It has been a pretty rough year. I have so many posts to do, to catch you up, but for now I'll let know that I lost my younger sister and brother within nine months of each other. They were both ill, but nonetheless,their deaths were both sudden and unexpected. We lost my Dad in May of 2015. It is now just my Mom and me from my family. Without going into too much detail in this post, you need to know that God and the hope that he provides is what has sustained us. I have also no doubt that he hand picked my husband for me. My guy and I have been through some trying times; when we focus on God we always triumph. My guy has been my rock during this time. Those are important details.
I've also been working pretty intensely at my day job on a year and half project. My piece on the project included leading the payroll conversion to a brand new system. The last few weeks I have been working 70 plus hours a week and 7 days a week. My guy during this time held down the fort! He supports me - all while working his own day job and making sure we all have something to eat everyday!
We know God put us together; and once we figured out how God intended each of our strengths to work best together (that's a post for another day) we manage to get by pretty well!
The Thursday after my project went live, my mother, who now lives with us, was admitted to the hospital. After we knew Mom would be OK and that she was doing well, my husband told me that he and our kids had been planning a birthday dinner for Monday night. What I didn't know was that he had also been planning a couple of things for me over the weekend leading up to that Monday night with the kids.
It started after work on Friday - this is the first Friday in weeks I would actually have off and not be working the weekend. What I love most is that he had planned it all around my favorite things!
First stop was Nell Hill's. (not affiliated - just want to share it with you). This place sits in a shopping village above the river in the Northland of Kansas City! I love going there to get inspired! There are all kinds of pieces and beautiful seasonal arrangements that just make you feel good! What I love is that although they have fantastic large pieces - Mary Carol also provides great small items, so you can always take a piece of the Nell Hill's ambiance home with you. We love the candles... so we picked up two of our favorite fall candles, Gatherings and Mexican Pumpkin by Pickwick & Co.! We love walking in to our home and having the seasonal aroma set the scene for the mind and heart to enjoy! Nothing like it when the house just smells GOOOOOD!
Then, my honey suggests to me, let's head to the Plaza. If you don't know the KC area, the Plaza is a beautiful place to shop and dine. It's most known for the Christmas Plaza Lights and the Plaza Art Fair. If you know me, you know I'm very difficult to surprise! I have a super sleuth kind of mind - I can get to the root of an issue and love doing it! My family swears me to silence when watching a movie - I can usually figure out the whole plot in the beginning. Not always a good thing when you say it out loud! I'm not sure why, but I was not able to figure out where on the Plaza we were headed. He has only been able to surprise me a couple of times in the almost 35 years we've been married. He surprised me with a mother's ring on Christmas Eve a few years ago. It is still one of my favorite ever memories. Then, there was that one time he was traveling for work and tried to surprise me with earrings. I saw a strange purchase on the bank statement online and called the bank. I ended up initiated a fraud case! That day when he called me, I told him that someone was using our card! Yep - I ruined the surprise! He had to tell me that it was him!
Oh my, but this time... maybe I was just tired, or I think really I just enjoyed being with my guy no matter what we were doing. I had missed him while working so much! We ended up going to pick up a Refresher at Starbucks. We discovered them over the summer and really liked them. One of my favorite things is to enjoy the process, the journey and that is what this was! I was just enjoying that we finally had time together to just kind of hang out. So, as we were sipping our refreshers, I thought for just a moment, "What is he up to? I am not figuring this out!", but then I just went back to being in the moment!
As we walked out of Starbucks and headed down the street, we were getting close to walking by one of my favorite jewelry stores, Kendra Scott. I said, as we approached, "Hey it's my birthday month and I get a discount there!" Thinking I was just mentioning it as we would walk by. He said, "Oh, I forgot about that, now you can pick out three things!" He was opening the door and motioning me in! What!?! I didn't figure this out!?! He surprised me! He did it and I had no idea until he was standing there holding the door open! He had planned on me picking out a couple of things for my birthday! I picked up three beautiful pieces. I loved it as much as he loved doing it for me! :)
I have to confess, I love planning and styling events and making them beautiful! I want the occasion to be an awesome experience and special, but I'm not very good at having that done for me! I'm OK with buying things to make our home look beautiful, because this is for my family! Anyone else, like this? It's awkward and sometimes uncomfortable. I know there's probably a pathology behind it, like I don't feel worthy of it or something like that, or putting my family first and me second. But I have learned with my husband and now adult children, who love me so much, to let them do things for me! They are the most precious people I know - and my dearest friends!
So, in this moment, as I realize that I am supposed to pick out something for myself from my husband, I feel so special and loved. I am humbled. I don't have anything to prove or have to feel guilty for buying something for myself. He never, ever, ever, ever makes me feel that way, that's my own issue. In this moment though - I was able to let that go and let him make me feel special. This makes me think of how we often try to do things on our own merit and not let God just love us! I'm consistently working on this - it's ok to just let him love you!
What an awesome feeling! My guy is very kind, and loving! I was excited to be spending this first evening on my birthday weekend adventure with just him. Next he took my hand and lead me to what may be considered one of the best patios in KC, Gramm and Dunn! We love dining outside! We ordered wine and a charcuterie tray as our starter. It was awesome. It had some of our local favorites, sausage from The Local Pig and cheese from Green Dirt Farm. If you haven't been to either of these two places, please be sure to get there! Yum!
Honestly, we didn't even notice that our server hadn't been back to take our dinner order yet, when another server let us know that she was called home for a family emergency. I remember thinking, I hope everything is ok. We decided that we weren't hungry for now anyway, and not to order dinner. We pledged we'd be back, I really want to try those scallops!
As we walked back to our car, we stopped by West Elm to do some browsing. I love the clean lines and the touches of brushed gold. More inspiration! I'm in the process of adding gold finishes back in to my decor. I hope to share this with you soon!
We make it back to our car and head back to the Northland. We decide that we aren't ready for this birthday date to be over and we start to realize that maybe we do want dinner! Or maybe we just want to share some more time on a romantic patio with another glass of wine! So we head back to the Northland to The Villiage at Biarcliff. We're headed to Treso Mare. A lovely restaurant in the same shopping village above the river as Nell Hill's. This is our favorite patio with a beautiful view. We order a wood fired pizza and a glass of cab! I love when we have time to really catch up on life together, we needed this time so badly. I'm thankful!!!
As I reflect on the fantastic time we had, the lovely gifts and shared glasses of wine, I cherish most the time spent with my guy! I love his serving heart - he loves to see me happy! This will be another memory that we share together in this short life. We'll remember how he was actually able to surprise me, but I'll also remember how I am not surprised at all that he would do this for me! 💕
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