My 1st Birthday

As a wife, that is.

I had a really nice day. Got up around 9:00 this morning and relaxed around the house while Michael took a quick trip to the gym (no way in hell was I going to the gym on my birthday).

When he got back (with surprise flowers, awww), we headed out for a long bike ride. We rode on the canal path all the way down into the city. Once down there, we got off the path for a little bit to go and get ice cream (well, actually frozen custard--sooo much better than regular ol' ice cream). Then we got back on the path to head back home. All in all, it was a 28-mile ride. Since we had ridden the entire 14 miles toward the city with wind blowing against us, the ride was a little more tiring than it might normally have been. Of course, going the 14 miles back home was a little easier, thank god.

Once we showered and cleaned up, we decided to go for an early dinner at this small restaurant in the village. On the way there, I called my granddad to wish him a happy birthday (yes, we share a birthday--I love it). It's an annual ritual and it's fun. He always manages to put some kind of pressure on me for something. A couple years ago, he asked, in his thick southern drawl: "You got any news?" (His way of asking me if we were engaged yet. We weren't.) This year, it was: "Is there a little one on the way?" Oh, Granddad... you don't ease into conversation, do you? :) I told him no, and he said, "Well, what are you waiting for?!"

The restaurant has nice outdoor seating, and since the day was absolutely perfect (mid-70 degree temperatures), we decided to take advantage and spend more time outside. We had never actually eaten at this restaurant before--we had only been there for drinks--so we were excited to try it.

Good food! It's a casual menu... burgers, sandwiches, etc. We both ordered the pulled pork and were amazed at the portion size. The sandwich came out open faced, and there was so much pork on either side of the roll that we actually couldn't even put the sandwich together and eat it like that. We ended up eating them open faced with a fork and knife. We each only ate half of our sandwiches and packed up the other halves to take home. Next time, we'll probably only order one and share it! But it was delicious... good BBQ sauce, which I think really makes or breaks pulled pork.

After that, we went home and took Tess for a short walk (our legs were still tired from our ride). Then we spent a quiet night at home and just relaxed. We watched Michael Phelps make Olympic history by winning his 8th gold.

The day was low key, but it was exactly how I like it. If I was going to pick a perfect way to spend a Saturday, this would have been it. Happy 26th Birthday to me.