A Successful Anniversary Celebration

We have reentered reality, but it was nice to escape for a night. Celebrating our second anniversary went much better than celebrating the first.

First of all...loved the hotel much more than last year's. If you have a need to stay over night in the ATL, I highly recommend the Twelve Hotel. Instead of feeling like we were staying in a hotel, we felt like we were living in a loft in midtown Atlanta. Very fun for me since that was what I originally wanted back before life took a major turn. We had a very nice kitchen with stainless steel appliances, not one, but two, flat screen HD televisions, high ceilings, an INCREDIBLY comfortable bed (we were tempted to check in, go to sleep, and not wake up until we checked out the next day), and huge windows that overlooked the city. Too bad we were on the second floor. And, my favorite part of all, all the toiletries provided were Aveda. I LOVE Aveda. Aveda has been my product of choice since Jr. High. The bathroom was huge as well, with a big soaking tub and separate shower. We were living the high life, if only for one night.

We decided to forgo a fancy dinner and splurge on the hotel instead, so we had a nice, affordable dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. When we were first married, we lived about five minutes from Atlantic Station, and we went to CPK so much, that one waiter knew us by name. We love CPK. The night I got my tutoring job a few weeks into marriage, we celebrated there; the night after my first day of teaching at Pebblebrook--CPK, and the night we found out we were pregnant, we ended up back at CPK. It has not let us down yet, and last night was no exception. We were able to eat outside, and dinner was incredibly relaxing. We just kept looking at each other and saying, we get to sleep all night tonight. It felt unreal. By the way, we also kept talking about how good it would be to see Ada the next day. Such a paradox.

The other thing I was looking forward to at Atlantic Station was visiting H & M. They have been promising forever that it was opening, Spring 2008. Well, folks, it is May 2008, we are quickly approaching summer, and H & M is no where to be found. That was a low moment in the weekend.

Later in the night, Scott gave me my final anniversary gift. The most exciting thing of all--the ESV Literary Study Bible. I have been wanting it forever, and, finally, I have it. Well, I have the promise of it. It is in the mail right now, on it's way to me.

Today, we slept in. Well, we slept until 8 am. But we went to sleep at 11, so that was NINE HOURS!!! We planned on staying up late just because we could, but we barely made it to 11. We then walked around Ikea for a while, drove through our old neighborhood, had lunch in the Highlands, and by that point, we were dying to see Ada, so we headed home. And now she's in bed, and I already feel tired again. But, I also feel refreshed. I am extra connected to Scott, and the time away from Ada made me so excited to get back to our daily routine. Anniversary #2 was a success.

I have never been good at the beginning of things--freshman year of high school was just terrible. I was awkward and clumsy and so self-conscious. I felt all of those same feeling again freshman year at Auburn. I was struggling to figure out where my place was in the college world. I remember coming back to Auburn my sophomore year and feeling so relieved not to be a freshman. By senior year, I never wanted to leave Auburn. It was the place that felt most like home to me. This anniversary feels a little bit like that. Like finally we are figuring this thing out.