Anniversaries Abound

Five years ago today, Hubby and I decided to make things official and begin dating.  It's amazing to me that it was so long ago, but also that it has only been five years.  Boggles the mind, kids...  

As if that weren't enough, on Sunday, Hubby and I had our first wedding anniversary.  Yay!!  :)  It was a pretty awesome weekend, if I do say so myself.  Allow me to recap:

Friday night - Drove into Madison to my parents' house.  Zach went out to see a friend; I did homework. (OK, so that sounds lame, but it gets better.)

Saturday morning - Headed downtown to the Farmer's Market!  We bought honey straws (they actually had real bees at the tent!), cheese curds, a block of 6-year cheddar (that's Hubby's), a container of raspberries, a small thing of apple cider and some hot and spicy cheese bread rolls.  Everything was delicious!!  The square was PACKED, but it was still a lot of fun.  When we finished, we headed across the street to Tabby & Jack's, since Hubby hadn't been before (and I'd only been to the other location).  We got Maxi a shirt that says, "Wicked Cute" and has a little witch's hat on it.  And we got a cool collapsible bowl to keep in the car in case Maxi needs water while we're out and about. :)

Saturday afternoon - After a quick trip up and down State Street, we decided to head to lunch at my favorite place in Madison, Ella's Deli.  For those who haven't been, Ella's is like ADD Heaven.  There are things moving and spinning and singing and clicking all over the restaurant.  I know some people aren't big fans, but I've been going to Ella's since I can remember.  I love it so much that I had my 16th birthday party there AND had lunch there for my 21st birthday.  The best part about Ella's, though, is the carousel.  And yes, Hubby and I rode it on Saturday.  And yes, it was awesome.  Sure, I don't fit into the stirrups as well as I used to, but whatever.  Once we were done, we headed back to my parents' to check on the puppers and then we headed to the hotel to check in.  We stayed at the same hotel where we spent our wedding night.  Nothing too fancy, but definitely nice enough.  Once checked in, we promptly took a nap.  Yeah.  We're exciting.

Saturday evening - I finished up some homework while Hubby watched TV.  Once I was done, we decided that dinner sounded good.  We wound up going to Olive Garden.  We hadn't been there in awhile, and it was somewhere we actually went fairly frequently when we were first dating, so it seemed like a decent decision.  I had an awesome Moscato (I love my sweet, white wines) and an awesome dinner, so I really can't complain.  After dinner, we headed back downtown and walked around the square at night.  It was MUCH nicer without the crowds, though my shoes were sadly not made for walking, and I got a couple nice blisters.  Full and happy, we headed back to the hotel, turned on the TV and made a few drinks.  It wasn't long before we gave up and went to sleep.

Sunday morning - Had breakfast at the hotel ($9.50 each for what would normally be "free" at other hotels, but whatever) and then packed up our stuff.  Headed back to Mom and Dad's to catch the Packers game.  As I had told my mom, all I wanted for my anniversary was a Packers win.  I got it.  :)  I also got a Brewers win.  Bonus!!  :)

Sunday afternoon/evening - Lounged at the parents' house until it was time for our dinner reservation at Bellini Italian Restaurant.  We love Bellini not only for their food, but also because it's where we had our wedding ceremony and reception, so coming back for our anniversary was a no-brainer.  Dad drove us there limo-style (he said he wished he had the hat for it) and we were seated right away.  Now, at the end of our wedding night, the staff had told us that if we came back for our anniversary, we would get a free meal.  (This, of course, was merely a bonus for us.)  We made sure to tell the waiter that this was our first anniversary and that we had gotten married there a year ago.  He was very nice and congratulated us, but made no mention of the free meal.  We figured it like this: Worst case scenario, we paid for everything.  That's cool.  It's our anniversary.  We planned to spend money.  Best case scenario, we got free entrees and paid for some drinks and appetizers.  Awesome.  So we decided to go all out:

• I started with a Bellini (a champagne drink with peach nectar) and Hubby had some kind of whiskey drink.
• We shared calamari for an appetizer.  YUM!
• For dinner, Hubby had a nice salmon dish and I had a fantastic rib eye with asparagus and broccolini on the side (and we each got a salad and bread to go with).  
• With dinner, I had a melontini (Midori, Malibu, and some other stuff) and Hubby had a Jim Beam and Coke.
• After dinner, we decided to split a (large) piece of tiramisu (the ONLY coffee-flavored thing I enjoy).  I had a chocolate martini and Hubby had an espressotini (it even had 3 coffee beans floating in it for garnish).

When our waiter came at the end of the meal, we assured him that everything had been phenomenal.  He then said, "I just wanted to congratulate you again on your anniversary.  On behalf of Bellini's, we thank you for having your wedding here and for celebrating your anniversary with us, and so we would like you to have this meal on the house.  Have a great evening."  And then he walked away.  Our jaws dropped.  The WHOLE THING was covered.  Holy.  Shit.  We had NOT expected that!!  Thankful to no end, Hubby dropped a REALLY nice tip and we cabbed it back to Mom and Dad's.  It was another early night for us, but we fell asleep completely content with the way the whole weekend had gone.  

We drove back home on Monday early afternoon (we both took the day off), and that was that.  :)

To extend the festivities, though, part of my gift to Hubby was tickets to the last Brewers game of the season, at Miller Park.  Needless to say, we can't WAIT to go!!  :)  YAY!!!