March 21

This morning, Jack kissed me goodbye, and said "Happy Anniversary Eve!" Little did I know...

Holy cow! That husband of mine really knows how to plan an anniversary!

Jack had told me that he was taking me out to dinner for our anniversary, though he didn't tell me where we were going. I knew it would be someplace nice, though, because he told me to dress up, and he doesn't generally hide the destination from me unless it's a nice place.

He had me type in the address to the GPS, which didn't really tell me anything because it was a location I didn't recognize in downtown Dallas, and I'm an embarrassingly stereotypical girl when it comes to directions and knowing where I am most of the time.

He ended up taking me to the Capital Grille, a super-nice steakhouse that came highly recommended by my brother. It was really great. I had the tenderloin and lobster, Jack had a steak, and we had asparagus and lobster macaroni and cheese. Everything was delicious. The service was also excellent, and they made a very big deal out of our anniversary - confetti on the table, a signed card from the staff, a complimentary dessert, rose, and picture of us. Very nice.

Jack told me before we had left that we were going ice skating at the Galleria, which was nearby ["nearby" being assumed because I figured "we're close to downtown... Galleria is close to downtown..."]. We had brought a change of clothes, and so when we got into the car, Jack told me to get us back to the main highway with the GPS.

We got to the highway, and he took a wrong turn and had to circle around. When he got onto the highway a second time, he took a wrong exit. I saw it coming and tried to warn him.

"Jack! You're supposed to keep left! Keep left!" I warned. No help. He veered right and ended up on a different ramp.

"Ahh, I'm sorry," he said, as he got into the turn-lane.

"Here, I'll type the Galleria into the GPS and it'll give us directions right to it," I said. He kept driving as I messed with the GPS, took pictures out the window of the big shiny buildings, and replied to my brother's e-mail about the resturaunt.

Since the GPS was having a hard time finding satellites in the middle of downtown Dallas, all the searches for the mall were taking extra-long. Then, when something finally came up, it was something near the Galleria, and I didn't know if that's where we wanted to be. While I continued to mess with the GPS, Jack continued to drive around. When I finally looked up, he was pulling onto Turtle Creek Blvd.

I looked up at the sign, and it took a minute to register.

"Jack... why are we on Turtle Creek Blvd?" I asked him, as he was already turning in to the super-fancy hotel we stayed at on our wedding night. He put the car in park and looked back at me.

"Why do you think?" he asked, grinning. The valet opened my door and I looked up at him, confused.

"Am I staying here?" I asked the stranger. "What about our leftovers?" He looked back at me confused, as I got out of the car.

Jack and I grabbed the clothes we were going to change into to go "ice skating" and put them in his travel bag, which apparently also housed all the toiletries he had bought for me for this trip - new toothbrush, toothpaste, deoderant, etc., so I wouldn't notice any of my stuff gone. Clever, Hornbuckle. Very clever.

We had a lovely evening at the Mansion at Turtle Creek, and got to enjoy it a little more since we weren't exhausted after having just starred in a wedding this time. We took a walk around the neighborhood, visited the bar downstairs to see the live music, and I used the super-nice bathtub that I regretted not using last year. They put us in the same room we had been in the year before, and included chocolate-covered strawberries with our champagne. We also had room service in the morning (my favorite part!) with enough gourmet breakfast food to feed a small country. Ahh, the life of royalty. I could get used to this.

Jack also had special stationary cards made for me for our "paper" anniversary gift. He got them in my favorite color (purple), and had them completely customized just for me. I love them.

Nice work, Hornbuckle. Guess I'll keep you around another year!