June Firsts

For the first time, Ryan and I went to a Juneteenth celebration.  I heard from a couple of my students about it and they sounded pretty excited.  Neither Ryan nor I had any idea what Juneteenth was about.  We thought it was a summer celebration of sorts.  Nope.  We got to the park where this festival was going on and walked around looking at all the different vendors and booths.  I was a little upset that there wasn't anything for me to buy at the "I Love Being Black" booth.  I thought about buying a onesie there, but for some reason decided against it.  One of my students told me that he was going to be performing in the talent show so we decided to stick around until then.  The food there was, as you can imagine, expensive.  Ryan's delectables in the picture below cost $7.  My meal, for which I waited in line almost 30 minutes was in the double digits!  Crazy.  Anyway, we got our food and were able to find some covered seating right near the stage.  The voting for the winner of the talent show was done a la American Idol: text in who you think should win.  There were 10 acts and all of them quite impressive.  It was during one of the later performances that we learned what Juneteenth was all about.  In essence, it is a celebration of the end of slavery in the US.  Kind of a cool reason to get together and celebrate.

We both participated in the texting portion of the talent show and they announced that there were going to be some random winners who participated in the texting.  They didn't mention what prizes were to be given away - that's how they hold you in suspense.  My student that performed was near the end of the show, so after he went, we stayed for the rest of the show and then made a bee-line for the car.  We'd been in the car for maybe 2 minutes when Ryan got a text telling him that he was one of the winners.  My husband IS a winner, I know.  Now, we didn't know if he won a keychain or a gift card so we decided to head back.  After more waiting around for the MC to finish up his gig, we discovered that Ryan's prize was indeed worthy of others' jealousy: a bright yellow Juneteenth t-shirt.  Woo-hoo!  Lady Luck was certainly smiling down on us that day.

Another first for Ryan was Father's Day.  We're both so excited for our little girl, and while some may dispute that we're not really a father and mother yet,  I would contend that we indeed are.  Anyway, I decided to surprise Ryan with a dinner at Buca Di Beppo.  If you've never been there, it's a pricey, yet delicious Italian place.  We had our wedding dinner there as well.  Anyway, they have this one special table that is in the kitchen.  Literally.  You are sitting in the kitchen watching the food come up in the window and hearing all that goes on.  It's kind of a cool thing.  On a first visit to Buca's, they walk the guests through the kitchen and right past that table.  I had decided a couple weeks before Father's Day that that's what I wanted to do for Ryan.  I wanted to make reservations early because I knew it would fill up fast.  Working in my favor was that I wasn't making the reservations for Father's Day, but a few days before (Ryan left for Vegas on Father's Day so  we had to celebrate a little early).  Ryan loved it.  He didn't even know that table existed in the restaurant!  We had an excellent meal of lasagne, salad, and bread and went home stuffed.  It was funny to watch all these people walking past us as we ate too.  I felt like we were on display or something.  I also got him some movies that he wanted (thank you Craigslist!).  It was a great time and he said that he felt so special.  I was happy that I could make him feel that way.  He deserves it.  He is such a great man and I'm so lucky to have him.  He's already such a cute father, the way he talks to my belly and all.  Now I've gotta start planning his golden birthday.  

The view from our table.

Look, it's my name!

Cutting in to the massive lasagne.

Cheeseballs in love.