5 years

On the 4th, we celebrated being married for 5 years!  When we first got married, the 5 year anniversary seemed so far away.  It really seems like yesterday that we were in our little one-bedroom apartment enjoying the newness of marriage.

For our date, we decided to keep things low-key and celebrate at a popular Italian restaurant downtown. It has the best bread you ever put in your mouth, so I knew Joel would be happy about that.  As for Judah, my parents came up to watch him for a few hours.  I was so glad they both came, especially since my dad has only gotten to meet Judah three times.

We slipped out around  7pm and made our way downtown.  Joel mentioned a couple of weeks ago that a friend from high school was the executive chef there, and he was hoping to see him. Sure enough, as we were passing the restaurant to park, we see his friend walking down the street obviously taking a quick break.  We stopped and talked for a bit and then made our way in for our reservation.

The atmosphere felt like we were in New Orleans, which was reminiscent of our honeymoon before we set sail on our cruise, so that was just an added perk.  :)  We order a loaf of the bread even after getting a weird look from our waiter (a loaf for 2 people!).  Joel had already stated that he was sure his meal would just be the bread.

5th anniversary gift is wood--paper counts right? :)

Then came our food.  I got a seafood pasta and Joel got the sea bass.  And it was amazing!  Joel's friend is an excellent chef for sure.  He went to culinary school right out of highschool and then landed his job as head chef years later and has been there for the last 9 years.  We didn't know if we would get to see him again, but sure enough, as our dessert was on it's way, he came out again to see us at our table, so he and Joel could catch up some more.  Joel couldn't get over how great of a position he was in and how well he was doing.  We didn't go to Joel's 10-year reunion this past summer (I tried to convince him!) because it was so expensive and there weren't that many people that he went to school with, but I think he really enjoyed getting to catch up with his friend even if it was brief.

And to top things off, we had planned on paying a pretty penny, but Joel's friend told our waiter to comp our appetizer and dessert---"compliments of the chef." :)  Such a great gift!

I had no idea what a great pick it was when I originally requested to go there, but I am so glad we decided to go to a new place that was out of our normal eating out comfort zone.  Joel got to see an old friend as I got to enjoy dessert on the house--doesn't get much better!

And hopefully next anniversary, we can resume our beach anniversary vacations with Judah.  I pray this kid loves the beach!