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A few weeks ago, the kind people at Olive Garden sent me a $150 gift card so we could take friends and family to enjoy a nice meal out. Which was funny, because we had gotten two Olive Garden gift cards already for Christmas. Basically, we will be eating at Olive Garden for the remainder of 2012.

Not that I mind. I’m a big fan of Olive Garden!

In college, my BFF, Emily, and I used to eat their soup, salad, and breadsticks for lunch at least once a week. And Chris is a Fettuccine Alfredo junkie, and Olive Garden is his all-time favorite. Even Bean likes it. When we pulled into the parking lot for dinner one night, he looked at the sign and said, “We’re eating grapes for dinner?!?!”

The first night we tried to go to dinner, I’ll admit, it didn’t go well. We had a party of six, and we waited over an hour before we finally gave up and left. The wee ones in our group were gettin’ twitchy. We ended up going home and ordering pizza. Not to be deterred, we tried again a couple nights later with our friends, Sarah and Scott.

Sarah and I are old pros at Olive Garden. We used to go in college, too (apparently, I walked around looking for people to go to Olive Garden with me…). You can’t beat the AYCA soup, salad, and breadsticks deal!

Actually, they are getting ready to run another deal that might actually beat it. Starting January 23rd, for $12.95 you will be able to get soup or salad, one of five new entrees, and one of five Dolcini desserts. (Want to see all the delicious options available with Olive Garden’s 3 Course Italian Dinner? Visit olivegarden.com/specials)

In the past when Sarah and I have gone as poor college students, it was usually just the two of us and occasionally a random boy or two to accompany. But this time, it was kind of a different scene…

Isn’t it funny how that happens over time? It never ceases to amaze me. We started our meal with an appetizer of Bruschetta, one of my all-time favorite appetizers. And I love Olive Garden’s because they bring the tomatoes on the side and you build your own at the table, so it’s not all mushy. This is CRUCIAL to perfect bruschetta. Trust me. I have sampled thousands in my pursuit of perfection.

Bean and Gracie started with a sampler platter of blue Play-Doh. Although, both of them ate their weight in breadsticks, I must confess. Any time I’d stop feeding Gracie, she’d start flapping her arms in the general direction of the bread basket, knocking over anything between her and the bread. Clearly, she is of my loins (ew, I said loins!). (Speaking of loins, please ignore my man-like features in this picture. I didn’t want to be the weirdo with the camera at the restaurant, and so I insisted we use Chris’s camera phone, which now I regret, as I look like a man in every picture.)

After appetizers, we dug into our meals. As always, Olive Garden did not disappoint. Sarah had Ravioli with Portabella Mushrooms. I’m not a fan of mushrooms myself, but she said it was delicious.

Scott had the Tour of Italy. I swear, every time I go to Olive Garden with people, someone always orders this. It’s a crowd pleaser: a taste of this and a taste of that. For a taste of everything, it sure is a lot of food!

Chris had his favorite, Chicken Alfredo, because he’s like a fifth grader when we go out to eat and orders the same thing every time. (I love you, sweetie…)

And I had something I’d never tried before: Shrimp Caprese. It was diiiiiivinnnnnne. I love shrimp, and the sauce for this was perfect. It was light and delicious, but still hearty enough to sop up with (what else?) breadsticks. And – bonus! – it was awesome reheated the next day for lunch!

Even Bean Man had a delightfully Italian meal of mac ‘n cheese. Gracie, too. And they shared some grapes, which thrilled Bean because he had predicted that we would eat grapes at Olive Garden! But seriously, they have a great kids menu!

Dinner was a lot of fun. I think we were there for almost two hours. The kids had a great time, we had fantastic service from a lovely waitress who laughed at all my lame jokes, and the atmosphere was comfortable and homey. We even sat at a big round table, just like in my kitchen when I was growing up!

In fact, we had such a good time, we went crazy and ordered this amazing dessert! It was a trio of dessert “shots,” and let me tell you that the caramel chocolate cake/brownie/thingy was to DIE FOR! I drooled. Really. Sarah liked this amaretto tiramisu number that tasted like almond clouds. If I hadn’t been up to my eyeballs in caramel, I might have had more of that one. Chris, knowing better than to fight the womenfolk for dessert, stuck with the straight chocolate cake with this mousse on top that was thick and creamy and rich. Or, so I heard. Chris isn’t very good at sharing.

It had been a while since I’d been to an Olive Garden and I’m so glad that I was able to go back and remind myself how awesome it is to have a restaurant that can grow with you from your skinny salad-only days of college up through the years when you fill your dinner table with babies. It’s nice to know that some places stay the same. That’s comfort food to me.

Olive Garden and BlogHer are generously offering a $100 gift card to one lucky blog reader so that they, too, can experience a fun, comforting meal with friends and family. To enter to win, leave a comment below telling me who you would take with you to a big dinner out on the town and why.

Rules: No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods: a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 1/23/12 – 3/18/12.

Also, visit the Olive Garden page on BlogHer.com to check out the other blogger reviews and more chances to win!

310 comments | posted in Giveaways, Marriage Confessions, Reviews | tags:

When I first saw the trailer for the new Dolly Parton/Queen Latifah movie, “Joyful Noise,” I will admit my first thought was not of my mother.

At first glance, my mom and I would seem to have little to do with this movie, mostly because neither of us is a vocally-gifted Black woman with an attitude nor a petite, Southern, white woman with large…eyes.

But I spent the past weekend with my family, celebrating Christmas a little early, and I got to spend some time with my mom. After being with her for a few days and then watching the trailer again, I started to see some very clear similarities.

First, much like Madame Dolly Parton and Lady Queen Latifah, my mom and I are very different in a lot of ways. She sends out color-coded, bar-graphed schedules of family functions at her house (sometimes even when they aren’t at her house), while I am lucky if I remember to go grocery shopping before a family function at our house.

She is one of the most creative, crafty people I’ve ever met. She can sew, crochet, paint, and create just about anything. I, on the other hand, have seen bowls of paint shrivel up and dry at my mere presence and have single-handedly destroyed simple crafts made for the 3-10 year old age bracket.

We also handle our emotions differently. Mom was diagnosed with cancer a couple years ago, battled through it, and is now healthy again, all with no more than two words about the whole ordeal. On the other hand, I get a cold and feel the need to call everyone I know, put it on Facebook for all those people I used to know, and then blog about it to all those people that I don’t even know.

However, just like Ms. Parton and Ms. Latifah’s characters in “Joyful Noise,” my mom and I are united most strongly by our similarities.

My mom is, hands down, the best mom I know. Like me, she was a working mom while I was growing up, but I never remember her working (though she is now a Vice President at a major banking corporation, so I’m sure she was working her arse off at the time).

All I remember about her working is our ride to school every day. I remember she would ALWAYS get into the car and then raise herself up to rearrange her skirt or dress so it wouldn’t wrinkle (in fact, when I do this occasionally in my own car, I always think of her). Then she’d drive my sister and me to school, talking to us about our schedules or activities that day, while balancing a full-to-the-brim cup of coffee while she drove.

When she wasn’t at work, my mom’s attention was always on her family. I never noticed the presence of her work life at home. As a working mom myself now, I understand how hard that must have been for her to achieve, and yet she seemed to do it so effortlessly.

I’m working on finding that balance in my own life, and I’m thankful I have her example to follow.

My mom and I are also similar in that neither of us are pack rats. You won’t find boxes of old, meaningful trinkets in either of our houses. In fact, BOTH our husbands would tell you that we throw everything away, even things we probably need. On the surface, it’s because neither of us like useless junk laying around.

But on a deeper level, I think it’s probably because neither of us dwell in the past much-my mom because she chooses not to. I don’t because I have the memory of a goldfish.

My mom and I live in the moment, in the today. We build glorious plans for the future (which, we both realize, may or may not actually come to fruition), but we aren’t really the kinds of people who will sit around talking about things that happened years ago.

On one hand, I love this about both of us because we are able to move forward, move on, and move up. But on the other hand, neither of us is very good at keeping in touch with old friends. We focus on the here and now, and while we are grateful for the experiences that have shaped us, we don’t really feel the need to dwell on them or relive them.

Both my mom and I believe the best is always yet to come.

When I teach, I tell my students that when you compare and contrast two things, you are able to really learn about them and from them.

That’s true for my relationship with my mom, too. We have so many similarities and differences, and yet there are so many things that I am still learning from her.

I feel like each new chapter in my life opens a whole new world of understanding I have about my mom. When I became a wife, I began to learn about and understand what a gift her own strong marriage to my dad was to my sister and me. When I became a mom, I began to learn and understand the things my mom must have truly sacrificed through the years to give me the steadfast, secure, and happy childhood that I had. And as my own two babies get bigger every day, I am learning and understanding a little more about how hard it must be at times to be the parent of adult children and to have watched your daughters grow so quickly, right before your eyes.

“Joyful Noise” is, yes, about a church choir and singing and young love and old rivals, but I think you would be missing out on the real meaning of the movie if that’s all you see.

It strikes a certain “note” with me (see what I did there???) about the ties that bind us to the important women in our lives and how important it is to surround ourselves with strong women who are both similar and distinctly different than ourselves. Through those similarities and differences, we learn from each other.

And I’m so thankful that my teacher is my mom.

Is there an inspirational woman in your life who has changed your world for the better? I’d love to know about her and how she has helped shape you as a person. Tell me about her in the comments section below!

****** Joyful Noise opens in theaters on January 13. For more information and to see the movie trailer, you can visit the official Joyful Noise Site, the movie’s Facebook page or follow Warner Bros. Pictures on Twitter. Also check out the BlogHer.com Joyful Noise page to see what other bloggers thought of the movie.

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21 comments | posted in Family, Giveaways, Marriage Confessions, Reviews | tags: Joyful noise, mothers, movies, women

Hey guys!Â A few weeks ago, bodycology sent me their latest products to review, the Rich and Creamy Body Wash and Lotion.Â It’s like a spa in a bottle and I am officially addicted.Â Head on over to my MC Reviews website today and enter to win an awesome bodycology Gift Basket!

Also, if you’re in the do-good state of mind today, I’d love to ask for your help for a friend of mine from church.Â Her daughter has just been diagnosed with Rett Disease, a rare neurological disorder that means she will be dependent on her parents for the rest of her life.Â This is such a sweet family and a diagnosis like this is beyond belief.Â But, true to form, they are rallying around their daughter and are looking for ways they can make her life a little easier.Â And there’s actually something YOU can do to help them!Â The International Rett Syndrome Foundation has entered to win a charity contest sponsored by the Vivint Gives Back Project.

Here’s how it works:

1.Â Go to the Vivint Gives Back Project page on Facebook by clicking here.

2.Â Then, head over to the Vivint Gives Back Project homepage by clicking here.

3.Â Next, scroll down the page until you see the list of charities you can vote for.Â If you’re so inclined to help a sweet family that you don’t know, choose charity #4 – the International Rett Syndrome Foundation.

4.Â Once you read a little about the disease and the foundation, scroll to the bottom of that page and click VOTE.Â (My picture is gray and says “Voted,” but yours will be orange and will say “Vote.”)

5.Â Finally, be sure to publish your vote to your Facebook page so that you can encourage your friends and family to go vote for the International Rett Syndrome Foundation.

Thanks so much for your help!Â The Rett Foundation is so close to finding a cure for this disease and with your help, that might be possible in my sweet, little friend’s lifetime.

Now, you all have done your good deed for the day.Â Class dismissed!

7 comments | posted in Giveaways, Marriage Confessions, Random | tags: bodycology, International Rett Syndrome Foundation, Vivint Gives Back Project

Hey guys,

Today I’m blogging over on my Confessions of a Young Married Couple Reviews website for BlogHer. Head over to see how I spent a $50 Walgreens gift card and to enter to win a $100 Walgreens gift card of your own!