Our 8th Wedding Anniversary

 

Jane 26, 2013 is not only Anthony’s birthday but it is also our 8^th wedding anniversary.  We did not pick the date on purpose 8 years ago when we were married in Maui but the one thing neither of us have forgotten so far is our anniversary because it is on Anthony’s birthday.  Men of the world you need to take notice in the genius of this accidental date collision.

At work yesterday I received this beautiful bouquet of flowers with a mysterious note.  I didn’t want to spoil the surprise so I did not do an internet search of the address but zipped out of the office at 5:00 p.m. to meet Anthony for our secret rendezvous.

 

Imagine my surprise to find myself in front of Ceramica the paint your own pottery shop.  I have not visited ceramic in years and years so I was baffled at first by his choice of anniversary fun especially since Mr. Dally does not craft.  He crafts about as often as he letterboxes which is just about NEVER.

While Anthony was in Seattle last weekend I let him know that an Anniversary gift that I had made in 2007 had fallen and had broken beyond repair.  The item was in fact a very large anniversary plate I had painted at Caramica all those years ago.  I was actually fortunate that when it fell it did not hit me in the head.  Anthony said that he thought it would be fun for us to create a new anniversary gift for ourselves together.  I was still in shock as I have never seen him show the slightest interest in painting pottery.

I was feeling a tad bit out of my comfort zone as I didn't have any concepts in mind and was not sure what we could create together since it was so unexpected.  We kind of stumbled around for about 10 minutes when I spied an art book on the shelf.  We decided to copy one of the paintings with a man and a woman in it.  I was not feeling up to the task of trying to draw it so Anthony ran over to Rite Aid and picked up some tracing paper.  

 

First we traced the image from the book and then we transferred the image onto the plate tracing over it again.  I worked on the female and Anthony worked on the male.  We took turns with each step of the process.  We decided to leave out the crazy patterns in the original image but still wanted to keep the bold boarders and wild colors.  We knew if we added all the detail that we would need several painting sessions to complete the painting process and I was not sure my sprained hand could take working on that much fine detail work.    

 

Anthony picked us up some beverages to keep us humming along.  In all we actually spent three hours on the project.  After the image was outlined on the plate we each selected colors we liked and painted our respective characters.  I was more interested in the purples, pinks and blues that were a bit on the subtle side.  Anthony wanted bright bold colors so I mixed in some of his color selections with mine and he did the same in return.

 

After each of the people were painted we went in over with the heavy blackout line around both following the heavy outline in the book.  We wanted the plate to be a reminder of our evening together so we both signed our masterpiece and then added the date at the bottom.  The plate will be fired and a glossy overcoat will be applied.  It should be ready for pick up in a week’s time.  I am excited to see our completed plate. 

 

After washing up and cleaning our work space we drove down the hill to the Cottonwood Grille for dinner.  Nate and Eva (Anthony’s son and his wife) sent us a very generous gift certificate as a birthday/anniversary gift.  It was a perfect evening out on the patio.  We were seated in a fairly secluded section near one of the water features.  It was fun to take pictures during our meal of the food and menu and text them to Nate and Eva so they could enjoy the meal right along with us.  It was a perfect evening along the Greenbelt and the food and service were wonderful.  Back at home we continued the celebration and switched gears for Anthony's birthday complete with gifts and an ice cream cake.  Anthony also surprised me with some gifts he brought back from his weekend in Seattle.  He replaced my broken Starbucks mug by visiting the original Starbucks across from the Pike Street Market place, picked up more of the delicious Wild Flower Honey from Moon Valley Honey and last but not least he picked me out an affirmation bracelet.  I will share the story of the bracelet in another post soon as it is sweet and funny all wrapped up in a simple bracelet.