Hesitant, Hopeful

Since Valentine's Day is also our anniversary, we decided that we'd make the short drive to Fort Worth to spend the day. I like to plan things out (I'm a little bit of a control freak), so I spent a few days looking into what we might do, planning where we might eat. The problem I always ran into while planning was that Matt works nights--though thankfully not tonight. He gets off at 7:00 a.m. and has to sleep. By the time he gets a few hours of sleep and we make the hour drive to Fort Worth, it's quite late. So planning wasn't easy, but we planned dinner at Red Lobster and then miniature golf because it's fun and the weather was supposed to be nice.

Not a whole lot of those things went according to plan (which really makes the control freak in me twitchy). First, it was too cold for miniature golf thanks to the wind. Also, Matt didn't get off until 9:30 a.m. this morning because he had a lot of paper work. When he got here, he decided that he was plenty awake and that he would skip sleep. He had just worked 15 hours, had been awake 17 hours, and decided he would toss sleep in favor of forging ahead. I probably should have insisted that he sleep but he seemed really awake and I was just too excited about spending the day together. So, I didn't ask him to sleep first and we were off.

To his credit, he actually made it much longer than I expected. He made the hour drive just fine, which can be a little weird because driving tends to put him to sleep. We chatted the whole way, which was so nice. He made it through lunch, which was delicious. We made it to the Kimbell and he made it through half the exhibit before I noticed that he was drifting off while standing. I could only imagine him falling over, crashing into a Picasso (it was a Picasso/Matisse exhibit). So, I stayed with him to make sure he was okay and, for the most part, he made it through alright. More than anything he was complaining his feet hurt, which stands to reason since he stands on them all night.

The Kimbell was awesome. It was, by far, my favorite part of the day. We only stayed long enough to see the special exhibition, Picasso/Matisse, on loan from the Chicago Museum of Art. All the works were stunning, but there're no pictures because it's disallowed in the special exhibits. So, you pay $18 per person and can't take pictures, while the permanent collection is free and can be photographed. The exhibit ends this weekend, so the museum was packed. People crowded around every single piece, all listening on their personal audio devices to the audio that goes with each grouping of photos. Us included.


This is one of the photos I got of the museum. The cultural district in Fort Worth is an amazing place. Even the little (older) brick and frame houses are meticulously kept--the neighborhood there looks a bit how you would imagine an idyllic little town. I could go there and stay... um, forever. Matt learned, while we were inquiring about the permanent exhibitions that when the exhibit we went to see closes this weekend, they're opening a Samurai exhibit. He's dying to see it, so we'll likely go back soon for that. Also, they'll have the older European works installed again, which is an enduring interest for the both of us.

After the museum, we stopped at an antique mall there in Fort Worth. It had to be the single largest antique mall I have ever seen. It was enormous. We saw a lot of it, but nowhere near all. Matt's poor feet couldn't make it, but I see us going back because, like I did this time, I will beg!!  Though Matt does enjoy them, too, and maybe we can go when he's less exhausted next time.

From there we went to Central Market in Fort Worth, which is pretty much our favorite place. It's a grocery store... kind of. They have an amazing selection of pretty much everything. Feet hurting or not, Matt couldn't pass this place up (couldn't pass up his vanilla blueberry goat cheese is more like it!). While we were there I got us gelato, and got Matt espresso, from the gelato bar inside. They also have a huge cafe, but we haven't tried it yet. After here we headed for home, only stopping on the way for Panda Express in Granbury.

Unfortunately, by this point, Matt was just too tired. He kept falling asleep driving, so he pulled over and let me drive. This was not awesome. I can't see at night since I have almost total night blindness. Fortunately, the moon is really bright tonight, but I still struggled big time. Meanwhile, in the passenger seat, he's oblivious to our peril. After Panda, we had this experience again, where he had to let me drive and this time it was dark! Like, can't-see-anything-because-there's-no-town-lights-on-this-backass-highway kinda dark. Thankfully, we made it home with our (my) sanity mostly in tact. Amen.

Now, Matt's sleeping while I write this. Since I won't post it until morning, it's technically still our anniversary but he's so, so tired. Not sleeping has finally gotten the better of him. So, I'm off to bed. I hope you had a nice Valentine's Day, however you chose to celebrate.