Happy Birthday, Rob...Again

As if Rob needed anymore birthday celebrations, I planned a fun, relaxing, romantic trip to Seattle where we stayed in the fancy-schmancy Hotel Monaco (thanks to my Mom and Dad!) ate at all-too-fancy (and expensive) restaurants, walked our feet to a nice blistery state, and enjoyed each other immensely.

We left the pups at a kennel, and headed off late afternoon on Friday. It was our first little trip alone since our Honeymoon, and we just soaked up the time. We had no official plans except for dinner on Saturday, so we got to enjoy our time at our own pace; we even snuck in a nap on Saturday!

Friday night we ate at the always wonderful, always crazy crowded Cheesecake Factory. And also as always, we were way too full to even get to enjoy some of the delicious cheesecake. We walked around a bit, and then finished off at Sazerac restaurant, which is connected to Hotel Monaco with some drinks and a shared Gooey Chocolate Cake with pouring creme (...think whipping cream on steroids...) which was actually even better than it sounds.

Saturday morning was a nice, late and lazy morning (Rob didn't wake up until 7 which is practically unheard of). We ordered room service, and ate breakfast in bed; also from Sazerac, it was absolutely amazing.

We walked up and down Pike, but didn't actually go to the market. Both of us have been many, many a time and really had no interest in fighting the summer tourists on that (somewhat) sunny Seattle Saturday. We did a little shopping, and then made the nice long walk to the Space Needle and surrounding area.

We had every intention of taking the trip up the Space Needle but those darn summer tourists got the best of us and we decided not to wait in the line that WRAPPED AROUND THE ENTIRE AREA. And, it saved us 38 bucks. Thanks to the wonderful, golf ball sized blisters that had taken residence on my feet (Hold the scolding- I now realize I should have packed better shoes) we retreated to our hotel, with a brief stop for Pulled Pork Sandwiches and Sweet Potato fries for lunch, from, you guessed it. Sazerac. Not only was it totally convenient being attached to the hotel, we couldn't resist trying more things on their menu. They're food was AWESOME.

We then read and napped for a bit. We never, and I repeat NEVER get time for reading and naps. Especially together. Especially while snuggling. Especially while on a ridiculously comfortable 300-and-some-odd-dollars a night bed. Especially while looking out over a really pretty view of Seattle.

Okay, okay. I was only kidding. But wouldn't it be neat if that's what Seattle looked like?

We got up and dressed in time to go to our Hotel's 'social hour' where there was free wine sampling. We enjoyed a glass, and then headed down to The Pike Brewery, which was really, really neat.

Rob's all time favorite beer (okay, aside from Guinness) is brewed by them, and he had always wanted to visit. Upon our beer sampler, he actually found a new favorite. All I can tell you is that it was #5- I couldn't for the life of me tell you what the names were.

We made our way down to the waterfront to Elliot's Oyster House, which by the way, is "Where Seattle gets their Seafood." It came highly recommended to us by my dad and the entirely of the internet for the best Seafood joint in Seattle. I enjoyed Coconut Prawns with Plum Sauce (the first coconut prawns I have found that were actually better than the ones I was serviced in a tree house restaurant with a sand floor in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico- and I don't even like seafood) and a house salad, while Rob was served what appeared to be an entire crab on a plate. After, I must add, being adorned with a cute little bib.

When we were done, they brought over a bowl of the best creme brulee in existence, topped with a little candle. (Ahem. Where were the other TWENTY-NINE?) They accidentally left a desert menu, and because we are incredibly indecent human beings with zero self control, we ordered another desert to share. This time? Deep Fried Chocolate Truffles.

Hello? Is this thing on? I said Deep. Fried. Chocolate. Truffles.

By Sunday morning we pretty much couldn't button our pants. We were around 600 dollars poorer, and about 10 pounds heavier. Each.

After paying for parking (60 dollars for two nights. Whaaaat?) we headed back towards home. Even after only 48 hours we missed our wonderful, horrible terriers and ached for our own bed a little. We really do love being in our little rental house, in what seems like our own private section of the world in sweet little Wenatchee. We finished off the wonderfully romantic weekend with homemade carne asada and wine in our backyard. We are such homebodies.

And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Happy Birthday to Rob!

Though it wasn't my birthday last Wednesday, I have realized something about getting older: time starts going faster and faster. I'm pretty sure we only got married last week, yet in a couple months' time it will have been a whole year!

But I'm probably not the one you should be talking to about getting old. Enter: Rob. Handsome gentleman, reddish-brown hair, 5'11'', 180lbs, and 30 years old. I repeat. Thirty. Years. Old.

Well a very happy birthday to you, old man! :)

He is actually getting a whole birthday month, and it isn't quite over yet. We kicked off the month with a trip to Spokane, met with some friends for dinner (Red Lobster wasn't worth the at least two hour wait, so we opted for Italian Kitchen, which comes in at a close second) and had a grand old time. (No pictures were taken as the restaurant was deemed to nice for pictures. Whaaat? I'm still trying to get over my sadness.)

Next stop was the 10th, his actual birthday, and we celebrated as just Mr. and Mrs. here in our quaint little home. We kicked off the day (before he had to leave for work) by giving him the card I had made him. A huge cut-out '30' with the front entirely covered with pictures from his entire lifespan, and the inside filled with the "30 Reasons I Love My 30-Year-Old Husband" (see below) His response? "Wow. That's a lot of writing."

While he was working, I decorated with streamers and a couple 'Happy Birthday' banners in a very my mom-esque style. For dinner we Rob had two whole pounds of King Crab Legs, (served on real silver platters) which I marinated in a wine/garlic/lemon concoction, and then roasted, which I am told turned out amazingly well.

Of course the night ended with an (if a may say so myself) amazing peanut butter icebox pie/cheesecake thing with crushed Oreo crust. (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/06/another-pie/) It was so good, that we both accidental forgot to wait for him to blow out candles. I'm sure you can see the missing pieces in the pictures. Whoops! And yes, you silly, silly people. Of course I sang the love of my life "happy birthday" all by my lonesome. I totally wooed him, too.

This weekend we are going to Seattle to indulge ourselves in a very relaxing, romantic time at the Hotel Monaco. We have no distinct plans but to enjoy each other and the city. We plan on walking everywhere, have an entourage of restaurants we have to eat at (I know, have to, right? Like we are even trying to resist...) and just being with each other, on our first little trip alone since our honeymoon. And we do plan on having a blast, thankyouverymuch.

Finally, on the 3rd of July, bright and early in the morning, Rob's mom is generous enough to fly us down so we can visit and celebrate our countries freedom along with my elderly (he he) husbands big 3-0! I think it should be a fine way to end a birthday month!

Whew! Did you catch all that? Just in case you haven't already ready enough about my soon-to-be-wearing-depends-husband, I'll finish this post with the email I sent out to our friends and family. Yes it's sappy, no its not me sucking up, and yes it is absolutely, without-a-doubt, the 100% honest truth.

And without further adieu, 30 Things I Love About My 30-Year-Old Husband-

1.) He is a ferocious experimenter. Plenty have gone awfully awry, but quite a few are successful. I love him for it, but it also drives me nuts.

2.) He is a forgiver. Oh my is he ever. I've had my share and then some of his splendid forgiveness. He truly forgives and forgets. The kind of person we all should be.

3.) He is a fighter. The man doesn't give up. He fought through some rough childhood situations, overcoming plenty of odds. He's fought for friends, for jobs, for God, and Lord knows he has done is fair share of fighting for me. I love that I can know he will continue to fight- for me, for our family, for our marriage, for our children.

4.) He truly is a man's man. Of which I am eternally grateful because his 'man' jobs include taking out the trash, checking on strange noises, squishing the bugs, and making all the 'mean' calls in which you have to be a little stern to get what you need. I probably would have gotten married just to avoid having to make the 'mean' calls myself, but I've gotten a heck of a lot more than I bargained for. ;)

5.) He isn't a fan of television. Okay, okay, okay. So we watch a few shows via steaming them online, but he isn't a "I hold the remote and no one else touches it, and my backside never strays from the couch" kind of guy. Neither one of us can stand sitting in front of the TV for long.

6.) He is a mad tech genius. I kid you not the man can fix a computer thats been stung with viruses, thrown under a bus, drowned in a river and resembles nothing more than a wheezing, steaming rock.

7.) He is a walking dictionary. I actually have a love/hate relationship with this aspect of him. I love that I can ask him the spelling/definition/synonyms/antonyms of any word that ever existed and he can tell me accurately and instantly. I'm not so fond of him talking to me like I'm some rocket scientist who knows what he means when he says, "I'm sorry I have a weakness for sesquipedalian excess." (http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/1999/10/25.html) Okay, okay. So he's never said that. But he probably will.

8.) He has an amazing, active imagination. I will ask him to tell me a story, weather it be out of boredom, on a long drive, or trying to sleep, he comes up, instantly, with an entirely random, compelling,and quite elaborate story. Did I mention instantly? It expands beyond that too- he's the kind of guy who, when asked what we should do, comes up with things like "write a story, create a recipe, invent a new game, create a home video movie about ninjas, write a five-year plan, take dancing lessons, or join some kind of club" when I'm like, "uhhh...we could watch a movie?"

9.) He puts up with me. He puts up with my obsessive picture-taking; my never-ending music-listening; my baby clothes buying; my awful, repetitive guitar playing; my scrapbook mess-making, my bland food-likes, my outside water fight desires, my crazy, intimidating, daunting ideas, and all of my faults that I'm not brave enough to spell out. Out of frustration I once asked him, "Why do I put up with you?" to which he quickly responded, "Because I put up with you." So very, very true.

10.) He is so sweet. He is a kind of sweet that I didn't even know existed until I met him.

11.) He will always be a kid at heart. And you know what? Life is too short to get old. So we'll play silly games and we'll sing made up songs and you can point and laugh at us, but I can guarantee you we are having more fun. :)

12.) He is not afraid to admit his mistakes. He apologizes no later than .34 seconds after he realizes he was wrong.

13.) He loves my family...or he is a really good faker. We've all heard the in-law horror stories. Since I think my family's pretty much the coolest thing since sliced bread, I am eternally thankful the two get along and can actually have an honest good time.

14.) He is so much more than I deserve. And, for some crazy reason, he will tell you the exact same thing about me.

15.) He is a family man, but a blood-schmud kind of man. Friends and family, and family are friends. And if you're locked under one of those categories for him, you can practically consider yourself set. He would do anything for any one of us.

16.) He set aside his manhood and read the Twilight Saga just because I liked it so much. (If you catch him in the right mood he will admit to actually enjoying it.) And then he even pretended to be a vampire.

17.) He brings me 'just because' gifts. I am not a needy girl, but it still makes me feel like a princess.

18.) He is a man strong in his faith. He believes with every ounce of his being, and does his humanly best to live as such.

19.) He wrote (and had illustrated) a book. Not just any book, though. A children's book. A children's book that was written for our first child, and dedicated to me with a signed "I'll love you forever." Um, hello? How can you NOT love this man? He wrote a book for our unborn child? How lucky am I?

20,) He is witty. He isn't afraid to be goofy and he absolutely cracks me up.

21.) He knows the most random facts. Ever. And if I knew anything about anything I would probably be able to remember one to reference, but you will just have to take my word for it.

22.) He is a hard worker. He is a strong and ethical and little-complaining worker. He leaves the house by 5:30 in the morning, drives all over the map, and depending on how the day goes, he gets home anywhere between 5PM and 9PM. And he complains way less than I do about it.

23.) He once told me, while we were out in the middle of nowhere, that, and I quote, "If our country keeps spiraling downwards and we ever enter another depression, you realize I will do whatever it takes for us to make it? I don't care what it is, but I do know we will be okay." I'm not so sure that will ever need to be, but just the fact that he thought it enough to vocalize makes me love him even more.

24.) He likes when I pick out his outfits. I'm fairly certain it is just because it is easier than him trying to figure out if a brown polo and brown shorts match (it doesn't, sweetie) but he pretends he likes it just because I do.

25.) For Christmas he put together a huge room-divider picture frame containing only pictures from our honeymoon. He worked so long and hard finding which pictures should go in which slot, ordering the right size, only to realize that all of the 8X10's he had printed were horizontal when they needed to be vertical. So when he gave it to me he said, "we get to fix it together!" But I am really quite happy with my side-ways pictures, thankyouverymuch.

26.) We never run out of things to talk about. We'll put it this way; Rob and I once ran up a $1000 phone bill (just on my side) in one month- you can ask my parents. And, to this day, we've still never had an issue of finding things to talk about. There is rarely a silent moment in this household.

27.) He introduced me to Peggle. Whats that? You've never heard of Peggle? Oh, well, I apologize upfront for the inconvenience to the rest of your life as you obsess over this game.http://www.popcap.com/games/peggle

28.) He gives a mean back rub. And I am spoiled with it nightly. Every. Single. Night. Oh how I love his strong hands laced with lavender baby oil. :)

29.) He loves me. And I really can't figure out quite why he adores me, but he does. And he shows it. And I have no right to ever, ever complain about him not showing his feelings, or about him not being sensitive to mine because he does and he is. My old neighbor had a group of girls come over for wine and cheese party's every now and then. Rob (as the only guy) went twice and was his typical charming, helpful, friendly, funny, humble self. Every time after that those girls would always ask, "Where is my Rob? Why haven't I found him yet?" I am so, so very glad and blessed to have found MY Rob.

30.) He is Rob. He is the one and only- no one else even comes close. He is my best friend, my accountability partner, the love of my life, my comedian, my caretaker, my confidant, my dream chaser, my shoulder to cry on, my joy to laugh with, my hand to hold, and the best thing that has happened to me. It makes the world a better place just knowing that he's here to share it with me. I consider it a privilege to be called his wife.