Come hungry. Leave happy.

When's the last time you ate at an IHOP???

As much as I enjoy the finer things in life...I can be just as easily impressed with tiny surprises and very simple pleasures.

I met one of my closest college friends for dinner last minute in Westchester with her son tonight. His favorite eating establishment these days is IHOP. He's one of the most adorable kids in existence (I'm not partial or anything) and of course...as his fun aunt...I decided that we couldn't dine at any other joint this evening.

I walked in there thinking I was going to eat a healthy egg white omelette until I was inspired by the kid's menu. The spunky kid at heart in me made my dining decision very easy for a change.

I had to taste a chocolate chip pancake...which was my favorite as a kid...of course!!!

As I was watching my nephew overly excited to dunk his pancakes into strawberry syrup (I must admit I like it too!) minus his fork (I do use utensils btw)...I was thinking a chocolate pancake wouldn't simply be enough...

I made a very SERIOUS request to our teenage waiter. I asked for the kid smiley face to be added to my pancake with a huge grin. The funniest part of our dining experience was that our server wasn't one bit shocked after my very significant demand. He just nodded and smiled!

I was SO thrilled with my pancake that I just smiled at it for several minutes (while doing my very meaningful photo shoot) until my edible smile started to melt right off my dish. My pancake looked like it had been through the mill by the time I actually ate it.

I'm still smiling about my amazing dinner company and my chocolate chip pancake. I love how my 5 1/2 year old nephew ordered eggs with mini plain pancakes and I chose the smiley face chocolate chip pancake without any hesitation!

I encourage you all to go to your nearest IHOP immediately to order this nosh. It's so much fun to be an adult kid every once in a while!!! Sometimes a simple, spontaneous, and harmless decision can make one temporarily forget about stressful situations and just simply make you SMILE!

As IHOP says...Come hungry. Leave happy.

How do I know their slogan? My nephew told me! Yes...he really did!

I totally agree with their slogan. Funny...I actually walked into IHOP tonight NOT so hungry...but I sure left EXTREMELY HAPPY!!!!!