365

I always look for moments in life to stop and reflect on where we've been and where we are going - our journey's past, present, and future. This weekend had many of these moments  as Dashing and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary [wedding photos post, and here, and here]. To properly revisit these memories, we paraded around Tucson visiting all of our favorite restaurants and doing the things we love to do together. Our actual anniversary was Sunday, but because of Dashing's shifts in the Emergency Department, we extended it over two days. So here is how we celebrated our 365.

On Saturday, I picked Dashing up from his Emergency Department shift (scheduled to leave the department at 4pm, but didn't walk out of the hospital until 8 - oh the life of a resident!). Our intentions were to originally spend all of our anniversaries at the resort where we had our reception, but once the move to Tucson happened, we realized we needed another plan...that's where this restaurant comes into play,

North - a Fox Concept restaurant.

Over the most delicious skirt steak, Italian wedding soup, and gourmet pepperoni pizza (Dashing's dish), we reminisced on "remember when's" and what the last year has brought. We looked out over the Tucson city scape view and were thankful for all of our blessings. 

We walked around the outdoor restaurant/shopping area and enjoyed the warm breeze of 80 some degree evening and landed at a gelato place. Dashing and I have always seemed to end up at various gelato places over the years, so it only felt right to find one in Tucson. Frost was delicious (my peanut butter crunch was the best!) and just right to wind down the evening.

Dashing - rightfully so - was exhausted, and we headed home for a nice night in. 

Sunday came, and the weather was simply beautiful. Blue skies with fluffy clouds and the sun shining upon us - and it was under 100 degrees! That is amazing for Arizona in July! For lunch, we did a throw back to 5 years ago. While visiting a very small town in Arizona (Payson) in 2002, we stopped at one of the few restaurants in town for lunch - Chili's. Yes the chain. BUT we loved the chili con queso and chips. So we revisited this trip by heading to Chili's and devoured some queso. Yum!

The afternoon consisted of letting our inner child loose by throwing a baseball around our new backyard; something we've always made time to do in Dashing's parents backyard. Our backyard, unlike the in-laws, is a rock yard. Not the same as a lush grassy yard, but it worked out all the same and no baseballs visited our neighbors' windows or the desert. Did I forget to mention I could have made it in the big leagues! hehe. We also did a little driving exploration - another activity we always find ourselves doing. Sometimes this can be interesting as I easily get car sick, but it is always a great time to spend together and leads to lots of memorable conversations.

Closing our our anniversary weekend, we visited a restaurant that our lives would not be the same without. Peter Piper Pizza. For those of you who don't know what kind of place this is....it's a version of Chucky Cheese's. Yes, a pizza and arcade place. Dashing has had almost all 26 birthday parties here. We celebrated his medical school graduation by heading to lunch at this place, and I have to boast that Dashing and I have before beaten the Terminator game at PPP in one evening. It may have cost $20 to do it, and a little bit of my pride as 1-2 hours playing a shooting game at a kids place isn't really in my DNA, but that night was so much fun as we laughed and shot down more creepy machine things. So pizza and games followed by a visit to Orange Leaf frozen yogurt made a wonderful night to laugh and think about what it will be like to one day bring our future children to PPP to do the same things with us. 

Although all of these restaurants and activities made more wonderful memories for us, it was the time spend together that meant the world to me (plus the bouquet of pink roses - thank you, Dashing). I have a wonderful husband who tells me how much I mean to him, who will give me a hug and not think it's too girlie, and stands with me as we go through this journey of life together. I am truly blessed. Happy Anniversary, Dashing husband!