A weekend of spontaneous pleasantries

I love and hate surprises. Brad, my mom, and all people near to me would concur.
I am an adventurer at heart or rather an idealist. I think up adventures in my head and act on 30% of them.
As I have said before, I'd much rather watch you jump off the boat and be the first to ski than to take the plunge myself. But I love to be there in the middle of it all. I'd love to entertain people with story's of ski- relevance while you are taking the dares...walking on fire...doing the unthinkable....and I will certainly be the first to recap the event with a colorful story but I am okay on the sidelines.
This is breaking news to me though I have known it all my life......
The theory has just recently come to fruition. Anyway, about the "surprise aspect" - it's a mystery. I spend 78% of my waking hours and seemingly 95% of my sleeping hours conjuring up some new adventure or some momentous surprise that others are waiting to pull on me. And that is just the problem...when you are dreaming of these secret adventures happening to you all the time you leave no room for someone to surprise you anyway. So once again, as the theme of marriage has seemed to have gone....poor poor Brad..... Wifey loves surprises but can't be surprised.

But this weekend he won and it was surely obvious in his demeanor yesterday. Brad had ROMEO written all over his face the entire day. (and that is certainly when he is most attractive!)
If you recall, for Easter Brad invited me on a surprise date for April 12th. At first glance of the date I knew it was the Masters weekend in Augusta and last year Brad and I had a phenomenal time at the tourney for about $6. It was truly one of my most favorite courtship memories. So much to Brad's lack of luck.....I think immediately that Brad is taking me to the Masters on the 12th to redo our romantic date from last year. So thoughtful. Now, what guy, 26 years old and a few years into a career can score Masters tickets so easily to just haphazardly ask his hard-to-be-surprised wife to be his date for the day? And really, though I think I was a ton-o-fun last year - I am sure he would rather be with the dudes at a golf tournament if given the opportunity. So Saturday I start to ask Brad what attire I should wear for our date that day. I am thinking Rainbow flip flops and a long pants since it will be cool at the tourney. He tells me a dress that I can spin in.!!!! How cute, right? A girl always wants to wear heels and a fun skirt and spin circles in the grass at the masters! (Are you following this.....Girl is headed down one path while sweet hubby isn't even aware. Poor boy, right? No worries, boy wins in the end.) Well, as the surprising story goes Brad had planned for us to eat tapas in midtown and then go to "Sheila's Social." Literally.

Sheila coordinates bi-monthly socials to teach young-underexposed couples (and singles I am sure) like ourselves how to salsa dance. Ten dollars a head - that's all! What a phenomenal concept! More so, what a truly splendid date idea by the very own B-rad. The tapas were perfect and the few mojitos we sampled surely made me giggle and Brad smile. And just the idea of a night of dancing was enough for me...what a surprise! Unfortunately but fortunately Brad and I both opted to save Sheila's fun for another night and go home to play with fluffy dog. So we ended the surprise date with a walk around the block with Amos. And this was the best surprise.

Sunday looked like much of the same. Surprise after spontaneous surprise. After church we were asked by a friend to come to Marietta to play tennis while the men watched the end of the Masters. I am very scheduled with my Sunday's because we have so much we try to do on this supposed day of rest. Much to my avail, Brad said "Woo hoo. Let's do it!" (Literally, he said "woohoo!")
I dropped Brad and fluffy dog at our friends house for a day that smelled of all things "boy." Then the wives headed to the courts for a delightfully surprising afternoon of tennis. Mind you, it has been over 2 years since my feet have hit a tennis court but for some reason I needed to win to remind myself that I do have it whatever it is. So we did it. We won and yes this was a true surprise. And to celebrate the surprise with another surprise we joined our couple friend at LaParilla for a yummy Mexican dinner. I still smell like tacos and that is how you know it is good! This is the place I grew up on in high school and honestly hadn't been back since. Mariachi band still belting very-Americano songs at the table and the salsa is still thin and spicy. I love Sunday surprises!

The final and most prized surprise is one that truly slipped up on me. This morning Amos and I went out for our usual-Mommy-is-still-unemployed walk and we noticed the most amazing thing that I had somehow overseen in the previous weeks of warm temperatures. There are beautiful explosions of fuchsia colored flowers adorning the landscapes of many of our Brookhaven neighbors. I mean brilliant, sporadic bursts of radiant pink in just the right spots...right where your eye catches them but not too much to lose the impact. Even though the weather was cooler today these plants (that I am sure my dear father in law could tell you all about as he always seems to know the facts that I want to know but don't...especially about the outdoors) were still very present and a very nice surprise to my otherwise turned eyes. I am waiting on Amos to peek his head up from the floor to go on our second and now usual-mommy-is-still-unemployed walk of the day. I can't wait to notice even more of nature's surprises!