It's a sign, right?

Mon Ami Gabi Entrance
Originally uploaded by disneymike.

I invited Lex to join me for an un-birthday dinner last night. For those unfamiliar with Alice in Wonderland, an un-birthday is what you celebrate when it's not your actual birthday (or in my case, when you're denying that it IS your birthday).

Anyway I chose "Mon Ami Gabi", for the obvious reason, but also because I have known about it here in Chicago but have not yet been. The place is a small chain actually, and I remember seeing the restaurant in Vegas though me and JK didn't call in there at the time either.

Given that Lex is in 2 weddings coming up, and has some killer new black shoes she wanted to stretch a bit, we decided to 'frock up' for dinner last night. I wore a black, belted cocktail dress (and then realised on the way out the door that I hadn't worn the dress since my last birthday!). Lex had a gorgeous strapless dress on and the shoes complemented it beautifully.

So we had a delicious dinner - scallops for Lex & steak frites for me, and then both of us had (actually HAD to have) the creme brulee for dessert and we were not disappointed. The food was delicious and the portions were huge. The restaurant was fairly crowded and we were easily the most over-dressed in there, but we didn't mind.

Then we walked to a cute winebar nearby (needed to stretch after that meal, let me tell you!) and then on to a dive bar not far away for a few farewell drinks for Lex's room mate who is off to live in the Bay Area this week.

I was home by 1am and felt like I'd had a really good night - I don't mind celebrating my un-birthday actually. It has all the ingredients of a real birthday and none of the pressure. No cakes, no singing, no candles, no nothing - it's wonderful!