Off the Grid, Baby!

I've been in Dallas and electronically disconnected since Friday morning, and it's really been sort of nice. I did text back and forth with Lauren a few times, but that's about it. My personal catchphrase all weekend was "I'm off the grid!" Yeah, I know "off the grid" has to do with power companies and green living, but it sounded so awesomely appropriate, that I usurped it for my own misuse. No one questioned it. They did question why on earth I would choose to remove myself from e-communications... like... EVER. Jeff asked if I was sick. However, the inaccurate catchphrase didn't raise any eyebrows. Maybe I need to hang out with a more environmentally conscious crowd.

This was our big 20th anniversary weekend at the Gaylord Texan Resort! Lauren hung out with Grandma and Grandpa. They went to see Wicked and shopped at the Galleria and stuff.

Jeff and I got an amazing room at the hotel. We had dinner at their Old Hickory Steakhouse Friday night. It was very good, but extremely expensive. Austin Land and Cattle is at least as good, and more reasonably priced for the same type of restaurant. Of course, Austin Land and Cattle is quite a drive from Dallas.

The Gaylord has an Alice in Wonderland Summerfest event going on, so everything is Alice-themed. So fun! The characters that were hanging around in the beautiful atrium were amazing. They have various activities for all ages.

Here's the Gaylord Texan atrium. It's enormous, and looks and feels like being outside- well, minus the searing May heat.

Saturday we had brunch at the Old West Cafe in Grapevine. Next, we hit the Delaney Vineyards. Then we hung out at the Fort Worth Stockyards, which I had never seen in all my years of visiting DFW.

Saturday night we saw Pete Correale at the Improv. He was fantastic. I was dying laughing the whole time. LOVED IT! A girl named Chris opened for him (cannot remember her last name to save my life), and she was hysterical. She'll be on the next "Last Comic Standing" season, which starts June 7. She did a whole bit on how if you have a common name, you have to really take care of yourself. If your name is unusual, everyone knows they're talking about you when they mention it. If it's common, like Jennifer, when people refer to you, someone always says, "Which Jennifer?"

"Mustache Jennifer."

"Oh yeah! And her sister, fat Tina."

LOL

Jeff gave me a totally pimped out HP Mini Netbook as an anniversary gift. Awesome!! I've been wanting a netbook forever. I loathe the laptop and its annoying sluggishness. This thing is screamin' fast and has a cool hi-res screen. (Yeah, I ventured back into cyberspace briefly to check out the equipment.) Remarkably, the thing gets 10 hours on a charge.

He also got me a fancy "upgraded" diamond to replace the center diamond in my engagement ring. It's beauuuutiful! A perfect gift idea for me, since I'd like to keep my original rings. Mine is one of those puzzle-piece fit-together wedding/engagement ring sets that were soldered together after we got married. We're crossing our fingers they can work the new diamond into the setting. The jeweler has only seen a photo of my ring, but they think they can do it.

On our tenth anniversary, I bought a bottle of Italian red wine (we accidentally left the empty bottle at the in-laws, so Gene is going to have to let me know the name of it...). It was one of the wines in a wine mag article listed at the time as being perfect for storing to drink in another ten years. Gene kept it in his wine fridge since then for our 20th anniversary. We had it Saturday night at the hotel. It was a 1995 vintage. Really good. Tasted very smooth, almost like a liqueur actually, with a dry finish.

We hung out at the hotel yesterday and then went back to Jeff's parents' for the afternoon. My bro-in-law came over, too. Managed our way home last night through about zero traffic on I-35, which rocked. A very nice weekend, and now... a holiday!

Happy Memorial Day, especially to those who have lost loved ones in service, to my friends/family who served, and to those currently serving in the military.