We celebrated 12 years of marriage on Saturday, May 19...TWELVE years! Sometimes it's hard to believe it's only been 12 years because of all we have seen, done and experienced together. Living in Logan with no kids, doing study abroad, having only one kid in Connecticut...that feels like a different life! But, it wasn't. That's where we started and our life has just unfolded beautifully, in my eyes. That one kid in Connecticut turned into two, those two kids in Connecticut came with us to Texas and the third joined us here. It's hard to believe that almost half our marriage has been in Texas but we have learned and grown so much since we've been here! Who knew we were cut out for days of road tripping, scorpions falling from the ceiling, fire ants or "Feels like 120* F" summers?! Or an additional 5 years of higher education?? Those are things I would have never guessed I would be ok with! And so much of our joy here has been because of the guy right by my side who just makes everything better with his positivity, hard work, willingness to kill any bug and an uncanny ability to drive multiple hours in a row with no help from yours truly.
Man, I'm lucky that I've been married to this guy for 12 years and even luckier that he was my first love 17 years ago! We have come so far and have so far to go and I am excited to see where we head. I love him, I love us, I love our story.
Our anniversary started by waking up bright and early to watch the royal wedding live! Prince Harry and Meghan Marckle were getting married and we knew we wanted to watch after having fun watching Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding live back in 2011. We are not British royalty obsessed or anything, but it's hard not to be intrigued by it all and we love Meghan Marckle in Suits, so that made it even better!
It was a beautiful service and made for a fun morning!
After a fun morning we did typical Saturday chores and relaxing before heading out on our date that Brian planned at 4pm. He always plans the best dates and this one did not disappoint!
We headed to The Domain in North Austin and he took me to the Kendra Scott store to pick out a piece of jewelry. Kendra Scott is a home grown Austin based jewelry designer and her stuff is pretty popular and I have a pair of earrings of hers that I love too. I picked out a simple silver necklace that I love and I love Brian for taking me there, it was so fun!
For dinner we headed downtown to...
Russian House!
We have talked about going here the whole time we've lived here and have never pulled the trigger. Brian finally made a reservation and I was excited to experience it. Well, it completely exceeded ALL expectations! This is a legit Russian restaurant. Every employee was Russian and the place was decorated with knick-knacks and photos and table cloths straight from Mother Russia. It. Was. Amazing.
We seriously felt like we were back in Tanya's apartment in St. Petersburg and it was so fun to reminisce about that time 11 years ago. We talked about how we are so glad we had that experience before having kids and it made me itchy to go on an over seas trip. I know it will happen and I can't wait to see where we go!
We shared a bowl of delicious borscht and then our main dishes (speaking of dishes,they didn't match and it was so charming and perfect) were good, too. Brian got cabbage rolls (with a HUGE pile of sour cream) and I got the strogonoff and they were both perfectly Russian. The food over there is not to die for and it's one reason we had never gone because the food never sticks out as sounding super good, but the mediocre (fabulous for Russian standards) food was totally worth it and the experience was just spot on and so fun! We're kinda sad we didn't go sooner just so we could go back with some friends and experience it's authenticity with more people.
We both posed as Russians would at dinner, just so you could get a sense of how authentic it all felt.
We both got crepes with sweetened condensed milk to finish off the meal and they were definitely pre-made and not reheated which was kind of a bummer because we got those babies on the corner of the street multiple times a week when we lived there and so that was a bit of a let down.
BUT we didn't care. It was so much fun!
After our delightful dinner we walked over to the Moody Theater! I was surprised and so excited because I have always heard about it and have walked past it several times, but never been. Brian has seen Ryan Adams there and all the ACL Live concerts are filmed there to broadcast on PBS, but I had never had the chance.
Earlier in the week he had sent me a video of Kat Edmonson singing in an NPR Tiny Desk Concert and I briefly listened and said I liked her. Well, she was the artist we got to see and she was PHENOMENAL! Like blew us away with her amazing voice and songs. We listened to her all the way home and have since. If you want to try her out, look up her song Lucky and give her a listen, you won't regret it!
The concert went until 11 p.m. and it was just so much fun to have a late date and come home to a clean house and kids in bed. I am so glad Brian is in charge of planning dates every so often because he always does the best job! What a perfect way to celebrate our last anniversary in Austin.
