Just do it #17: See my city like a tourist

For our fifth anniversary, Dan suggested, "Why don't we do a kind of a different date where we pretend to be tourists in Richmond?" (Cue heavenly choir...)

With those words, a blog post was born!

Dan and I are loyal Richmonders. I've lived here all my life, which struck me as kind of limiting and maybe a little sad in my early twenties because I know that I hate change and I wondered if maybe that was the reason I never considered settling anywhere else. And maybe it was part of my motivation at first. It just seemed easier to do my student teaching while living with my parents and then I ended up accepting a job here.

Now, though, Dan and I really love this mid-size city! While we love to visit bigger ones (New York, Charleston, D.C.), I can't imagine any of them feeling like home like Richmond. She (yes, Richmond is a she) is just so eager to impress. If I had to compare, I'd say that Richmond is kind of like a fifteen year old who stuffs her bra. She wants so desperately to be cosmoplitan and mature like the big girls, and I just want to tell her, "People love you just as you are!" So what if you don't have a major league baseball or football team! Who cares if you haven't caught on to the latest craze in fusion food? You've got so much going for you (festivals, new restaurants, parks). You're still a perfect mid-size city to traipse around!

But enough of me mentoring my city. Back to our fifth anniversary date.

After going to a new coffee house, we started by milling around Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, which is about three miles from our house. Considering I've only been there twice a long ass time ago, it still felt like a new experience for both of us.

It has stunning flowerbeds next to complicated glass sculptures, like this one sprouting out of the fountain:

We checked out the koi pond:

walked around the rose garden near this older estate:

and were the only ones in this domed conservatory:

Humidity: good for palm trees, baaad for my hair

Dan joked that this guy looked like something from out of Little Shop of Horrors. I can see him unfolding to slurp down someone.

We took photos of pretty, real plants:

and pretty fake ones (these guys were made from glass):

Speaking of glass, I liked how these playful elves were skipping around every pond:


When we were finished with gardens, Dan and I went to the art museum, which we've been to a hundred times, but we hadn't been to check out the new exhibit yet.

Full disclosure: Dan and I are complete middle schoolers in the modern art sections that are goofily pretentious. For instance, we'll see something like this:

and we are non-stop riffing on it. "It reminds me of a time I was stuck in a snowstorm." "It says so much, without saying anything..." "I just realized the meaning of life."

We never fail to crack ourselves up. Luckily, most of the paintings were much more interesting. I which I'd been allowed to take pictures!

After taking in culture, we went to dinner via a generous anniversary gift from my parents as Amuse, the restaurant in the museum. Just consider it another restaurant ticked off our 12 restaurants in 12 months challenge.

Even the sign was arty:

The decor was more interesting and artistic than some of the actual pieces in the museum. I love the egg shaped light fixtures grouped en masse:

Not sure what kind of flower was on the table, but I loved these chartreuse puff balls:

Dan wanted to me to take a picture of our drinks because he's pretty sure you can guess who's is whose.

We had a great meal (scallops), but as Dan put it, he and I were "not amused" (pun on restaurant name alert) by the bitter dessert which didn't seem to include any sugar. Sigh. At least it was pretty!

And we finished with the requisite anniversary photo. I can't believe it has been five years!

I think Dan really had fun giving kudos to our favorite city. In fact, he look up at me at the end of the meal and said, "I think you need to do a post about a more guy-centric day in Richmond. You know, we could go to off-track betting and eat barbeque and see the Squirrels play. I could be a guest blogger and write some funny shit." So there may be a sequel to this post coming soon!

I feel so grateful to have Dan in my life and all the adventures, great ideas, and yes, funny shit he brings into it! :)