Daily Archives: May 7, 2012

Happy Monday!

It’s a big day in our house because today is Garrett’s 31st birthday. We celebrated all weekend long, a fact that I mentioned to a checker at the grocery store on Saturday when I was buying Garrett’s favorite beer and then he randomly asked me for my ID (well, I guess it wasn’t random since I was buying beer, but I am CLEARLY old enough) then he did some math in his head and then said,

“Cougar Town, eh?”

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum. Ok.

So yes, I am 33. Older Woman // Younger Man. Whatever. More importantly I would really like to object to the fact that I am a cougar. I think if you are asking for my ID, I can’t POSSIBLY be a cougar, right? But despite that random interaction, we had an utterly blissful weekend!

It started at the gym. What, don’t all of your wonderful weekends start at the gym? We did our friend Cole’s Athlete of the Month Zombie Apocalypse WOD and we were pretty convinced at the end of it that we would DEFINITELY be zombie food.

Tough stuff. 🙂

But afterward there was an impromptu BBQ with our gym buddies, so that made up for all the sweaty exhaustion.

On Saturday I told Garrett we could do whatever he wanted — he was the boss! This is not something I do often…haha, so that was a gift in itself. We had planned to go kayaking but the weather was WAY TOO WINDY to kayak, not to mention going outside was a total sneeze-fest. Instead we spent the morning inside watching a lot of Top Gear and Moto GP (obvs, you know who had the remote control) and then in the afternoon we ventured out.

Our first stop was the library. I know, I know — we are senior citizens — but Garrett wanted to peruse the aisles, and his wish was my command!

I caught up on some magazines while Garrett found some treasures and then it was off to lunch, which ended up being a double scoop of bubble gum ice cream in a waffle cone for him — ok, ok and some strawberry cheesecake ice cream for me!

It was a worthwhile indulgence.

We had to stop by Costco on the way home because Garrett’s request for one of his birthday dinners was “Giant Rib Eyes.” You can always count on meat as a Man Pleaser, right?

Mission: Accomplished.

So I made all 3 of Garrett’s favorite dishes — Grilled Rib Eyes, Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Caprese Salad. In the end, he enjoyed them all, but you can probably guess where his priority was:

If that is not the most ridiculous piece of meat you have ever seen, I don’t know what is. And he ate THE WHOLE THING.

(Sidebar about that plate: It says You’re The Best and it is so totally 80s, but growing up it was the plate that we all got to eat our dinner on when it was our birthday. My mom passed it on to me a couple of years ago and I still love it. Do you have a Special Occasion Plate tradition? It’s so simple, yet so fun!)

Sunday we slept late (so late — my god it was like the college years, and it felt AMAZING) and spent the day mostly puttering around the house goofing off, doing some yard work, and enjoying the weather.

While it won’t rank on the EXXXXTREME scale, we both agree it was a perfect birthday weekend. Just the right amount of relaxing, indulging and being productive so you start the week off on the right foot.

We aren’t doing anything crazy today, but again that’s at Garrett’s request. It took a lot of arm twisting for him to let me throw him a party last year, so I think this year he is content to just have a lovely, regular day.

On Saturday night I asked him, as we do at every birthday, what 3 things he wanted to accomplish before he turned 32 and without a pause he said:

*Getting Engaged
*Getting Married
*God willing, getting pregnant

We’ve been together a long time, Garrett and I, and we have celebrated at least a decade of birthdays together. And I’ll tell you what, friends, when he shot those wishes off the top of his head, I felt like I was the one who was getting lavished with gifts.

I think this year is going to be a big one.