1 Year Down, Forever to Go

Happy anniversary to me! Actually, our anniversary was yesterday, but I've decided I'm just going to use the month of June to celebrate. Because I can.

It's been a year full of ups and down. Sadly, a lot of downs. But we made it through. We persevered and actually had a wonderful anniversary celebration. Because I was unable to get the weekend of our anniversary off, we officially celebrated the first weekend in June. I asked for the entire weekend off of work (which never happens) and waited patiently for Matt to make plans like he swore to me he would. Fast forward to the Wednesday before we're supposed to leave and.... nothing. In all honesty, this didn't surprise me. The man hasn't booked a trip the entire 4 years we've been together. I've planned every single trip we've gone on, including the ones for my birthday. So when people asked what we were doing this weekend, I responded with "Nothing. Probably just hanging around the house, maybe rent a few movies" because that's what I anticipated doing. I wasn't really upset because it was something that I anticipated. He tends to forget about things like that and not make them a priority. I pretty much talking myself into believing that I would be okay with a lazy weekend around the house. With our roommate around. And all of Matt's friends. And the animals.

Well, surprise surprise! The Thursday before we were supposed to leave he comes into the house after work and states simply that we were going to the bay for the weekend. After a few questions I determine that he had booked a hotel in the Santa Cruz area for Saturday night and wanted to take me to the boardwalk. I haven't been in almost 10 years so I was thrilled! A day at the beach, with rides and terrible food. I couldn't ask for more. Especially since I hadn't seen the ocean in nearly a year!

And it was awesome. We left late-morning on Saturday and headed down to our hotel. The ride was traffic packed so we ended up arriving a bit later than we anticipated, so rather than spend a watered down day at the boardwalk we spent Saturday shopping, having an awesome dinner and... bonding at the hotel. If you haven't been to Gilroy, CA I highly recommend it. The entire town smells like garlic. It's pretty much heaven. They also have a fantastic outlet mall. Tons of shops! After a bit of shopping we went stopped at a random BBQ place for dinner called Famous Dave's. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I've never had so much food in my entire life. We ordered the platter for 2 and it was enough food to feed both of us for at least 2 days. Ribs, BBQ chicken, pulled pork, corn on the cob, corn bread muffins, baked beans and coleslaw. Surprisingly, we made a HUGE dent in the plate. Then we had to go pass out at the hotel and watch terrible HBO movies because we were stuffed!

This is what Matt does while we're having a wonderful conversation over breakfast.

We slept in a bit the next day and then headed to the boardwalk. We got an awesome deal from Costco where for $55 we got entrance to the boardwalk, 2 unlimited ride wristbands and 5 tickets to either get arcade coupons or to have an "experience" (mini golf, laser tag, haunted house, etc). We spent the first part of our day riding all of the rides. We got to check out a couple roller coasters (a wooden one that killed my neck), bumper cars, a terrible haunted house and, my favorite, the log ride. Even though I got kind of soaked. And I was wearing jeans.

One of my favorite photos of the day.  =)

We checked out a couple of the shops, then decided to do some mini golf. I haven't mini golfed in years so, obviously, I was terrible. It was a pretty great set up though. They had wheels at some of the holes that you spun to determine what your handicap would be that game. At one point Matt had to hit his first shot with the wrong end of the club, and then he got to stand in the middle of the green when I shot. Totally unfair. It was definitely a nice way to spice up the game. Also, half of the holes were glow in the dark, with black light. Kept things interesting!

On our way out we still had a couple tickets left so we found a couple of kids to give them to. They were pretty excited to get to play more video games. Glad we could help.  =)  We stopped for gas about a half hour North and decided to grab something to eat at this little Japanese restaurant. Yes, I got BBQ and Japanese food in matter of 24 hours. It was fantastic. We didn't get home until almost 11pm which was much later than we anticipated, but it was definitely worth it. It was the first weekend we've spent together since our honeymoon and it couldn't have been more needed!

To top it off, yesterday on our actual anniversary he came home with roses and a card. This is the 4th time in 4 years that he's given me flowers! He scored some major points the last couple weeks!

Now, I need to head off and check on my pot roast. And make some mashed potatoes of course. I will be back soon with, hopefully, a more productive entry! =)