Shout, Shout, Let It All Out

Only a fool would go to bed at 1:45 knowing she had to be up at an uncharacteristically early 7:30 a.m.

Hello, my name is Karen and I'm a fool.

The only good part of being up with the chickens was that I had all morning to work before being picked up by my lunch date.

Lucy's was the destination because she'd never been and I was certain she'd like it. Between the charming interior filled with thoughtful details, all of which my friend noted, and the extensive salad menu, she did, enough so to tweet about it.

They had the Talking Heads station on, meaning we walked in to Talk Talk's "It's Your Life," and segued into Tears for Fears, Madness and a host of other '80s gems.

As my date exclaimed, "This is high school for me!"

She had a pulled chicken and mixed bean salad while I finally got to try the Monrovia Farms cheeseburger salad, although I tried to remain the tiniest bit virtuous by eschewing the bacon and avocado our server offered.

Good lord, woman, isn't it sufficient to have a juicy burger in the middle of mesclun, grape tomatoes, celery, onions, carrots and cucumbers?

We chatted with a guy at the bar whom my friend recognized from years ago and dished mightily on life and love before taking our leave of J-Ward and heading south for a stroll overlooking the canal in the mist.

The funny part was, despite my lack of sleep, when she brought me back home we spent over an hour sitting in the car continuing the conversation. Kind of like when you're in high school and your date brings you home but you don't want the evening to be over so you just keep talking.

Not to get too mushy, but the right company can make you forget how tired you are.

As the Cars had sung to us earlier, "I guess you're just what I needed. I needed someone to feed."

Fed.