My birthday

My friend / colleague, Alexa, reminded me today that The Anniversary Home has been lacking some attention lately. I know, and I feel bad. Yall should thank Alexa for being the little voice in my head that says "Can't you just be disciplined at one thing?" I'm back. And just for warning, I'll probably go away again, but I always come back. :-)

So before I get to house updates, I have to tell you about the lovely birthday weekend Mr. B planned for me. Yes, I celebrated a birthday two weeks ago. I had lots of lovely cards, texts, well-wishes and presents from many friends. Thanks to all of you for thinking of me. They even had a party for me at Stonehenge at sunrise. (Of all the years we spent in London, we never once went there to celebrate with the druids. Must add that to the bucket list.)

So back to Mr. B's special birthday treat: A few months ago, he really started pestering me about my work schedule around my birthday. I didn't really know what the plan was - hey, it was a few months out - but I caved and booked the Friday and Monday off at his request. Meanwhile, Mr. B, was coordinating with my parents to fly up to Dulles to meet us for a weekend in DC which included Sunday (Father's Day!) at the US Open. It was meant to be a surprise, but let's just say you all better learn to take extra surprise precautions around me cause I can sniff that stuff out pretty quickly. The thought was what mattered though.

We packed up the car and headed to DC on Friday morning, picked up my parents around noon, and then made our way out west to check-in at an adorable little B&B, The Inn at Vaucluse Spring, Mr. B had found for us for the weekend. I'm finicky with B&B's - they can be so hit or miss - but Mr. B always finds the gems. This place was gorgeous, truly beautiful with lots of inspiration for home renovation, and we got to spend lots of time on the front porch, in rocking chairs, with warm cookies and iced lemonade. It was really relaxing.

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On Sunday, we headed in to Bethesda to the US Open. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I love going to golf tournaments. Whether you chose to follow a certain player, or find a spot in the shade near a green, it's just a really fun day. Rory was all but the winner going in to the final round, so we found a perfect spot between the 10th and 18th where you could see both greens. Double the fun. Mr. B was pretty happy a European - a Northern Ireland lad nonetheless - won the US Open and he got to see it in person. Good times.

We were seated right in the middle of this crowd. Can you see us? Yeah, I can't either.

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All in all, it was a really fun birthday weekend. Special thanks to my parents for coming to visit and Mr. B for planning the "surprise".