EVIL STARE!!!

On April 28th, it was Take Your Child To Work Day.

My kids LOVE going to work with Jason...they love getting the back of the house tour...they love getting to taste sauces and simple syrup (Brigham even tried to order a whole glass of it to drink!! YECH!!), and they love wearing ties all day...just like Daddy.

See? There's Daddy in the background, opening the restaurant for the day...

 This year, Nicolette couldn't go, because the school wouldn't recognize an absence for this activity for anyone under the age of 8...and she was VERY sad. But then she learned that Dr. Sponer, her kindergarten teacher, would have a special visitor at school that day...her own daughter, who just HAPPENS to be named "Nicolette" (I think the name is why OUR Nicolette was placed in Dr. Sponer's class in the first place...she is apparantly the FIRST Nicolette Dr. Sponer has ever had. We LOVE Dr. Sponer...and couldn't be happier with the coincidence). So, Nicolette was very excited to meet Nicolette...if that makes any sense.

And the kids told her they'd bring her back a treat.

Which is really all she wanted anyway.

After the tour and office work, I came to pick them up, and we all got to sit down for some of the Grand Lux's signature desserts...

Savannah chose the Cupcake Collision...which is A LOT of cake and ice cream...

She thought she could handle it...

Brigham ALSO got a Cupcake Collision, and still managed to still eat one of my chocolate-covered bananas from my Banana Wafer Pudding. Joseph indulged in a Creme Brulee Duo, and Kate blissfully enjoyed her White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake (plus managed to polish off Josephs leftovers).

Needless to say, everyone was sugared out.

Ya know...I have to say something about Kate here..and how proud I am of her. She is currently studying for 6 AP tests, her second round of SAT's, her first round of ACT's, and staying after school until 6pm everyday to rehearse for her upcoming COTA performance, in which she has several bit parts and sings 2 solos...one as the Nightingale from the Emperors Nightingale, and "Time to Say Good-bye" by Sarah Brightman...in ITALIAN, no less.

All that on top of normal seminary, school work, church activities, and starting her own non-profit organization to sew absorbent pads for the bottom of cages at animal shelters.

She's pretty cool...

And I totally thought this day would be a nice break for her. But Jason told me that rather than take the tour AGAIN (because she's done this for many years, now)...she commandeered a booth and crammed for her AP Art History Exam . No rest for the soon-to-be-Senior, I guess...

But Kaitlyn isn't the only amazingly talented member of my family...

Brigham has been working very hard, too...

...he has been perfecting his new signature look...

The EVIL STARE!!!!

The Free World Beware...Global Domination has a new face...

...and it's WEIRD...

Husbands' Triumph

I've been so busy these last couple weeks...moving in and painting my new house. It's been a big job...and I'm not quite finished. But somewhere in those last couple weeks, my husband flew to Las Vegas to attend a conference for all the General Managers of The Cheesecake Factory and The Grand Lux Cafe.

They have a lot of classes and lectures, guest speakers and award ceremonies. One of the most impressive is where they announce the Restaurant of the Year. They award one Cheesecake Factory and one Grand Lux Cafe the honor. There are several criteria the restaurants have to meet to even be nominated...and I won't bore you with details...but it is a accumulation of sales, profit, attrition, customer service scores, cleanliness scores, mystery shop scores, etc. etc. Each Regional Manager picks a store from his region that he thinks should be nominated. All the stores are presented to the Board of Directors, and they are fought for and whittled down until about 5 Cheesecakes and 2 Grand Luxs remain. The remaining stores are presented and fought for again, and then everyone leaves except the Board, who make the final decision on the winners. No one except the Board...not even David Overton, the founder and owner of The Cheesecake Factory Inc., know the decision until it is awarded.

So at the Award Dinner, Jason found out that his restaurant had been nominated along with the Las Vegas #1 location. Now keep in mind that just getting nominated is a HUGE honor...especially for Sawgrass Grand Lux. See, Sawgrass was opened during the Katrina aftermath. Business was so bad that they couldn't even open the entire restaurant. It has struggled ever since. A lot of managers have gone there to "turn it around" and burnt out in a few months. Then they called in a rookie GM...my hubby. In three years, he's helped the store turn completely around until they actually got nominated for Restaurant of the Year.

Jason knew that he wouldn't win against Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a beast...it's the busiest restaurant in the entire United States. It's open 24 hours, and pulls in almost $28 million a year. To give you some perspective...Jasons store makes about $10 million a year. A super busy Cheesecake Factory (the kind with 2-hour waits on a Friday or Saturday night) makes between $16-$18 million a year. So Las Vegas has a real strong pull...sometimes it's been credited with pulling the entire company out of the bowels of the recession.

Besides the competition, Jason was just really excited to be NOMINATED. So imagine his surprise when the announced the Restaurant of the Year for 2009 as Sawgrass Mills...HIS restaurant.

He did it. He actually BEAT Vegas.

EVERYONE was totally shocked. But no one more than him...except maybe the GM of Vegas. I guess he had a hard time picking his jaw up off the floor after he heard that they'd lost to Sawgrass.

So - for winning...the store got a very nice plaque.

And Jason got a cool crystal cheesecake (which is the size of a real piece of Cheesecake).

Personally, I think there should be $$ involved...ya' know...a nice, big bonus check. But what do I know?

One of the perks of being a GM with The Cheesecake Factory Inc. is the company car...a BMW 325i. All the GMs get one...and it's upgraded every 36 months. It just so happens that Jasons 36 month mark was THIS month, September, so he got a new car. He got to pick the color and interior...and he went with jet black and tan leather. It was delivered right after he got home from the Conference...a brand new 2009 BMW 325i with just 21 miles on it...and although he would have gotten it even if he HADN'T won...it was still nice to come home to a new car.

I gotta admit...it's pretty sharp. I like it better than the old one...mostly 'cause this one has an iPod dock. So if you see a jet black Beamer streakin' down the freeway...look close to see if I'm driving it...I'll be looking for every excuse possible to leave the minivan behind and take that baby for a ride...

I just can't get enough of that new car smell...

I'm Going To Cry (But Someone Else Is Going to Eat)...

My computer is (once again) at Best Buy.

I HATE Best Buy. Have you noticed that the Geek Squad pictures posted above their (falsely-named) "Service Desk" show the Geek Squad hanging around a table with coffee, or laughing in the break room. When I first saw those pictures, I thought it was an advertising attempt to help the IT guys look less "geek-y", and more like everyday Joe's.

Now I realize it's just an accurate representation of what they do all day.

They have the WORST customer service EVER...and I am MORE than frustrated about losing my computer. I mean...here I am on the brink of another week where I'm supposed to start Summer School...and my computer is GONE. I even missed the announcing of the winner of my Grand Lux Cafe Giveaway!!

By the way...Random.org generated the number "10" as the winner...and the 10th comment is a Ms. Laura Harvey!! Congratulations Laura!!! Her comment said:

"I'm a follower too!"

(And don't worry about the 48 hour thing...since MY COMPUTER fudged the deadline...you're off the hook about responding that fast).

Keep posted for next months giveaway...it'll be beautiful (or at least help you FEEL beautiful!!)

Anyway - I have lots more to post about...but since I've hijacked a friends computer to even do THIS MUCH, I'm going to have to wait and pray that mine is returned to me SOON!!!!

Love you guys!!

And Congratulations, Laura!!!

Father's Day

Only a month or so ago, I wrote about Mother's Day. If you missed that post, then you can view it here. But don't feel like you have to click right over and read it. It's not very uplifting.

For those of you who have already read it, I want you to realize that I'm not an across-the-board holiday-hater. In fact...I love most holidays. I'm very discriminatory about the ones that I can do without.

I can usually find some way to have fun for even the random, obscure holidays. Like Casimir Pulaski Day.

Anyway - another holiday is approaching that celebrates the noble calling of parenthood, and that holiday is Father's Day. Father's Day doesn't cause as much angst and chaos in my house as Mother's Day does. For one thing, my hubby doesn't have insecurity issues. And for another...not as many people go out to eat on Father's Day as they do on Mother's Day. I'm not really sure why that is...is it because we take Moms out because they traditionally cook all the time, and a dinner gives them a break? Don't Dad's like to go out too?

I don't know the answer, but I guess on Mother's Day people go out, and on Father's Day people grill big juicy steaks. Go figure.

I could write about how great MY dad is (but that might make some of you wonder why I didn't write how great my Mom is...just so you know, they're both THE BOMB). Or I could write about my wonderful father-in-law (who we lost in 1994 after a decade-long battle with brain cancer, at the much-too-young age of 53). But I'm going to write about another guy...my husband.

I am ridiculously crazy in love with my husband. He is my very best friend, and my most trusted confidant. We'll have been married a dozen years (yikes!! Time flies in the jungle!!), and I am more addicted to him now than I ever have been.

Did I mention that he is HOT?!?!

I guess you probably knew that. How else do you get five kids?

He is THE BEST daddy...every spare minute he has is spent with our kids. This Saturday he has a very rare day off, and he has divided the day into blocks so he spend one-on-one time with each one of our five children doing something that THEY like. And he's super excited about it.

Jason is a very hard worker, and takes the responsibilities of providing for his family seriously. He is often working 70-85 hours a week. He gets up every morning at 4:45 am and takes our oldest daughter to early morning Seminary, and then he drives her to school in the next city over. Sometimes after that, he goes straight to work, arriving around 7:30 am. Sometimes, if he has a later day, he drops her off and heads to the gym. Jason is addicted to the gym. It's his stress relief. Then he'll go to work after that. He arrives at work around 10am on those days. He gets home around 11pm on most nights, sometimes as late as 1 or 2am on weekends. He can only take Mondays or Tuesdays off...but often there are meetings on those days, so he has to go in anyway. Or a holiday, such as Memorial Day or Labor Day, are on Mondays, and he has to be there. So he doesn't get a lot of time at home...but he makes sure that the time he has COUNTS.

Sometimes he'll be sitting on the floor in the girls room with My Little Ponys spread all over his lap and Nicolette is sitting next to him and brushing pony hair and talking in her little non-stop chattery-way, and I'll peek my head in the room to see whats going on...and he's fallen asleep, sitting up with a Pony brush in his hand, and Nicolette hasn't noticed, she's just talking about this and that. I feel so bad...I know he is SO tired, but he wants so badly to be with his kids, that he'd rather be brushing plastic pony hair with a chatterbox 4-year-old than taking a well-deserved nap.

So, most of you know that my husband runs a restaurant. He is the General Manager of The Grand Lux Cafe in the Sawgrass Mills Mall in Sunrise, Florida. This is his store.

It's huge. It seats 420, and he has 120 employees. They serve a global cuisine and their menu boasts over a 150 items. They are famous for their baked-to-order desserts...desserts that are ordered at the beginning of your visit, and then baked while you enjoy your appetizers and entrees, and delivered fresh and piping hot to your table when you've finished. Desserts like Chocolate Molten Cake, and a Rustic Apple Tart, or Warm Homemade Chocolate-Pecan Cookies. Or my personal favorite...the Roasted Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (and you know it must be AWESOME if I'm actually turning down the Chocolate Molten Cake for it). My kids LOVE the Beignets...especially with the Jack Daniels Cream Sauce.

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That's just the baked-to-order stuff...there's Deep Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake, and a brand new Red Velvet Cake, Creme Brulee, Cupcakes, Carmel Bread Pudding...oh, and did I mention that they are the little sister of The Cheesecake Factory? Yup - same company, different concept. So guess what? They've got cheesecake, too.

Oh - I'm sorry - I went straight to dessert before dinner!! Well - I told you it was global, and there is Asian, Italian, Mediterranean, and Caribbean-influenced dishes, among others. My friend Tina LOVES the Sesame Tofu, and I love the Shaking Beef and Crispy Carmel Chicken. My friend Melodee loves the pasta dishes and items like the Chicken Royale. My parents love the "comfort foods"...the HUGE Chicken Pot Pie, Braised Yankee Pot Roast, and Grilled Pork Chop. But there are so many things on the menu, that you can something different EVERY TIME you go, and it will all be good.

Maybe now would be a good time to direct you to their web-site...so you can see for yourself? Oh - alright...here you go...

So here's the deal...I promised another giveaway, and this is it...in honor of Father's Day and my hard-working man, I am giving away a $50 Gift Card to the Grand Lux Cafe. They have locations in South Florida, Dallas, Houston, New York (Roosevelt Field), New Jersey (Paramus), Chicago, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas (in the Venetian AND in the Palazzo), and in Beverly Hills.

The gift card will pretty much take care of a dinner for two (unless you go crazy at the bar with all their amazing drinks, which has been known to happen...)

In order to enter...here's what you gotta do...

Leave a comment about what makes the father figure in your life...dads, husbands, sons who are dads...WHATEVER...the BEST DAD EVER!! Don't forget to leave your e-mail address so I can get a hold of you if you win!! That's it!!

One entry per person UNLESS you do one of these - and I will give EXTRA ENTRIES for these reasons (a separate comment MUST be posted for each additional entry):

1. Become a follower, or remind me that you already are one.

2. Blog about this giveaway on your blog (leave a link so I can check up on you!!)

Giveaway ends at 8pm Eastern Time on June 14 (that gives me enough time to mail you your gift card in case you're wanting to give it away for Father's Day...ya, right!!). The Winner will be chosen by Random. org and announced that night. I will notify the Winner by e-mail and they will have 48 hours to respond before a default winner is chosen.

Good Luck!!!

- Shannan