Who Do You Hang Out With?

Last night we had butternut squash ravioli with brown butter and sage sauce for dinner. It was so delicious and I knew it meant this was going to be a good week. So far, I’ve been right. It’s not a bad Monday at all when you kick it off with The Hunger Games trailer. If you have not read the book yet drop everything you are doing this very instant and get yourself a copy (or an e-copy for whatever device you read from.) Prepare to be obsessed. You’re welcome.

Not only did our weekend end in good fashion, but it began much the same. If you can’t guess how we kicked it off, than you don’t know me as well as you thought you did. The answer of course is cocktail hour! We shook up some fall cocktails for our parents (apple cider + cranberry juice + vodka) and made a toast to ourselves. Then we ventured out for a delicious French meal at Union League Café in New Haven. Not only was our food scrumptious, but our waiter was French! How often does that happen? I did spend a decent amount of the meal wondering if he was faking his accent to give us the full experience, but the more logical thinkers at the dinner table assured me there was no reason to fake a French accent. I kind of disagree as I’m always on the lookout for a situation that calls for a fake accent.
 

 How do you say, "Thanks for dinner," in French? 

Saturday we ran some errands and saw a movie (Tower Heist. It was great, go see it!) Since we were home early, we decided to cook a nice meal and relax for the evening. It was a perfect night, but as I began cooking I was a little sad that none of my good friends lived close enough to share it with us. I didn’t want to organize a huge dinner party that involved a ton of preparation and cleaning. I just wanted to call up a friend and invite them over for a casual dinner and some wine.

 Ali, Scott and Maya are always down for casual wine drinking, but they live in MA so we usually meet at a winery in the middle.

So far, living far from my friends has been one of the hardest parts of moving to Connecticut. I used to live in the same apartment as my friends, and now all those great people live two hours away. I try really hard to stay in touch with everyone, but it’s hard. Keith and I are always arranging visits and inviting friends to our house for the weekend, but there are still nights we want to relax and wish there was another couple to join us. I know that part of the reason is we haven’t exactly put ourselves in a position to make new friends locally. I work in Manhattan, so my work friends are not nearby. And although Keith works down the street, not all of his co-workers live near us. Blah.

While we’ll still continue to arrange weekend visits with our friends, my goal this year is to make some new couple friends that live close and enjoy cocktail hour as much as we do. (If you fit this description, feel free to contact me in the comment section below!)

Some questions for you today: Who do you hang out with? Has marriage changed the people you’re friends with? And any advice on how we can make new couple friends?