5 Years

March 14 marked our 5 year wedding anniversary.  On the day itself, Thursday this year, I was in La Crosse for work so Scott and I didn't get to celebrate on the actual date.  My friend, Kori, happened to be in La Crosse for work on Thursday, too, so she celebrated with me at one of my favorite spots- the Starlite Lounge.

Scott and I did our celebrating together yesterday.  We've had the "new car itch" so we started the day looking at cars.  Some we thought we would like, we immediately ruled out once we saw them up close and on the inside-- like the new Maxima.  Beautiful on the outside.  Not functional for us on the inside.  After looking at several different vehicles, we agreed that we would really like to have a Cadillac SRX.  Nice thought.  Ain't happenin'.

It was cold and dreary yesterday so we were glad to finish up the car window shopping and get someplace indoors.  First stop:  Bon Fyre.

Love Bon Fyre.  They do a lot of wood grilling in there, so it always smells so good and feels warm and cozy.  We started with Irish Margaritas.  Here is my cute boy with his.

We had dinner reservations, but not for several hours.  We decided to tide ourselves over with a Thai-chicken flat bread.  That thing was delish.  By the time it arrived, Scott had moved from an Irish Margarita to an Old Fashioned.

After Bon Fyre, we stopped in Steinhafel's.  We custom ordered a new living room chair from there about 8 weeks ago.  It has finally arrived and is ready for pick up.  We didn't pick it up yesterday, but we did stop in to look at lamps.  I love the look of a Tiffany style lamp in the front window of a house.  To me, they just look so glow-y and welcoming.  The problem is, I'm not sure Tiffany style lamps really go with our furniture or the new chair.  My dilemma:  do I really care?  That's a question to answer another day.


After walking through Steinhafel's, we made our way downtown.  We had dinner reservations at 5:30 at the Tornado Room.  We found a spot right in front of the restaurant, but we had a couple hours to kill-- so began the drinking tour.

First stop:  Tipsy Cow.  (Let me just say the 2 block walk from the car to the Tipsy Cow was just about the longest 2 blocks I have ever walked.  The wind was really whipping through downtown and it was bone-chilling cold.  I am sooo ready for Spring.)

The Tipsy Cow is in a cool corner building.  And Scott looks cool, too, in his coat and hat.  You know I adore that boy.

One beer each at Tipsy Cow and then on to another local favorite.

Madison's.....in Madison.  This is the sign that greeted us on our way in.  Right on.

As we were walking up to Madison's, we saw an Irish band entering another establishment across the street from where we were:  the Great Dane.  The band members were wearing kilts, playing bag pipes, the whole bit.  It became apparent that folks were celebrating St. Patrick's Day a day early, probably because celebrating a drinking holiday like St. Patty's Day on a Sunday could impede one's ability to get to work the next day.  Scott decided to pay homage to the Irish with a good ol' green beer at Madison's.  Good job Scotty.

Erin's Snug Irish Pub is a joint way out on the east side of Madison, technically in Sun Prairie I believe.  A group of clearly drunk people were on some kind of a St. Patty's celebratory tour in the Erin's Snug Irish Pub double-decker bus, which was parked outside of Madison's.

I am 1000% sure some of the folks we saw getting on that bus (I think they had been at the Great Dane) are nursing some serious hang-overs today.



After Madison's, we stopped at another local favorite.

We love the swanky Opus Lounge.  By that point, we didn't have much time to lounge, though.  The time of our dinner reservation was closing in.  We had just enough time for Scott to enjoy a Hacker Pschorr (gag) and I had a Flirtini (which I really didn't need.)

Five-thirty-- dinner time at the Tornado Room.

I always feel enveloped by the dark coziness of the Tornado Room.  Great ambiance.  And, generally, we love the food.  Last night, though, we were actually disappointed.  It was OK, but not nearly as good as what we are accustomed to from this place.  Not sure what was up with that.  A new chef maybe?  Whatever the case may be, the food definitely fell short of our expectations- which is a bummer for many reasons, including the fact that it ain't exactly cheap.

That was about it.  Plenty of food.  Plenty of drink.  Then it was time to get home to this.

 Larry.

Last year on our anniversary, we had both Rudy and Jada.  This year, both those sweet girls are gone (so hard to believe) and Larry is the new addition.  A lot changes in a year.  A lot changes in 5 years.  I asked Scott, for our 5 year anniversary, if we should reflect back on what we thought went well and was good over the past 5 years and what we thought we should work on and try to do better in the upcoming 5 years.  Scott thought about it for a moment, looked at me, and gave me a quick shake of the head. No, he didn't want to do that.  And, that's really OK.  I appreciate Scott's approach to life.  Straight-forward.  Simple.  He neither over- nor under- thinks things.  He's optimistic and, even in hard times, truly believes things will work out and be OK.  He's not a worrier.  He takes life as-is without needing to reflect, analyze or anticipate.  He just lives life.  Quite frankly, he is every thing I'm not.  And I love him for that.