Eureka! We've been married 11 years!

Today I am celebrating 11 years of marriage "with" my man in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I am currently doing this ...

in this cottage ...

while Rick plays 54 holes of golf at a nearby golf course. You might think it is odd that we are spending our anniversary apart. It's a long story of me scheduling a weekend away for us for Rick to play golf and me to relax, and scheduling it on our anniversary weekend when I didn't realize it was our anniversary weekend.

Yes, ladies, it was ME who forgot our anniversary! And he will never let me live that one down.

We are celebrating all weekend, so don't dispair. We arrived in Eureka Springs yesterday at about 5:30 p.m. We pulled up to the super-cool Peabody House ...

and walked around the back to our private cottage, the Rivendell.

It has a small, quaint living room on the lower level and stairs that lead up to a fabulously quaint and comfortable bedroom with attached bath. It is cozy and adorable and so relaxing. Off the bedroom is a door to a private patio that backs right up to the hills of Arkansas with a bubbling waterfall. (I will take pics later today and post them. Right now, our stuff is everywhere.)

Last night we walked (way uphill) to Ermilio's for dinner. We waited for our table in an upstairs parlor. We had a couple of drinks while Rick beat me at Checkers and Trouble ...

and then he beat Aggravation in the very last second!

We had a yummy dinner of stuffed mushrooms, salad, fresh bread, salmon and rice (Rick), spinach fettucine with garganzola cheese sauce (me), and the ABSOLUTELY BEST creme brulee I have ever eaten! We also brought home some tiramasu for dessert later in the evening.

We went on our own little walking tour, which we always like to do, and I decided that I want to buy this house.

But instead of having wine and dessert at the cottage, we decided to walk over to a local hot spot to listen to a live band and have a margarita. We got to bed at a reasonable time, however, because Rick had an early tee time this morning and I had some relaxation to get to (and maybe some shopping if I can get myself up out of this comfortable bed).

The club is on the bottom left, and the creepy Basin Park Hotel is up on the hill.

Tonight we are planning to celebrate our anniversary with dinner at Local Flavor and a night cap at The Stone House wine bar.

I would like to shout out an official 'Happy Anniversary' to Rick, the best husband a woman could ever have ... and I mean that with my whole heart! I am really a blessed woman! Thank you for working so hard so that we can enjoy these times together. Here's to the next 11 years, and beyond.