On September 5th Mr. Cozi and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. He is (almost) perfect and stretched himself a little closer by planning our celebration – all by himself. And I said, “yes,” to his plans once again.
“As we grow old together,
As we continue to change with age,
There is one thing that will never change… .
I will always keep falling in love with you.” —Karen Clodfelder
I’ve written about a few of our favorite Fairhope spots here, and my man planned a 24 hour retreat for the two of us that involved most of those places. If you are thinking of planning an anniversary anytime soon, I’m sharing his ideas with you today. And let me start by saying that everywhere we went, I told someone what he had done – quite literally praising him in the city gates. He was VERY popular with the ladies. Every woman I told about his plan asked him to please stop by and talk to her husband.
The first thing he did was take a day of vacation to spend with me. Priceless. Next, he made a reservation at Isabella’s Retreat. As you may have read in my post Just One More Bite, our favorite steakhouse in the area is Isabella’s. It is Italian, gourmet and has an excellent wine list. Need I say more? However, what is even more exciting is the recent addition of a honeymoon suite above the restaurant. Mr Cozi booked this room for our anniversary night weeks in advance and had me put it on my calendar so that NOTHING would interfere. There is no television in this suite. No wi-fi, internet service or telephone. But when you are staying in downtown Fairhope on First Friday ArtWalk – with your soulmate – there’s no need for technology.
Our day began with a celebratory glass of wine in the Wine Bar of Pinzone’s. We had their Pear and Gorgonzola Flatbread as an appetizer and toasted our 34 years of happiness.
Then we took a walk around our beloved Fairhope. We did a little shopping in each of our favorite shops. His – Dr. Music, mine – Estate Jewelers.
His hand is my most precious piece of jewelry. But, Estate Jewelers makes mine look better when I’m not holding his.
We ended up at a small, local favorite…Thyme by the Bay for lunch.
Then we meandered back to our suite to get ready for more fun! The First Friday ArtWalk is probably our very favorite event for locals and how lucky that this years’ anniversary fell on that night!
All the art galleries and some of the retail shops were open. There was music in the streets…Rondale and the Kit Katz entertained outside of Estate Jewelers… and there were lots of people to meet and greet along the way. Great music, art that inspires, fun people, delicious food and jewelry! What more could a girl ask for? Well, we’d mentioned many times how unfortunate it is to live in a tourist town, and not be able to see it as tourists do…that was my anniversary gift. So, for those who are planning an anniversary celebration, might I suggest….
- Plan a day of vacation to spend solely with your mate.
- Plan a day of doing what tourists would do in your town.
- Make reservations at a local hotel or bed and breakfast even though you may live 5 minutes away. It makes the day feel as if you are miles away.
- Enjoy local sights without distractions – no phones, computers, iPads or television. We called it our “unplugged weekend.”
- Hold hands and talk about other anniversaries that were special.
- Have dinner in the room if possible.
And as we headed back in, Mr. Cozi stopped in at Isabella’s and ordered our dinner – which was served to us in our room. It was Robert Browning who once said,
“Grow old with me, the best is yet to be.”
Yes.