First Anniversary Celebration!

Hard to believe, but it's already been a year since Branden and I were married!

We celebrated on Saturday, since our anniversary fell on a Monday this year, and who wants to celebrate on a Monday?! We started off the evening with a trust walk. That's right - I walked, blindfolded, all the way from our apartment to the other end of downtown. I knew we were going to a hotel, but I had no idea which one - and this way Branden was able to keep it a surprise until we were inside the lobby.

He made a very, very good choice...the newly opened aloft hotel in downtown. Another successful building rehab (this one a former railroad depot/warehouse) by Hamilton Properties. Branden's kind of tight with the elder Hamilton, Larry, who once told Branden over dinner "My apologies to your wife, but I think we might be soulmates." (I am not making this up, folks!).

After checking into the hotel and spending some time in our fabulous room (with a view of City Hall), we headed out to dinner, which was my treat. After my original plan fell through, we headed to Twisted Root Burger Co., the site of our rehearsal dinner. And just as happened the night we were there for the rehearsal dinner, when we arrived, the TVs were tuned in to the Heisman Trophy award ceremony. We didn't get to see it awarded to Sam Bradford this year, but it was still cool to see such an uncanny parallel! We may have to start making it our yearly tradition.

I was even able to stick to my protein-and-veggies plan, thanks to Twisted Root's Burger-in-a-Bowl, which I've enjoyed on more than one occasion. The buffalo patty is quite delicious atop a bed of greens, I must say!

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and had an enjoyable night with no responsibilities - Branden had arranged for neighbors to walk our dogs for us, so we were able to just relax and enjoy ourselves.

The next morning we stopped by our old standby, Urban Cafe, for breakfast. After some down time, we headed to the cemetary to see Wayne (his plaque is finally up), and then to my mom's house. Branden put together a piece of furniture for her, then hooked up her new Wii! And then she beat us both at Wii Bowling. I hear she's still bragging about it. ;o)

All in all, a VERY good weekend!

Date Night!

Last Friday night, Branden took me out on a date! We got all dressed up and headed out to City Lights, the official start of the holidays in downtown Dallas. We watched the (cheesy, scripted, but still fun) unveiling of the Neiman Marcus lights and windows first. The windows this year, I must say, are very cool. They actually have a tube running all through them that kids can climb through and be a part of the display! That part is only open select hours on the weekends until Christmas week, but the display itself is on most of the time - and if you're in the area, you must check it out! It's all about alternate sources of energy as imagined by kids - everything from dance energy to energy being squeezed out of grapes by monkeys! Kids are great. :o)

After checking out the Neiman Marcus to-do, we headed down to the new Main Street Garden park, right across the street from our loft building, and watched the lighting of the official downtown Christmas tree. The park is not quite finished yet, but it's officially open to the public now, and we're excited to have such a good park right across the street from us!

After all the City Lights fun, Branden took me out to dinner at Dallas Fish Market!
This is the kind of restaurant we hardly ever get to go to, so it was a really nice treat! We both started with the Main Lobster Corn Chowder. For our main courses, I had the New Bedford Mass. Scallops (delish!), and Branden had the Black Truffle Wrapped Chilean Sea Bass. We shared sides of sauteed spinach and butternut squash risotto with cambazola. It was all fantastically delicious, and a very special evening. We finished out the night by picking up some ice cream at 7-11 and heading home to watch Star Trek on DVD.

In baby news, we have a check-up with our midwife this afternoon. So far everything seems to be going well. I'm getting bigger, as I should be, and Ben's kicks are getting stronger. I even felt a couple last night from outside my belly - which means hopefully it won't be too much longer before Branden will be able to feel them as well!