I Found the Love of a Lifetime

 So my lovely and I got away for a little Birthday/Anniversary trip this past weekend.  I pitched it to her as a "lover's retreat."  I found a nice little place to rest in the Camelback corridor and so after church on Sunday we packed up the old HUMVEE and headed off to storm the castle.  As always, my wifey was ravishing in her classic ensemble.  Now because it was Fast Sunday (and I, unlike my companion of 17 blissfully wedded years had not partaken of the bounty of the Earth), we made a quick dash to grab a bite to eat.  Because we are unaccustomed to dining out on the Sabbath it was astonishing to see how many others were eating out as well.  It is very difficult to really relax and enjoy a meal when deep down inside you feel like you are doing something wrong.  Nevertheless, my hunger overrode my ethics and we did partake.  True Food; Hummus is otherworldly!! We returned to our lodging and settled in for an early evening nap.  We then watched a show starring the gal who plays Bella in the Twilight movies.  Apparently she plays the same role in every movie and her acting skills are extremely limited.  The movie ended with "she who must be obeyed" and I yelling at the TV.   

We woke the next morning early to get a jump on our day.  We had planned to try out a great new place for breakfast but in Phoenix, all of the cute little breakfast places are closed on Mondays.  After trying three places and finding them all closed, we finally settled on the Hyatt hotel.  Now mind you, the hotel we were staying at offered "FREE" breakfast but they didn't offer the requisite amount of bran products to please the little lady and get the works moving, if you know what I mean.  If not, see the previous post on our Youth Conference experience.  We did enjoy a great buffet complete with ample amounts of BRAN and Oatmeal.  One to loosen, one to clog.  Go Figure.  During breakfast we realized that all of the little antique shops we were going to visit were also closed on Monday.  We finished, took care of pressing matters now that the bran was working its magic, and headed out in pursuit of the perfect stools (no pun intended).  

Maybe everyone else is aware of this but apparently, you have to be a male who likes other males in order to work at an antique shop.  Very disturbing.  I went through a jumbo size bottle of hand sanitizer after shaking Robert's hand and having him go on and on about the beauty of mid-century furnishings.  He told us that he wasn't normally so frazzled but he had just chipped a tooth..................The experience was odd, nay, queer to say the least.  We also stumbled into a place called RED which had very nice and unique furnishings.  Great, at least a lady was behind the register.  Denise found a chair that she liked and inquired about the price.  We were told that the chair was not sold separately, but as a group of 8 for, get this, $4400.00!!  Apparently someone who sounded very important had designed these during, believe it or not, the mid-century and they were very rare.  Even more rare in my opinion was the chance of me buying anything from their store.  Having no luck there we wandered across the street to another store where Denise purchased something the sales fella referred to as Desert Coral.  Looked like tumbleweed to me.  I offered to bring a whole bunch home for free after our next scout outing but was told this was special tumbleweed.  Okay.  More hand sanitizer please.

Breaking free from my homophobic nightmare, we hit the Scottsdale Mall with all of the other pretty people.  From first hand experience I can proclaim that Neiman Marcus has a very nice restroom.  Thank you bran flakes.

Lunch at Kona Grill, a little Sushi, more shopping, bought some moss at Pottery Barn (I also offered to bring this home for free from my next camping trip), then off to see a British Movie which happens to be the little lady's favorite.  Good movie with lots of old people whispering to each other asking "what did they say" in reference to the film.  Also saw a fairly large lady sit in the lap of another woman who was wearing all black.  She must not have seen her but it was amusing.

Not yet hungry we went back to the hotel and worked out for a bit.  Watched some iCarly on Nickelodeon because it was the best thing on.  Had a fabulous meal of Clam Chowder, Caesar Salad, Grilled Swordfish and Chocolate Lava Cake at Bluewater Grill.  We took two hours to eat which we never do.  Great conversation and great food.  What a lucky guy I am.  

Capped the trip off this morning with Eggs Benedict at T.C. Eggington's and then home to the waiting arms of our loving children.... only one problem.  When we got home at 9:30 they were all still in bed.  It's going to be rough getting them up at 6 am tomorrow morning to go back to school.  I love my wife!  21 years together, 17 married.  My best friend!  I don't think it gets any better.       

Always an experience reading my LOVE's words.  The part about the lady sitting in the other lady's lap I had to question.  I said..." I don't remember that, where was I"  He said "Oh you were there....just intent on the movie."  Hmmmm.....  But, had to laugh as he retold me just what had happened.  :)  HE IS SO KEEN ON HIS SURROUNDINGS.  Love this man! Happy Anniversary.........