Best. Birthday. Ever.

What do a salsa bowl, an insulated cold beverage cup and a baking dish have in common?

Oh, friends. These three simple items combined to bring me the best birthday ever.

Really.

Do many of you know my dear, sweet, good looking husband, Andrew?

Andrew has had some issues in the gift-giving department.

Let’s start with the first gift I ever received from him. It was my 17th birthday; I was a hip, young, stylish teen (at least that’s how my memory serves…) and I was excited to see what my new first boyfriend would be giving me for the big day. Andrew arrived with a gift bigger than life (unfortunately I’m not exaggerating here) and I excitedly ripped it open to find this:

A life-size trout pillow. When I say “life-size”, I don’t mean a trout’s life. I mean a human being. Me. The trout was my size. Andrew explained the gift’s best quality, his reason for picking it out for me: “It’s not just a trout, it’s a rainbow trout!”

Let’s fast forward a month or two.

Being high school sweethearts, Andrew greeted me at my locker one morning before school with a gift. Lucky me, you say? uh huh.  He explained that he had been shopping with his mom over the weekend and picked out a gift for me (Disclaimer: Nancy had nothing to do with the choice of this gift, I’m sure. Just to clear her name.) Into my hands went a small, white box– the kind jewelry sets come in. I opened it to find purple. plastic. jewelry. Matching earrings and a bracelet. The bracelet had large beads on an elastic string that looked something like this, except not as nice:

The earrings each had one of these matching gems dangling from a hook. My fast thinking told him that my ears were very sensitive and I could actually only wear earrings made of pure gold, lest I have an allergic reaction. Yes, I essentially told him I was allergic to the earrings. (Those were the last earrings I ever received from Andrew.)

Fast forward again to the following Christmas. Andrew surprised me with a lovely fleece running top, similar to this:

I don’t run.

But, Andrew explained, this top had a handy zippered pocket (not pictured) on the chest that would be great for carrying things!

Carrying things?!

He stuck an ink pen in the pocket to prove his point that this was the most ingenious convenience item ever to be invented.

I forgot about the pen, washed the shirt, and soon found black ink stains all over it.

No really, I forgot about the pen. I swear!

Moving on.

Andrew came home from college a year or so later bearing a gift for me. How sweet!

No, none of us are K-State fans, but Andrew excitedly explained that the reason for this perfect gift was its purple color!

I do love purple…

We became big time Royals fans during the Ken Harvey era (don’t even get me started on my love for Ken Harvey) and went to games all the time. I was lucky enough to be surprised with these powder blue jewels to enhance my game-watching experience:

I’ve also received a few Mizzou hoodies in our time, a couple Royals ball caps, a coffee mug or two, and endless other tokens of love from Andrew.

So you see, this year’s birthday gifts were nothing short of amazing.

An orange baking dish?  Yes, please!

A salsa bowl? I love salsa!

An insulated water cup? Heck yah! Who doesn’t drink water?

Thanks, Andrew!!!

You’re the best.