Then, we explored the Loop's... one restaurant we got an urge to check out.
Finally, we were back in the car and driving out of the city. Dating, we're back! And we went big! We had a lot of day already - don't forget we'd also run a bunch of errands earlier in the morning.
I had a vague recollection of seeing a cupcake place once while the hubby was driving me around. Of course, he's driven me all over the place, and this was however long ago. I did, however, start saying around the time we headed into The Loop that if we passed a cupcake place, we would be stopping. I love cake. I even tried to watch the DC Cupcake show... But even cake couldn't save that mind-numbing masterpiece of a program.
I was pretty sure it was on our way back home after we left The Loop the last time... So, as you can imagine, there wasn't a lot of happy going on in the car then. Because I was too stubborn to even get out of the vehicle and take two steps into The Loop. Ooooo. I was too scared of all the arty people. Which was entirely my fault and completely ridiculous, especially when you consider I used to be all open-poetry-mic-night girl and straight-out-of-grandma's-coolest-closet clad chick. But I was not so disturbed by the experience that I did not notice cupcakes. I could have sworn...
As we drove through one neighborhood after another, I kept expecting it to pop out. We were getting closer to the highway. My husband, humoring me as always, assured me it could emerge from the horizon at any second. We were both full anyway from the mac and cheese. It was fine. We'd find a cupcake place someday.
"It'll happen," I said to him.
He nodded, knowing I meant if we ever passed one ever, we would be having a cupcake.
I was too far to see the sign. It was a simple white building with several little businesses in it. But I knew immediately. I started yelling, "There it is! Is that it? Is there a cupcake place there! PULL OVER!"
And wha-la, my cupcake GPS opened like a flower to the sun. We pulled right in, and I clapped with glee.
I told my hubby, "Get excited! We're getting a couple to take home! CUPCAKES!"
Again, I am reminded how lucky I am to have found this man. He just took my hand and we headed into the cupcake shop. I was nervous, as I am when I go anywhere new (the hubby tried to open the door for me at Cheese-ology and I said, "No, you're going in first" because I was afraid of where to go and what to do and being the first one inside). The second we opened the door, a glass case of large, elaborately decorated cupcakes lay before us, and I forgot my nerves. Cure for my nervousness? Found. Check that off the list. Just have cupcakes waiting for me and I am ready to go. Happy perky party Happy Wife has arrived!
We picked out four (two each, no overlap allowed) after much discussion. We knew we'd split each one in half when we'd have them at home, so that we could both try all the ones we were getting. The 4 cost what a psychic reading would have cost the two of us. So, again, it was a good thing we didn't do that. Although, maybe the psychic would have warned me...
Anyway, we headed out, and I asked the hubby to pose in front of the shop. He started to do so, then insisted he take a picture of me there instead, since I was the one initiating all things cupcake in our lives forevermore.
Just as he was about to take the photo, a very nice woman who had also just bought some cupcakes was opening the door to her car to leave. She turned and said she'd be happy to take our picture for us. The genuineness in her voice was sort of staggering. It was very kind of her and unexpected. I have had too many cringe-worthy, lose-all-faith-in-humanity encounters at, for example, The Walmart, so this little interaction blatantly took me off guard.
In other words, this pic is courtesy of someone who made our day.
We came home and split one cupcake before going out again to run more errands. It was the "RazMaTazz" and was a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and a raspberry buttercream icing with chocolate ganache. Not bad, not bad at all.
After supper, we split the "Penguin" because... I like penguins. You got me. I admit that is why I was drawn to that cupcake. Still, chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, chocolate sprinkles, and white chocolate ganache. That's no poor man's cupcake. For some reason, though, I could only eat half of my half, if that. But it was tasty! I don't know. I felt a little off but shrugged it away and continued with my evening.
I had visions of us having some cuddle time in front of the tv, or playing a board game, getting out the puzzle... Starting up the ole wii... Then adding the last 2 cupcakes to that activity would be like a little sweet at-home date! Oooooo. How smart I am! Tomorrow, maybe the next day, I thought...
About 4 hours after my 4 bites of the Penguin cupcake, and I'm not blaming the cupcake here, I got massively, horribly ill. I get migraines, and this was the worst one I have ever had. It came on like a flash of lightening, which is weird for me, but that wasn't my issue. My problem was the nausea that grabbed me with both hands by my face and proceeded to antagonize me for the next 2 hours. I was so sick that my husband asked if he could take me to the hospital... Yeah. Not good.
I want to make it clear that I have no idea why I felt the way I did. There were several possible causes. Easiest guess is sometimes I get nausea with my migraines. End of story.
Of course, this nausea made anything I felt in the past feel weak and puny.
It could have been that I still have the bug my husband had, the one that plagued him for weeks and that only moderately kicked my butt in comparison. He still has a weird cough. Maybe I never got over it and it's still playing a random game of tag in my body. You're it, stomach! No, you are, throat! How about sinuses! Boo-yah!
I can't forget also that still, I'm not good when we eat out. It nags me in the back of my mind. And all I could think about while I was in agony was those cupcakes and that made everything so much worse. I had to yell for my husband to bring me the wastebasket because when I tried to get up to get it myself, I couldn't. Then, I was in so much pain that I asked him to just sit with me and talk to me. Distract me from feeling like I was about to lose my ability to breathe. My whole head was one big "You're going to vomit up your organs! Ha! Ha!" evil, sadistic monstrosity and I felt like any second, I was going to lose it. My husband, he calmly rubbed my temples to abate my migraine, and he told me stories about when he was in high school orchestra. He did his very best to soothe my weary, weary soul. It was still horrible but he made it less so.
I ended up in bed for an hour, then on the floor of the bathroom for another hour. Finally, my migraine medicine kicked in and there was some relief. It was a wonderful day and a terrible evening.
We still have 2 beautiful cupcakes to try in the fridge, but there is no way I am going to take a bite of either of them. It is frustrating. The thought right now of the fact that there are still in there actually make my cheeks immediately all vomit-tingly even though I've been okay all day. I'll be sad to send them to work with the husband. But, at least now I can take upscale cupcake establishment off my bucket list.
So my cupcake-framed at-home date will have to be augmented with other snacks. That I can do. And today, taking it easy and just being at home with the hubby, watching a movie that should have been horrible but ended up making us laugh like crazy (She's Out Of My League), was so much better than anything I could have come up with for us to do. I am still the luckiest girl in the world.
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