New Year's Eve - Sushi Style

Tonight was the last night of 2009...the last night of this decade! It's hard to believe. It doesn't seem like that long ago that we were talking about Y2K. 2009 was a great year for our family and with some big events on the horizon...we know that 2010 will be a memorable year for us too.

To celebrate the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010, we went out to dinner with Jason (who works with Mike) & Ines. They ganged up with Mike and decided (behind my back) that we would be going to dinner at a Sushi restaurant. I had never had sushi before...and in the past I told Mike that it was something that I had no desire to try. Mike likes to encourage me to try new things and I guess he figured I wouldn't complain about it as much if we were with another couple.

When we pulled up in the parking lot, Jason & Ines pulled out hats for all of us to wear. Yes, it was only 5:00 pm and no one else in the restaurant looked ready to party...but we still wore our hats with pride.

It was kinda funny to be the only ones in the restaurant wearing the New Years hats. Several people stopped by our table to wish us a "Happy New Year".

Since I'd never been to a sushi restaurant before, I let the others order for me. The appetizers were delicious (veggies and pork...no raw fish...whew!). For dinner they ordered me the Incredible Roll. I was so thankful when I found out that it comes cooked. When I thought of eating sushi, I had envisioned me holding a raw fish by the tail (the fish staring me in the eyes) and slurping it down my throat whole. (Made you shiver...didn't it!?) Can you imagine how excited I was when I learned that you don't have to eat raw fish? Of course, I don't know if the sushi guru's would count the cooked stuff as sushi...but since we were eating strange (to me) food at a sushi restaurant...it counts in my books!

Here's me getting ready for a bite. I'm still unsure. Did I mention that I'm not a big fan of trying strange, new foods?!

In addition to serving strange food, the sushi restaurant doesn't even give you American utensils! Not only was I being watched for my reaction to the first bite...but everyone staring at me made it a little harder to keep hold of the bite with the chopsticks.

I finally did it. It wasn't so bad after all. In fact, I kinda liked it! Now, I'm not saying that I'd choose sushi over On the Border or Johnny Carino's...but liking it is a good start.

Me and the love of my life.

After dinner we went to Starbucks for coffee and dessert. We talked until a little after 8 pm and then headed home to our kids.

Daddy Steve and Namaw were watching our boys at our house and already had them in bed when we got home (well...Barrett was asleep, but Brody was watching Daddy Steve who had fallen asleep in Brody's room while telling him a bedtime story. Brody wasn't too happy with me when I woke Daddy Steve up. He wanted him to sleep in his bed all night long!) Daddy Steve and Namaw stayed and watched a movie with us. The movie ended at 11:58 pm...just in time to switch to live TV and watch the year change from 2009 to 2010.

What a great end to a great year. Thank you, Lord, for all the blessing of 2009.