Losing My Puppy: 7 Years and Counting

On the prettiest of September days, 7 years agom the day I had almost given up on finally arrived. I had pretty much been ready to get married since college...maybe even earlier. I remember asking my mom if I was mature enough to get married...I was 16 at the time and didn't even have a boyfriend. I don't remember what she said, but hopefully she was honest and said "no way" but in a less blunt way :) One would hope I was plenty mature enough by the time my husband and I finally found each other. I was 42 on our wedding day.

We got married in the lodge at the state park where we had our first date. My husband was a martial (not to be confused with marital) arts teacher and my sisters' family were his students. We were introduced and spent a little "together" at my sister's house. He was invited over to watch football...he didn't see the set up. We seemed to like each other, but he didn't make his move. I finally broke down and made my move. I invited him to go hiking at the state park. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the weather was absolutely perfect. I think I was officially smitten when he arrived to pick me up with bottled water for our hike. Such a little thing, but I found it incredibly thoughtful.

If I had a dollar for every time he has given me this look, I would be retired. He'd still be working, but I'd definitely be a full-time housewife.

I am looking forward to all the days with this man by my side with your hands and hearts entwined.

This year we celebrated our anniversary with a mini road trip to a town about 1.5 hours south of where we live. I've been intrigued ever since I heard the creator of Popeye was from Chester. I am always up for exploring a new town, so off we went.

Thankfully, my husband got us a little lost. According to the map, it appeared we were to go straight-ish south, but turns out in one of the small towns our road took hard right, but we went straight. Had we not taken this "detour" we would not have discovered this cute covered bridge. We actually passed it and I made him go back to take pictures. If he had a dollar for every time I made him turn around so I could take a picture of something...he would be the retired one...actually, I'd probably claim the money and be the retired one :)

We finally arrived at our destination.

The town is decked out with statues of various characters. "I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!"

We didn't have anyone to take a picture of us both, so just superimpose the picture above on this one and you will see me gazing lovingly at my Popeye :)

I insisted on a quick peek in this store. It was filled with Popeye merchandise. While inside the clerk asked if we were with the boat. With the boat? Turns out a large riverboat was stopped in town on its way cruising up the Mississippi. She mentioned it was scheduled to leave in about 15 minutes, so off we dashed to find the American Queen, largest of the Mississippi cruising riverboats.

It took us a little bit to find the landing, but we made it in time to see the American Queen. Tour buses were still unloading passengers to reboard the riverboat boat after their day of exploring.

It might be fun to take a river cruise one day...but I am thinking maybe one in Europe.

We were fascinated by the lowering of the smoke stacks.

Under the bridge with room to spare.

Then back up they went.

We saw a few more statues on our way out of town.

On the way home we decided to stop in one of the little towns for dinner. We dined at the Opera Bistro.

I can't believe I ordered a salad with blue cheese. I've never been a fan, but it might be growing on me. I loved the idea of the poached pears, but didn't love the seasoning on them. I think they would have been much better poached plain. My husband loved the raspberry vinagrette and claimed what I didn't use to dip his fries or should I say pommes frites?

He ordered a steak sandwich and was very happy with his meal.

I ordered the macadamia nut encrusted chicken on mashed potatoes with shoyu sauce and papaya marmalade...and was very happy with my meal. I wasn't sure what shoyu was. It is a soy sauce. The sauce had a hint of soy sauce flavor, but was not the least bit overpowering.

Our first Crème Brûlée. It was delicious, but I was a little disappointed it didn't have that hard layer you can crack with your spoon. It was more of a sticky chewy layer on top. I have watched enough cooking competitions to know it would be very harshly judged. But again it was delicious.

It was a lovely day of celebration with my love.

Probably my favorite decor element in our house is in the bathroom. I found the "love" picture at Michael's. The hydrangea reminds me of our "relationship bush: - the first birthday gift my husband ever got me - it too is still growing strong, if not a bit wild. I believe the collage frames were from Walmart. I had bought them for something else, but changed direction. I filled them with pictures of our adventures. I love how it turned out!