I took a little blog vacation, and that’s because we’ve been busy celebrating Seth’s birthday/ week/ month (an extended celebration idea I think he got from my Mom!) We were hoping to observe the holiday, along with the also-rans Valentine’s Day and President’s Day, over the long weekend in California. Seth has never been, and I was dying to take him to meet friends and drive the Pacific Coast Highway and enjoy Valentine’s Day at a spa hotel with views of the Golden Gate…
And then Snowmageddon happened. We got over a foot of snow the day before we were supposed to leave, and the East Coast shut down. Literally. We went through six iterations of cancelled flights over three days before we finally, reluctantly, rescheduled the trip. Seth still made Valentine’s Day special, with gorgeous roses and presents and chocolate and wine… although I think the stuffed burger makers I got him, from an “As Seen on TV” commercial, were pretty inspired as well. We had various grilled meats at home, and spent most of the weekend inside with the hatches battened. 
The silver lining was that I finally got my late Christmas present! Seth finally, after a lot of begging on my part, kept his Christmas promise and got into the pool with the aqua jogger, and he loved it. We spent hours running in the pool over the long weekend (the one workout we can both do right now!), and he’s gone every day since and even knocked out some lap swimming. He loves the no-impact cardio. And although I almost drowned him when he asked me why I had been “holding out” on him with such a great workout, I’m elated.We made it to Mount Vernon for President’s Day- along with about half of DC- but it was beautiful in the snow. We couldn’t believe we had never been and vowed to make it back after a chronically loose screw on the prosthetic cut the walking tour short. (I’m still hobbling around in a boot cast, so we were a pretty pathetic pair.)
My birthday present was, as usual, kind of a fail. I ordered Seth an awesome custom Benelli shotgun with the help of one of his old football coaches, but of course it still hasn’t arrived. Poor guy got a card and a bottle of whiskey. I dropped the cupcakes I had picked up for him, and the banner I made fell on the floor before he got up. I really am the worst at occasions. (Luckily, Mom came through with bacon-topped cupcakes.) We did go out to a couple of nice birthday dinners with friends (why have one birthday dinner when you can have two?), and spent some great evenings at home watching the Olympics over a bottle of wine. One of my very favorite things about my husband is that he loves any and all sports and competitions. I think I caught him yelling at figure skaters at one point.
Snowmageddon of course manifested itself on the roads, so I had an abysmal week fighting traffic. It twice took me two hours to get home (27miles!), which is its own exquisite form of torture. Seth is to be commended for not locking me in the basement once I made it home on those nights.This weekend was insultingly beautiful and warm, after the havoc wreaked by a week of storms. Saturday it was in the 60s, and I even took the new kayak out for a spin on Accotink Bay. We wrapped up Seth’s birthday week with a Restaurant Week dinner in Baltimore with friends, complete with hilariously bad service and a real, live hair in the soup. We will not be returning to The Black Olive, but a good time was had by all anyway.
Here’s to 31 great years, and many more to come, for the love of my life. He even had his own birthday message. Shameless self-promotion, reprinting it here, but I thought it was really sweet.
I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that made my birthday day week so special. I should have typed this sooner but it seemed like every day someone was doing something to make the whole week super special. I feel very blessed to have so many great friends, family members, and mentors in my life that I truly love and respect.
Thank you, Amy, for making the last year of my life the best year of my life, despite the fact that it was also the craziest year of my life. I am thankful every day to be alive, and you make it even more rewarding.I look forward to living many more years with you by my side. Thanks for being my best friend.
Oh. The photo of the week is the one at top, of us literally blocking Mount Vernon. (Also entitled, "why you don't hand your phone camera to strangers.") This happens to us all the time. The first time was when we had just started dating, and we were standing on the steps of the Lincoln Monument. Of course the picture was our faces... and the steps. I guess it's tradition by now.
Oh. The photo of the week is the one at top, of us literally blocking Mount Vernon. (Also entitled, "why you don't hand your phone camera to strangers.") This happens to us all the time. The first time was when we had just started dating, and we were standing on the steps of the Lincoln Monument. Of course the picture was our faces... and the steps. I guess it's tradition by now.
Haha one of my favorite things about your husband, too.
ReplyDeleteI also definitely yelled at some figure skaters more than once in the last week.