Happy anniversary to us!

Twelve years!   Brian and I had a great date night on our anniversary.  Johnna, our former nanny, babysat while we went out.  It was a Tuesday so we had to wait until Brian got home from work.

We started off with a quick dinner at Captain Tom's.  It's a local oyster/seafood bar.  Cheap!  And the oysters and shrimp we had were amazing and fresh!  It had great reviews.  It's a rickety boat looking restaurant that's extremely casual.  The service is very fast, though, and will be a new regular joint for us.

Three reasons we chose that place:  1) oysters and shrimp are Paleo  2) great reviews 3) The 12th anniversary traditional gift is pearls.  We hoped to find a pearl in our oysters, but no such luck.  Ha!

We then went to Fred Astaire dance studio and had a private dance lesson.  It was fun!  Even Brian enjoyed it.  We learned several new dances and then took a group class right after.  We had a great time!

We stopped in at a pottery place nearby to see what they had to offer.  We signed up for a pottery class for Valentine's Day, so another date night is coming soon!

Starbucks was our next stop.  We were killing time until our movie started at the theater (we saw American Hustle and it was looooooong.)  We took this time to sit and talk and open our gifts.  We tried to think back on all of our anniversaries and what we did.  It was hard!  This is our list as best as we could remember along with the traditional anniversary gifts!  We always try to include some version of the traditional gift in with the presents. We were poor the first part of our marriage and then was laid off year 8.  We did the best we could those years.

I'm listing this because we will forget again!    

1.  Outback Steakhouse in Tyler, TX.   paper Brian gave me some classic books and a prayer journal.  I wrote him a poem, made a paper puzzle of a picture of us, a toilet paper roll with funny sayings on it,  and I think I made a crossword puzzle about us for him to solve.
2.  TGI Fridays.cotton We both received clothes.
3.  We didn't eat out this year. This was a tough year.  We were super broke and had a family loss.   leather.  We both got tennis shoes.
4.  Outback again.  flowers/fruit I have no freaking clue what our presents were.
5.  Fogo de Chao wood yep, don't remember our presents here either
6.  Carrabbas.  Brian used to work there.  A former co-worker sang opera for me while there.  iron/candy/wood  Brian gave me a wrought iron clock and decorative bowl.  Who knows what I got him
7.  Guri do Sul (a brazilian restaurant in the Woodlands similar to Fogo)  copper Brian got me a copper colored necklace.  It was actually rose-gold.  Very pretty.  I must have given Brian something that required batteries.  I don't remember what I gave him, but I made sure to include copper top batteries.
8.  Watched a movie and had dinner at the Movie Tavern. (Brian was laid off at this time.)  pottery/bronze/linen/lace  i gave Brian a clay pot and a bronze light fixture (he hated our old kitchen light fixture).  I don't remember my present but I'm sure it was as equally as romantic.  Ha!
9.  Chez Nous.  We had a fancy french dinner complete with wine pairing.  I guess we were trying to make up for the year before! willow and pottery were the traditional gifts but leather was the modern so we went with leather again.  Brian got me our current breakfast table.  The chairs are partly leather.  He probably got shoes again.  I can't remember!
10. The Cheesecake Factory.  tin/aluminum We treated ourselves to a cruise and the boat is probably aluminum, right?!?  but I gave him a foil butter packet from the restaurant just to be safe.
11. Peli Peli steel/fashion jewelry Brian gave me a James Avery bracelet and a wooden keepsake box. He'd already received his fancy mountain bike that was a christmas/anniversary present.  I'm sure there's steel on it somewhere.  He also got new cycling shoes and other bike accessories.

And this year was linen/silk/pearls  Brian got a small gun safe, a "clean linen" candle, a hat, and cologne.  I got a silky robe, pearl bracelets, and a gift card for more jewelry.

So, that's our list!  See, this is why I like recording stuff.  You'll forget even if you think you won't.  It took me a few minutes just to recall what we got this year!

*****UPDATE******
2/3/14 4:30 pm
I DID NOT give Brian a poem for our first anniverary.  He gave me a poem!!!  LOL It was written on pretty parchment paper and he burned the edges to make them look antique-y.

Brian did some research on Amazon and looked up our order history.  For  year 7 I gave him an Amazon gift card to go along with his batteries.  He purchased his Ryobi tools.   For year 8 he got me a Pampered Chef bar pan (pottery-ish) and a bronze colored picture frame which included three pics of us.  Year 6 might have been the year we got our bedroom set.

We're still stumped on the other years....and Brian informed me that cruise ships are made of iron and steel, not aluminum.  lol.