Valentine's Day

Nathan and I realized yesterday that we've been together for eight Valentine's Days.

That is a long time.

We usually don't do much - if anything - for Valentine's Day. Probably because, looking back, on most Valentine's Days in recent history one or both of us has had a rehearsal or a gig or a class or... you get the idea.

Yesterday, despite the fact that I've been nursing a bad cold for a few days now, I thought I should do something to make the day fun. Our last Valentine's Day before Baby arrives!

When I asked Nathan on Monday night what he'd like for dinner the next day, he requested spaghetti. Specifically, his mom's spaghetti sauce recipe. So spaghetti it was! His with meat, mine without. Served with asiago cheese bread.

I found a pack of six heart-shaped votives at Michael's for $1.90, so those graced the table, around a dish of chocolates I got for Nathan.

And I made a whimsical garland of paper hearts to hang from the chandelier.

{Hey, I'm about to be a mom. Doesn't that give me license to do unlimited construction paper crafts?}

For dessert, there was chocolate cake (a recipe of my Grandma's), with some of the batter made into heart-shaped cupcakes.

{Note to self: When using that heart-shaped cupcake tin, under-fill it with batter, because if they rise above the rim of the pan they may not resemble hearts quite so much. Whoops.}

Served with vanilla ice cream.

While I was making dinner and setting the table, I kind of figured that Nathan wouldn't have remembered that it was Valentine's Day, and that the whole thing could be a surprise for him.

And he was surprised...

{Hey, I know it was only spaghetti, but our schedules don't exactly allow the two of us to sit down to a homemade candlelit dinner together all that often}

...but then, I was surprised too, when he walked in the door with these:

I do love that Valentine of mine.

we don't do normal

This is the post in which I reveal just how quirky I can be, and how bizarre things can get around here.

A couple of mornings ago Nathan was getting ready to leave for a class, and I was still lying in bed, slowly waking up.

And I said to him, joking of course, "Will you come lick the morning crusties out of my eyes like a mother cat?"

And he replied, "No, I don't have time; I'm running late."

Like my request was totally normal. (It wasn't.)

Like we do that kind of thing around here all the time. (We don't.)

Like if he hadn't been running late, he would have gladly obliged. (I hope not.)

Maybe he was being funny.

Or maybe he hadn't been paying close attention to the nature of my request.

We may never know.

But in the meantime...

Every time I think about this scenario...

I laugh until I cry.

It just cracks me up.

{But as we know, everything cracks me up these days.}

Okay, so we're pretty weird. But we like it that way. We think "normal" people are, well, a little boring.

five years

Happy anniversary to us!

We went out to dinner, but not before having Andrew snap a photo of the occasion.

Then Nathan seized the camera. I suppose he wants something to remember me by before I become a frumpy and disheveled mom.

Strange to think that for our next anniversary we'll be needing a babysitter if we want to go out!

"She Was Not Very Tall..."

When I saw this photo of the two of us, I thought of Sheldon Vanauken. So I took a picture of his words, and put them next to the picture of us.



Aww.

Phone Call From Arizona

Nathan: I miss you. I wish you were here, or I were there, or both.

Sarah: Both? If you were here and I were there, we'd still be apart.

Nathan: Oh. Well, you know what I mean.

Anniversary Trip, Day 3

Day 3 of our anniversary trip started with breakfast at James Brown's Place, a diner in Rochester. (Again, found thanks to Yelp.) Nathan had two servings of Eggs Benedict - one with ham and one with bacon. I had one order, modified from menu offerings to be: English muffin, cooked spinach, black beans, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce. Delicious.


[Photo taken with my iPhone]

After breakfast, it was off to the George Eastman House, where we spent the day touring the house mansion, viewing the current rock 'n roll photography exhibit, and looking at displays of cameras of decades gone by. Of course, there was plenty of time to take some pictures of my own, too.

George Eastman, founder of the Eastman Kodak Company, was an inventor and philanthropist who brought photography to the masses and made it possible for everyday people to enjoy as a hobby. I had no idea what a fascinating person he was - an entrepreneur, a leader in employee benefit programs, a lover of music, and much more. You can read all about him here.

The estate was absolutely incredible.

The guy had a library to be envied:

Safes throughout his home:

And um, lots of hatboxes...

He also loved plants and had incredible outdoor gardens (which of course weren't part of the tour in December) as well as an indoor conservatory. Unfortunately, Mr. Eastman enjoyed participating in the fashion of the time to travel to exotic places and bring home "trophies."


Yes, he had an elephant head mounted on the wall.

As well as a myriad of other dead animals "decorating" his home.


[I know... decidedly unappealing.]

But at least he had excellent taste in music! He had a nine-foot Steinway with a case made by Tiffany's, a personal string quartet he established that played on his estate, and an Aeolian pipe organ in his home.




In fact, he was a great patron of the arts - he founded the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, funded free music lessons for children, and established a symphony orchestra.

Speaking of the arts, look - two violinists in one picture:

And some further proof that I'm becoming a shutterbug:


I sort of liked how these two pictures came out:

The house had a little cafe with espresso beverages, sandwiches, and gelato. I had never had gelato before, so after our tour and extensive wanderings through the estate, Nathan and I decided we should each order some. Mine was a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of their holiday gingerbread flavor.


I liked it, but Nathan informed me that it wasn't as good as real Italian gelato. So we decided that we'll have to spend another anniversary, some year in the future, in Italy.

After our truly enjoyable afternoon at the George Eastman House, we drove from Rochester to Albany. We stopped along the way in Utica, where we had dinner at The Lotus Garden, a nice little family-run Thai/Japanese/Cambodian place. Our waitress was friendly and helpful, and we both enjoyed our meals. Nathan ate two orders of spicy chicken wings, and I had a noodle vegetable dish in a spicy peanut sauce.


[iPhone photo again]

After dinner we finished our drive to Albany, where we stayed at Hotel Indigo. We both really liked how this place was nice without being stuffy or looking like it was decorated by grandmothers. [Nothing against grandmothers; I have nothing but love for grandmothers!] The decor was sort of hip and modern - definitely a bit different than your standard hotel fare.



We enjoyed our stay there - the last night of our trip before driving back to Massachusetts on December 31st.

And that was day 3 of our anniversary trip, minus the kissy-kissy, smoochy-smoochy, stare-into-each-others'-eyes parts, which - again - you can thank me for omitting.

It was a good vacation.

Anniversary Trip, Day 2

On the second day of our anniversary trip, we enjoyed sleeping in and then checked out of our hotel - but not before taking a few pictures of the lobby.



The hotel lobby had a cool illuminated ceiling that would change colors periodically:


Thanks to the ever-handy Yelp app on my iPhone, we decided to have breakfast at Pamela's Diner, where Nathan enjoyed a hot chocolate while we perused the menu.


Nathan ordered an omelette and some French toast:



I couldn't resist trying the strawberry crepe hotcakes for which the diner is apparently famous. Crispy yet crepe-like pancakes rolled up around a filling of fresh strawberries and sour cream, and topped with a dab of whipped cream, they were absolutely delicious and everything an extremely unhealthy breakfast ought to be.


We left the diner (a few pounds heavier, I imagine) and decided to drive through New Wilmington on our way back to Erie, in hopes of seeing some nice scenery [oh and maybe a few Amish people too].


Success! Amish people were glimpsed! And yes, I snapped a photo through the car window as we drove past. I know; I'm evil. I couldn't help myself.

We saw a little Amish woman walking along the snowy road at one point, pulling a wooden wagon behind her. It was like stepping back in time by 150 years... very surreal.

After New Wilmington, we made a brief stop at the Grove City outlets, where almost everything in the Banana Republic outlet was at least 50% off their already discounted prices. I picked out a sweater and a tie for Nathan and got two tees for myself.

Then it was back to Erie, where we picked up my NEW CAR. She had been driven in from a dealership in a nearby state and was ready and waiting for us that evening. [She of course deserves a post of her own in the near future.] We said our farewells to the husbandfamily, and then it was off to Rochester, with Nathan in his Honda Civic and me in my new 2010 dark grey Ford Fusion Hybrid.

When we arrived in Rochester, we grabbed a very late dinner at The Old Toad, a crowded, noisy little British pub. Nathan had a burger and fries which he very much enjoyed, while I had the veg stew, which was pretty much what you'd get if you opened a can of kidney beans and a can of tomatoes and mixed them together. So in my opinion you can save yourself a trip to that particular location, but on the other hand, Nathan loved the place.

Again thanks to priceline, we stayed in the Hyatt in Rochester that night. Four-star hotels for $60 or less a night? Yes please.

And that was day 2 of our anniversary trip, minus the kissy-kissy, smoochy-smoochy, stare-into-each-others'-eyes parts, which you can thank me for omitting.

Anniversary Trip, Day 1

This year marked our fourth anniversary, which, falling as it always does on the fourth day of Christmas, we deemed special.


On the 28th of December, the day of our anniversary, we drove from Erie (where we spent Christmas with Nathan's family) to Pittsburgh. I experimented with my camera, taking pictures through the car window as we drove:



In Pittsburgh, we enjoyed an afternoon at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. These indoor gardens surpassed my expectations, and also proved to be a great place to get started learning to use a new camera.


There were beautiful hydrangeas:



Interesting cactus/cactuses/cacti (I believe all these plural forms are considered correct; aren't words interesting?):


Gorgeous orchids:



And all sorts of other flowers, from the everyday to the uncommon:






One whole room of the gardens was filled with electric trains:


The rainforest section of the gardens had many beautiful waterfalls:


And the whole place was decked out in grand style for Christmas!


[This is one reason I love that we got married at Christmastime -- the whole world just gets extra beautiful every December. When Nathan and I were planning our wedding, I remember little old ladies asking me, "But don't you want to be a 'June bride'?" And I was thinking, no, I really don't, because... Christmas!]


After we had seen every room and every plant at the conservatory, we checked in at The Renaissance Hotel (booked for a steal on priceline.com!) and then headed out to dinner at ELEVEN, a beautiful restaurant just a brisk walk from our hotel.



Dinner was fantastic. I started with the squash soup with hazelnuts, while Nathan ordered an appetizer of freshly made soft pretzels. Then for my entrée, I enjoyed a vegetarian pasta dish of spaghetti, brussels sprouts, golden raisins, squash, and pine nuts in a light sauce with a glass of chianti. Delicious! [Nathan had a burger and fries. Heh.]


[Having not taken the Nikon to the restaurant, these iPhone photos will have to suffice.]

Back in our hotel room, Nathan took a turn with my new camera and took some photos out our room window:



And that was day 1 of our anniversary trip, minus the kissy-kissy, smoochy-smoochy, stare-into-each-others'-eyes parts, which you can thank me for omitting.