We got the day off to a good start by going to church together, and as always, made sure Fr Henrick saw us together. ;~p I thought it was a nice coincidence that the New Testament reading was the passage from Corinthians that was read at our wedding.

Shall let Ary tell you what I got him, if he wishes. In addition to lots of chocolate, he gave me a gold ring with a big mystic topaz and ten tiny diamonds. It is extremely gorgeous! But you know you've married a geek when he can tell you how the rock in your ring is made. ;~p

Had pancakes for breakfast, which was before church. (Yes, I'm all out of order, so what) For lunch we finished off the pancakes, which worked out to one a piece, which was okay considering where we went for dinner.

Shortly after lunch Ary built a fire and we cuddled and so forth in front of it. When we ran out of other things to do we fed each other M&Ms and watched Pinky and the Brain. When the fire had died down we got dressed and went out for dinner.

Ary really outdid himself for our first anniversary date. We went to the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant that is anything but cheap. We got there a little earlier than our reservation was for, so we had to wait a little while. When we got to our table (which was nice and secluded in the back *wicked grin*) there was a vase with a couple roses and other flowers, and a card with my name on it. This, of course, Ary had arranged for in advance. After we had placed our order (with our extremely enthusiatic waitress, Jenna) a guy came back and congratulated us on our first anniversary and offered to take our picture. He had a digital camera and showed it to us after he'd taken it. We thought it looked good so he went away and came back a little later with a framed copy. Tres cool!

Now with all the romantic stuff out of the way it was time to eat. There were four courses: a cheese fondue, a salad, a main course fondue, and a dessert fondue. (When I described all this to my mom she said it sounded like a fondoozy) We chose traditional swiss for our cheese, and got fresh apples, veggies, and bread to dip in it. Ooh, it was yummy! Our salads came while we were still working on that, and this was when I was afraid I was going to get too full to finish. But that was only because the salad was all on a plate, and there was no pacing in eating it like with the fondue. I managed to put it all away (it was greens covered with a layer of thinly sliced mushrooms, for the Hobbit in me), and then we moved on to the main course. We got a selection of beef and chicken with some shrimp and various sauces to dip them in. Also got plenty of veggies, all of which we cooked in a Caribbean bouillion. Very, very tasty. Now for dessert. Having had red wine with dinner I now ordered an espresso to go with the chocolate. We had amaretto milk chocolate with various fruit, cake, and stuff to dip in it. When we ran out of stuff I was dipping the chocolate out onto my plate and mopping it up with my finger. (The only reason I didn't lick my plate was because Jenna came over and was chatting with us for a while) Turned out the bitter espresso went down a treat with the sweet chocolate. When we left we were very full and very content.

It was after ten when we got home, so we pretty much tumbled into bed and went to sleep. Didn't have much energy for anything else after that dinner! So it was a wonderful first anniversary and I think we all agree that Ary is an exemplary husband from whom other men should take lessons. ;~)

First day of the anniversary weekend has been nice. We spent the morning being totally lazy, then had a frenzy of activity after lunch as we got the trash and recyclables together and cleaned up a little bit. Deposited the disposables as appropriate, then went out to Green Hills Mall to spend our Xmas pressie from isildur_dunadan and his wife, that is gift cards from Davis Kidd Booksellers. Was not terribly impressed with their music selection, but I did manage to find a CD of Schubert's 8th and 9th symphonies that I've been wanting. Also got a book on the making of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which looks ubercool, and Ary got a CD of a group called Clannad, a Celtic group. We listened to them in the car and they sounded pretty neat.

Also picked up some chocolates at Godiva, and spent my Xmas money from Judy on body butter and other sale items at the Body Store. Came out quite smelly. Then Ary suggested we go shoe shopping. (What a thing for a guy to suggest!) Dillards was having a 30-40% shoe sale, so we decided to check them out. Poor Ary didn't find anything under a hundred bucks (sheesh!), but I managed to find a very nice pair of black pumps that were classy but still comfortable (and cheap!). And considering the dress shoes I've had for probably close to ten years are starting to look a little tatty, this acquisition has come none too soon. Can't wait to wear 'em tomorrow. ;~)

Now we went to dinner. Apparently Ary was asking oropher_777 for advice on where to take me, and she suggested a cool and trendy coffeehouse with live music. Well, I'm not sure if we have anything like that in Nashville (probably), but he came pretty close. We went to a little Mediterranean restaurant and there was a guy playing a ude in the dining room. Very nice. The food was excellent, too. I had a lamb gyro with a side of stuffed grape leaves while Ary had beef kabobs with rice and a small salad. For dessert we picked tiramisu over the pistachio baklava only because Ary doesn't care for pistachios. It was delicious! Came home and got up to some mischief and now we are listening to Schubert before bed.

Church tomorrow, and then the fun begins!

So Ary went to the Dr today, initially to talk about his cholesterol meds, but also he got some antibiotics and he is feeling better. I am feeling better now that I have gotten rid of a lot of the snot that had taken up residence in my nose. Vicks nasal spray is a wonder drug. I'm exhausted, though, and seriously want to go to bed, even though it's barely six pm. This probably means I am not completely well and possibly should not have gone back to work. Well, they did take it easy on me for the first couple days, but tomorrow I've got five visits, though most of them are close, and two are in the same facility. Must get a good night's sleep so I can charge in and get it all done quick and then come home and collapse. Must be in good form tomorrow for my Munchkin debut with Ary's friends. The host is excited by the idea of a "gurrl gamer", so I must try to live up to expectations.