Decade

On December 19, 2008, Pat and I celebrated ten years of marriage. And thanks to the thoughtful planning on Pat's part it was an amazing day. He was very secretive about the whole thing in the days leading up to the 19th and I knew we were going to do something but I had no idea the extent of the plans he made.

Pat started the day with a special email giving me my "directions" for the day. He came home from work around 1:30 ( a treat in itself as we rarely see him before 7 on most nights). Sean Patrick was in the child care center downstairs because I had a language lesson. Pat ushered me out of the apartment and escorted me to my first appointment. He scheduled a massage, facial, manicure and pedicure to fill up my afternoon. AHHH... glorious time alone. I had a typed sheet of paper with my directions to guide me to each appointment. While I enjoyed the "day of beauty, " Pat took care of Sean and ran some errands for me (what a super guy).

After all the relaxing I came home and got dressed for the evening. We got Sean ready for bed and the babysitter arrived. Below is a picture by our Christmas tree right before we left for the night.A taxi was waiting downstairs for us. A taxi is a treat because we usually take the trains, which is fun too, but more of a problem when wearing heels.

Around 7:30 pm we arrived at the Portopia Hotel in Kobe. We had reservations at restaurant on the 31st floor by the name of Alain Chapel. The restaurant's namesake was a famed chef in France who was a Michelin 3 star rated chef. Of course, all of this was lost on me at first as I just associated Michelin with tires and not food. Fancy, schmancy I am not. But, let me tell you, tires or no tires that chef earned the props because YUM-O! Incidentally, the poor chef is dead and probably appalled at my "yum-o" declaration.

Pat and I have had the opportunity to eat at many nice restaurants, and this one definitely rates as the best. The food was incredible but the stellar service put the place over the top. Pat choreographed the evening quite well, paying close attention to detail, and the staff at the restaurant were just as concerned that everything play out as planned.

We sat at a window side table and enjoyed the nighttime view of Osaka Bay. We ordered a set menu that had at least 6 courses...maybe 8, I lost count. At one point in the evening, Pat left the table and when he came back he had a gorgeous bouquet of flowers that he had delivered earlier to the hotel. At first I looked around the room to see if everyone had flowers. I thought maybe it came with the meal. I kept asking Pat, "No really where did they come from?"

Pat even arranged for a special dessert of Cherry Jubilee. As we were finishing off champagne and dessert one of the staff asked if we wanted to move to a lounge area that had another incredible view. It was just us in the lounge, sipping champagne when Pat then gave me a beautiful gift (hint: a girl's best friend). The lovely staff came to check on us and then offered to take our picture. She impressed Pat as she changed the settings on our camera to try to capture the perfect shot. We had to explain to her that our camera does not do well with night time photography. She took quite a few pictures trying to get it right.

It was really an incredible day and night. I am so appreciative of the care that Pat took to make sure things went perfectly. It has been an exciting 10 years. This year of course has been extra special because of the addition of Sean Patrick. Life is good and it was nice to slow down on Friday and really enjoy it.