I want to say happy birthday to my friend Rachel, who has joined the club as a 30-something today. Having just turned 30 myself in August, I can attest that life feels no different. I still get carded. I gain weight at the same rate I did a year ago. And I still feel like life is flying by and I'm not accomplishing all the things I always thought I would by this age.

So on to the celebration: Last night our friend Gigi and I took Rachel to Cafe Med for a night of splurging. (Remember my past blog about where to drop a lot of money on dinner?) Well we each had two glasses wine, shared two appetizers and each ordered our own pasta dish and we still managed to only spend $130ish (including tip). I was so surpised at how low the bill was!

The food was scrumptious. Rachel ordered her favorite, a blue cheese pasta dish that is so rich yet so worth every single calorie. I had a nice, light cream of basil chicken dish. And Gigi ordered a pesto pasta dish. Also, we enjoyed a nice cheese platter and grape-leaf wrapped dolmades with our cabernets before the main meal. Yum!

The only two things I can complain about are these: Upon entering the restaurant, we walked in on Mer giving a cooking class, grinding up some sort of red meat and announcing "You don't want deer fat in your sausage, it'll make it taste like snap!." Yeah, that was welcoming.

The other complaint was the service. There were loooooong gaps between visits from the server. It took about 1/2 hour for the hors d'eavores to arrive. Then another 1/2 hour for our meals. And the server missed more than one opportunity to ask us if we wanted more wine. Maybe that was for the best. I ended up realizing this was a "dining experience," not a fast food joint, so maybe the waiting wasn't totally bad. But we did feel skimped on in the service department.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening catching up with good friends and indulging on great food. Thank you Rachel for having a birthday! And welcome to 30!

Last night my buddies Lydia and Matylda hatched an idea to go for a hike in the dark. So I tagged along, nostalgic for my days as a Girl Scout when we would go for night hikes and "listen" our way along the trails.

We drove into Hart Park around 7:15 p.m. As we pulled to the side of the road, a small group of feral cats appeared and sat patiently, expecting us to be some of those people who feed them. Behind the cats were two opposums nosing around, and somewhere in the shadows we spied the glowing eyes of a raccoon in the headlights.

The walk around the park was surreal. I'd never been there at night. We tried to pick out constellations, but the two we know (Big Dipper and Orion) were not in sight. We heard a loud cow mooing from a ranch across the river. We saw a giant oak leaning against a hillside -- Matylda said it looked like it was sleeping against a giant pillow. Toward the end of our walk, a group of six other people appeared ahead of us. We weren't the only ones with the idea!

After the walk, we drove down toward Highway 58 and stopped off at Bruce's truck stop, at the Scotsman Restaurant, for some pie and coffee. A giant truck wash stood across the street and made us wonder, how does one wash a big rig? My cherry pie a la mode was perhaps the best cherry pie I've ever had in my life. Lydia had berry pie and Matylda had French toast.

What an adventure we had last night! Who knew a Tuesday night in Bakersfield could be so interesting!

Yes, folks, I am still sanding! Last night I worked on the arch between the living room and the dining room and then started on one bench top.

The benches are in horrible condition. There are so many nicks and deep scratches. I can just imagine a little kid with a sharp toy banging on the bench top, making countless dents. It's taking a lot of work to sand out all those gouges. But I'm accomplishing it, little by little.

I sanded all day Sunday and for three hours last night after work. I plan to put in about three more hours tonight.

Just to give an idea of how laborious the sanding is, I spent about five hours just on the top lip of the baseboards around the room. I am not exaggerating.

But I went to Lowe's Sunday night and re-stocked my sandpaper supply. (Sandpaper is freaking expensive, by the way.) So I am all set. I'm still on track to have the wood sanded, stained and sealed by Halloween. Wish me luck.