Celebrating 1 Year Together

Ryan and I celebrated our first year together recently and made a day of it. I had a day off that I needed to take and this seemed like the perfect day to use it. Plus, getting Wednesday off sure makes the week feel short!

To start the day off right we slept in a bit and then had a lazy morning getting ready. No particular rush to get out the door, just enjoying each other’s comfy and the mid-week break.

The plan for the afternoon, courtesy of Ryan, was getting antique photos! I’ve wanted to do them for so long and it makes the perfect tangible memory of our first year.

Before we even arrived and looked at our options we knew that cowboy and saloon girl was the theme we wanted. My second choice would have been southern charm – Gone With the Wind style.

The girl that worked there got everything explained to us and then brought out the clothes! Almost everything has a Velcro or tie-up back so it’s quick and easy to dress, and I imagine it’s easier to fit a variety of sizes.

Dressed in our fancy saloon-wear we headed for the photo set. It was already set up for our theme so it took no time to get started. Ryan got 2 guns to go with his outfit and I got one. She also posed us quite specifically. Hand on the hip for me, Ryan’s thumb in his gun belt, tilt your head, point your chin, knees together… Eventually she was satisfied and started taking the pictures, a good variety too. Most were of the 2 of us, but she snapped some individuals as well.

Back in October/November we had wanted to try a restaurant called The Melting Pot but it is almost always too busy to walk in and any time we tried to reserve it was already full. Little did I know, Ryan booked 3 months in advance for us to go now! I was really pleased and very excited when I found out.

The restaurant is very cozy and dimly lit with lots of twists and turns that lead into secluded sections. And each table has a pot warmer built into the top for the fondue pots.

The server explained how everything works first so we could get started on picking from the menu.

Everything is done at the table. All the ingredients that go into making a cheese fondue are brought out and mixed together in the pot in front of you. We got the traditional Swiss fondue with bread, vegetables and apples to dip. It was really good.

For our second course we each chose an entrée and agreed on the vegetable broth for cooking. Ryan had a selection of steak and I had a vegetarian platter. Mushrooms, edamame, asparagus, tofu, pasta and artichoke hearts. Nothing we had was less than completely delicious.

Finally, and very importantly, chocolate. The menu offered a selection of chocolates and mixes. Chocolate with peanut butter or dark and white mixed, etc. The very clear winner for me was the S’mores fondue. Chocolate and marshmallow cream with graham crumbs. I don’t think it gets better than that. It was served with Oreo and graham crumb coated marshmallows, assorted cakes and pastries and fresh fruit.