…you obsess over admire and compliment her shiny, gold, oversized Jennifer Tuton necklace while at her house for dinner. She tells you the brand and you jot it down on your iPhone shopping notes (because of course she’s okay with you getting it). You enjoy some wine and good food together and leave her house feeling grateful for her friendship and completely forget about the fabulous necklace. But she doesn’t. She emails your husband (in this case, my husband, Rick) and says “hey, if you ever need to get [fill in your name here] a gift, she loved this necklace, here are all the details.” You know she’s a good friend when…she helps your husband pick out jewelry for you. As a side, Rick is awesome at a lot of things. Picking out jewelry that suits me is not one of them. Sorry, honey.
The reason we are in Cabo in the first place is to celebrate our two-year wedding anniversary and to become glutenous, over-indulging in the mediocre chips and guacamole. Nothing says happy anniversary like swollen fingers and feet from filling my stomach with 3-4 serving sizes of salty chips. (I am writing this post the morning after Rick and I had a ridiculously amazing meal leaving me full 12 hours later. Oh and I am supposed to be doing Weight Watchers yet I literally have not found one healthy thing on one menu thus far in three full days here. Even the salads surprise you will hunks of cheese and of course, at that point, I don’t want to be rude and not eat the hunks of cheese. The people here get happy when you eat. So, I guess WW is out the window and me pleasing the Mexicans wins.)
Okay, back to the reason we are here. Our anniversary. In Cabo. At the Sheraton Los Cabos. It was on October 29 and started with a knock on our door around 8am. (We were already up talking about love, our marriage, things we love about each other, Rick was telling me how beautiful I was, etc. No we weren’t. That was a lie. Truth be told, I don’t remember what we were doing.) To my surprise, it was a really happy housekeeper not here to make our beds, but to deliver two dozen roses to ME! This was a first. Fresh flowers in a hotel room! I LOVE fresh flowers and when they are a surprise from Rick, I love them even more. One point, Rick. Zero points, Ann. Well, I did give Rick a card first thing in the morning so maybe that counts as a half of a point. Yeah, it does. One point, Rick. Half of a point, Ann.
The morning continues with pretty intense questions like, “Should we go to the pool or to the beach?” and “Should we wear a 30 SPF and build our tans throughout the week or risk getting burnt wearing only a 15?” and “Should we eat breakast on our balcony overlooking the ocean and hearing the waves crash into the shore or should we eat breakfast downstairs at the terrace restaurant overlooking the ocean and hearing the waves crash into the shore?” We make some tough decisions and then spend our day soaking in the sun (we decided on the 30 SPF), reading, laughing and relaxing.
As it was our anniversary I had asked Rick several times what we should do for dinner. Each time he casually brushed it off which I found to be annoying out of character. When it comes to special occasions, Rick is admittedly amazing at finding great restaurants and mastering the art of surprise and delight. But I guess since we were in Cabo and were already mentally in vacation mode, we would wing it. And to be honest, I was 100% fine with that. I was in 80 degree weather, with my husband, on vacation. I was happy.
As we proceeded to the pool, we ran into Guillermo, the amazing concierge who helped Rick arrange the flower delivery. I thank him for his kindness in helping Rick, Rick thanks him, he’s so happy we are happy…it’s one big anniversary love fest. And then Guillermo proceeds to say “and Mr. Ueno, you are all set for dinner…everything will be perfect…” Hmmm, that’s weird. I thought we were going to wing it for dinner? I watch Rick uncomfortably trying so hard to tell Guillermo to zip it! while awkwardly moving his head and body (I think the language barrier was, well, a barrier in this context). Rick had made reservations at the nicest restaurant at the hotel, De Cortez, for 8pm for us to celebrate our anniversary together. Two points, Rick. Half of a point, Ann.
We arrive at the restaurant to be seated at the best table in the house, steps from the beach, waves crashing, light breeze, 75 degrees, full moon over our candlelit, personalized setting.
I wouldn’t call Rick a romantic, but here and now, he was. Ugh. Three points, Rick. Half of a point, Ann. Wine list, amazing. Dinner menu, ridiculously amazing. Service, even more amazing. It truly was The. Perfect. Anniversary. Dinner. I felt so special and it warmed my heart to think Rick went above and beyond to make this happen. He gets extra credit it. I think we are at at least five points for him now. And yes, I am still at half of a point. Wah wah.
Dinner was delightful and we both could have sat there for hours admiring the view and soaking in the serenity. In that moment I mentally thanked God for Rick, our marriage and the gift of an amazing vacation. The night truly was so memorable and just what we needed. But, it doesn’t end here.
Moments later, the staff came over with complimentary personalized dessert. Hospitality, yet again, at its finest.
They put the dessert in front of me, naturally, and tell me it’s a really special dessert the chef personally made for us. They directed me to be very careful cutting into this dome of chocolate. “Ooooohhhh,” I thought! This is fun! It’s going to be one of those crazy desserts that blows up, lights up or oozes out some chocolate carmel goodness. Whatever it is, I’m excited, my sweet tooth is dancing and everyone has gathered ’round, camera in hand, to watch me dig in.
I slowly take the fork and puncture the top of this deliciousness. I cut more and more into it and think “hmmm, this is odd, the dome is hollow…where is the fire and sparks and ooze?” The chocolate dome splits open and what do we have here?!
The fabulous Jennifer Tuton necklace that my dear friend Vaneesha emailed Rick about months ago! One hundred points, Rick. Half of a point, Ann. Rick wins, for sure. And before you start thinking, “gosh, I cannot believe Ann didn’t give Rick anything or do anything for him…” I do have to caveat this whole “Rick dominating our anniversary” with the fact that we did agree on NO PRESENTS! The trip was supposed to be our gift to each other. When I reminded Rick of this, his response was “I didn’t know if you were serious.” Classic.
The evening ended with a night cap, cigars, live music and yet another surprise, this time courtesy of Sheraton Cabo.
I think I would say I am a spoiled brat at this point. I think I would also say I will never forget our second anniversary in Cabo, thanks to Rick, Guillermo, Angelina, Anna Lilia, the staff at De Cortez and the team at Sheraton Cabo. After two years of marriage, a new lesson I have learned is that sometimes I have to admit defeat and humble myself before Rick…Rick wins.
I’m delayed at O’Hare (no, that’s not a picture of me at terminal 3 in a strapless dress…it’s a picture of me making a ridiculous “I’m sneaky slash suspicious slash no clue” face at dinner a couple weeks ago) so I thought I would take a look back at some of my posts by month and share with you, my 
Ann Written Notes 