30 years

Thirty years ago today, I said, "I do" to Brian in front of about 110 loved ones.

It was a beautiful, sunny day and we were married outdoors in a lovely garden

setting. We were just kids - I had just turned 22 and Brian, 24. Of course, when you 

take those wedding vows, you have no idea what life will throw at you in all the years

down the road. Just six weeks after we were married, Brian's mother passed away

 (she had cancer). We've also been through the death of my dad; our firstborn

son, Phil; illnesses; surgeries (me); financial troubles; job security worries; a severe

car accident; sleepless nights with newborns and teenagers; on and on. I don't mean

to be all doom and gloom...naturally, there have also been a lot of wonderful times and

memories, too. It's a good thing we have each other.

We celebrated a little early by spending the day in Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday.

We started out by walking the farmer's market by the Capitol building. We had read

online that this 300-vendor market was crowded and they weren't kidding. We 

could see the throngs of people by the tents as soon as we started crossing the street.

There were a ton of produce vendors...we bought green beans, gold and red beets

(I hate beets, but I roasted them for Brian), parsnips, and even some farm-grown

popcorn kernels. I couldn't get any photos of all the veggies; it was much too crowded.

I did manage to get a photo of this array of beautiful mums though.

After the farmer's market, we walked all around the downtown area, hoping to

find some interesting stores to explore, but didn't see anything that caught

our eyes except for an independent bookstore.

We were getting hungry and wanted to leave so we could go out to lunch, but we

couldn't find the parking garage where we parked our car! Brian usually has a great 

sense of direction and can find anything, but not this time. It was actually me who realized

 we were not going in the right direction and suggested going another way - and I was right. 

By the time we got to our car, we figured we had walked for several miles. We chose to

eat at a place called Tex Tubb's Taco Palace, which had great Yelp reviews.

We started out with chips and salsa and I had a delicious mango margarita. I 

rarely eat steak but the steak tacos sounded good, so I gave those a try. Brian had

the shrimp tacos.

We drove to another area to check out a couple of little shops and while we

were walking to the shops, we came upon some beautiful landscaping. I wish

my side yard looked this lush and pretty!

I thought these tall, purple flowers were so pretty with their interesting stalks.
Anyone know what they are?

I had to laugh when we were by one of the shops and I saw a sidewalk sign

announcing a library book sale. I told Brian we just had to go check it out!

It was the last day of their sale, so you could fill an entire paper bag for only $4.

Here's our loot.

We're lying pretty low today. Brian has the day off work and we met up with Tim
for lunch. I'm under the weather, so that's the most excitement we've had today.
Otherwise, I've just been doing little bits of housework, reading, and napping.
Oh ~ Brian did gift me with a pair of beautiful pearl earrings. Pearls are the
traditional gift for 30 years of marriage. 

 "Grow old with me, the best is yet to be."