollar. You try to beat the system, or beat the meat, but in the end, the meat always beats you. We were beat by the meat. 

Today is Mother's Day, and Cas is heading to church and brunch with Jeanne at 11. I'm invited, and I would go if the whole thing started earlier, but I think an 11 am start to the service would make brunch begin after noon, and I have to be with my own mother. I'm sure that, as a mother herself, Jeanne would understand. But for now, I really need a shower and some fresh clothes.

Now that we're done with the oddly Brazilain-themed day, it's time to enjoy Mother's Day.