Follow the Strouds: Relaxing Birthday Weekend

When I looked at my calendar earlier this year, I realized that my 30th birthday fell on a Friday. I decided to take the day off and went back and forth between taking a trip and staying home and relaxing. Because we have a lot of personal travel planned in the next few months, in addition to several work trips, I decided that it would be nice to stay home and enjoy my birthday at home.

The weekend started early when David sent me these beautiful flowers. He knows I love lilies (we had them in our wedding), and that I have recently started admiring orchids when I see them. I thought this was a unique and beautiful arrangement.

On Friday morning, David made me breakfast and gave me a sweet card before he went to work. I took my time getting ready, and then headed out to get a massage. Of course, the massage made me sleepy, so I wound up taking a nap in the middle of the day. That's unheard of for me these days, so it was absolutely wonderful.

I am a die-hard sports fan, so we went to the Ballpark in Arlington to watch the Rangers play (and lose). We were fortunate to get to watch the game and fireworks from a suite, and we had a great time. Before we left for the game, David gave me the book The Art of Racing in the Rain, as well as a beautiful pair of earrings.

This is the funny card David gave me before the game on Friday. I hope we are aging more gracefully than this; however, notice that he makes clear that the card does not apply to him.

Saturday was wonderful and relaxing, too. We took a spinning class together and watched college football in the afternoon. Then we had a wonderful dinner at the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro located in the Stockyards here in Fort Worth. The restaurant is owned by local "celebrity" chef Tim Love. He got his fame by beating Iron Chef Morimoto on Iron Chef America on the Food Network, and you may have seen him recently on Top Chef. I've always wanted to give this place a try, and this may bore all of you, but the foodie in me has to tell you about everything we ate.

Our first course included a sampler of Rabbit-rattlesnake sausage, Kangaroo nachos, and Bacon-wrapped stuffed Texas figs with celery root puree. I enjoyed the first course with a "Lovestyle Martini," a great combination of gin, cranberry juice, Chambord, and lime juice. The restaurant even gave me a little recipe card for the drink so that I could whip it up at home (I would just rather return to the restaurant and let them make me one). For the second course, David had the seared diver scallop and I had a great salad.

For the main course, I had the roasted garlic stuffed beef tenderloin and David ate the New Zealand red deer chop and Texas elk sausage. We enjoyed our meal with a glass of J Vineyards Pinot Noir (I highly recommend it!). No celebration dinner is complete without dessert! We chose the warm ancho chile chocolate cake, and it was worth every calorie. Here's a photo of us (stuffed) after dinner.