Burgers, Bliss and our 5th..

I have officially been married for 5 years!! I'm very sad to say that I don't have any pictures of our anniversary this year..That's kinda Jason and I's M.O..we are horrible at taking pictures with each other. We have the very best of intentions..yet, we don't have a point and shoot camera to fit in my purse, and we don't always want to lug around the big camera with us. I am totally "Forgetful Lucy" and would probably leave the camera on the roof of the car while buckling the kids in. Trust me..cell phones, purses, coffee mugs...just about everything has flown off the roof of my car on the freeway due to my absent mind:) Anyways.. Jason surprised me this last week by taking me to San Francisco for the night. He had to tell me about it before he would have liked, because he needed help squaring away a babysitter for the munchkins:) A little shout out to Bri and her mom for driving down from Lodi to stay at Casa de Maxwell SO last minute..making our little anniversary possible.THANK YOU SO MUCH!! We love you both, and are sooo grateful!! Jason and I stayed at a swanky little Hotel in the city called "The CLIFT Hotel". It was so modern and beautiful....and we hadn't gotten away together in ages, so it was much needed. We had planned to go to "HOUSTON'S" for dinner, since its our "anniversary restaurant". A little back round on that: For our first anniversary, we ended up flying to Miami Florida really last minute...not for our anniversary primarily..but because the last round of auditions for "PROJECT RUNWAY" - the first season, were being held there, and I had already missed all the other auditions in California and closer states:) So feeling a bit spontaneous, we decided to go...I didn't make the cut for the show, BUT we had an incredible time while we were there..just by luck on our anniversary night we passed "HOUSTONS" steakhouse..it was overlooking the Marina, right on the water, and looked oh-so romantic. For anyone who has been to a HOUSTONS, you know that almost all the walls in the restaurant are windows, so it has amazing views of whatever city you are in. For any of you who know me, you know that I am totally "the salad girl" when we go out. It is pretty much safe to say that I will order a salad 99% of the time. So to see me order an enormously large BBQ burger in a fancy dress in a nice restaurant, is very out of character for me. That first night at HOUSTONS is what started the tradition of "Ashley's Anniversary Burger".I guess that Miami heat just brought out the carnivore in me:)It has become the one night that I don't care about calories or a clean face. I would pretty much pay anything for one of their burgers..they are something you will literally dream about. Yeah...they are that good. Jason and I made a deal that every year on our anniversary, we would go to a different HOUSTONS in a different city..one year we went to the one in L.A..and the last 3 years we have celebrated in the City..it's hard to migrate much farther than that with kids:) Hopefully next year we can go somewhere farther since Hayden will be bigger..So anyways..this year I ordered my burger as always..Jason had BBQ ribs.( he had total food envy when he tasted my burger:) We had so much fun just sharing food, conversation and even moments of silence...which isn't a bad thing when you have 2 kids. Silence is wonderful sometimes...and I think that a true sign that you are with the right person, and that you are comfortable with them, is that you can have prolonged moments of silence..and it's not awkward, or weird..you can just "BE" together, and that is enough. It was GREAT. Then we went and watched the new "HULK" movie at the Metron..sexy huh?? We stayed out late..slept in late..ate Breakfast at "STACKS" there in the City.. (you know we are die hard fans for the one here in Campbell..we are stacks HO's..we take everyone there!!) We spent the rest of the day taking pictures for a project I am working on right now..and then headed home..It was so unexpected to get away so last minute, and so needed. Jason and I have come so far together in these last 5 years....hope when we are 50 we will have traveled the world..celebrating each year together.....one burger at a time:)