Happy Anniversary

Our anniversary started off like any other day. We woke up, said the typical, “Happy Anniversary” and went about getting ready for our day. I had a meeting in downtown DC at 10:30, so I started heading that way. Thankfully I stopped at Starbuck’s on my way and got a nice big cup of tea (sorry, I don’t drink coffee…I hear it makes you grow hair on your chest and I DEFINITELY don’t want that!) I headed into DC and right as I crossed over the 14th street bridge it felt like I was driving over a bunch of potholes. Right after I heard a thud…thud…thud from my tire. I just knew I had a flat, so I pulled over onto a side street and checked out the situation. No, no flat, so I got back in my car and headed to my meeting.

The thud, thud, thud got louder and of course now I was in the middle of downtown DC where there was no where to pull over and check things out...and let me add that it was also raining. Anyone from around here knows that in downtown DC at 10 am there is no where to park…even most of the parking garages are full, and there is definitely no where to pull over and check out your tire. God was watching over me and I looked up and saw the perfect meter parking space. I didn’t even have to parallel park, I could just pull right in (please allow me to note that I CAN parallel park and I am pretty good at it, if I do say so myself, but I was not excited to attempt parallel parking with a flat tire.) Of course my tire was as flat as a pancake, so I did the first thing I thought of, I called Joe. Luckily our insurance has roadside assistance, so I was able to get things squared away for a tow truck to come and get my car. Joe, being the wonderful husband that he is, came to where I was and traded cars with me. So I went to work (I had already missed my meeting) and Joe camped out at Starbuck’s until the tow truck came. As soon as Joe arrived I looked at him and said, “Happy Anniversary Honey!” Then we both started laughing.

So, for our anniversary Joe bought me 4 brand spankin' new tires…one for each wonderful year we’ve been married. The other tires had been on my car for about 5 years, and we don’t just drive my car…we DRIVE my car (this is where I put a plug in for Toyota…I love my car…his name is Duane). I guess it was about time for new tires.

After work I came home and decided to make Chicken Madeira. A friend had given us some Madeira wine and suggested this dish, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Thanks to everyone for the food suggestions. (I have to give a little shout-out to Leslie, who suggested beef stroganoff. I LOVE beef stroganoff…in fact, I made it for dinner on Tuesday, otherwise that would have been a great dish to make. I’ll definitely give your recipe a try.) The dinner was good and that was pretty much it for our day. Not too exciting.

Friday night, however, was when we really celebrated our anniversary. For the first time in her 2 years of life, both Joe and I left Ella overnight with Metti. There have been times that I’ve been gone and Joe’s stayed home with her, and there have been times that Joe’s been gone and I’ve stayed home with her, but never have both of us been gone at the same time! Joe rented us a hotel room at the Aloft hotel at the National Harbor. It was close enough that we could come home quickly if something happened, but far enough away that we could have a night to ourselves. We went to dinner at Rosa Mexicano then walked around by the water and checked out the Gaylord Hotel (loved the water fountain show), then finished off with a visit to Cake Love. After we got our cupcakes we went back to the hotel and watched a movie…a current movie (at least current for us)…a movie that didn’t have Elmo, Blues Clues, Dora or any other animated character. In fact, we watched 2 movies, “I Love You, Man” and “Slumdog Millionaire.” Both were great!

Saturday morning we woke up, grabbed a quick breakfast and headed home. It was really nice being away for a night. We missed Ella and I was really sad not to kss those cheeks before bed, but it was nice to get away. Metti said that Ella was great and didn’t even ask for us (I kind of wish she had lied about that). When we walked in Ella was so cute and excited to see us.

It was a great anniversary. I still can’t believe that God chose to give me Joe. He’s a wonderful husband who works so hard and takes great care of his girls. We love him so much and thank God every day for him.