I guess it’s a given that your 10 year anniversary date should rock, right? After we got in bed on Saturday night, I looked at Josh and said “this was seriously the best 24 hours I’ve ever had”. It started on Friday night.
Josh was in Iowa all week for work (they acquired four new facilities and he was training staff and enjoying the corn fields in the mid-west). He told me on Sunday before we headed out for the airport that my gift was wrapped and ready and that he completely out-gifted me this year. Of course, that got my wheels turning and I asked him where he was hiding my gift! I had no intentions of looking for it (I love surprises too much), but it was fun to think about where it might be hidden. He assured me that I would NEVER find it. He was right. On Thursday afternoon he texted me to tell me that I should swing by K’s and pick my gift up. Sneaky husband.
Friday, his flight was due to arrive in Birmingham at 6:25. We were both a little worried that he would be delayed or that his flight might be cancelled because his luck was less than stellar on this trip.* I carried my dress with me and got ready in the bathroom after work while I waited to pick him up. I stalked the U.S. Airways website and watched and he managed to be a little early on each of his flights. I was waiting with bated breath in the terminal at 6:25 when he walked out of the tunnel. Happy Anniversary! We had dinner reservations at Fleming’s for 7:45, so by the time we grabbed his luggage and navigated a major thunderstorm, we were right on time. Fleming’s has started to be somewhat of an anniversary tradition for us and we couldn’t wait to chow down. It’s pretty expensive, but since we only do it once or twice a year, we don’t mind the splurge. I don’t have any pictures from dinner because we agreed to leave our phones in the car and have an actual conversation. I’m sad because our food was wonderful and I must admit, I was pretty happy with my new dress and curly hair! Just imagine you saw pictures of yummy caesar salads, porcini crusted filet mignon with white peppercorn sauce, chipotle macaroni & cheese (my favorite thing on the menu!!), Fleming’s potatoes, bread with feta cheese spread and tomato/basil butter and chocolate lava cake with homemade vanilla ice cream and chantilly cream. It was SO. GOOD. We had such a good time talking and laughing over dinner and were beyond surprised when the check came that it had already been taken care of?!?! My aunt had called earlier in the day and arranged to pay for our meal as an anniversary treat. It was so thoughtful and a fun surprise at dinner. We left with a box of dark chocolate truffles in hand and laughed that not only did we need gas, we had to run in Walmart and grab dog food in our fancy digs!
getting ready at work; my pretty new boots!
We didn’t get home until after midnight and Josh was ready to open presents. I was so anxious that he wasn’t going to like his gift since he had me convinced that he had gone overboard. Fortunately for me, he did like his gift even though it paled in comparison to mine. I bought him a new dry fit polo for the Bama game next month that looks great on him. I also got him a few travel books about France, Normandy specifically, so that we can start dreaming about our trip for next year. He got me a beautiful pair of cowboy boots. Beautiful! I have been saying for weeks that I wanted a pair and would love to wear them to the Cowboy Classic later this month. We even joked about shopping for them on Friday while we were in Dallas and I would have a great souvenir and be able to wear them to the game. Little did I know, he had already ordered them by the time we had that conversation. I probably would’ve gotten something much less expensive and not nearly as nice, but he did such a great job shopping for them (with a tiny bit of commentary from K) and picking them out on his own. He even made me do a fashion show with my game day dress for Dallas and I cannot wait to wear it altogether.
On Saturday, we slept late and had a leisurely morning around the house. We had a late breakfast at IHOP and gorged ourselves on french toast and pancakes. We had reservations for a zip line tour at Red Mountain Park later in the morning and needed to fuel up! I was so excited about our “day date” and we were doing something so fun and non-traditional. The weather was beautiful and it wasn’t humid at all, thank goodness! I was a little nervous about the experience, but I’m usually pretty adventurous and I knew once we got started I would be fine. We were harnessed up and had four other people in our group, along with three guides. There are 7 zips, one swing and a rope bridge. The first zip is pretty short and only about 20 feet off the ground. I made Josh go first, but after the first try, I was completely relaxed and often went first throughout the tour. The longest zip was almost 300 feet long and over 60 feet off the ground. We went backwards a few times and even doubled up and zipped tandem for one drop. We learned that if you pulled your legs in like a cannon ball that you would go twice as fast and there were a few times when I almost knocked our guide over coming in at full speed. We had a blast and are already talking about going back.
breakfast of champions at IHOP
me all harnessed up; a quick pic before our first zip
me on the smallest zip of the day; just before the longest zip of the day
We finished the day with a couples massage at Richard Joseph in English Village. I have had a huge gift card for the spa since September and kept refusing to share it with Josh. I decided it would make a great ending to our anniversary date, so we relaxed under capable hands for an hour of bliss. My massage table was even a water bed, so I floated most of the afternoon away. I am not even kidding when I say it was the best massage I’ve ever had. Jemorris was my masseuse and I highly recommend requesting him if you find yourself there! We walked to Billy’s from the spa and I ordered my usual — Billy’s chicken & cheese sandwich with onion straws and managed to almost polish off a bottle of their famous white sauce.
our wonderful massage room; a late lunch at Billy’s – HELLO white sauce of my dreams!
It was such a fun weekend spent together, we walked together a lot, had great conversation and didn’t take care of anyone but ourselves. In the beginning I felt a little guilty for the amount of money we were spending on ourselves, but I can honestly say those thoughts vanished about ten minutes into our day. Everyone deserves to be pampered sometimes and what better day to do it than the anniversary of your other best date ever.
* I dropped him off at the airport in BHM at 1:30 on Sunday afternoon. Flight #1 was delayed out of Birmingham, so he missed his connection in Charlotte. There were no other flights from CLT to Des Moines that day and almost every other flight anywhere even close were full. He finally caught a flight to Minneapolis at 10:30 that night and landed sometime after midnight. His plan was to rent a car and drive the 4 hours from Minneapolis to Des Moines early the next morning. The one-way rental would’ve cost his company an extra $400, so he grabbed a hotel room instead. He wound up on an early morning flight from Minneapolis to Milwaukee and then to Des Moines, which, as fate would have it was delayed!! He managed to get to work almost 24 hours after his original departure. Then, he car was christened by a hail storm and the rental company demanded our deductible before he could turn in the vehicle. Can you say crazy?
