There was a time when I wanted to be out all the time. I wanted to be at the local bar or any event, I wanted to have plans with other people. And if nothing was going on, I wanted to have a party. The idea of a night home seemed so mundane and boring.

But I got older and my perspective changed. A night home or a weekend with no plans became a cherished thing. While I enjoy the occasional adventure or plan, I want and need my time at home with hubby and the dogs, enjoying the home and amenities we worked so hard to earn and obtain.

However, it became very easy to go to the other extreme, and I seem to have converted from an extreme extrovert to much more of an introvert. More often than not, I prefer and enjoy a quiet evening at home. When we do, on rarer and rarer occasions,  have plans to be out or spend time with others, it wipes me out and I need time to recharge.

Regardless, it is always nice to step outside of the mundane and routine, and it doesn’t take much to make the ordinary a little extra-ordinary. Tonight, instead of whipping up some baked chicken breast, steaming some vegetables, and eating dinner in front of the TV,  we decided we wanted the enjoyment of a slightly nicer dinner without having to actually tolerate strangers and traffic. To that end, we decided to stay home and bump dinner up a notch:

Jeffrey fired up the grill while I prepped some top sirloin steaks with olive oil, salt and pepper. Then a whipped up a Blue cheese cream sauce (blue cheese, cream, butter and Worcestershire sauce) and sautéed some Brussels sprouts in butter and garlic. We grabbed our J-pulse speaker, a bottle of wine and some dishes and set up out on the patio, where we enjoyed some Gothic Red blend wine, Puppini Sisters, and a pleasant summer evening dinner in the backyard.

Harvey looks on,  wondering where his steak is.

With very little effort, we managed to turn a mundane evening into a fun-dane evening.

Not too shabby.