House Day, Anniversary Evening

So I guess I should start off this post with this detail: it’s our anniversary today!

But the house demands its house work time, and so we were both working to do our part during the day. We’ve got flooring guys coming on Monday, and had more prep work to finish before their arrival.

Liz wanted to take this photo of me, because “I looked crazy.”

Liz clearing bricks below, while Bob hangs out and strengthens the joists above.

I worked for only a few hours, and headed up to shower around 3:00 PM. I had a set of tasks/errands to run, for our anniversary celebrations in the evening.

I made a few reservations for food a few days ago. But it wasn’t until I left the house that I realized… I had placed a food pickup order for yesterday, not today. My dinner plans were a day too early.

I called Gussie’s Handmade Italian, to see if they could potentially re-make my order on short notice. On calling, I told them I picked the wrong day, and was trying to get something in time for a 5:00 PM pickup (it was 3:30 at the time of my call).

The person I spoke with was very kind, and said they could re-make the order. He also said it was “an honest mistake,” and declined to charge me a second time for the re-make. It was an incredibly kind gesture.

After running my errands, my last stop was t Gussie’s. My stop prior was at Vanille, in Lincoln Park. I was there to pick up some desserts I had ordered (and did not mess up the date, thank you very much).

While I was there, I decided to pick up a few extra desserts for the kind folks at t Gussie’s. As a kind of “thank you” for not charging me a second time. It wasn’t quite equal to the amount I would have had to pay, but I’m hoping I got enough desserts for several folks to share.

I snapped the above photo of co-owner David Thate, who was the person I spoke with on the phone. I also learned from him that the name of the restaurant comes from his grandmother (and is an homage to his time in the kitchen with her and his aunts).

David was kind enough to re-make our meal, despite my mistake, and also didn’t charge me for the re-make. Little did he know he saved our anniversary dinner through his kindness. Thanks, David!

Back home, I entered the house to find all the plywood boards Bob had brought over standing on their sides and painted. I learned that Liz had the good idea to paint these boards, before the flooring guys would put them down.

In doing so, we skipped needing to go back and paint them from the basement. A very unpleasant task, that I don’t think either of us want to repeat. Super great call from Liz.

A lot of painted plywood boards!

Bob built us a set of temp stairs, easily moved around and out of the way. Perfect for us to go up/down, and easy enough to relocate for the flooring guys.

Liz powered through all the debris, and loaded up several bags worth of mortar and dust and brick. I was expecting this to take me several hours, and she knocked it all out while I was out running errands. Amazing.

The future wine cellar, all cleared out.

My anniversary gift: a custom flask! Perfect for a little scotch on the go.

The dish I got Liz: Brown Butter Honey Ravioli (Ricotta Stuffed).

And for me: Spaghetti Carbonara (Crispy Guanciale, Egg Yolk, Pecorino Romano, Black Pepper).

The time has flown by, and there’s no one I’d rather be stuck inside a house with, during a pandemic. Hard to believe it’s been eleven years. Here’s to another one hundred and eleven more.

Related:
LizAndFelix.com
Basement Bricks