Yesterday I really wanted to eat at Petit Paris, that cute little French restaurant, and I even called Joe to ask him to be my date but the power went out because of that huge storm. And it stayed out until late afternoon, which meant all restaurants in Fairfield were closed and I had to go to Hy-Vee to buy an Amy’s entree to nuke here at our generator-powered office.

The storm was awesome. In the literal sense of the word. It was such a huge storm that the NWS warning said to “proceed indoors immediately and avoid the windows.” LISCO had to run its data center on generator power for the better part of six hours. (Yes, I was one of the very few people in town who could surf the ‘net. Hah! I love working at the Internet!)

When I got home last night, the power was still out in Batavia. There was nothing for Brett and I to do but go to bed early… so naturally, we did. *nudge, nudge, wink, wink*

The dogs started barking at 1:30 am, so I got up and looked out the window and saw flashlights along the front of our property. The power guys were there. Soon after the power came back on for about ten minutes, then it went back out. They didn’t get it restored again until about five this morning, judging from the time display on the digital clock in our bedroom when I dressed this morning for work.

Lunch was fantastic. I had a brie sandwich (French bread, brie, avocado, mayo, tomato, sprouts, and greens – yum) and the soup of the day (a delicious triple-cream vegetable soup). Joe and I split a dessert. I don’t know what it was called since I didn’t hear him order it, but it was a crepe with vanilla ice cream and boozy bananas in it, topped with chocolate ganache, chopped walnuts, and whipped butter. So good.

Josus, btw, is an excellent luncheon date. Should you ever find yourself in need of one, just go pick him up at work and take him somewhere for food. It’s just that easy.

We ran into Eli Place outside the restaurant, another adorable redheaded boy. (Isn’t it cute how their spots come out in the summer? God, I love me some redheads.) Eli chatted with us for a bit, then I drove Joe back to work, and then stopped by Wally’s to turn in my signed form for the hospital.

I am still congested, and pretty tired of it. I wake up every morning utterly snot-locked, and it takes a large glass of water and about half an hour before I can breathe. C’est la vie, I suppose. Especially for a girl who insists on eating nothing but dairy for lunch when she’s congested!