Swanky Evening

cocktails

steak

chicken

scallops

dessert

watching the sun set

Beautiful Birmingham

Michelle and I had been invited to the " Annual May Day Tea Party" at Kellet May's house in Birmingham, which is Lady Melanie's daughter.  The tea party was Sunday afternoon but Melanie had invited us to come spend the weekend with her.  During the week before, things began popping up that Melanie had to attend on Saturday but she told us to come in the morning and we could have a key to the house and we could come and go as we pleased since she wasn't going to be home the whole day.  So, Michelle and I set out to Birmingham early Saturday morning and had a couple of hours to spend with Lady Melanie before she had to get ready for a funeral and a college graduation.  Michelle and I made a list of fun places to go in Birmingham and set out for the day.  First stop was our favorite "Dime Store"...Smiths.  It has been there forever and Gene and I used to take the girls there when they were little.  No, it's not a " dime store" any more but it's still fun to go there and oooow and awwww over the pretty things.  Next, it was lunch time and we decided to try and find a special restaurant in Bessemer ( just outside of Birmingham) It used to be a steal plant town back in it's hay day  but like every other little town, went under once the steal plant shut down.  The " Bright Stat" restaurant had been there since 1908.  It has wonderful food and lots of history to read about.  Right there in Bessemer is a fabric store called United Textiles.  Lady Melanie had been telling me how great this place is with all the fabrics being so cheaply priced.  I had no plans on buying any home dec. fabric but guess what...I came home with some "blue/white rooster toile" to make winter curtains and chair cushions for the kitchen.  I know!!  ...but the ones I made last winter, didn't really say " I love it" to me.
   Next stop on our list was Michael's to dig through their $ bins and then on to the "Christmas Store".  Now that is a fun store.  Guess what..there wasn't one Christmas item in the whole store...ha.  ( there is at Christmas time though because I have been there before)  We did find a hand full of things that we just couldn't live without.  It was getting late in the day and Melanie had made reservations for dinner at " THE Club".  This place is the best place on earth to eat dinner!!! I have been several times with Melanie but this was a first for Michelle. It's such an elegant experience.  We went early enough to see the sun go down, as we sit on top of the mountain sipping our cocktails.  By the time we were finished with our meal that just melted in your mouth, the lights of Birmingham were all twinkling.  Our meal was a trio of steak, chicken and scallops with all kinds of wonderful vegetables and sauces.  I have never had a meal as good as this one was.....ever!!!  A very big Thank You to Lady Melanie for our swanky dinner, which we enjoyed ever so much and another big Thank you to Kellet and Josh for sharing your membership with us so we could have such a wonderful evening.