The Best Day

 My favorite Taylor Swift song is called "The Best Day" and it's all about days that Taylor and her mom had together.  I had that "best day" with both of my girls yesterday.  This all started because at Christmas, the girls knew I didn't want more stuff.  Truly, I just want time with them.  They're two of my favorite people! How could I not want more time with them?!  So, they each gave me an experience to enjoy with them, and I cashed those in yesterday.

Mia treated me to lunch at Swan House.  This is the most wonderfully girlie restaurant in Atlanta, and I absolutely love it.  We both ordered the "Swan's Favorite" which is two scoops of chicken salad in timbales, a frozen fruit salad, a simple mixed greens salad, and two cheese straws.  It's so delicious.  She and I had fun playing songs and singing along in the car, shopping around the Swan House, and enjoying one another's company over our meal.

In the evening, Lily and I made one of our favorite dishes together which (somehow) neither Ryan nor Mia seem to enjoy.  It's a shrimp alfredo pasta with spinach, onions, garlic, and bacon.  It's so easy to put together, but absolutely delicious.  Lily shared a lot of Elevation Worship music with me while we cooked.  This is currently one of her favorite groups, and I loved getting to hear more of their music.  We put the dinner in our new pasta bowls from Sorrento and enjoyed a quiet dinner together.  I love getting to talk with her and hear her opinions and thoughts on things.  She's got some good ones!  After dinner, we cleaned up and then went downstairs to watch one of my favorite movies, Instant Family.  It's so fun that we can share movies like this with one another!

One on one time with each girl helps me to see just how amazing they are in their own ways.  I am so incredibly proud to the mom of these two!  I can't thank them enough for giving me "the best day!"

Jan 12, 2022 - 20 Years!

 

I can't believe it's been 20 years since that picture was taken!

Ryan and I celebrated our anniversary with a big trip to Spain and Italy back in the Fall.  It was amazing! We didn't want to let the actual day pass though without doing something special too, so we decided on dinner at Canoe.  This place delivers an excellent meal and experience every single time.  It was a wonderful evening.

It started with a menu personalized to wish us a happy anniversary.  I love this detail!

Ryan started his meal with the peppercorn crusted kangaroo while I started with their smoked salmon on crispy potato cakes with goat cheese.  Both were absolutely delicious.  For our entrees, we both had the special of the evening which was a strip steak.  I had garlic smashed potatoes with mine while Ryan had their pomme frittes.  Both were so yummy.  Of course, we also enjoyed their excellent sourdough bread and butter throughout the meal.

For dessert, Ryan had a pear tart  which was pretty good.  I had their Canoe s'mores.  This was quite the presentation.  They put down a homemade graham cracker, top it with a chocolate mousse, put a marshmallow meringue around that, and then put some dark chocolate croutons on the side.  It's covered in dome that's filled with smoke which they remove at the table, so it has this true tasting campfire taste to it.  Such a fun dessert!

Ryan surprised me with two dozen beautiful roses too.  Look at this brilliant color!

It was a wonderful evening as we reflected on the past 20 years and dreamed about ones still to come.

There's really no good way to sum up how thankful I am for Ryan and these 20 married years we've shared.  There are too many memories and blessings to count.  We've had some hard times, but most of our days are really quite wonderful.  I am thankful for how he leads our home.  I hope that our girls will one day have marriages as great as ours.  I pray that our marriage reflects Christ and His bride, and that it can be an encouragement to others.  I look forward to our days ahead with one another.

The First Month of 2022

 Our new year has started off well!  Here's a few of the fun things we've been up to.

Mia has been working so hard all Fall semester with her drama group for the Junior Theater Festival which was a couple of weekends ago.  All the groups perform 15 minutes of their show for this competition.  Mia's group is performing High School Musical Jr, and she has the role of Kelsi.  The group did really well and was recognized for excellence in choreography.  Mia thoroughly enjoyed performing with this group of friends who love drama too!  Now they are rehearsing to learn the whole show which they'll perform in the Spring.

I felt so gourmet one day when I topped my vanilla ice cream with this fruity balsamic vinegar that Ryan and I bought in Sorrento.  It's so good!

I am so thankful that I got to meet up with my friend, Joy Hill, one morning at Rev before the rush of tax season truly gets going.  I'm so thankful for friends.

I love it when the girls are creative.  Look how cool these paintings turned out.  Lily did the paint by number Harry Potter scene while Mia made this Captain America tribute.

Ryan and I both love Spanish tapas.  There are a few restaurants around here that serve it and we enjoy.  Of course, we really enjoyed it when we were in Spain in November.  I was so excited to find that Chef Jose Andres ships a delicious tapas meal via Goldbelly!  I got this for Ryan as a Christmas present.  It arrived a few days after Christmas so we enjoyed it on New Year's Day.  Seems like a great way to start the year!  The tapas included iberico ham, salchichon iberico de bellota, choirzo iberico, Manchego cheese, chicken croquetas, a loaf of Pan de Cristal, olive oil, and fresh tomato paste to make pan con tomate.  This was such a fun surprise and meal!

I also ordered the chef's Burnt Basque Cheesecake.  We did not actually have this when we were in Basque Country, but I thought it would compliment the tapas well.  I was right! It's such an unusually creamy cheesecake; it was way creamier than any others I've tried.  The "burnt" part on top actually gives it this delicious caramel-nutty flavor.  This was a delicious treat.

There are a couple of other items in other posts, but these are a few of the more "ordinary" items we've done so far.  What a great way to start the year!