One For the Books

I took the week off to enjoy our anniversary and I'm glad I did.  It's been bittersweet.  I had a bit of a breakdown Saturday then we went for what we'll call a "drive"...for four hours.  We both were going stir crazy and needed a change of scenery no matter how fast it was whizzing by.  I'm glad we did because we got a few signs from Grandma that we wouldn't have gotten had we stayed home and this field of gold...

Sunday we peeled fence paint and sanded until my foot could no longer bear weight. 

I love the look of the cobblestone I chose for the patio but standing on it for hours on end sears my foot for days.  Luckily, I stopped before completely crippling myself but I knew I still had a long night in the kitchen ahead of me to prep for my anniversary surprises the next day.  I got to making about 8 different things and putting stuff in the fridge to assemble.  We were both so incredibly exhausted and were in bed before 11pm.

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After the alarm, I rolled over at my usual futile attempt to fall back asleep from lack of adequate sleep the night before and was able to get in another hour which felt like a huge anniversary gift!  I got up and the Mr had masked up and slipped over to get some supplies we needed, our anniversary cake, and flowers I asked for from the store.  I grabbed a shower and when he came back he took one and I told him to stay upstairs until I called him down. 

I put together an afternoon tea spread because we were supposed to do one in Massachusetts that day and I wasn't going to let the current situation take that away.

I made some black currant cream scones like the ones we had in Chester, VT in October.  I put together finger sandwiches and little sweet bites from small-batch recipes I have and found online.  I ordered the teacups I passed up at Harney and Sons when we were in NY in October and it took us right back to that day. 

We had some of Harney and Sons Vanilla Comoro tea which is heavenly.  We opened our cards and he surprised me with some penuche fudge from our favorite sweet shop in Kennebunkport, Maine.

We looked through some old pictures and watched a few episodes of Arrested Development which you can only take in small doses and yes, I know I'm like 17 years late to the party.  I was looking outside at the half sanded/peeled fence and thought maybe an hour or so of painting could at least get us some decent results. 

Four hours later...

Again, my foot was not happy with me and before we knew it, it was 8pm and I had our dinner surprise ready.  I was able to slip in and hide a box shipped from Portillo's in Chicago from him.  Maxwell Street Polish are his favorite from there (mine too) and I wanted to try to recreate the campfire anniversary dinner we had in Montana last year of hot dogs, a mug of baked beans, and chips.  When I put on the paper hat they supplied, his jaw dropped and was like "are you for real!?!?!" 

24 married years say yes I am, sir. 

So he fired up the grill while I got the sides ready then I slapped those babies on there and we had a nice dinner on the chaotic patio.

We have a supply of some of our favorite sodas from our travels like the Huckleberry flavor from Jackson Hole he discovered last year as well as our favorite Orange Cream from Northwoods in Traverse City, MI.  (The only Orange Cream soda worth a dang and we tried a lot trying to find the same taste.)

To finish the Montana recreation, a few s'mores in our Radiate Campfire tin, which really gets movin' in a short time! 

Highly recommended if you don't have room for a fire pit.  Some people gripe about $30 for about 5 hours worth of fire but given there's no campfire smell or flying embers and you can work in up to 5 s'more sessions per summer wherever you want, I call that a bargain. (Especially this summer)  We came inside and massaged each other's arms and feet from all of the painting while we watched the tube and pretty much passed out.  Party animals. 

It was one for the books and the best we could pull off given the situation.  Cape Cod will hopefully be waiting for us for our 25th.  (It'd better be.) 

One thing we both realized that we always knew but was reinforced is just how much travel has enriched our life.  We have to shake our heads when people are like "so you missed a vacation, big deal."  It seems a shame to be on this planet not to see what's on at least part of it.  Our travels inspire the way we live, decorate, eat and so many other things.  It is a part of us that feels like the glue.  The first question anyone who knows us asks when they see us is  "where are you going next?" (or "where have you traveled to?" if we haven't seen them in a while.)  There are times we've driven 4 hours for lunch, poke around a few shops, and drive back home.  While I would've loved to do that this year, even on a small scale, we refuse to be part of the problem.   We know that the big milestone anniversary awaiting us next year will mean even more when we are able to celebrate it in the way that has become the cornerstone of our life adventures together.

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