Marriage, Love & Family

Friday, January 3, 2014

Celebrating Our Thirty-Six Year Wedding Anniversary

It seems as though we have spent our entire life together. We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.

Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union, they insist, there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which, in my book, is a good definition for friendship.

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together through the years.

You don't always have to leave town to celebrate your anniversary. It is totally up to you. What's most important about your anniversary is that you take the time to pause and recognize it is a very important time in your life that marked your forever.

With that said... Let's get this anniversary started August 26, 2012, thirty-six years together. First we head to Speed Zone to have a little fun. It was my first time going and I really enjoyed it. I found myself releasing the inner child hiding inside me all these years.

Although, it was a little drizzle outside it was fun. We chose the Omni Hotel because they recently opened Downtown Dallas. It happens to be one of our favorite hotels. So now, we head to the hotel to get a little rest and freshen up for dinner. This hotel is luxurious with all the amenities you desire. It has the most beautiful views.

After spending time relaxing in our nice hotel room we went out for dinner to a local restaurant called Sambuca's Restaurant .

Traditional Anniversary Gifts by Year

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Our Trip to Louisville Kentucky

Louisville is a major city and the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky and the county seat of Jefferson County. An important internal shipping port in the 19th century, Louisville today is best known as the location of the Kentucky Derby, the first of three annual thoroughbred horse races making up the Triple Crown.

Louisville is southeasterly situated along the border between Kentucky and Indiana, the Ohio River, in north-central Kentucky at the Falls of the Ohio. The Louisville metropolitan area is often referred to as Kentuckiana because it includes counties in Southern Indiana.

A resident of Louisville is referred to as a Louisvillian. Although situated in a Southern state, Louisville is influenced by both Southern and Midwestern culture. It is sometimes referred to as either one of the northernmost Southern cities or as one of the southernmost Northern cities in the United States.

The city's early growth was influenced by the fact that river boats had to be unloaded and moved downriver before reaching the falls. By 1828, the population had swelled to 7,000 and Louisville became an incorporated city. The city grew rapidly in its formative years. Louisville was a major shipping port and slaves worked in a variety of associated trades. The city was often a point of escape for slaves to the north, as Indiana was a free state.

Additionally, one-third of all of the bourbon whiskey comes from Louisville. The Brown-Forman Corporation is one of the major makers of bourbon, which is headquartered in Louisville. Other major distilleries of bourbon can be found both in the city of Louisville, and in neighboring cities in Kentucky. On April 15, 2008, it was announced that Louisville would be twinned with the town of Bushmills in Northern Ireland. The two places share a tradition for the brewing of whiskey.

Louisville is home to a number of annual cultural events. Perhaps most well-known is the Kentucky Derby, held annually during the first Saturday of May. The Derby is preceded by a two-week long Kentucky Derby Festival, which starts with the annual Thunder Over Louisville, the largest annual fireworks display in North America and second largest in the world. The Kentucky Derby Festival also features notable events such as the Pegasus Parade, The Great Steamboat Race, Great Balloon Race, a marathon, and about seventy events in total. Esquire magazine has called the Kentucky Derby "the biggest party in the south."

Louisville Marriott Downtown This hotel is very nice. The beds are comfortable and the rooms are cozy with a great view. The staff was very professional. Marriott's never disappoint me. Located in the heart of downtown. You are able to walk almost anywhere you want to go. I noticed that most of the shopping is mom and pop stores, antique stores, and random little nooks. Plenty barber shops, hair salons, and nail salons. I didn't see any major stores or shopping malls in this area.

The city's architecture contains a blend of old and new. There are many modern skyscrapers downtown, as well as older preserved structures. The buildings of West Main Street in downtown Louisville have the largest collection of cast iron facades of anywhere outside of New York's SoHo district.

There were numerous places to eat. However, most of them were unfamiliar to me, so I had to do a little taste testing. There are lots of pubs, sandwich shops, and bars. It seems that their meat of choice is chicken, not your regular fried chicken, but buttermilk fried chicken. The drink of choice is bourbon.

Louisville prides itself in its large assortment of small, independent businesses and restaurants, some of which have become known for their ingenuity and creativity. In 1926 the Brown Hotel became the home of the Hot Brown "sandwich". A few blocks away, the Seelbach Hotel, which F. Scott Fitzgerald references in The Great Gatsby, is also famous for a secret back room where Al Caponewould regularly meet with associates during the Prohibition era. The drink the Old Fashioned was invented in Louisville's Pendennis Club.

The Muhammad Ali Center opened November 2005 in "Museum Row" and features Louisville native Muhammad Ali's boxing memorabilia.

The Kentucky Center, dedicated in 1983, located in the downtown hotel and entertainment district, features a variety of plays and concerts. This is also the home of the Louisville Ballet, Louisville Orchestra, Bourbon Baroque, Music Theatre Louisville, Stage One, and the Kentucky Opera, which is the twelfth oldest opera in the United States.

In addition to regular city buses, the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) also operates a series of motorized trolleys. The trolleys connect different parts of the hotel and entertainment district downtown as well as the Bardstown Road shopping and entertainment district.