The Feger Family: September 2012

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Happy 10 Year anniversary

8/17/2012

Steven spoiled me. I thought we could stay at a bed and breakfast since that's where we stayed on our wedding night. I even contacted many places. Steven got a better deal at the Vinoy because he's a Federal employee. It's close enough b/c the B&B was "The Vinoy House" next door. Then Sneaky Andre and Barbie paid for the room! They thought it would be better than getting us non-alcoholic champagne and strawberries. They were right, b/c Steven surprised me with this set up!

The elevators are so old there. I knew we had to go up from the parking garage, but Steven stopped me when I started getting out at the lobby. There were other people in the elevator too and they said something like that they had almost gotten off on the wrong floor too before. So I didn't even realize that Steven had already checked in and was taking us up to our room. Until we got out on the 3rd floor and Steven turned right instead of noticing a mistake. We walked down the hall and he got the key out. I thought he had been at work all day, but he had gotten out a little early and set up the room AND a ton of gifts!

He went all out.

I have to admit I wondered why he hadn't even gotten me a card before, when I had given him a card and presents at home after work. But I forgot quickly b/c we were rushing out the door making the switch w/ our kids. My mom watched all 3 over night.

I had mentioned needing a bigger salad bowl b/c I had lent mine to somebody and never got it back. This isn't what I had in mind, but it is big, and I do use it for salad, and I do love it, and I appreciate that he remembered my complaint (not about lending the bowl, about not having time to go get another one.)

He went to Shocolade downtown:)

He bought me the Ninja blender. I don't think I had mentioned getting a new blender, but it was probably obvious that our old blender could use a replacement. It was the cheapo when we were first married and I make a couple of smoothies a week. He got me a really good pencil sharpener too. Way better than the electric one he got me for Christmas even:) He also got us VOSS water. The first time I tasted it, I was in San Diego for Corrie's bachelorette party. The bar tender wouldn't give me an ice water, he said that I deserved the glass bottle. That cold water was the best I had ever tasted! Maybe it was because I was hot from dancing, but it lived up to the hype that night. I like tasty pure water and Steven knows that. He felt like a dozen roses were in order, so he bought those, and arranged them in a vase he picked out too! Since we really only need 10 roses this year, he used two of them to put pedals on the bed.

So I could jump on them! (Sorry to whoever has to clean the linens, I hope it comes out! We cleaned the pedals up after that.)

I had saved a candle for 10 years, so it deserved a picture:)

Here's the present I got for Steven. It was a suitcase, then inside was

a carry on suit case. He used that one.

Inside of it (ok, it was under b/c it was too big) was a framed group of 6 maps. Each map was cut into a heart around a special city to make up our love story. I went with a travel theme of how we've been so many places together and will go so many more together. I also included tickets to some museums in there since he had proposed to me in one and we like to do that w/o kids.
Back to our evening. After getting ready, we were off to dinner.

I did not know where we were going. I tried guessing but he wouldn't tell! I was confused when he went south instead of north. I was thinking we would get an early bird special somewhere delicious, but he had better plans. I was even more confused when he turned towards Gulfport. He had made exclusive reservations at Six Tables. I had wanted to go there and love the idea of the dining room only having 6 tables total. It's intimate and has 6 awesome courses.

It's in the cute part of Gulfport.

We waited for our table here. (We had the whole room, so we waited for our dining room here.)

I really should have taken my manual camera, but these pictures work for the memory of our dinner.

The first course was a sea scalop. Oh my, I love scalops and this was big and so tasty and delicious!
So here's the menu from their website:

What’s for DinnerAs the dinner hour approaches, your hostess will escort you to your private table and start you off with a glass of champagne. An example of the evening’s six-course menu then unfolds:

1st Course:	Pan Seared Jumbo Sea Scallop in a Curry Citrus Reduction and Leek Confit
2nd Course:	Lobster Bisque finished with Sherry and Truffle
3rd Course:	Crisp Hearts of Romaine with Six Tables Dressing with Parmesan Crisps Intermezzo: Homemade Mango Sorbet
4th Course:	Entreé selections include: Chateaubriand with Classic Bearnaise Roasted Canadian Maple Leaf Duck a l’Orange Colorado Rack of Lamb rubbed with Herbs de Provence Dijonaise Fresh Seasonal Seafood served Almondine or Grilled, or PanSeared Vegetarian Puff Pastry with Roasted Red Pepper Puree All Entreés served with Fresh Seasonal Vegetables and Potatoes Maison
5th Course:	Port Wine with Poached Pear and Stilton Bleu
6th Course:	Belgian Profiteroles flambee in Cointreau and Grand Marnier and served with fresh seasonal Berries

Chef Du Maison

The owner was our hostess and she was delightful. Informative, friendly, and great stories of the history.

1st course

an example of another table

hot fresh soft bread,

2nd course, lobster bisque - so flavorful and rich, I wanted it to last but

couldn't resist the taste between sips.

3rd course, salad with so much yummy variety of fruits, nuts, cheeses, and vegies,

intermezza (home made sorbet)

and our main, 4th, course

Seafood for me,

I don't remember what Steven had, but it was delicious and was almost done by the time I snapped out of the food trance to take its picture.

Our hostess/waitress (the owner) told us this was the get-to-know-one-another course, the 5th course.
So we talked and ate the good cheese and tried the other two aged ones. We sorta know a lot about one another already though:)

She really sang "happy anniversary to you" while she lit and brought out our berry covered fried ice cream. She sang the whole song! Yes they made the ice cream too. And I practically licked this plate too even though I was stuffed. I couldn't waste a bite or drop of these six courses, and neither could Steven.

The next morning, we went to the pool. We got in a little but then saw lightning. So we left the roof and got ready for breakfast.

This is where we ate on the day Steven proposed to me. It was our first stop after he picked me up in his friend's convertable.

And look what our waiter brought out to us!! We felt so special. Can you imagine if they brought out a plate with "happy engagement" if Steven had told them that he was going to propose that day 10 years ago!!! That makes me smile:)

I called the kids who were playing and who had watched the original "Home Alone" movie the night before. They were belly laughing my mom said! Tyler had slept through the night and they were having fun. So our anniversary gettaway continued.

We walked around the hotel. And Steven even said we should take this picture even though it was drizzling.

We read up on some of St. Pete's history.

We first went to the Chihuly Collection. We have seen some of his works before, but this was a stop we had been wanting to make. I thought there were guided tours every half hour, but they said not on the weekends. Sad. We watched part of a looping video, that was good.

Then we went to another museum and they happened to be having a cupcake competition!! Free cupcakes! We probably shouldn't have given them our admission tickets b/c we didn't even end up walking through the museum and just went to the gallery where the cupcakes were. This cupcake was SO picture worthy, but it made me want to puke. I still get sick to my tummy thinking about it. It had bacon in it. So gross.