Age is just a number

At the ripe old age of 29, I am going grey. This isn't a new revelation. About five years ago, I'm standing in my apartment kitchen under the bright light with my then roommate who looks at the top of my head in wonderment and says, "Angela, do you have grey hairs?" "Yes, Nicki," I replied. "Thanks for pointing that out." The number of grey hairs has grown and I haven't colored my hair since July, so I'm not sure what's going to happen. I colored my hair for years and last spring, I decided to have these big blond streaks put in. I did that just a few months before my sister's wedding and my parents would have died if I had walked down the aisle with them. More importantly, I didn't like them, so I went back dark, but had to get it done several times in a short time period so that the streaks weren't visible at the wedding. So, I decided to give my hair a break, something I haven't done in a really long time. But with dark hair, the color doesn't cover the grey for that long anyway so I don't know what to do.

With New Year's Eve just passing, I've heard a lot of bitching lately about restaurants that jack up their prices for that night and only serve a limited menu. I waited tables off and on for ten years and Cody, my husband, is a chef at, in my opinion, the best restaurant in Austin, so I feel the need to explain why restaurants do this. First, I don't understand why anyone would go out to eat at any restaurant on New Year's Eve. They're all going to be packed and you'll have to wait a long time to sit, unless you go really early. Wouldn't it be so much more fun, not to mention less expensive, to have a group of friends over, cook, drink, and be merry? Yeah, you have to do a little work, but who cares?

Restaurants only jack up the prices on the special menu items that are probably not on the regular menu. Or at least that should be the case. If it's not, then they do it just because they can. As far as serving a limited menu, if you've never worked in a busy, fine-dining restaurant, then quit your bitching. There are reasons why they do this. New Year's Eve is the busiest night of the year for most nice restaurants. The kitchen can only do so much in a certain amount of time and still provide customers with quality service and product. So, while a limited menu does make it easy for the kitchen, it also makes for a better experience for the customer. Cody's restaurant did $20,000 on New Year's Eve, with a limited menu. That's insane! It took the staff three days to recover. People think that being a chef is glamorous and fun. Don't let the Food Network fool you. It's a hard job.