Month 2

Now that you are all caught up on June...

• Summer Time Fun
• Bonnaroo 2011
• Bandaids and Birthdays
• 1 Year Cancerservary

Let's start on July!  And I can think of no better way to start than by celebrating our 2nd Anniversary.

I can't believe it's been 2 years.  It truly went by fast.  We've been through a lot in 2 years, and I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

I love this man

We decided to go on our trip to Saint Louis over the long 4th of July weekend.  We had a lot of fun.  St. Louis has a 3 day festival under the arch with airshows, concerts, and fireworks.  All free.  The first day we checked in, which took way too long.  The hotel was horrible.  I won't go into it, but I highly recommend NOT staying at the Millennium Hotel.  We then wondered down to the festival and checked out the Steve Miller Band concert.  I must say, there are highly underrated.

We missed out on fireworks because Dan was only 2 weeks out of knee surgery.  So, we ended up spending a lot of time in the hotel room resting Dan's knee.  I could think of worse ways to spend our anniversary though. :)

Sunday we headed out on St. Louis's wonderful public transportation and headed to the zoo.  We had so much fun.  We walked around for hours.  Then we headed to the Science Center and Planetarium.  Nothing like a couple of science geeks playing with all the kids toys.  The best part, it was all free (besides that bus/train rides).  Yup.  We will be going back.

Monday we checked out, but then headed down to the Budweiser Brewery for a free tour.  Again, we had a great time.  We got to see the Clydesdales, and everything from the brewery to the packaging plant.  At the end, they have a taste bar.

Tour Bus

Beautiful!  The horses and pup.

We wanted to stay for the beer school, but we needed to head home to get the dogs and so Dan could meet his new nephew.

You don't think I'd forget about our new family member do you?!?  Meet baby H!  He looks just like my brother and is just as sweet as can be.  I forget how small newborns are.

Lazy Days

I was a huge slacker this weekend and did next to nothing.  And, I’m being a huge slacker by blogging about my weekend on Wednesday. 

Friday night, Dan and I planned on using a Groupon to eat at one of our favorite local restaurants, Fireside Brewhouse.  We don’t go very often because it’s a little expensive, but the food there is fantastic.  Plus, on Friday nights they have a DJ or a band.  So, I dressed up in one of my new shirts from Windi, and we headed out.  Unfortunately, the place was packed.  I guess that’s what you get when you eat dinner at 9pm.  So, we ended up across the street at BW’s and had wings and watched some baseball.  Not quite the evening we were going for, but we still had a nice date.

Saturday, Dan got up early for his busy day.  He had a business meeting in the morning, and in the evening he DJed a school prom.  But, he had errands to do before Prom, like picking up the equipment and visiting family, so he was gone all day.  Literally, from like 10am until 2am.

Me?  Oh, I slept in, ate on the couch, took a nap with the dogs, watched the NBA playoffs, and finally about 5pm I decided I should take a shower.  A good wife would’ve cleaned house, gone to the grocery store, worked on laundry, or anything that would allow for a free rest of the week.  Nope.  My butt never left the couch, except to scrounge up some food, that didn’t require cooking.

But, I think I made up for it by having a girls night Saturday Night.  I met some friends at Indiana Live for my first gambling experience.  We ate dinner at the NASCAR restaurant inside the casino.  It was pretty good, but nothing exciting.  Afterwards the girls gave me a lesson in slot machines.  I’m cheap so I did the 1 cent and 2 cent slots, but I won money.  I won $11 and spent $16 on dinner, so for the night, I spent $4.  But, I don’t think slots will be my thing.  It was exciting to win, but there is no strategy.  I like to be in control, and there is no control.  Plus, you put money into a machine and, most of the time, get nothing back.  I’d rather go shoe shopping.  But, it was fun to spend time with the girls, as always.

Sunday, we had no plans again.  So, I got off my butt and went to the grocery store while Dan was lazy and watched the playoffs.  That evening, the sun came out and it warmed up a little, so we decided to try the dog harnesses out in the Jeep.  We loaded them up in the car, buckled them in, and went in search of better custard.  We landed at Ritter’s and the dogs enjoyed some vanilla ice-cream while I had a concrete mixer.  Still haven’t found custard as good as in Utah, but one day…

The dog harnesses worked great.  The dogs could sit or stand, but it kept them in the backseat and not out the sides of the Jeep.  I was very happy to have one less thing to worry about.

All in all, it was a very relaxing and fun weekend.  I got nothing accomplished, but sometimes, you need those days.

Dream Day

If you could plan your perfect day, in detail, for one day, what would it be??

Dan wrote his day out, and shared it with me.  He detailed everything from how he would want to wake up, his perfect breakfast, activities prior to work, leaving for work, his ideal job, dinner, followed by evening plans.  I have to admit, it sounded pretty near perfect for him.  Since then, we have slowly been working towards achieving this perfect day for him.  I mean, isn’t this what life is about?  Being as happy as possible.  Plus, I got to see his vision for our future, so we are working together towards the same goal.

Since then, I’ve spent some time thinking about my perfect day.  It’s very easy for me to say, well, my perfect day would be sleeping in, breakfast in bed, no chores, and spending the day with the dogs and husband on a beach.  But, this is very unrealistic, and so I’ve had to think about what my perfect realistic, achievable day would be.  I’ve really struggled with this, but I think yesterday, got as close as I’ve gotten before.

I woke up around 6:30, ate a quick breakfast, threw on some clothes, and headed to the dentist with Dan.  After getting a cleaning myself, we were back home around 10am, when I showered for the day, made a very yummie egg and toast breakfast with coffee, and headed out the door for work.  I got to work around noon, worked for 5 hrs, being fairly productive all day, before coming home.

Dan took the day off work, so he had dinner ready for me.  I also received some ebay orders (a new dress and new jeans that Dan said makes my butt look 18 years old).  I changed into a tank top, and we headed with the dogs for a nice evening walk to Daisy field.  The dogs got to run while Dan and I got to enjoy some time together in the daylight.  We headed back home for a some dinner, before we headed out to see a movie. 

After a wonderful date with the husband, we still had time to relax at home with the dogs, while Dan sang and played on the guitar for me.  We went to bed around 11:15 after a wonderful day together.

Something about having a productive morning before work, only working until my job is done with no frustrations/problems, having dinner ready when I got home, and quality time with the husband and dogs, left me feeling like I’m returning to work from a vacation.  The fresh from the dentist clean teeth feeling helps too. 

If I could somehow turn yesterday into motivation to get up and run before work, to Dan being home some mid-week evenings, I think I would be a major step closer to my perfect day.

So, what would your perfect every day be?

Valentine's Day

 This year, Dan and I were both very excited to celebrate Valentine's Day.  The winter blues had set in, and after the ice storm, we were both experiencing a little cabin fever.  Dan and I are also that cheesy couple that you hate to see out and want to make you gag.  We just really enjoy spending time as a couple, so Valentine's Day is just an excuse for us to really spoil each other.

Dan wanted to surprised me, so on Saturday, he took me to the Rathskeller for their Valentine's day Dinner and Dance.  We lucked out and got some warmer weather.  I borrowed a beautiful dress and jewelry from my friend Windi, bought a really cute new pair of grey heels.  Dan looked as handsome as ever in his black suit and suspenders.  It's always fun to dress up and go out.  This was the first time either of us had been to the Rathskeller, and it is a beautiful building.  The vibe is very relaxed, and the food is all Dutch or German. 

We had our own 2 person table with candles, and Dove chocolates.  For dinner, we both order the filet with stuffed shrimp.  The filet was wonderful.  They topped it with cooked mushrooms. The shrimp was ehh.  They stuffed it with clam, lobster and cheese, and it ended up tasting like potato au gratin which neither of us are a fan of.  We also both ordered the roasted rosemary potatoes, but they were cooked 15min too long.  Dessert was fantastic.  We had a chocolate raspberry torte cake and it was served with a glass of champagne with a strawberry.  Yum.

The band, Living Proof, starting playing about half way through dinner.  They were fantastic.  The female lead singer started off singing Etta James "At Last."  She nailed it.  They continued playing soft dinner music until around 9.  They then played a mix of 70's, 80's, and 90's dance music.   It was so much fun.  My feet gave out in my new shoes, but we had a great time.  I recommend this next year for someone looking for a romantic evening.  It really gave us time to talk about us, and ways we both would like to see our relationship grow.  We talked about things  we would like to change.  It really was just what we both needed.

For Valentine's Day, I made Dan a special candle light dinner and dessert.  I made Caeser salad, Lobster tail, oysters in a lemon garlic sauce, and my own roasted red potatoes.  We topped it off with a bottle of Chardonnay which paired really well with the sea food.  For dessert, I made white chocolate strawberry truffles, to eat while we enjoyed one of our favorite shows, House.  Yum.  (I'll share the recipe on a later post.)  This was a nice dinner, because minimal work was involved for me, but it was special enough for us to feel spoiled.  Oh, and Dan came home with a box of chocolates for me that he hand picked out.  So far I've had 3 pieces, and all three have been fantastic!

I hope everyone was able to have a Valentine to share the weekend with, and you two were able to do something romantic for each other.