Blissfully Annoyed

I always thought it sounded so nice and romantic when husbands would surprise their wives with a weekend getaway. You know, where he packs for her, and she has no clue what's going on until it's happening, and she's so surprised, and at easy, and it's all romantic, and relaxing, and lovely, and pleasant...

As it turns out, I am not one of those women who finds it relaxing and pleasant.

So my day, last Thursday, goes as follows:

Get up early, go to Jennica's Class where I am mom helper.

Drive out to Eagle and meet my mom and sister to take my mom out to lunch for her Birthday.

Drive back home and meet my kids as they get home from school.

Meet my sister and her kids at the dollar movie to see Madagascar II.

Then go home, and find something frozen for the kids (and Andy and I) for dinner.

Waste away the next hour or so on Facebook or reading,

Then put the kids to bed and watch a movie with Andy.

Only, my day did not go that way at all.. Well okay for the most part it did but spontaneity happened along the way... Well spontaneous isn't actually the correct word since nothing was spontaneous, but rather craftily planned behind my back. So I guess surprise is what really happened.

Everything was going as expected till Andy shows up at the theater. He comes up behind me and says, "please don't be angry, I got my hair cut and it's too short."

I turn around and his hair is buzzed.

I was feeling a bit livid. He is constantly making comments about how if I can't cut his hair in the next day or so, he'll just go get it buzzed. Which angers me more than you would think. For one, I HATE HATE HATE how he looks with his hair buzzed. Seriously hate it. Secondly, I kind of feel like he should be a bit more appreciative of me for cutting his hair for the past 12 years and maybe act gratefully and thank me sometime instead of constantly making comments about how he hopes I'll make a mistake so he can buzz it...etc. So lets just say I get pretty stinking mad whenever he shows up with his head buzzed. Not just because I don't like how it looks but because I take it as a personal insult to the efforts I put into making his head look good.

And then my sister is saying to us, Okay, goodbye, have fun! And I'm thinking, "I am not going anywhere with this... grrrrr! What is going on? I do not have plans with him, and why is Jill trying so hard to get ride of me? What's going on, I need to feed my kids dinner."

Meanwhile Andy is telling me we are going to P.F. Changs for dinner, and explaining about his hair cut.

Apparently, he went to get his hair cut for this date he had planned (What?? My husband planned a date on his own??) And he wanted to have his hair cut so I wouldn't have to do it this time and the lady at the Walmart salon asked him how to cut it and he said, "Um, I think she uses a number one on the sides and a number two on top? Does that sound about right?" And the Walmart associate says, "Yeah, that'll look great!"

Okay, as a women, I see several problems with this conversation. First, never trust a Walmart associate when they tell you something will look great. Second, I know why, when you ask someone with great hair where they get it done, they never answer, "Walmart!" Third, If you don't know what clipper attachment should be used on your hair, don't guess, but say, "sort of like it is now, but shorter. My wife hates it buzzed."

Anyway, I could forgive Andy because it was clear he really did not intend to cut it so short and just made a very manly mistake.

Then he shows me a blindfold in the car and tells me he wants me to wear it later for a surprise. I told him, flat out, and with no room for negotiation, that I would not be putting on a blindfold. Sorry, but absolutely not. Blindfolds are only fun for the people who are watching the person in the blindfold, and never actually fun for the person in the blindfold... No thanks, not interested.

Since I won't go along with the blindfold, he tells me as we are walking into the restaurant that he has a room at the Anniversary Inn to celebrate our anniversary, and then tomorrow we are going to go shopping, and go to lunch at Ono, that Hawaiian Cafe for lunch, and then shop some more, and then pick up the kids about dinner time from Jill's. The blindfold was so he could blindfold me when we left the restaurant and lead me all the way into the hotel and up the stairs and to the room. I am so glad I said no to the blindfold.

So there are about 100 things running threw my mind at this point.

What's on my calendar that I'm going to need to cancel? Am I suppose to be watching Amanda's kids tonight? What about my kids? Do they have clothes? What are they going to eat for dinner? I didn't pack anything for them. I didn't pack anything for me? So am I going home to change and do my hair and makeup tomorrow morning? What about my car at the movie theater? Did I lock my car at the movie theater? Is my car safe overnight at the movie theater?
Can we afford this? Do I look alright? Am I dressed right for P. F. Changs?
What about next weekend? The kids are suppose to be going to my moms overnight and we had tickets to the Knock em Dead Dinner Theater... Do we really have tickets or was that just a ploy? Are my kids still going to my moms next weekend. How am I going to have a romantic weekend when I haven't shaved my legs? How did this get planned without me knowing about it? Did MY husband actually plan something without me knowing about it... I bet that means EVERYONE else knows about this, since my husband really isn't very good at keeping secrets. (If Andy has a secret for someone he has to tell everyone else who might cross his path about the secret and bind them to secrecy with him. Seriously if you were at Walmart on Thursday and heard the loud speaker announcement that "Andy wants you to know he's taking his wife on a romantic date and it's a huge surprise so don't tell her," and you're wondering if it was the same Andy, yes, that was my husband. ) Should I feel embarrassed that everyone who knows my husband knows what I'll be doing tonight, And I don't know most of the people who know? Did I leave anything turned on at the house? Are the doors locked? Am I having a very confusing dream? Does my sister have enough room in her car for both our kids? How is my sister going to get into my house to get clothed for my kids? Are my parents in on this? I still need to feed my kids. Did Andy bring my book? Do I need my book? Are we going to be able to get into P. F. Changs? Does the room at the Anniversary Inn have a window, cause I head some of the rooms don't have windows, and I definitely want windows? I don't want to get pregnant. How long has this been planned? Am I still going to Utah on the 30th? I need my calendar. Am I teaching on Sunday? Do I need to worry about teaching on Sunday? What day is it? Oh, It's Thursday. THURSDAY?? What about School for the kids tomorrow?? oh yeah, they don't have school tomorrow. What about work for Andy? Did he forget he has to go to work? He used all his vacation time. Wait it's a new year, so new vacation time. What if he gets laid off for taking vacation time? What if he didn't take vacation time and just doesn't show up for work? Maybe he is going to work? Am I sure I don't have anything going on tonight or tomorrow. I won't know till I get home tomorrow and then it will be too late. Does my make up look alright? My hair is probably a wreck, but it always is anyway so who cares. I'm glad I have my camera. What am I wearing? Okay. I think I look alright. My house is a mess. Wait, did I leave anything on? Wait, I already thought about that. Are there anymore surprises? I better figure that out so I can get everything figured out. How am I suppose to plan this when it's already happening? I need to make reservations. What do I need to shop for? I want an entry table. What's going on? I DON'T KNOW!!!

So if you don't get it watch this video...

So there you go..
After a bit, and after Andy was able to give me satisfactory answer to the majority of my questions and I tried to let go and relax.

The dinner was excellent. We had Honey chicken and Mongolian beef. Oh my word. It was awesome. And gotta love the dessert minis. Oh yum! There are only 4 reasons people turn down dessert at restaurants. 1. Too full/dessert is too big. 2. Watching their weight. 3. Heath/allergy reasons. 4. Desserts are too expensive. Well P.F. Changs has theses fantastic Dessert Minis. They are prepared in a small cup, a little larger than a tall shot glass. And they are just a couple dollars each. Andy had chocolate cake with raspberry filling, and I had tiramasu.

Then we headed to the hotel. Andy had booked the Sleeping beauty room. It was very beautiful.









Yada, Yada, Yada..

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast at the hotel, ripped the furniture section out of the phone book in the room, and headed out. I think the phone book may have been a bit old because most of the places we tried to go to didn't exist anymore. By 1pm we still had not had any luck, so we headed to Ono's for lunch.

The restaurant is fantastic. The service was excellent. The food was delicious, and authentic. I haven't had such wonderful Hawaiian food since I was, well, in Hawaii. I would highly recommend it. Plus if you go on Friday nights you might get to see my friend Kristie there... she's one of the hula dancers. (No, they do not wear coconut bras.)

After lunch we picked up my car from the theater. It was still there, in one piece. We searched some more for an entry table. We had decided to try TJ Maxx, which has a large home decor section. Andy was in his car following me, but decided to take a faster route. Problem was he didn't realize that he didn't know where TJ Maxx was located... So I'm sitting in my car, and I watched him drive by through the intersection in front of me.. and when he should have turned, he went straight. All I could think, with a sly grin on my face, was "He thought we was going to beat me there... and he's not gonna. ha"

So I get to TJ maxx and have a look at all their furniture. There were some great options. I'm standing around waiting for Andy... and waiting, and waiting... Finally, since we share a cell phone between us and he had it on him, I went to customer service and called him. He was waiting for me at the wrong store. So while I waited for him to come back I shopped for plates. I want to get a variety of white plates to hang in my kitchen above my cabinets. I haven't gotten them hung yet, because I am considering whether to paint the wall behind them. Here's the plates I picked out. I still need more, but this well be a nice start.

When Andy Arrived I showed him the tables. He wasn't as in love with my favorite as I was, but he says, "Well, I am going to end up getting you whatever you want anyway so lets go." (He didn't say it in an, "I'm frustrated with you women, just pick something!" But in an "I love you so much it doesn't really bother me if I don't like the table as much as you, It's much more important that I see you happy.") I completely took advantage of the opportunity and we bought the table. I love it. I still need to hang the matching mirror, and put some things on top of it. And to be fair, Andy doesn't hate it... He just wasn't sure the style would work with our other things. He'll grow to love it... I'm sure of it.



After we left the store we stopped at home to unload the table and drop off my car and then went and picked up our kids. They had a very fun time at aunt Jill's and really didn't want to leave.

It was a fantastic couple days.

I just want to make sure this in writing somewhere...

Honey, I love you. Thank you for a wonderful surprise. Please don't ever surprise me again, but please do plan for getaways and dates on your own. You're good at it. Just tell me, "Dear, I am planning something special for the following dates. Please make sure you keep your calendar empty. "

And also, you have officially raised the bar for yourself. I will no longer be satisfied with a rose and card from Albertson's on your way home from work on our Anniversary.

I love you.

Thank you.