A Wonderful Evening.

Talk about a great way to pre-celebrate Chinese New Year. I did a little shopping today since mom insisted I at the very least wear a new shirt for Chinese New Year. Thank goodness it's President's Day weekend so there was an abundance of sale events at the different malls. I ended up getting a shirt and that's what I'll be wearing to the Chinese New Year dinner tomorrow. I am not and have never been a huge fan of shopping, but it's been such a long since I've shopped that it was kind of fun. I got a couple of books for Lisa and Matthew. Lisa will be in town over the weekend and this is the first time I'll see her new baby boy, Matthew. A number of us who worked together at Drake will be having dinner on Monday night. I'm pretty sure we'll have fun catching up with one another. Panom and her kids will be joining us too. Talk about a pretty large gathering! Looking forward to it.

So, why was it a wonderful evening? Well, after Mass, I went to an Afghan restaurant for dinner. The restaurant has been open roughly a month now and I've been meaning to try it. The only other time I had Afghan food was in Chicago. I had an appetizer, soup and for my entree, I had lamb kebabs. Overall, the dining experience was good. I'll probably go back there again in the future to try other dishes. I try my best to support independent restaurants and how many of you can say you have an Afghan restaurant in your neighborhood or city?!

After dinner, Joel and I went to to a jazz concert and the performer was Diane Reeves. She won a Grammy last year for best jazz vocals and has been nominated for a number of Grammys over the years. She had an amazing and impeccable voice and that shone through over the course of the concert. Diane tours with a bassist, pianist and a drummer and they all do a wonderful job complementing one another. Like Joel said, the concert had a lot of improvisation and it reminded him of years gone by when he went to jazz bars in Detroit where he grew up. We and I can safely say, everyone in the audience were treated to a spectacular concert. When you stop to think about the fact that DM managed to reel in such a powerhouse artist, that just blows your mind! The concert definitely made my evening. Jazz concerts are not meant to be dissected. It's meant to be experienced - body and soul. That's how you appreciate jazz. Diane certainly got us in touch with ourselves! I left the concert beaming. Talk about a good way to ring in the new year. Yes, tomorrow is Chinese New Year! Yay!