.seven days of casper: day seven.

After a week of celebrating, Casper's actual birthday was Monday and we ended our festivities with a nice little night in... just the two of us.
In years past, I've had people over or thrown Caspy a surprise party... but honestly, he's an introvert and would much rather have a low key night where he's not the center of attention, so against my instincts, I decided to be down to earth for the night like my laid back husband.

Unfortunately, Casper had to work all day (tried to get the day off for him, but couldn't swing it since we're going to Africa in two weeks).  So, I picked him up from work at the end of the day... and to throw him off a bit from what was really happening, I acted all flustered and ran late which is normal for me... and that way he wouldn't know I'd been slaving away all day.  First, I brought him sugar cookies in the shape of Charlotte, with homemade Vanilla-Bourbon frosting.  I acted as if I had ruined the entire batch except two of them, and made it out to be a huge failure, when really I just made a couple really quick as a
distraction.

When he got home, I ran in and put my apron on, and then waved him it to see a curtain up blocking his view of the kitchen, where I was standing, and on the curtain the menu for the evening was posted.
Then he walked into the kitchen and there I stood... the entire house cleaned (and let me tell you it was a mess since we've been traveling a lot), and music was playing, candles were lit, the cake was just hot out of the oven so it smelled like chocolate in the house... and he was so surprised! So the rest of the night, we just spent time together... Casper sat at the table and worked on his latest hobby, as I made roasted vegetable lasagna from scratch.

You see, the night before we had steak which is his fav meal... and that was intentional because he has been asking me to make vegetable lasagna since we were in Mexico in November.  We had some there and loved it (weird, right?!? Mexico makes you think fajitas and guacamole, not lasagna... but it was really good), so I thought it would be an unexpected  surprise. Then we sat and enjoyed a beautiful meal, with great conversation, good music, and chocolate cake made from scratch (my first one, and pretty darn good if I do say so myself), and it was a perfect night.  Casper seemed so at ease, and relaxed... a state of comfort that he is rarely in due to our busy lifestyle.  It was a great way to end a great week~

Thanks for tracking with me... I know the week long rant on my personal life is a bit much for a blog that I hope is dynamic and brings variety... but Casper is a worthwhile week long rant! :)