i love date night!

September 6, 2009

NICU rundown
oh man, i forgot how hard it was to stay up all night! amazing how the mind works, since less than 2 months ago i was doing it every 4th night (and hating it). i suppose it’s probably built into our DNA to forget pain — otherwise, i can’t imagine that anyone would dare to get pregnant and give birth a second time, and the human race never would have made it this far! it’s also probably why so many of us can’t seem to stop running marathons. hmmm.

anyway, i thought that perhaps it would be easier to do just ONE night, but the hours between midnight and 4 am were still basically pure torture. in retrospect, though, it was definitely worth it. i have today (and tomorrow!) off, so there’s plenty of recovery time. i will be doing another shift in october, and i’m fine with that. see? the memories are already starting to fade!

fortunately for the babies of durham but unfortunately for me, not a single little one needed an endotracheal tube shoved into his or her airway! what is UP with these kids? don’t they know i need procedures? i went to every single delivery and every baby came out screaming like a banshee. this is GREAT, and makes me happy. but i NEED neonatal intubations. sigh.

i guess there’s always next time . . .

date night!
josh had the day (AND night — oh how generous, UNC!) off yesterday, and we had a fabulous night out on the town. instead of cocktails and dancing — that will have to wait until LADY GAGA in a few weeks — we headed out for some local flavors + culture.

at the nearby mall.

however, before you judge, let me clarify — we went to university mall, which is about as cultured and artistic as a mall can get. anchored by southern season, the stores in university mall for the most part tends towards on the eclectic and interesting side. there IS a chick-fil-a, but there are also multiple galleries and little shops selling handmade objets d’art.


a couple of weeks ago, i learned that there is also a theater company! yes, deep dish theater is nestled right next to bath and body works, but it is a real playhouse nonetheless. we saw tennessee williams’ summer and smoke, which is “a delicate drama of romantic yearning,” centered around an aging drama queen and a young, confused doctor. even in my sleepy state, i really enjoyed it and would definitely head out to deep dish again!

the stage’s centerpiece. rather romantic, don’t you think?

before we went to the theatre (drawl that out with a fancy english accent), we went to spice street. i had been there before, and had mixed feelings about the place, to be honest. it’s big and dramatically lit, but somehow never felt completely authentic to me for some reason. not that i need to feel like i’m on the mediterranean to enjoy a good hummus plate, but i don’t want to feel like i’m at McChain Restaurant, either.

however, we had a really lovely dining experience last night. the service was so good that the cavernous dining room felt homier than it had previously, and the food was SPOT on. i think part of that was a fantastic job ordering (if i do say so myself) so that the restaurant really had a chance to highlight its strengths. but i also wonder if they have a new chef, because i didn’t remember it being as good as it was last night! i would definitely go back, especially because the prices are reasonable and it’s super convenient (it’s also in the mall, which is a whopping 5 minutes from our apartment).

first, we started with some wine. even though i was tired post-call, the reds were calling my name! i enjoyed a glass of malbec which went well with the flavorful dishes. not pictured was some flatbread served with the wine, accompanied by a tasty roasted red pepper dip.

we ordered 4 things to share: a salad, a mezze plate, a flatbread (sort of a pizza), and a scallops appetizer. all were excellent! not pictured here (the photo was too blurry and didn’t pass muster!), the scallops were probably my favorite part. nicely crusted over and served with sauteed apples, the sweet/savory combo worked very well. i only wished that there were more of them (there were 3).

the salad we (fine, i) chose was the moroccan bibb lettuce salad, which featured dates, olives, almonds, manchego cheese, and a citrus dressing. i thought the dressing was a little too sweet, but otherwise the flavors melded wonderfully. i am a sucker for manchego cheese! they actually split this onto 2 plates without us even asking, which was a nice extra touch.


this flatbread pizza was quite generous in size — i had a hard time getting it into one shot! it was covered in nicely spiced lamb, cheese, and vegetables, and josh and i both loved it.


served with this was a mezze platter to share, including hummus, stuffed grape leaves (YUM), olives, eggplant spread, and more pita. basically the night was a pita-fest, which was fine with me! the hummus was creamy and delicious and the eggplant spread had an especially toasty flavor which we both liked. i can never turn down a good mezze platter, so i was glad we sampled this dish.


me, looking tired. but happy.


but not too tired for dessert! josh and i split tiramisu. this is one of our favorite things to order in restaurants, in part because HELLO it’s fabulous, but also because there are so many different interpretations. this one was classic and had lots of nice, decadent marscapone. two thumbs up (and forks licked clean).

it was a wonderful night with my (wonderful) man 🙂 i love date night!

running amuck
i headed out to run with the carolina godiva running group again today. i had a great 11 mile experience, and ran most of the way with a guy named jim who happened to run at my pace. as a middle school teacher/track coach in durham, he had a lot of stories to share about the kids he teaches. this interested me a lot as they are the same very high-risk, very gang-affiliated population of kids that i get to see in clinic, and the miles seemed to go by very quickly.

i was lucky he was there. not only did he find my key after i left it at the water stop (i didn’t even ask him to look — what an amazingly good samaritan!), but he saved me from getting lost in the woods because i was one of the slowest runners that showed up this week! most of the women were jess or susan-paced — ie, too fast for me. apparently there is a marathon training group on saturday that tends to attract that slower crowd! i may try to jump in with that group next week, but i’m not sure if it’s too late in the season to officially join.

we did 11 miles on trails (including some decent-sized hills) at an average of 8:55/mi pace and it felt really easy! even more exciting is the fact that i have NO PAIN ANYWHERE. i guess i’m officially marathon training now! even josh seems to accept it. now if i could only get him to come with me . . .

2 Comments

  • Reply claire March 10, 2019 at 7:29 pm

    hi sarah, (It&#39s Claire, you helped me find an apt in durham last spring.) I&#39ve been running with the godiva&#39s on saturday mornings. Yesterday I ran 11 miles between 9.15 and 9.30. There&#39s also a group before me that runs a bit faster. Come join us!

  • Reply Susan March 10, 2019 at 7:28 pm

    How dare those babies come out with a good set of lungs! Geez.

    Date night looks yummy…love good food. 🙂 I like the idea of ordering a bunch of stuff to share since you get to sample lots of stuff.

    I&#39d love to find a running group to connect with, but they all run at crazy times that don&#39t quite fit with the non 9-5 schedule. Time to do more searching and print up some of those business cards…I really liked the one you created!

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