wan-niversary, take 3

taking our dwindling december budget into consideration, we decided to forego the uber expensive dinner for our anniversary this year. besides, it was a school night, and so i thought it might be fun to just order some take-out, rent some movies, throw on some comfy sweats, and chill at home. low budget AND still fun. i'm a freaking genius.

and of course, being the procrastinator extraordinaire that i am, when the hub pulled into the driveway, i nearly shit a brick. i was still putting laundry away and had yet to wrap his presents and write something sweet and meaningful in his card (luckily, i'd had time earlier in the day to make the thing). shit, shit, shit.

but i managed to find a great opportunity to squeeze in some time by myself when he put both girls in the car and headed out to pick up the grub.

"aren't you going to go with us?"
"uhh...no. let me get all this laundry put away and stuff, you guys go ahead. pick good stuff!"

and with a smile and a wave, they were off. phew! i scurried around, folding and putting away the laundry, and then i thought it would be a good idea to put the ol' dress on. after all, i needed to take care of the twirling before they got back, and i didn't have a whole lot of time.

boy, i'd forgotten what a pain in the ass it was to get that thing zipped up all by my lonesome. i twisted and turned and pulled and yanked and damn near gave up, but i knew i had to persevere. i had a video to make, dang it, and i was gonna get 'er done!

at last, i was ready.

i got the camera set up and realized that i had no idea what i was going to do to change it up for the "new and improved" version. hell. so i just hit "record" and went for it. too bad i still didn't remember to put the camera right side up. um, or to remove anything from the area that i could possibly trip on and break my ankle over.



damn toys.

so here's take 2, and this time you won't need to cock your head to one side, like a confused puppy:



mission accomplished! i was quite proud of successfully completing my task. and then i remembered that i was supposed to be putting laundry away. oops.

with the card signed and presents wrapped (i bought the teen the demi lovato CD, which she'd been wanting, since it's her anniversary too), i sat down to wait for my family to return. i must've been quite a sight, sitting in the nursery playing solitaire on my iPhone. heh.

and when i finally heard them walk in the door, i sashayed out to greet them, dressed proudly in all my finery. the funniest part of the evening, for me, was watching them look over at me, nod, and say "hey, you ready to eat?" no reaction whatsoever to my ridiculousness. bwahahahahaha! they're too used to my antics by now to be surprised anymore. comedy.

they'd brought home quite a feast from the local chinese take-out joint (and some spaghetti from the italian place across the parking lot for the teen, who wasn't feeling the chinese food) - simple but yummy stuff. there was orange chicken, beef with broccoli, garlic shrimp, hot and sour soup, and a box full of appetizers. i sat the bean in her seat, carefully draped a paper towel over my chest, pulled the tablecloth over to cover my skirt, and got down to the business at hand.

she particularly enjoyed the paper-wrapped chicken, and happily munched along with the rest of us. we popped in a movie ("step brothers." romantic, yes?), which had us cracking up in shocked and uncontrollable laughter. seriously, it was the most random/unappropriate/hilarious movie for such an occasion. um, and i'd picked up the unrated version, which was fabulous considering the teen sat there alternately laughing her ass off and glancing at me with wide eyes. oh, dear.

we had dessert, too - these yummy frosted sugar cookies that probably contain a cup of sugar in each one, and this scrumptious, most chocolately rich cake i've ever had. i needed a glass of milk just looking at it.

when the movie ended, we popped in the next one - "fred claus." the teen passed out on the floor, wrapped in a blanket, about halfway through. and the bean fell asleep as well, tucked in my arms on the couch. and yes, by then i'd changed out of my wedding gown and into some sweats.

the dress is hanging in the bean's room, waiting to be zipped back into the bag and put away into the closet. i was pleased that i'd been able to keep up my tradition of wearing it on our anniversary for the third year in a row.

see you next year, pretty pretty princess dress!