Matthew's Birthday

Matthew turned 24 on Friday, so we decided to go out to eat with Mack and Avery. Matthew really wanted to go uptown to eat, but we had NO IDEA it was restaurant week in Charlotte. All of the places that were participating had $30 dinner specials, so of course, there were no openings at any of the places where he wanted to eat. After calling around, we decided to give Chima Brazilian Steakhouse a try. There are only 4 locations in the country, and surprisingly one location is in uptown Charlotte.

Matthew has always wanted to eat there, but I have not because I cannot handle spicy food, and Brazilian just sounds like it should be spicy. Secretly I think Matthew only wanted to eat there because Michael Jordan owns an apartment above it, ha (we did not see him sadly).



The way Chima works is that it is an all-you-can-eat restaurant, but it is nothing like the Golden Corral. There were two levels, and we sat upstairs. The special included some little meatballs and bread at our table, and we had access to the salad bar. I think that I would have been completely happy with just eating at the salad bar. There were  multiple types of lettuce, vegetables, soups,  shrimp, and calamari. I made a salad with mozzarella, tomatoes, asparagus, heats of palm, and artichoke hearts. It was AWESOME.



For the main entree part, there is not a buffet. Instead, you flip over a coin and then servers come around with huge skewers of meat and slice you off a piece. I had sirloin steak and filet mignon, and Matt had a ton of stuff. Everything was really good. I really regretted eating snacks before we went, ha. Now I am begging Matt  to take me back there again!



Funny story: we were kind of cracking up all night because every time you get up out of your seat, someone comes and refolds your napkin. There was also a lady who worked there who just had the job to constantly rearrange the items on the salad bar so it would stay nice. It was very fancy, ha.

While we were there, I ran into some coworkers. My Dean of Students was seated at the table next to me, then I was walking through the bar and recognized a teacher from my grade level. I guess only teachers can afford to eat in uptown during restaurant week, ha.

Speaking of being a poor teacher, here is a donation project I created through DonorsChoose.org to bring a Nook tablet into my classroom. I really want one because my kids can use it, and I can use it to track their academic data. Right now we have limited technology in my classroom/building, and having this would make a huge difference in my classroom. Here is the link:

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=726837

I am not asking someone to buy me a Nook, but little donations of $5-$10 would help me be able to get one to use. The biggest reason that I would like access to one is for my kids that need extra support to learn their letters, sounds, counting, numbers, and begin inning to read. The apps on the Nook allow for kids to work independently while I am still teaching my class. The tablet would be able to correct the kids (the voices on the apps actually read to the kids and make the letter sounds) so that they would be able to get extra support while I am still free to teach. It would also double our classroom library without breaking my bank account, ha. The children's books read the story to the kids, and the books are usually under $5-10. If you can help me or spread the word, I would greatly appreciate it!