7 Years
Yesterday was Cam and I’s SEVEN year anniversary and it was just oh so happy!!
I wanted to do a little recap. I know with how I’ve been feeling the past couple weeks (and with school being crazy this time of year) regular blog posts haven’t been a thing, but the silver lining is that that means when I do feel the itch to write it will be more raw, fun, and personal. So here’s just a little play by play of our day 🙂
Some backstory: I believe I’ve shared Cam and I’s entire relationship origin on the blog before, but the short version is that we met on my *first day of high school ever* (Cam’s first day of his sophomore year). After a couple months of doing a bad job at pretending we didn’t have crushes on each other, we were honest with ourselves and began talking which quickly turned into me meeting Cam before class one morning in front of Mrs. Cordt’s geometry classroom where he officially asked me to be his girlfriend. And the rest is history!
We knew that for this particular anniversary, being it in the middle of the week and during a very busy season of our lives, we wanted to just have no plans and enjoy 24 hours together. We both took off work and I muted my school project group messages (sorry, guys!) and we just spent time together.
Tuesday evening, Cam came by after work to pick me up and we headed to….you guessed it! Zoe’s!!!
If you follow us on social media, then you know Zoe’s Kitchen is our spot. It makes me so happy when you guys send me DMs that you went there! It’s our favorite casual spot, and we go at least once a week, haha. My favorite dish is the veggie kabobs with side greek salad (extra olives) and the white beans, and Cam usually gets either the chicken orzo pomodrina or the tossed greek salad! One rule: ALWAYS get a chocolate chip cookie. They’re the best.
After dinner, we walked to our favorite record store. I found a few gems in the 99 cent bins: Frank Sinatra “Only The Lonely”, Shania Twain**, some Christmas Carols, some Irish folk music (Cam’s choice, LOL), and some symphony classics.
**played Shania Twain when I got home. NOT Shania Twain. Some weird disco-mix. 😂 Must have been marked wrong!
We headed to Cam’s after that and got to see his puppy Milo and exchanged gifts!!!
Turns out, Cam had got me THREE records already as an anniversary gift.
-Novo Amor (you HAVE to listen to his new album with Ed Tullet…that’s the one Cam gave me and it is ethereal)
-Bon Iver (his album Bon Iver, Bon Iver…which was the final one I needed to complete my collection)
-and Alabama Shakes (Sound and Color….”Don’t Wanna Fight” is my JAM.)
He also got me a Bath and Body Works candle that I picked out last weekend. I’ve never gone for a peppermint scent, but this one is amazing!
I gave him some Airpods which we were both super pleased with. They sound awesome! He just got the new iPhone, so I knew it would be a good pair.
The next day (Wednesday) was our anniversary!! We both slept in (till 6:40 lol) and then got up and got ready.
I wanted breakfast at home even though Cam offered to take me out because I am just a weirdo homebody who loves plain scrambled eggs and Keurig coffee. Hey, at least I’m easy to please. Waking up and not having to rush out the door was so blissful!
We made our first stop to Academy to check out the Astros championship gear, haha. Typical! Cam got a couple shirts already, but wants to get me one, so I can be a true fan.
Next stop: the bank because Cam was consolidating his accounts, LOL. Real life, people! On days off, as adults, you gotta just get those things off your to-do list that you’re too busy to do on work days 😉 We actually really enjoyed the associate who helped us! He was asking us about college in Arkansas and then he mentioned that he had asked God for a sign that morning because he was considering going back to school. He was like, “I think this is my sign!” So we wish him well in going back to school 🙂 Funny how things work!
But first, (more) coffee. Haha….grabbed a second cup from Chickfila.
Next, we headed downtown. That’s more my neck of the woods as I live about 10 minutes from the heart of downtown. Cam lives out in the suburbs, so it’s about a 40 minute drive! And while I’m on the subject, I should tell you that he comes to visit me EVERY weekend and then at least a couple times during the work week. So he’s the real MVP for always driving so much 🙂 (Cam, I hope one day I’m rich and successful, so I can buy you a super nice electric car. Or a personal driver, haha!)
What I love about Houston is the different neighborhoods downtown. I imagine it’s very similar to places like New York and Chicago where each little nook has a different vibe and is known for different things. We started out in the Highland Village area which is pretty posh and has a lot of “fancy” stores (or “boogie” as the kids say). But it’s fun to go down there because there really is great shopping!
It’s got a nice outdoor lifestlyle/shopping center with a giant Apple Store and other neat-o places like Anthropologie, Restoration Hardware, Paper Source, JCrew, Madewell, LuLu Lemon, and all that jazz. We poked around the Apple Store, used Restoration Hardware’s bathroom (lol), and popped into Francesca’s.
We were ready for lunch around one and went to another favorite of ours…when we’re not eating Zoe’s. Pondicheri is a great little spot for Indian cuisine. It’s colorful, tasty, and has an upstairs “bake lab” with all sorts of treats! Cam always gets a chicken frankie with masala fries which is basically like an Indian burrito. (SO yummy.) And this time I tried their house salad which was a totally not-boring, flavorful salad. Cam also got a masala chai which I ended up drinking most of because that’s how relationships work. 🙂
We went upstairs afterwards and bought an amazing gluten free brownie! I really recommend this place if you have any special dietary restrictions (gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, etc.) because most things are vegetarian, gluten-free, and can be made vegan. For treats, we also love their almond milk chai, muffins, and cookies!
Outfit details: My dress I bought at Target the day before this. It was $14 on clearance and I love how I can wear it year round by making it more “fall” this time of year by adding my favorite Madewell denim jacket. (affiliate link) My shoes are old from Francesca’s and so is my bag.
After lunch, we felt ready to walk around some more shops, so we went to Rice Village. This place is super cute! I actually love doing brunch around here because I love Black Walnut. It’s a chain, but they seriously have the best food, haha. I also have been to Mi Luna before, which is a tapas place and it’s delicious. And if you like crepes, try Coco’s! This time around, we just popped in Bath and Body Works to smell more candles and looked at more records (and beauty products I don’t need) in Urban Outfitters.
Another pit stop for some adult stuff, we went to another bank, haha. 🙂 While Cam filled out some paperwork, I edited some photos I took that day and prepared my Instagram caption for this photo.
I told Cam while at the bank that I didn’t want to go home yet. We had been in our own blissful little anniversary bubble all day, and it just felt great to spend uninterrupted time with Cam. Now that we live near each other, I see him often, but we’re normally with family and it’s actually a little more rare that we have our phone notifications off and we are just alone together. So since we wanted to drag out time a little bit more, we went to happy hour at Downhouse. This is super close to me since I live in the Heights, but I hadn’t been yet!
At happy hour they have $5 cocktails. I got the French 75 which was gin based and tasted like lemon-y champagne, and Cam got a mojito. (Cam won. Mine was good, but they make their mojitos from scratch and it was incredible!) We just sat and chatted for a while on the patio and it was really nice.
In a super uncharacteristic move for both of us, we went to another bar after this! We tried a little beer garden in the neighborhood. Neither of us being huge beer people, we got the lightest, least-hoppy tasting one and played Jenga for a bit. Our couple friends from Arkansas always show us places like this up there, so we are totally bookmarking this place for when they come to town, or when we have anyone we want to kick their butts in Jenga 🙂
For dinner, we went to Los Cucos. Mexican food has a special place in our hearts as that is what we had on our first date! (Except it was Lupe Tortillas and I was 14 and wore a tank from the junior’s section at Kohl’s.) We had chips and salsa, yummy plates, and just felt happy to end the day on a yummy note.
November 15, 2017 was such a special day. I think the simplicity of it was my favorite part: no agenda, no schedule, no expectations – just the desire to spend as much uninterrupted time together as possible. I think it was great to spend the day that way because it reminded me that that is what I really want for our relationship. At so many points in the day, we kept saying “we need to do this more often!” and I don’t think you need an anniversary, a birthday, or a big celebration to put away your phone, be present with your other half, and just be together. I’d say we are pretty good at that already, but I definitely want more of that for year 7. And hopefully more Zoe’s cookies, too 🙂
Thanks for all the well wishes for our anniversary on Instagram and Twitter! You are all so very sweet, and I really do appreciate every comment!
X,
Cristina
