Did Ya Miss Me?

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday just as you like it to be.
I did.
Quiet.

Tuesday, December 31st was our 20th anniversary. We agreed to no gifts. 
We need some things around the house that we would rather spend the money on. 
But we did decide to take the day off and go play and spend some money. 
We are working so much and sometimes that becomes our life because we work together. 
We agreed there was to be no talk of work. 
Just to go out and about to relax and play.  We did just that and had a ball.

We dropped the dog off at doggie day care and a sleep over. (yes, that is what they call it)
From there we headed over to The National Harbor. 
Rick and I have been wanting to go over there but until yesterday we never have.
For those not from around these parts The National Harbor is a 300 acre multi- use waterfront development on the shores of the Potomac River. It is just south of DC in Maryland. There are outlets there but I didn't do any shopping at the outlets. (across the street from the main entrance to the harbor) 
We just hung around the waterfront. We did window shopping and browsing in some stores. Rick went into a pepper store that had some sick T-shirts. 
One said, "Sometimes a burning sensation is a good thing"  
I just looked at him and said, "oh, no."  He laughed.  I knew what he was thinking.  
There were also condo's and town homes that I bet had to be into the millions.
What a great location!

Aside from shopping there is dining and water taxi's to take you places etc.
We walked by a place around 12:30p and Rick had just said, "I'm getting hungry are you?"
Folks, Rick is always hungry so I just laughed. But as soon as he asked me that I saw what he must be looking at.  The sign out front said "100% grass fed beef. Organic."  
I knew he wanted a burger. This man could eat burgers 24/7. 
The place was packed and that is always a good sign at a restaurant.  
They even have on the menu sign "will wrap in lettuce if you need to remove the bun"  
Yipee for me right? Loved that.  Rick said it was better than 5 guys.  For Rick to say that it must have been a damn good burger. I have never eaten a Five Guys Burger but he tells me they are out of this world good. When he traveled for work he knew all the best burger joints. His favorite is still a Blue Cheese Burger with carmelized onions at a bar in downtown Seattle.  Yea, he's that obsessed with burgers.

It was cold and windy Tuesday even though the sun was shining. We came around a corner and McCormick's and Schmidt's was right there. Rick said if their bar is open let's go in and get a hot toddy. Twist my arm good lookin'.
We had walked by several wine bars and other places like that but none were open so we assumed this wouldn't be either. But thankfully it was. We bellied up to the bar and had ourselves a coffee drink that was kick ass. Oh my!  Thankfully I was not driving and we were going to be walking for awhile. 

After we left the harbor we went back to our neck of the woods to Fairfax. 
We hit our favorite movie theatre and saw American Hustle. 
Not at all what I thought this movie would be. But like a train wreck you can't look away. 
We both liked it though. 
I gotta tell ya, even with the ugly perm you just can't make Bradley Cooper an ugly man.
Damn that man is gorgeous!!  I'd be a cougar for that tender vittle.
Christian Bale is so awful looking and has this horrendous comb over that is a funny part of the movie. But my point being that Mr. Bale looks NOTHING like he normally does.
If I didn't know it was him in this movie there would be no way I would have suspected he was the actor playing this part.  The women of the movie were excellent!
Amy Adams is so damn pretty honestly! And she is very good in this film. 
Jennifer Lawrence is funny as hell as a really messed up woman. 
Her lines never failed to make us laugh out loud.

By the time the movie was over we headed home to get dressed for dinner. 
Rick had made reservation at our favorite little Italian joint just a mile from our home. Perfecto!

Rick proposed to me at a little Italian joint in my home town. We were having a white pizza, salad and a bottle of wine. So instead of a nice fancy meal this year we had a white pizza with a wonderful salad and 1 bottle of wine. I ate gluten. 
I knew I would be sick. I knew I would swell up two sizes by nights end. 
I knew my hands and feet would become swollen and look like Fred Flintstone feet. 
I knew my face would buff out like a blow fish.  But I just didn't care. 
This is the one time of year I do eat gluten and it is so damn worth the pain!!!  
I even ate bread. OMG the bread was friggin' orgasmic. 
If you don't have bread for a year and then eat really good warm crusty bread dipped in garlic infused olive oil with fresh basil and red pepper flakes.....you will slap your mama. Trust me on this!  
Apparently I moaned. Rick made fun of me of course. But I just didn't give a damn the bread was warm and the oil was perfection and it was so worth what was about to happen.

The pizza is the best I have found around these parts. Southerners don't know squat about pizza normally. (Even though it's northern VA this is when the being in the south comes in.) Most places around here are chains. Chains don't make great pizza. 
But this pizza is hand tossed dough and just like the place that I was asked to marry my Big Guy, it's that good. Our white pizza was loaded with garlic, extra cheese, fresh tomatoes, black olives, and onions. Yummo.
In my mind if you both eat the garlic it cancels it out. Thankfully my hubby loves garlic and I find it a sexy smell so we were just fine. 

We came home to another bottle of wine and enjoyed not having to walk the dog.
We talked about our last 20 yrs of marriage (and the 6 yrs prior) over our wine.
We had some nice laughs.
It was a lovely day of no work, no stress or dealing with reality.
See, we didn't need no stinkin' gifts other than the gift of the day. 
Perfection.