2 Years

For those of you who are married, does it feel like time has gone by faster since you got hitched? It does for me. It has already been 2 years since Dave and I were wed, and it surely doesn't feel like it has been so long.

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary this last Friday. It was a nice day, really, even though most of the day was spent apart. My mom and sisters and I met with a group of female friends and neighbors from our old neighborhood in P.G. for a girls' get-together at Mimi's Cafe. It was delightful to see those old familiar faces! We had a great time talking and enjoying our meals. May I say, that is quite the delicious restaurant!

After lunch, I went with Mom and Jana to the mall to do some ever-important shopping. We were out for hours, but it was wonderful. I love shopping with them, plus we ended up with some terrific stuff.

So finally, around 6pm, I returned home and got to see my husband for the first time in like 8 hours...and I don't think he was thrilled with my extended absence on our anniversary. He did understand that I needed to spend time with my mom before she and dad had to go home, though, so it was okay. I was worn out and feeling a little sick by the time I returned home, but I really wanted to go out for our anniversary and so I insisted that I would be fine.

What better place for a romantic, pasta-and-cheese-filled dinner extravaganza than The Olive Garden? That is where I chose to go. It seemed meaningful enough. On our honeymoon, before being handed the unfortunate fate of both getting the flu, Dave and I walked to a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant for dinner one night. I guess that ever since then Italian has seemed like an "anniversary" meal. Plus, it feels romantic to go to an Italian restaurant. I have always loved The Olive Garden, so it was a natural choice, right?

Well, if you don't know this by now, let me fill you in--The Olive Garden on a Friday night is pretty much as busy as it gets. Let me tell you this too, though--I was not put off. We were eating there, no matter what. The whole front foyer area was packed with starving people with a craving for Italian, and we joined the masses and took one of those discs that flashes when it is your turn to eat. They estimated the wait to be 35 minutes, and we certainly could have been waiting that long, but it wasn't too awful.

About 35 minutes later, our magic disc flashed like a 70's disco and we were so in. I'll spare you the details of how fantastically delicious our meal was (which it, well, was), but our waitress was really entertaining. She was from Spain and had a heavy accent. She wasn't horribly easy to understand, but she kept saying things when she came to our table like, "How are my people?" or "You like cheesy?", referring to my 5-cheese baked Ziti. When she wrapped up our extra food to take home, a piece of the ziti fell on the table, at which point she reached for the morsel and snuck it into her mouth, saying, "This is for me."

After dinner, Dave took me to a lovely spot beneath a light-adorned tree and gave me a present--a camera case for my new camera! I was very happy to get it. I made him a movie with pictures and music to commemorate our years together, and I showed it to him when we got home and it really touched him. Anyway, we had a really great evening. I just can't fathom that it has been 2 years. It doesn't feel right. But I am so happy with our lives and I can't complain.

~~~

Mom and dad left this morning, and it was hard to let them go. Still, life goes on after the holidays. We spent yesterday playing games as a family at Larissa's apartment, our favorite being Robot Rally. We spent hours over that game board!

(Playing a game as a family. Larissa loooooves having her picture taken! But check it--you can see my new camera case on the bottom left!)

(The family playing a heated game of Robot Rally.)

This holiday break has been awesome. I love the feeling of having family close, and being able to spend this special time with them. Even though the festive season is almost over, I feel remarkably happy and fulfilled. School starts this week, as well as a new job, but I feel like I can handle it just fine--like I've had time to refresh and relax. Please, please let that feeling last all semester! :)