The Paper Anniversary Trip

Almost three weeks ago now, Mr. RH and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary!  It came and went so damn fast, and that was after the solid 2+ months of agonizing over what would be special enough to celebrate such a lovely (LONG - and yet short!) year of marriage.

We thought about going to Chicago, where we celebrated our engagement.  Then maybe we were sick of Chicago - how about St. Louis, or a trip to IKEA for the wife... for some reason, Mr. RH wasn't into all that.  Weird.

So after much googling, I decided that we would really enjoy a trip to French Lick, Indiana, to the gorgeous and romantic West Baden Springs Hotel.  It's a gorgeous, old historic hotel that's been completely renovated and updated... and we were so excited to check it out.

Of course, 3.5 hours into our little road trip and a million construction cones later... we were both pretty dang cranky by the time we arrived.

As soon as we got into the hotel, though, we were both blown away.  The hotel encircles the main lobby, which is a giant, domed atrium straight out of a movie set.

Fancy shmancy.

I, being the village idiot, decided a room that wasn't overlooking the atrium would be oh-so-much better than the atrium views - because you could overlook the giant property, gardens, etc.  FOOL.  Those rooms with balconies overlooking the main lobby are where it's at.  Sigh, perhaps when we return.

We took ourselves on a tour around the property, gardens, and read up on the history of the resort.  I could literally go into it, cause it was fascinating, but I'll spare you.  Needless to say - super cool place, lots of history, almost spooky cause it was very quiet and the place was quite the roaring establishment in the early 1900s.

Of course, there were many selfies.... (ok, like... maybe 4 all weekend).

And I forced tortured blessed my husband with many requests to smile for a picture.  Or not, I basically just snapped away at my pleasure.

And - is it sad that this is one of my highlights of the weekend? - my cute husband snapped a pic of me that's in focus!!  On the fancy camera.  I have hope that my future children or grandchildren will someday know that I existed in a tangible way. 

I mean, I may have a slightly bitchy look on my face, but that's mostly because every other pic that my darling husband snapped was of my boobs.  Cute.  Not.

Of course, time flew and it was time for us to head to the nearby French Lick resort for a fancy-shmancy dinner.  Cinderella put on her finest shoes.... my wedding shoes.  I was so happy to see them again, although I don't remember them hurting like this last year. 

 Apologies for the foot selfie.  

I must say - last year I wore the shoes for a few hours every day for about a week leading up to the wedding.  It must have worked! 

I dolled myself up extra-fancy and spent forever on my hair and makeup... which I would like to document in this lovely selfie... which I will entitle "Do You Know How Difficult It Is to Selfie in a Strapless Dress Without Looking Nude?"

Very. Difficult.  Hence the lovely background, sorry.

Two minutes after that lovely photo, the surprise September Summer we are having in Indiana reared it's ugly, humid head, and left me with what you see below.  You win some, you lose some.  At least my hair looked good last September.

The property that was bustling with tourist-y types earlier was surprisingly vacant when it came to photo-snapping time, much to my everlasting disappointment.  Selfie it is.

We went to the adjoining property's "award-winning" steakhouse, which  is to say - it was a very fancy hotel, a nice steakhouse, but kinda lacking in ambiance for such a lovely, historic property.

•  My pork something-or-other was maybe one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten, but things went semi-downhill from there.   We had a waiter and another, random attendant... who basically disappeared when they delivered our check.  Seriously, we tried to pay the bill for 15 minutes with no luck.  There was a place to write our room number in to bill it there, and we eventually did - but I wonder what would have happened if we just walked out.  Luckily, we paid.
• They brought us chocolate-covered strawberries for our anniversary, which I could barely enjoy because my dress was quite corseted.  
• They deliver a rose at the end of your meal and I was happy to report that my wedding-day nail polish (Essie's Head Mistress) still matches a red rose quite exactly.  I was embarrassed to snap a pic at such a swanky table early in the meal - but after they started ignoring us, I just decided to go for it.

We returned to our hotel as the sun was setting, and sat in the lobby and soaked it up.  There was a lady playing the piano, and maybe a cellist.

We watched the ceiling do it's swanky thing, which totally explained the abundance of chaise lounges in the place.  We sat in chairs and were totally, awkwardly bent staring at the ceiling... like most everyone else in the place.

I am still kicking myself for not going through with my original "paper anniversary" plan of hiring a local photographer to do a little mini-session on the gorgeous grounds of the hotel.  Cause that would have been AMAZING, no?

And... photos can be printed on paper, which would satisfy the paper anniversary requirement, no?  Luckily, we snagged some postcards of the hotel - done.

The question remains - do I want to come back with my husband?.... or would this make an even better place to meet some girlfriends for the weekend?  Cause I know they would really appreciate my photo-shooting ways.  And the gorgeous spa.