Back from the dead, so to speak

I'm back. I have no excuse for my hiatus other than being consumed with life and being under the weather.

On Monday of last week, I spent close to four hours trying to find a sitter so that Scott and I could go see Daniel Lanois at The Earl. We found out about the show very last minute and since most of our sitters are high school kids, I knew none of them would be able to come out on a Tuesday night and stay until midnight or later. The effort was worth it and at the very last minute, I found an Agnes Scott student who was free and didn't charge an arm and a leg.

It was worth it. We ate at a hole in the wall Mexican place in East Atlanta and then strolled over to The Earl. The opening act was called Telegram and we saw their last two songs, the latter of which was brilliant. I need to look them up.

Lanois was great, though he played a lot of new stuff that hasn't been recorded yet. The best of those was one he played during the encore. It was called Nomad and it rocked a little more that some of the other stuff. I was hoping to hear more off Shine, but still it was a great show. If you're not familiar with his music, check him out. Of course, if you saw Slingblade, you've heard his music. Some of the music most associated with that movie is Lanois's.

We also had a sitter previously booked for Friday so we could do dinner and a movie. Unfortunately, it turned into dinner and food poisoning. We ate at a Cuban restaurant that we have enjoyed in the past, though both of us on separate occasions have gotten sick after eating there and just wrote it off to undercooked beans or eating too much, etc. This time, there was little room for doubt that the Tito's mama's empanadas were the culprit. After deciding that there were no movies we wanted to see, we drove around Atlanta looking at all our old haunts from our single days and comparing stories. I felt sicker by the minute, but didn't have the heart to tell Scott I needed to go home. So, we ended up going to Manuel's for a drink. Manuel's was one of the first bars I went to Atlanta and remains a favorite now that I'm thirtyish and fit in there better than anywhere else. Not that we go to bars. Ever. But, it seemed like somethng to do. I drank half a bourbon and Coke and boy, was that a mistake. I felt light-headed and woozy immediately. We drove about 10 minutes toward home when I had to ask Scott to pull over so I wouldn't hurl in the car. I feel really bad for whoever parks in Reserved Parking space #2 at Emory Law School. Although, fortunately, it rained later that night, so I'm sure it was all washed away by Monday.

By the time we got home, I had a 103 degree fever and chills. I'm still feeling pretty yucky and wondering how much longer this can last. Fortunately, neither Scott nor Brendan has succumed to this, leading me to feel pretty certain it really is food posioning and not a virus.

Happy days to you all! Hope you all feel far better than I do right now!