My husband is my family, my best friend, my heart. I am so lucky I found someone who I want to be with the rest of my life. I know what a true gift that is. He is a fantastic dad, smart, generous, loving, funny, smart, kind. He is mine.
I try not to take him for granted – he does everything to keep our home peaceful and me sane and organized. The last two are a real job.
Early in our marriage I planned full days of fun for his birthday. As his birthday was approaching this year, he harkened back to them. So I decided to plan some extra fun things this year.
The theme was a tour of Western Europe…
- We had an early (8 am) crepe breakfast at Chez Elle (not pictured). I had the best mocha of my life and a scrumptious breakfast crepe. DH had a fancy schmancy salmon, artichoke, and cream fraiche crepe – getting in the spirit of our one-day of globe trotting.
- We went to The Better Cheddar on the plaza to began his Birthday Gift Scavenger Hunt. This is either ingenious or lazy on my part. I had a list of items and countries. He had to get at least one each of the items and there had to be an item from each country…. mix and match. I think he had fun picking out the items.
- Then we went to the amazeballs Rembrandt and Vermeer exhibition at the Nelson Atkins Museum. An actual Vermeer in Kansas City. The exhibition is amazing. We were only able to get through a third of the art. We are going to have to go back a couple of times at least. With my little foray into painting, I love looking at how these masters painted. I am becoming obsessed with how fabric in paintings looks like fabric. I will be thrilled if I can master just that in my lifetime. I tried drawing the folds of a tissue this weekend. I have a lot of learning and practicing to do.
- We next took a looooong drive to Lawrence. Our first stop was Brits and Au Marche where DH continued his scavenger hunt. We were headed to the record store for more scavenging, but then DH insisted I stop by Sarah’s Fabrics while we were in Lawrence. I protested a bit – this day was about him – my sweet husband has lost years of his life waiting for me while I shop in fabric stores. But I was quickly persuaded. I fell in love with a Liberty of London fabric that I wanted to use to make a scarf. And then I looked at the price for a yard and decided against it.
- After fabric oogling and some records bought, we went to Free State. Not a European-themed restaurant. But DH had German-style beer, a bratwurst, and we shared Bavarian-style pretzels and some tiramisu. Here is a life tip – have the tiramisu at Free State before you die. I usually HATES tiramisu, but theirs is seriously one of my favorite foods in the world.
- We ended our day with a trip to the Raven and some book buying. I bought two books for myself. I almost never do that – we have so many books I can’t imagine adding any more – but I am trying to avoid television for the next few weeks, so that is my excuse, or something like that.
That isn’t quite the end of the story. After we finished at the bookstore, I checked my bank balance and saw that our tax refund hit. I went back to Sarah’s and bought a 1/2 yard of the Liberty of London fabric (aaaannnnd a few other bits of fabric) A total indulgence. I admit to spending lots of time petting the fabric when we got home. I made a scarf out of the fabric – more on that later.
weeknight quilting 