Sixteen Years

Friday was our 16th wedding anniversary. Time really does fly when you're having fun. I'm so thankful and blessed to be married to my best friend in the whole wide world!

On Thursday early afternoon, Todd called me at the office and said, "Did something get delivered to you?" I told him nothing's been delivered. He said "Where's the shipping dock at your work? Something was delivered there. Someone named Mark signed for it. Go see what it is." Well, I was super-curious! I called down to shipping/receiving and they said they'd deliver it to me. So I waited impatiently at my desk until they finally brought it up. I opened the box, then the styrofoam. There was an ice pack in there. Then I lifted out the first box and opened it.


Inside was six chocolate covered strawberries! They looked so delicious. I picked one and ate that, but saved the rest to share with Todd when I got home. He also sent me three little cheesecakes. I saved those for home too.



It was a good thing that I ran in the morning on Thursday, because we also ate some pizza for dinner, after Todd finished a bike ride after work.

We both took the day off on Friday to spend it together for our anniversary. Todd had seen on Rachael Ray's $40 A Day travel show there's an awesome breakfast place down in South Park called The Big Kitchen. All the locals love it, as well as quite a few celebrities. Todd had been wanting to take me there for months, but we hadn't had a chance to go for breakfast because it's far down in South Park and we've had very few free Sat mornings due to running. So anniversary Friday was the perfect chance. :)



The place was very homey and kitschy, with no pretense. You may be seated with other people at a table, family-style. We got our own little table.

Todd got a waffle with strawberries, and they brought fresh melted butter and syrup to the table too.


I got coffee and a plate with spinach and cheese egg scramble and home potatoes.

I gotta say that everything tasted fresh and amazing. The eggs were done just right. The home potatoes were flavored so perfectly and had some crispy bits. I've never had breakfast potatoes this good!

After breakfast, we drove down the street to Balboa Park. It was a gorgeous day and Balboa Park was the perfect venue to enjoy the day. We visited the Museum of Photographic Arts (MoPA) and saw their rock 'n roll exhibit curated by Graham Nash. Those photos brought the musicians to life, and it was incredible to see the last photo of John Lennon ever taken, only a few hours before he was assassinated. We also saw photos of our own neighborhood back in the 1880's, when it was just one big ranch with a ranch house! It was such a delight to see those old photos.





We went into the museum gift store and they had a photo booth in there. We couldn't resist, especially since it was our anniversary!


After MoPA, we walked around Balboa Park and enjoyed the nice weather and the scenery.

The botanical garden.


I found a turtle. He was brave and posed for many photos with other people too.


Lily pads in the water.


Us


The Prado walkway.


More gardens and cool architecture.




Cool sculptures


We left the park in time for our 1pm lunch reservation at Cucina Urbana, a hip new Italian restaurant just blocks from the park. In fact, we should have just walked, but we didn't know it was so close!

The decor inside was very cool.








We asked our waitress to take our photo.


They brought out bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping.


I got a handmade lemonade.


Todd had tri-tip steak with onion rings.


I had grilled calamari pasta.


Everything was delicious and it was a great anniversary lunch. :)

We went home after lunch and just hung out, watched some movie on TV, and I did some crafts. We ate leftovers for dinner. We exchanged cards. I made Todd this card from some Basic Grey supplies.


He got me a cute card with some dogs on it. We don't normally exchange gifts, because we just enjoy the experience of the day together, and having to give gifts to each other puts a lot of pressure on both of us to find that perfect gift. This way there's no pressure to find perfect anniversary gifts. We can always buy gifts for each other when we stumble upon them, which we do sometimes. The experience of being together and making memories together is our way of celebrating anyways. :)