Best Husband Ever Award

The award goes to Paul. He made my birthday unbelievable special this year. How was it amazing? Let me count the ways:

I came home from work and was greeted with a beautiful flower bouquet and Paul who had taken a half day from work to prepare for my birthday evening.

He had already started cooking dinner. It involved multiple recipes and utilized multiple varieties of fresh herbs.

He made tortellini with a white wine, portabella, parsley cream sauce and asparagus sauteed with fresh ginger, soy sauce and cashews and a bruschetta with toasted french bread. Delicious.

For dessert was a Mississippi Mud Pie from Petsi Pies. It was so rich we each ate a sliver and were full.

Then, came presents. He was generous and thoughtful with his gifts. Some were useful, some were fun but there was one that was the most creative and most emotional for me. He made a book. Here are it's pages:

This was an especially meaningful gift. Our cat, Luna, got cancer and after she fought it off for nearly a year including a surgery to remove her tumors, we had to put her to sleep in February. She was a really great cat. Paul had her for 10 years. It was hard to lose her. We had only recently started discussing if we were ready to get another cat and Paul seemed less gung-ho about it then I was. I was willing to be as patient as need be since I would only want to get a pet we were both invested in having. What a great way to tell me he is ready to add a cat to our menagerie!

These guys aren't sure how they feel about sharing us with a cat. We are still trying to decide if a cat or a kitten is the way to go.

As if all that wasn't enough, Paul also planned things for the Saturday after my birthday. After making me breakfast on Saturday morning, he revealed the first part of the day's plans to me. Ice skating! We layered up and headed out for the Common. Once we got there, it seemed like an overpriced and crowded place to get our ice skating fix so we left to try another place Paul knew about. The second place was way better. It was less expensive, less crowded and they weren't blasting Christmas music.

While we were ice skating, I tried to convince him that we should watch The Cutting Edge together. The man has his limits, even on my birthday, so I received a sharp "NO WAY" in response to that suggestion. Still, I couldn't help myself from declaring "Toe pick!!" multiple times during our skating session.

After skating, we headed home to rest up and get changed into fancy clothes. Paul was big on not telling me any of the plans. I tried my best to not pester him to tell me. I think he liked the element of surprise. He told me in advance that the place we were going to go for dinner had a dress code that stated "jacket and tie are most comfortable". I knew I was in for a fancy pants dinner but I had no idea how fancy pants it would really be. I don't think it gets more fancy than the place he took me. I was a bit overwhelmed and nervous when we got there. It is the sort of place where it is easy it feel like you are going to screw up and make a fool of yourself. It is the sort of place where they have a maître d' instead of a hostess. Where your food comes to the table covered and is revealed to you. Where you can't go to the bathroom without someone jumping to your assistance to move your chair, fold your napkin and open doors for you. It was the sort of place where the chef welcomes you with an Amuse Bouche. Also, it was the sort of place where you can easily spend a whole paycheck on one meal. There were bottles of wine on the wine list that cost $12,000!! I was thoroughly amazed, flattered and surprised that Paul felt the desire to spoil me to such an extent. It was a once in a lifetime experience, for sure. Oh yeah, the food was pretty good too :) I got to try some ingredients that were new to me. My entree was a burnt blood orange risotto with saffron threads and shaved truffle mushrooms. A decadent evening, it was.

I felt it would have been inappropriate to take pictures inside the restaurant, so all I photographed was the door on the outside. Even that was impressive.

So, now you agree? The Best Husband Ever Award was well earned.