Celebrating--Our Marriage is Legal!!

Celebrating 18 wonderful years!!

Art and Soul--was worth the wait and a wonderful way to celebrate!  There was something old (do we count?), something new (the venue), something borrowed (the time), and something blue (my dress and Andy's shirt)! 

I took charge of arranging our anniversary this year!  Knowing that our lives in no way have inertia anywhere in it, it is always hard to find time for just Andy and me.  So, we don't plan any grandiose celebrations or out of town trips!  So, when I heard of the restaurant Art and Soul, I knew it would be the perfect-it was a place we had never been before, and it was in the city, where we NEVER go.  It would be a little outside our box way to celebrate that we are still happy, madly in love after 18 years of marriage!  And, happily I learned that Art had once been a personal chef to Oprah.  I was feeling extra happy about our dinner.

Outside the restaurant!

Andy and I fell in love with Art and Soul.  It was soooooooo goood.  The food was tasty and delicious!  The pictures do it more justice than I ever could.

It was really funny to watch Andy.  We know the kind of people we are--that we are superbusy with our kids and their activities and their friends!  We rarely get out alone and to get out into the city is an even rarer commodity.  So, Andy was like a kid in a candy shop!  He wanted one of everything.  I have realized that Andy and I approach our food selections very differently.  I am happy to go to my tried and true restaurants and eat my tried and true food selections~Andy, on the other hand, wants the adventure of an exotic dish, a new flavor to try, and new blend of spices to savor!  So, as we perused the menu, I looked for "safe" choices and he looked for spice and variety. 

Andy really seemed drawn to the appetizers!  With 18 years behind us, we also know that we approach the idea of spending $$$  a little differently too.  So, he was so cute and said, "When will we get down here again?  We really won't, it will be a while, so I would like to..if it is ok, to get several of the appetizers as they look so good.  I'm ok with spending some $$ to celebrate our life together."  I laughed.  He could have told me that's what he was going to do--it's his hard earned money too.  I just like to make him think about the worth of it sometimes!  :)  So, we ordered 3 appetizers, each a main course, and mine came with a dessert!

Our appetizers were from left to right

Shrimp and Grits with Bacon

Beer steamed mussels

Seared Ahi Tuna with Fried Green Tomatoes

They were soooooo good!  With every bite, I thought I was in heaven!  The shrimp and ahi tuna were out of this world!  The burst of taste as I sunk my teeth into the meat (shrimp or tuna), exploded into a hundred different morsels of taste.  You know, I really am not good at describing it, but the experience of it was amazing!  The mussels were good too, but we fell in love with the other two appetizers.

For dinner, we had:

Blackened scallops with spinach and mashed potatoes

A side of Macaroni and Cheese

Ribeye with creamed spinach

After our appetizers I was so full, I was only able to take a few bites of the mac. and cheese and my scallops.  But it was one of the best meals and I will remember it for such a long time with happiness.  Andy's ribeye was so good, too.  He gave me a bite in exchange for a scallop. 

One of the things we loved about this restarant was the ambiance of the restaurant.  We were settled into a nice little booth with the most unique lighting.

These two pictures are of the light from different angles.  The one above is Andy taking it with the camera at his eye.  For the picture below, we laid the camera on the table and took the shot from right underneath the light.

Our cute little table!

We had my dessert wrapped up as we had another destination in mind for our dessert!  We were headed to Georgetown Cupcake!  I had heard (and seen on tv) so much about these desserts that I knew this was an opportunity to try them!  We also knew we needed to bring some home for the kids.  And in an indulgent moment we bought 18, one for each year of our marriage!  It was so much fun to be there.  We had to wait in line, but there was a comraderie about it, a united brotherhood that was a little fun to share in.

I have to say, though, that with our busy day, we were fading fast!  Andy and I both started yawning.  I'm sure we were great company at that point.  The beauty is that after 18 years, his hand on my arm or my arms around his waist, our hands interlocked together say more than most people say in a conversation.

Andy-I love you forever and always!

Deja Vu

When I was little my sister and I used to love, love, love playing on each other's shoulders.  I remember even trying to get on her shoulders when she was riding a bike!  We did it in the tennis courts, we weren't stupid. I don't remember really getting that to work to well. 

One time I was on my sister's shoulders and we were having a good time when my mom answered the ring of a telephone with a, "Hello Mom!"  Tiercy realized that meant grandmother and she forgot that I was even on her shoulders!  She let out a shout and said, "Grandmother!"  She let go of my feet and ran forward to get as close to Grandmother's voice as she could.  Needless to say, with the laws of physics, I stayed behind and crashed to the ground.  The funny thing is that it sent my sister and I into hysterical giggles and we couldn't stop!  It was sooooo fun and one of my favorite memories.

So, I was a little nostalgic for those days when I saw Brenna with her friend, Mackie, on her shoulders!  They were having such a good time.  If you don't remember, Mac is the one who also jumped of the porch railing during snowmageddon!  So, here are the pictures.

Calle

Calle playing with her brother Charlie.

She had so much fun being reunited with her brother!  They played tough but there was no growling involved!  It was great because it wore her out in about 15 minutes!

The Dog Days of Summer

Noah spent the night at his friend Aidan's house and had the time of his life.  He spent the day kayaking and teaching Aidan's dog how to swim.  Moby is a huge lab and was funny to see doing the doggie paddle in the water.  Noah finally understood where the term came from and it tickled his funny bone when he thought about it.  They had so much fun being boys!  What a great house for playing, getting muddy, and experiencing a thrill.  I think Noah wants to be adopted!

I Get it Now

I didn't get it until now. I have had years to "get" it.  But I never did...until now.  I think it started with a quote on Tobin's new practice t-shirt.  Tobin is playing JV football for his high school and has had two-a-day practices all week which have been long and exhausting.  So, his practice shirt said, "We play for those who came before us, and we set the standard for those who follow us."  Pretty deep for a football shirt, right?  I really thought about that statement and many that the Varsity coach, Coach Mac, has said the night of the parent meeting...and somewhere along the way, inbetween making lunches for T all week long that were big enough to share...and giving a young football player a ride home..and seeing the reaction of people to the QO football teams, I get it.

Being a part of a football team is about being a part of something more.  A community....a utopian community....I don't think that's the perfect word though.  It's just that you're a part of something that means something to sooo many people.  Here are some of the other connections which helped me "get" it.

1.  Coach Mac explained that his 8 yr old daughter had been diagnosed with diabetes this past spring.  And he wanted to help raise money to find a cure.  So, as he was thinking about it, he realized that he had so many resources in his football team, his family.  So, one of the QO games was going to become a fundraiser for diabetes! This left such an impression on me for sooo many reasons, Coach Mac was a true leader, he was going to charge out on that field and charge ahead to find a cure.  He was reaching out and it made me want to reach in.

2.  The second thing is that Tobin is finally playing football with soooo many of his friends.  For so long I have felt he seemed a fish out of water, that he should have been at a different school where his friends were.  Now, the two schools have combined and he is finally playing with people that are like him, have similar goals and have their heart in the game of football.  Seeing them together is such a thrill for me.  It makes my heart sing.

3.  Another piece to my getting it are the stories that Tobin has shared with us through out the week.  He has come home with many stories of different things that have happened, whether it was his ranking (1st string, 2nd string, etc.),  the fun that team members poked at the coaches, or the stories of the coaches mispronouncing players' names, or to the coach not recognizing a player for a moment.  Tobin had so much laughter from these experiences.  Tobin is so good at retelling them that I feel like I was right out on that football field, hearing things and seeing them as they happen.    I love it.

4.  I think the final piece was yesterday at the scrimmage.  It was the first scrimmage of the season.  Tobin's eyes were so shiny, he was ready to play.  I got there and was so happy to immediately recognize some of the moms and dads from the team.  This was important because right away I felt connected to it somehow.  And then people who didn't have children out on the field started showing up to watch.  Students, who weren't playing football, started to show up and watch.  In some small way they were there to watch my son.  My son!! It was definitely an emotionally charged moment when I realized this.  For the first time I saw that a team (be it football, soccer, baseball, etc) means something to people other than the team and those immediately connected to it.  So, basically, outside the moms, dads, and players, people were there to watch their high school football teams and see how they were performing.  So, interesting.

I get it now!

Playin' at the Pool

Noah's day at the pool with his friends.  They were the only ones there for much of the day. They had so much fun.  They played basketball, posed for pictures, had races and were gone an aboslutely long time in the showers when they got a little cold. 

Cascade Lake

We loved Cascade Lake.