Birthday Feast for Teddy B

 Going out for Ted's 41st birthday!! Living it up with some of his favorites: fajitas & brownie sundae.

Happy Birthday, mi amor. mi vida. mi cielo :)

Adoring Tribute to the Man in my life: Bonne Anniversaire!

SuperMan

SuperDad

SuperTeacher

SuperCoach

SuperSon

SuperHubby

SuperLinguist

SuperLawnmower

SuperDaylightSavingsClockUpdater

SuperDoorLocker

SuperDogWalker

SuperTrampoline"Bear's Nest" Player

SuperMullet-lover

SuperWookie-lover

SuperFan-of-the-fans-of-Elvis

SuperScriptorian

SuperSleeper

SuperPunster

SuperAndMegaTriviaMan!

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Turning a youthful 41 today

and still younger than moi!

Teddy's BIG 4-0!

 Yea!! He made it! He is catching up to his OLD wife! :)
Ted took the day off for his birthday and he spent the morning accompanying Maddie and the cast in her middle school's melodrama (western) performance of "Christmas at Mistletoe Mesa"
Ted went from work to the school every day for one week to rehearse with them for a weekend performance and then the final performance was during homeroom at school on his actual birthday. The director couldn't have been more pleased!! Here she is, the infamous, (ahem), I mean Famous Mrs. Hill:

then Ted and I went to a huge estate sale and picked up 4 wreaths & garland ($10 total!), 9 stockings for our Operation Elf (sub 4 santa) [yes, they have 9 people living in the home; needless to say, we got A LOT of people on board to help!]  and then Ted bought a Baptist Hymnal (musician + eclectic book-lover meet) and some other book...help me...i can't remember what it was...equally as interesting, but not musical...

then we went to do drop offs or this and that, pick up this and that,
and finally
finally
we drove to Richardson (Dallas area) to a gorgeous Renaissance Hotel for the BIG 4-0 GETAWAY

After all that work, (and after having cake for brunch with the cast of Maddie's show),
we headed to Outback Steakhouse (Ted's favorite meal is steak and baked potato) for the delicioso steaks they have. We eat steak about 3 times a year:
Ted's birthday
Christmas
when someone invites us over and grills steaks

So we were enjoying the outing, knowing our kids were in good hands til the following day (thanks, Bob and Tasha!!) when I heard lots of squeaking in the wall next to me, near the outlet and the crack in the spot where the wall and the back of a booth met...
"Twas the day of Ted's Birthday
and all through Outback
Not a creature was stirring
except for a rat!!"
It was probably mice, though; the squeaks were so squeeeaaaky! I recognized them and tried to get Ted to hear them; he went white, (he HATES rodents) and retorted, "I don't want to hear them!"
We kept on talking about investments (of which i know nothing, but am willing to learn) :)
and they mice kept on squealing about how delicious the steaks smelled...
I got the waiter, Wade, to come over and listen...
which he did.
His face went white (almost; he doesn't appear to hate them, but he knows what they can do for a restaurant's reputation)
and he had the manager there within 30 seconds.
At which time, the mice had moved on or shut up completely:
they knew the BIG CHEESE was there listening...
To cut to the "chase" -- no, we did not get a free meal as hoped for.
but we did get a free piece of birthday cheesecake!

As we pulled out onto the highway headed towards Barnes and Noble
(Ted's favorite place), (and he had a gift card from the director extraordinaire as thank you for his time spent with her show)
we drove by Chuck E Cheese, at which Ted's chuckled, told me, and I cracked up.

What a gorgeous hotel! so festive!!!
In typical fashion, after Ted fell asleep, [at 11pm] I went down to the lobby to enjoy the quiet, the holiday music and decor and work on our ELF blog (the sub 4 santa project aforementioned) and have a warm cup of camomile tea (it's supposed to help you sleep)...I went back up to our room at 12:30 am, read a new book, a Western (Fort Worth, TX setting, no lie) Pride and Prejudice, set right after the civil war.

 Ted, in normal fashion, got up at about 5:30 am (only 4 hours after I went to bed) (!?) and went down to the lobby to do some email/internet and have a Diet Pepsi and read the paper. He always leaves me a quiet morning and I know he enjoys his morning paper, morning caffeine and lounge time. Can I at least say, we were relaxing? and then we hit the hotel gym together (haven't gone to the gym together since we didn't have kids!) and then ate a deluxe breakfast buffet...

One of the things i LOVE about Ted is that his background and interest (and college studies) were in the Humanities field. (one of my majors) AND he choose to spend the next day off at this beautiful, artistically stimulating and aesthetically moving location:

We saw exhibits about old, old sculpture in French monasteries, Mexican cartoonist/artist, Olmec, Toltec and Peruvian and Columbian art that dates back to some of the  Book of Mormon historical times (1800 BC-1200 AD), Monet, Manet, Picasso, Mondrian, Pollock, Van Gogh and so much more.

It was almost divine.

quiet.

reflective.

beautiful.

intriguing.

the talent!

the slow walking

and focusing on something

so different than what i'm focused on every day.

Now, I must point out that we were almost as entranced by our visit to Eddie Bauer's store in Garland, TX, where we stopped to look; after buying clothes at Walmart and maybe Target for the past many, many years

[we just don't live by any stores

and I hate driving 30 minutes to a crowded, overpriced mall!]

(with a few big trips to Kohl's or JC Penney)

we were (embarrassingly) overcome with a longing for the quality of clothes,

the very stylish looks, the colors,

 the feel of the material, the good-looking,

"I'll feel really dressed up in that!" kind of feeling;

we--I was mesmerized so much

that I got some things to "try on"

and when Ted saw how happy I looked,

 how wonderful the caliber of clothing is there,

we made the group decision to buy me one outfit.

voila!

Ted confessed,

"I could spend $500 here, easily!"

and I thought to myself,

"$500? I could spend a couple thousand!"

back to the museum,

I feel lucky to be married to someone who would choose to spend a day like that! I adore that--and I adore him! We were going to stay two nights, but he had a big game to get back to watch :)

A love of literature, languages and the arts is one thing that brought Ted and I into each others' lives. It is true! C'est vrai! Es la verdad!

Ted commented this on the way home:

middle seat and floor full of bags, shopping, etc

Back seat is full of wreaths, garlands, books, a vase, christmas stockings,

a huge frame and other 'treasures' from the previous day's estate sale...

For going on a "romantic getaway overnight" we sure look like the Beverly Hillbillies on our way home!

Te quiero, mi amor!