Three Years and Counting.....

Two days ago, Daniel and I celebrated our Leather Anniversary.
No, I'm not being cheeky. Traditionally, each anniversary has a type of gift associated with it. The 50th is the Golden Anniversary. The 75th is the Diamond Anniversary (although in modern lists, this is changed to, most commonly, the 10th Anniversary - due to a rise in divorce and people getting married at an older age). And the First, Second, and Third are the Paper, Cotton, and Leather Anniversaries, respectively. For our 1st Anniversary, Daniel gave me tickets (made of paper) to New Zealand to visit Esmae and Leroy. Last year, he got me the beautiful cotton dress I wore to our Anniversary Dinner. This year (without even TALKING about it to one another) we BOTH bought each other Guess?. Yes, I'm talking the brand, I'm not asking you to actually guess what we got each other. I gave Daniel a beautiful, black, leather Guess? wallet and he gave me a gorgeous, black, leather, Guess? handbag!!!!!! SSOOOOOOOOOO pretty!!!!!! And totally weird when, of ALL the brands AND non-brands available in New York City, we BOTH pull out the same thing. It was hilarious.... well.... maybe you just had to be there....

So, for those of you who DON'T know how we work it - Each year, in March we celebrate our big, public wedding with a big party or dinner to which we invite all our friends (this will be the one we celebrate with a family dinner with our kids and grand-kids one day) and then, each November the two of us, quietly, celebrate the anniversary of our marriage - almost FIVE years ago.
This year, in homage to our joint background and all the people who COULDN'T be part of the celebration this year (thanks for the e-mail, Kath), we had our dinner at the OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE!!!!!!!! Now, there is NOTHING Australian about this place.... NOTHING. but the atmosphere is fun and, we discovered, they EVEN sell James Boag's (which isn't Daniel's favorite Aussie beer, but it is pretty bloody nice after almost a year of American brews). They have crazy items on their menu like, Aussie Cheese Fries (because you all know how much us Aussies love slathering liquid cheese on our french fries) and Tassie's Buffalo Strips (firstly, Tassie is not a person. secondly, I've never even SEEN buffalo strips or wings for that matter in Australia, and thirdly, even if we DID have them, they would not be served with DANISH BLUE CHEESE DRESSING). SSOOOOOOOOOOOO funny.
But the food was good, the drinks were good and the company was excellent. Our good friends Ben and Iris were there, of course, as were our new best friends, Lauren and Sara. We were then also joined by Daniel's good friends, Tony and Jon. As well as a friend of mine from work, Brad, and his boyfriend. It was a Great night. As all the pictures will testify to!!!!!!

I does love that boy!!!! We really had a great night. No drunken yelling or ranting. Just a few drinks and laughs with good friends. Pictures like this, or me looking adoringly at Daniel, were taken all night long. Geez... anybody would think I actually like him or something!!!!!

Just a lot of talking and laughing.... wish you all could have been there.

Daniel with his good friend, Tony - no longer the crazy Asian guy in background!!!!!

My friend Brad, from work (well, he works at PostWorks, who we rent our offices from) and his boyfriend, Victor... Brad's on the right.
Lauren and Sara - looking FULL of fun and excitement as always!!!!!! hehehe

Daniel and Sara (basically, when we WEREN'T laughing and talking we were taking a LOT of pictures... we went kind of crazy...)
And me with Iris.... then things got a little crazy.....Tony went very crazy with the camera, actually... I guess I probably didn't help things though... I have been known to encourage when told "Don't encourage them!!!"

But all fun must come to an end, and we had to call it a night. It was VERY fun, though. I really do wish you all could have been there. Maybe next year, say around the 13th of March, you could ALL plan a trip to the Big Apple!!!!!

So, from your favorite Married Friends (or kids, as the case may be, Dad, Mum, Deb) we send you all our love - this week, more than ever!!!!! We celebrated our anniversary and did think a lot of that special day, three years ago, that you were all such a huge part of. Thank you. For all your love, support, friendship and prayers over the years. It's all worked. We're still here, still happy and still missing you all terribly!!!!!! Love to you all. Taliesen and Daniel.