This St. Patrick’s Day weekend went by far too quickly.

Following a ridiculously slow day at work Friday, Mark and I took advantage of a $50 gift certificate that he won from a local radio station and had dinner at The Pelican Reef restaurant.

To be completely honest, we weren’t impressed. The food wasn’t bad, per se, but the steamed crab and grilled mahi weren’t worth the respective $22.95 and $18.95. I was hoping for more, despite the mediocre reviews we’d read online.

The restaurant is located at the foot of the Dauphin Island Bridge, which, unless you live on the island or in the southern part of the county, is in the middle of nowhere. Even if the food had been more memorable, I doubt we’d make the long drive to return. At least the gift certificate covered our meal—we only paid for our drinks (and tip) out of pocket!

Saturday we celebrated an absolutely gorgeous St. Paddy’s Day downtown. We shared hummus and a mixed grill at our favorite, Mediterranean Sandwich Company (nothing says “luck of the Irish” like Middle Eastern food, no?), and decided to catch the 2:00 matinee of A Place at the Table at the Crescent Theatre before heading over to O’Daly’s Irish Pub to drink a couple beers (and a daiquiri) and hang out with a few friends. We left before any green beer-fueled antics, which was fine by me. I was actually kind of bored!

We then went grocery shopping and settled in for a quiet night of watching The West Wing since Mark had to go into work a few hours Sunday (to prepare for an upcoming audit).

Sunday morning began dramatically. Just before leaving for work, Mark couldn’t find his car keys. One set is already missing, so this was his only one. We both searched high and low—and seriously began to wonder if Iggy ate them—to no avail. Mark ended up calling a key company to make some copies, so he left for work significantly later (and poorer) than anticipated.

While Mark was at work, I did some shopping for his anniversary gift. The traditional 5^th year gift is wood, so I’m attempting to make something special. (Have we really been married nearly FIVE years?!!) Our local craft store didn’t have what I needed, so I had to drive across the Bay to another location—sitting in traffic due to an accident.

I also whipped up this Mint-Chocolate green smoothie to be festive, though it wasn’t nearly as tasty as I’d imagined (too much cocoa powder and mint extract).

Once Mark returned from work, we did a bit of yard work. Naturally, he found his keys—a little too late. We spent the afternoon washing laundry and enjoyed a quiet evening, complete with an Irish-themed meal of shepherd’s pie and cabbage two ways (roasted and boiled) before settling in and watching our Sunday night shows. (I loved the season finale of Girls so much!) It was a calm, fairly uneventful St. Paddy’s Day—which this old lady preferred!