I really should not watch zombie movies shortly before going to bed, like I did last night, after watching 28 Weeks Later. I dreamt murky dreams of trying to rescue my grandfather (dead now for some 10 years) from an ill-defined fate.

Most of the weekend, though, was very pleasant, as my husband, The Gryphon, and I enjoyed one of our few unscheduled weekends.

Saturday morning, he made us sweet potato hash, using our new mandoline slicer to julien the sweet potatoes. We finally used up all the gift certificates we received for our wedding last year, buying ourselves some items we hadn't received as gifts, such as a lemon squeezer, a pair of kitchen shears, some colander bowls, a deep nonstick skillet, a vaccuum cleaner, sheets and a comforter. So far the comforter seems more resistant to dog claws than our previous one.

We're also hoping to get an inexpensive couch, preferably a fold-out couch or a fouton that can be converted to make more room for overnight guests.

Then, after we each spent a little time on our respective computers, we drove to Chestnut Hill and Bredenbeck's, the bakery which made our wedding cake. They'd sent us a certificate for a free anniversary cake to thank us for sending them a photo of our cake for their album.

We had a little trouble getting there due to construction that threw off our Mapquest directions. The Gryphon had to call them and get their recommendations for how to get around it.

After picking up the cake, we walked up the street to the Solaris Grille [SITE HAS MUSIC] for lunch, which has been repainted from white to orange since we were last there. We ate there when we did our cake tasting about a year and a half ago.

I had the Baja Fish Tacos, which included seared tilapia, avocado, tequila corn salsa, pico de gallo and a chile lime cream. They hit the spot: light but filling. The Gryphon had the Ricotta Gnocci, which was sauteed with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese pesto and pine nuts.

At The Gryphon's suggestion, we stopped back at Bredenbeck's on our way back to the car and got some ice cream. I asked for a kid-sized serving of pumpkin ice cream, while The Gryphon got a small serving of sticky buns ice cream. I told him about how I used to stop at the Penn State Creamery on my way home from classes my freshman year, since my dorm was nearby. They made a pumpkin pie ice cream that had real pie crust in it. I gained the Freshman 15 by Thanksgiving!

After we got home, we each worked on our own things until we went out for a late dinner to a nearby sushi place. When we returned home, we opened up the cake and each had a small slice. Unlike ours, which had been a sour cream chocolate chip pound cake with raspberry filling and a fondant icing, this was plain old pound cake with a butter cream icing, decorated with little white rosettes. Still, it was tasty.

While we ate it, we watched Run, Fatboy, Run, which wasn't as good as we'd hoped. It was entertaining but very seldom did it make us laugh out loud.

Sunday was even quieter. We spent most of the day lounging about at home before driving into Center City to get some dinner before The Gryphon's weekly meeting of Philadelphia Area Gaming Enthusiasts (PAGE). We wandered around Center City in the Rittenhouse Square area, where the restaurants were either too pricey or too casual for what we wanted.

Finally, we settled on the Marathon Grill at 16th and Sansom. Trying to be sensible again, I opted for the Control Freak Salad, requesting baby spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, asparagus, mushrooms and shrimp, with a lemon-dijon vinaigrette on the side. The Gryphon had the Linguini Bolognese, served with ricotta. It had a lot of meat in it, which made him happy.

After I dropped him off, I got some writing done on My Wedding, My Way: Real Women, Real Weddings, Real Budgets. I'm almost done with chapter one, and the current word count is nearly 7,000 words. Originally, I'd planned at about 50,000 words, but I'm thinking it might clock in a bit longer than that.