Mama & Daddy's Day Off

Late last Summer, I won the lottery for Masters tickets. Because Jeremy has been his normal sweet self for most (just kidding - ALL) of this year, I decided to take him as my "plus one."

Isn't he SO lucky?!?

Actually, we're BOTH lucky. We were talking as we walked around Augusta National yesterday about how we've been together for five (!) years (as of February 1), and we've been to the Masters together three times since then. How's that for being "richly blessed"?!

This trip was especially terrific - I GOT TO TAKE MY CAMERA, and while I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to settings and exposure and all that, at least we have some snapshots to prove that we were there - and that we saw Tom Watson and Eisenhower Cabin and Phil Mickelson and Magnolia Lane and all of the other stuff that we've seen a thousand times but that makes Tournament Week one of my favorites of the entire year (even when I DON'T get to go to Augusta).

Yesterday's visit definitely lived up to our expectations. If I said it once, I said it a thousand times: "We could not have drawn up a more beautiful day to be at the National." Though we missed the boys like crazy cakes (and talked often about how we'd be bringing THEM in a few years!), it was great to get away for a day.

Jeremy was his typical self - passionately launching in to bits and pieces of Masters / Bobby Jones / Augusta National history as we walked the course.

For my part, I was just happy to have one of my beloved egg salad sandwiches and a reason to wear an actual outfit, instead of my stay-at-home-mom norm, which consists primarily of yoga pants and t-shirts that I've had since college.

On the drive home, I posted some pictures of us from the day on Instagram and Facebook. It amazed me how many people commented that going to the Masters was on their bucket list. That made me realize how we really ARE fortunate to be able to regularly enjoy "a tradition unlike any other."

I'm already planning for next year's.

I love the look of complete
contentment on Jeremy's face here.
He was truly in his happy place.

Phil and Bones 

Phil and Bones

Tom Watson - we crossed paths
with him a lot, which was fine by
Jeremy, as this is Watson's last
Masters as a competitor. 

Woman Crush Wednesday.

When we were dating, I remember walking in to the den one day and finding Jeremy watching an episode of one of Giada De Laurentiis's many cooking shows. He said to me, "Sweetie, before I met you, I thought she was the perfect woman." I can still see the way he wagged his whole hand back and forth as he said it.

Now, that sure was nice of him to say, but let's be honest: Giada's worth a gabillion dollars, can cook like a son of a gun, and the whole of her skinny self could comfortably fit into my left leg. If we're looking for "perfect," she's a lot more on target than I'll EVER be.  Still, I joked with him about his celebrity crush and have continued to tease him about it in the almost five years since then. Then, just before his birthday, I read that Giada was coming to Atlanta. I called Mom, who instantly said she wanted to buy Jeremy tickets as his gift, and that's how Jeremy came to be with his Woman Crush on a blustery November Wednesday.  

We had an absolutely awesome date that lasted almost all day. We left the boys in Greenville and headed to Atlanta a little after 1 p.m. On the way, we stopped near Gainesville to meet up with another Allstate agent, a guy named Matt Pruitt that Jeremy became buddies with during their ten days of training in Chicago. Then, we got to the Fox. We waited for about an hour before Giada showed up for our "meet and greet" with her ... and about 400 other people. Our one-on-one time was about six seconds long (literally), but she was perfectly pleasant. Then we took our seats in the ballroom and waited for the main event. 

As we did, Jeremy started talking to the couple next to us. I'd say they were in their mid-60s or so and in Atlanta from Raleigh. The wife said, "We're here to celebrate his birthday." I said, "We're doing the same!" And then her husband said about Giada, "I just found out she can COOK a few weeks ago!" The takeaway from the fact that we were sitting beside another couple who came for the HUSBAND is evidence to me that Giada's got that "thing."             

She also has a LOT of teeth. There have to be a THOUSAND of them. I actually blew our picture up on my phone and tried to count them. Or maybe her smile looks so gigantic, because everything else on her is so much smaller. If Giada had a face as round and full as the lovely Ina Garten, say, maybe her enormous smile would look NORMAL.

Or maybe not. 

The point remains, she was great; the event was great, and the nite got even greater when Jeremy surprised me with a late dinner at my favorite restaurant in the entire world. Bone's is where I celebrated every big event of my early and mid-20s. Its steak and signature salad were well worth breaking the Weight Watch-ing "bank" before we hit the highway home last nite. If I told him once during dinner, I told him a thousand times - "Thank you so much for being so thoughtful." 

Poor skinny, talented, rich Giada doesn't know what she's missing.