One Year Down

Today is our first anniversary! The year has flown by, but at the same time, it seems like our wedding happened a million years ago. When we got married, we had no idea that we'd be homeowners within six months... at that point, we had only a vague idea that we didn't want to stay in our dingy apartment for another full year. We didn't really see ourselves as qualified to buy a house yet, but I when I went into our bank to change my name on my checking account, they encouraged us to try for a loan through the Nebraska First Time Home Buyers' program, and here we are!

We celebrated our anniversary over the weekend by taking a short road trip down to Lincoln, about 45 minutes away. Neither of us had been there for anything but brief work-related stints, so we enjoyed exploring a town that, while not far away, was new to us.

A few people had recommended we check out the Haymarket District, and so we did. We did a little window shopping first... and both totally fell in love with a store called Ten Thousand Villages. It's a gift store that sells fairly traded items from around the world, and organized in the store by color, which makes for a visually delicious experience. The handmade objects were all exquisitely beautiful, and we were especially taken with a set of green onyx wineglasses, not shown on the website, but similar to this one:

Trust me, the photo does it no justice - it was gorgeous. Unfortunately $24-apiece wine glasses are not in the budget at the moment, but maybe after we hit the lottery.

After that we stopped into a store called From Nebraska, hoping to score some Nebraskan wine - and what do you know, they just happened to be having a little wine tasting from the Soaring Wings Vineyard in Springfield. We liked both the LaCrosse, a dry white, and a dry red De Chaunac - we picked up a bottle of the latter for later in the evening, plus a bag of locally made chocolates for dessert.

Once we were done wandering, we went to The Oven for dinner. It's an Indian restaurant in Haymarket that came highly recommended (via my online research). We sat outside, where it was pleasantly cool, and people watched while we ate (Lincoln was pretty quiet due to an out-of-town football game, thank goodness). We shared a piece of garlic naan, which was garlicky and light, and each started with a bowl of Mulligatawny soup. I thought the soup had a wonderful flavor, light but lively, with a nicely balanced mix of sweet squash, warm spiciness, and the crispness of lemongrass. It set my expectations rather high for the entrees, which were, to be honest, slightly disappointing. I had Bengan Bearta, an eggplant dish, and Mike ordered Shrimp Goa, made with coconut milk. I thought his was tasty but a little one-note, and mine was frankly bland. The rice was fine but not special. We enjoyed the meal but have certainly had better, even right in Omaha at Jaipur.

(randomly googled picture of mulligatawny soup)

We stayed overnight at the Rogers House Bed & Breakfast in Lincoln, also chosen after much online research by me. Since we stayed at a B&B (in Rhode Island) for our honeymoon and loved it, we thought we could recapture some of that romance - and it worked. We checked in with one of the propieters, Nora, and she showed us around while giving us a little history of the two buildings that make up the inn. We stayed in the Barrister Room, which is the master bedroom of the West House - a beautiful 100 year old Craftsman style home. 

To keep things somewhat within a budget, I did not shell out the extra $30 for a room with a jacuzzi, but might if we ever go back... or maybe we'll try one of the fireplace rooms in chillier weather. The room we had was nice though, with beautiful solid wood furniture and everything clean and tidy. In the morning they brought our breakfast right into the room - setting up a table and two chair at the foot of the bed, at a time preselected by us. Breakfast was two courses, starting with juice, coffee, and yogurt with fresh fruit, and followed by an egg casserole, coffee cake, and more fruit. 

The personal touch was lovely, and the whole experience spurred us to daydream (yet again) about opening up our own B&B someday. Mike would be the friendly proprieter, I would cook... we'd love to have one that opened to the public for Sunday brunches. We just have to think of a suitable location and come up with a ton of capital - no problem!

We did not bring gifts or cards on the trip but over dinner we both spilled the beans. Mike said that since the first anniversary is traditionally "paper," he got us a subscription to the New York Times Sunday paper. We used to love getting the paper on Sundays in Boston, but the Omaha World Herald really is not the same, and the Globe is not delivered here - but the NYT is. Now we have one more reason to hang around in our PJs drinking coffee! On my end, since the first anniversary is (in the modern tradition) clocks, I had snuck his old favorite Tag watch out of the house, gotten the battery replaced and a new band put on for him. Tonight we dine on year-old cake and exchange sappy cards (you did remember to get me a sappy card, right honey?)....