Happy 27th Husband!
This past Sunday Husband celebrated 27 years.
I was just thankful that for a few months we will be the same age, and he can’t call me granny 🙂
He loves to joke that he doesn’t know how things were back in my day.
As if 7 months is a big age difference. Be what it may, I went after a hot younger man and never looked back!
Husband had been TDY all week. Seriously, the most boring week of my life. The Sunday he left I went grocery shopping and cooked all afternoon, properly preparing myself for the convenience of pre-packed lunches and dinners ready to go as soon as I got home each evening. I didn’t, however, think about how cooking and packing lunches takes up a significant portion of our evenings, and just how boring it would be if all of that was already done. Especially when one part of our two-person clan was absent.
So each night, I got home, ate dinner, put one of my pre-cooked lunches in my lunch box, took a shower, and found myself staring at the clock wondering how it could only be 8:30.
I read 5, going on 6, books on my kindle last week while Husband was gone. By the time I picked him up late Friday night, my eyes were burning with sleepiness, and there was nothing on earth I wanted more than to snuggled into his arms and finally catch some zzz’s.
Turns out he didn’t sleep very well either. We both woke up from our sleep comas Saturday morning, drug ourselves out of bed, and set to enjoying one of the seemingly last decently warm days.
And by warm I mean hovering in the 30’s and 40’s.
Since none of the birthday and Christmas gifts I’ve ordered came in on time, I tried to make it up with a day of fun. Except that the weather man predicted 2-4 inches of snow and frigid temps, making my plans for ice skating and a late dinner a bit difficult. Determined to not let the weather keep us down, we moved our dinner reservations up and went downtown around lunch. After walking around a bit we split a muffaletta sandwich at Dakota Thyme, drank a lot of coffee (and caught up on our weeks apart), then hit the rink.
Rapid City really dresses up for Christmas. That day was most definitely the most Christmasy day we have experienced. Snow speckled a few places here and there. Christmas music blasted throughout the town. I mean, an ice skating rink in main square? Come on!
We dodged the young hockey playing punks showing off their skating skills (I declared that our children WOULD play hockey! Hockey is the ONLY sport I get excited about!)…
…warmed up to our stiff skates…
and even tried out a move or two 🙂
Before calling it a day on the rink and turning in our skates.
We had a little time before dinner so we hopped in and out of stores around the block trying to stay warm. We hadn’t been in this soda shop before and ended up coming out with special ginger beers (so we could make moscow mules once we got home) and oogling at the real life sugar plums. I didn’t know they were for real!
There were lit up horse carriages…
and beautiful Christmas decorations sparkling through town.
And finally it was time for dinner. We have been trying to eat our way through Rapid. There are a few good restaurants that could stand their own in any city I think. One we hadn’t tried yet, and that had earned it’s spot as #1 on Trip Advisor, was called Delmonico Grill.
We started with the calamari appetizer. It was a delicious concoction of hot peppers and perfectly cooked calamari. We may or may not have fought over the tentacle pieces. They are our favorite!
Sticking to our usual habit of ordering an appetizer and an entree, we ordered the kona (as in Hawaiian coffee) rubbed steak with berry glaze, accompanied by the smashed potatoes, an extra side of asparagus, and much to our delight, an included wedge salad with blue cheese (nutrition be darned, there is nothing better than the crisp crunch of iceberg lettuce paired with the creamy tanginess of blue cheese!).
Oh yeah, and there was bread and herbed butter. We couldn’t have eaten another bite! I think I can safely say that this restaurant deserves the accreditation. Sitting here almost 24 hours later I just told Husband the more I think about our meal, the more I realize I enjoyed it tremendously. Everything was seasoned and cooked perfectly, and there wasn’t a single thing we didn’t enjoy, or regretted. It was perfect. And that is rare for us.
Today (Sunday), Husband’s actual birthday, has been a lot less eventful. I took him grocery shopping, then we came home and cooked various things for the week (I did make him rice pudding!), and then spent the afternoon blogging (obviously I’m referring to me), and watching a video while simultaneously tying flies (most definitely Husband).
Tonight we are cooking up homemade cashew korma (one of Husband’s most favorite dishes), drinking our latest beers, and singing along to the sweet bluegrass Pandora is bringing to our house.
Maybe not the most exciting, but I would say it’s been a good weekend. Hope you all have a great Monday and a great week! The countdown to Christmas has officially began in my mind!