Category: Love & Marriage

Valentine’s Weekend

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I had a fantastic Valentine’s weekend. Yes, weekend.

It started Friday with me coming home to a clean house, flowers, and Joe baking banana bread which we took to BINGO. It was delicious! I didn’t win anything, but still had a nice time with friends.

On Saturday, Joe surprised me with reservations to P.F. Changs and tickets to see Bobby Lee (of MadTV) at the Improv Chicago in Schaumburg. I was very excited!

Dinner was rather disappointing – the chicken was overdone and the flavor was bland. I’ve had better Chinese food at the Vietnamese restaurant nearby. Shoot, even Panda Express makes better food. The atmosphere was lacking too. It was way too loud to have a conversation. Oh well, at least now we can say we’ve tried some place new even if we don’t understand why anyone would eat there a second time.

And boy was the whole area crowded! We had a hell of a time finding parking at Woodfield and once we got inside, it was a madhouse! People just everywhere, reminding me why I avoid that mall like the plague. The restaurant was hopping too which surprised me since we had early reservations (5 o’clock). People were coming in off the street looking to eat and were told there was an hour and a half wait. Not one person agreed to wait, and who can blame them? With the exception of the previous Sunday when we went out for brunch and ran into the after-church crowd, we never wait to eat.

After dinner we had a little time to kill, so we went into the Sephora and I ended up buying $77 worth of perfume. They didn’t give me any free samples though. I thought they always did that? Did I get stiffed? Do I need to send a complaint letter? Because you know I will.

We purposely took our time getting to the Improv since we hadn’t bought dinner tickets and knew we’d be sitting toward the back anyway. Luckily our waitress was a lot friendlier than last time, although this one lady trying to guide people to their seats was bitchy. We didn’t want to get crammed in with the rest of the herd, so we opted to sit in the back by the bar where it’s elevated. It gave us a great line of sight to the stage.

Both of Bobby’s opening acts were ok. I liked the second guy, Nick Thune, a lot. That is until he had the gall to use MY favorite band, The Cure, as a punchline! I could barely believe it. It was along the lines of how it’s better to go to a concert than a sporting event since there’s always a loser in sports. He said “everyone’s a winner when you go to a concert, unless it’s a Cure concert” and then proceeded to talk shit about Cure fans. Douchebag! Joe was laughing at the look on my face.

Bobby Lee is just crazy! Crazy funny, that is. I won’t ruin it by going into specifics in case anyone plans to see him, but that guy sure loves to take his clothes off. Why is it always a thong and socks? Reminds me of “24 with Bobby Lee” from MadTV. We were both a little concerned about Bobby’s stand-up act since we’ve only seen him on TV, but he was great. I only wish his set was longer than a half hour. :(

At 2 am Sunday morning I had what I guess was a panic attack? Acid reflux attack? Stroke? Seriously, I don’t know what it was, but I woke up gasping, my heart was racing, and I couldn’t stop burping. I felt so unreal, as if I was going to die. This has happened a few times before, but years ago when I was still on acid reflux medication. After I got off it and started taking probiotics, I never had that problem again. So I’m not sure what caused it, but it might have been a combination of factors – the caffeine in the latte I shared with Joe that morning, the onions in the tuna fish sandwich I had for lunch, the Chinese food, the caffeine from the regular Pepsi I ordered at the show (I’ve mostly stopped drinking pop altogether), and the rich chocolate cake I also ate at the show (2-item minimum). My left arm has felt weird ever since, though. Kinda tingly/numb, which of course freaks me out because I’m always reading that heart issues for women in particular don’t necessarily present themselves with the classic pain and crushing chest feeling. Joe thinks I just pulled a muscle or have a pinched nerve, and my work friend thinks it’s anxiety related, which is definitely possible. Google hasn’t helped me much since it could be those things or a heart thing. But since I’m pretty young, I’ve been trying to treat it like it’s not a heart thing and just give that arm a rest. Perfect excuse not to exercise after work, which of course is hurting no one but myself but whatever. I hate that Joe has dropped 20 lbs and I’ve got my doctor telling me I should get back in shape. I’m not terribly overweight, but I did gain 20 lbs since last year which for my height is concerning.

Anyway, thanks to that whole fiasco, I slept in on Sunday instead of heading out for brunch and then to an ice sculpture festival as planned. Instead we lazed around in our PJs all day and watched lots of DIY and Home & Garden. And despite being told otherwise, Joe got me a Valentine’s Day gift which he left on my jewelry box so I’d see it after I got out of the shower – chocolates, and a bracelet I had been eyeing at Target for while. I swear, he is way too good to me! I’m very lucky indeed.

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend as much as I did! It was fantastic except for my stroke/anxiety thing. ;)

Sweet Relief

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It’s so sweet that my husband allows me to verbally abuse him in order to blow off steam after a frustrating day at work (which lately seems to be every day). He is very understanding when I end up snapping at him due to the irritation that builds up all day; then I come home and he’s the only one around to lash out at.

Tonight he took it in stride and even took me to the mall so I could get some retail therapy. $40 later I had a cute powder blue hoodie from Kohl’s, and a bracelet, necklace, and lightweight cardigan from New York & Company. I feel much better now!

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Hey, did anyone else get their coupon from Mars for the Real Chocolate Relief Act? I’ve been going to the site every Friday and yesterday I got two of the three coupons I requested. They are good until August 21st but I doubt they’ll last long. Chocolate is a nice stress reliever.

Anniversary

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Yesterday was our three year anniversary (being married, that is) and even though I was very clear we were not exchanging gifts, I got flowers and some yummy chocolate from Joe anyway. That husband of mine is just too good to me!

Then we gorged ourselves on food because that’s the only way to celebrate. Since the Lonestar by us is closed (*cry*), Wildfire sucked last year, and I’m not that hooked on Red Lobster, we tried a place called Claim Jumper. We hit some really crappy traffic on the way over and I was starting to feel like it was an omen; another crappy dinner that was going to cost far too much. We even considered turning around and hitting Portillo’s instead, but I’m glad we didn’t because we were both pleasantly surprised.

Not only is the atmosphere perfect – low lighting, high ceilings, big comfy booths, attentive service – the food is great too.

We decided instead of spending a fortune on two steaks which is always way too much meat for either of us, we’d share a steak and another dish. This is what we ordered and my personal rating out of five stars, or in this case, asteriks:

French Onion Soup *** (Joe thought it was ok (I don’t like French Onion soup))
Filet *****
Cheese potato-cakes *****
Barbecue chicken salad ** (much better at California Pizza kitchen)
Chocolate Cupcake ***
Cream Cheese Pie **** (so big, we have half a piece in the fridge)

With a $10 off coupon that came in the mail just recently (nice timing, Discovercard!), our bill was only $56 and it was definitely worth it. The only thing I’d do differently next time is get the steak medium rare instead of medium because it was a bit dry near the edges. I was sharing with Joe, though, so I focused on the middle which was fantastic. No steak sauce needed. We’ll definitely be going back.

In all it was a good anniversary. We don’t go all out spending the money to celebrate. Like Joe told his coworkers – marriage is about every day.

Skin care

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This week I dragged Joe against his will to the dermatologist to have our skin checked. We did this about five years ago so it had been too long. I’m more concerned about him than myself since he loves the sun and throws a mini tantrum whenever I insist he puts on sunscreen.

We were filling out our paperwork in the waiting room when I noticed that he kept looking over at my paper before filling out the next section. I remarked, “this isn’t school, you shouldn’t be copying my paper”, when at that very moment he started laughing because that is exactly what he had been doing and had put his own name in the box where he should have been writing my name (it was asking for spouse info). What a dork! I kept teasing him about it which put him in a better mood (he was cranky since it was after work, we hadn’t eaten yet, and he was tired).

The real fun began when we went back to the examination room since we opted to go together. We kept the nurse entertained, that’s for sure. We like to rip on one other which kept her laughing. At once point she asked me whether I had any medical conditions and Joe remarked, “no medical ones”. Punk!

Once the nurse left, we had to strip down and put on our gowns, and he kept flashing me! I flashed him back, but only once. Luckily the doctor didn’t walk in at that moment because that would be my luck.

The doctor was very nice and checked us thoroughly. Luckily neither one of us has any suspicious moles so that’s a relief. I had been concerned about two things on Joe’s arm but the doctor said they were harmless and the chances of them developing into melanoma is slim.

Oh one funny thing was that Joe told the doctor I have a beauty mark between one of my toes and it turns out that’s him! The doctor remarked we must have been together a long time to confuse thing between our bodies.

Sapphire

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Sunday we went to the mall so I could look for a bathing suit. Yes, I know it’s late in the season. In fact, it’s too late, as I could not find anything. Joe liked the bikini I tried on but I felt like I was falling out all over. Not a good feeling, actually, so I nixed that.

One of the things we did accomplish was getting my rings cleaned, as we’re required to do so every six months by the jeweler in order to qualify for the warranty.

Sapphire Necklace While the lady was cleaning my rings we walked around looking at all the pretty sparkly things. One necklace in particular caught my eye. Just for the hell of it I asked the woman how much it was and she pulled it out so I could try it on. She also told me she’d knock $30 off the price and re-size the chain for free. Feel free to laugh at my naivete, because I asked her what the stones were. “Sapphires”, she replied. My not-usually-spontaneous-when-spending-money husband told me I should get it, so once I got over thinking he was joking, I did. Ironic that my hubby buys me jewelry when it’s his birthday this weekend. He’s way too good to me.

I’m pretty psyched to have a necklace with real gemstones in it. The event required a trip to New York & Company this evening, after picking up my re-sized necklace. I needed something blue to match and found a super soft sweater that I got 20% off as I had just gotten a coupon in the mail today. Talk about impeccable timing! In addition, I got two tops that were seriously discounted; one was only $5.99 when it was marked $26.50. To think I almost put it back on the rack!