another unique Fort Collins experience

Today was a nice day. I slept in until almost noon (I love to sleep) and then joined John downstairs. He's an early riser (9 am is early on Saturday...for me anyway), so he's almost always up before me on the weekends. We had brunch and I got the laundry going, I was almost 2 weeks behind b/c of our trip to WI. Around 3 we decided to get out of the house and enjoy the miles of trails that abound in this city. However, first thing was first. AT&T is having a mail-in rebate sale on cell phones...which means I got to get a new cell phone. John told me to pick whichever one I wanted...so of course I picked the Blackberry Curve. I picked not just because it's extremely cool (John has one for work), but I read reviews and people consistently had good things to say about it. Plus it will be nice for when I do get a job b/c I can keep all my appointments on there and not have to work with 2 calendars. Anyway, that was exciting. I also got a local phone number, so let me know if I haven't given you the updated one.

We took the dogs with us to the trail, and decided we would just walk them with us instead of letting them run around in the dog park...less clean-up, more of a work-out for us. :) They did fine on the walk and were pooped by the time we were done an hour and a half later.

For dinner, John and I decided to go to this Mediterranean place he tried with his boss when they were here a few months back. It's one of those small mom & pop places that we love to try, b/c they usually have the best food. It's called AL SALAM. Part of the experience is sitting on the floor on pillows to eat, and taking your shoes off when you come in. That part I was prepared for. What we were not prepared for was the belly dancer performance that was happening tonight. About the time our appetizer came, the music changed and the performance began. I should mention that there are only 2 other tables in the restaurant besides ours, and we're all seated in the same area. She twirled and danced her way over to our section with a dollar bill already inside her pants. The other tables paid her no attention, and we also kind of had the "don't look directly at it" kind of feeling. She did three songs and then danced her way out. We felt bad that no-one had tipped her, so we got out some money and had the waitress give it to her. It was quite an interesting experience watching someone dance so intimately while you're trying to eat and have a conversation. You can't help but look, but feel like you shouldn't be looking. From what we could tell, with our astute belly dancing knowledge, she was pretty good.

So far, we love Fort Collins. :)