Nothing says "Yum!" like a free meal

Last night David and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. Our actual anniversary isn't until February 3, but we celebrated early. My mother-in-law watched our girls while we went to nearby Mankato, MN to have dinner at the Olive Garden. (A big thank you to Carrie!!!) We had an excellent time together, but the best part was what happened during our meal:

~~ I planned for us to arrive at Olive Garden by 5 o'clock so we could beat the dinner rush. I also figured if we went on a Thursday night at 5 the restaurant would REALLY be slow. My scheme worked splendidly; the restaurant only had about half a dozen other diners.

We ordered our meals quickly, and then sat and enjoyed each other's company. We had our salad and soup, and then we waited for our dinner entrées. The waitress stopped by, and said our meals would be out in a few minutes. Those "few minutes" passed, and David commented that he wondered when we'd get our food. He checked his watch and noticed that we had been in the restaurant 45 minutes already and didn't have our meals. Strange.

Just then our waitress walked up with the manager behind her, and she explained that she placed our orders into the computer system, but somehow the kitchen never received them. Then the manager apologized, and said our dinner entrées would be "on the house". EXCELLENT! Since we hadn't even noticed how long we had been waiting we weren't disgruntled about our meals being late at all. The food came out 4 minutes later, and it was delicious; worth the wait!

So with our free main entrées our total was less than $20, and since we had a gift card we only spent a few dollars out of our own pockets. It was a fantastic dinner all around! ☺
~~~
After dinner we did some shopping at Yankee Candle, Bath and Body Works, and Old Navy. I had coupons or gift cards for all three stores, so our savings continued through the night.

When we were done shopping we did another wonderful thing: we visited my mom! I hadn't seen her since Christmas (other than viewing her through the webcam), and it was so nice to actually hug her. She looked really good! And want to know what else? She sent us home with a care package that included canned chili, pickles, relish, and jam. And then she gave us 3 pounds of crab legs. Moms are the best!!!