First Date

Tonight will be the first time Kristen and I have been out together since Gilbert arrived. Well, now that I think about it, we have been out before when my P's were up for Thanksgiving, but tonight is the first time we'll be out for an extended period of time.

Gilbert will be placed in the trusty hands of Katie for the evening. How did we convince a young, single girl to give up her Friday night, you ask? Food and the ability to do her laundry for free (apparently public laundramats freak her out!). The bitterly cold weather didn't hurt our case either!

So, what are we doing for the evening. Fine dining, perhaps? A romantic rendezvous at a hotel, maybe? Nah!

We are attending an event held by Nau, a progressive clothier that makes eco-friendly, hip clothing. I learned about Nau through the foundation I volunteer - Taproot Foundation. Nau donates 5% of the profits from every sale to a variety of local and national partners. Taproot is one of them. As a result, I've had the opportunity to get to know the folks at Nau and am often invited to special seminars, parties, etc. the store holds to promote their eco-philosophy.

Tonight is a seminar on eco-friendly and sustainable building materials co-hosted with Ecolect.net. They have developed the first freely accessible on-line database of sustainable materials for architects, builders, furniture designers, fashion designers, and more.

Since this might be of interest to Kristen, we are both attending. Of course, the enticement of free food and beverage at the event was nice too. And 50% all the stores wares!

And yes, if all goes well we are going out afterwards with plans to visit a familiar haunt...Webster's Wine Bar to spend a little one-on-one time together. Kristen has been jonesing for some good cheese and I know she'll get her fill at Webster's!

The question that remains is how many times will Kristen call Katie to check in on Gil!