This year was the year of WOOD!
I've had my idea planned for about a year now. Max is addicted to watches. He loves having a nice watch and has collected many through graduations, birthdays, and Christmas'. But for a while now his nicest watch has been broken. The band wore through and snapped, the battery was dead and we were saving up to get it fixed. Little did he know I was planning to buy him a nice fancy wood one for our 5 year anniversary.
Well he really didn't know...
2 weeks before our anniversary he informs me he has fixed his watch and a new band is coming in the mail....
Plans ruined. A year of waiting for nothing! So back to the drawing board.
It had to be something good, something worth 5 years, something better than whatever he was getting me ;)
I had nothing...wood is actually kind of hard.
- I could get a piece of wood and write on it or engrave it. Except he's a dude and pinterest inspired scripty wall decorations aren't really his thing.
- I could buy him a bonsai tree but he's a scientist so he'd probably have to study for a year before deciding how to prune it, feed it, water it, etc.
- I could write memories or funny sexy things on jenga pieces....except he hates games and we'd never play.
- I could get him a picture frame from Michael's and customize it! Except he wouldn't have anywhere to put it because he shares and office with many other PhD students and he'd take forever to decide which picture to put in it and it frankly kinda sucks.
All my ideas suck. Everything sucks!
Then finally after hours of searching the deep depths of pinterest I found it! A wood carved phone case! He got a new phone recently and was upset that he chose the same style and color as mine thus rending us with each other's phone all the time. He wanted a case for it but couldn't decide, it obviously needed further studying ;)
So before he could buy his own I jumped at the chance. I went to carved.com, which is amazing by the way, and started sifting through their cases. They have so many beautiful designs but I know Max, he'd want something outdoorsy. So I started looking at mountains and different animals. I finally landed on the Grand Tetons. It was exactly what I was picturing.
I am totally winning this year!
We went out to dinner at Chisto's which is a super cute Italian restaurant in Phoenix. It's not really kid friendly, they don't have highchairs, kids menus, or crayons. It was perfect! We dropped Jack of with the Grandparents and headed out for a night to ourselves.
After dinner but before desert we took the chance to exchange gifts. I went first. Max had only brought an envelope so I assumed it was a confirmation of something being shipped soon. As I was opening it he said he couldn't think of anything wood so he included a stick. And sure enough there was a tiny stick in the envelope. Well that meant the paper was not wood related?
He was right and he won...
I unfolded the paper and it was a picture of a PURPLE MATTRESS !
We have been trying to save up for a new mattress for over 5 years. Ever since we started dating we've been discussing buying a nice mattress instead of our usual sub $500 discount thing but we never seem to be able to afford it.
Well now after both of us are having terrible back problems we are pulling the trigger and I can't wait!
He was next to open which was a little sad compared to the whole mattress thing but he loved it. It fit his phone perfectly without adding to much bulk.
It was a wonderful anniversary and I can't wait for the next one!